To mark the centennial of "Music Educators Journal" ("MEJ"), this article explores the relationship of music education and the making of musical America across the century. Several interwoven themes are developed to show changing narratives of American music and music education, using voices from the pages of "MEJ."…

This article describes uses for podcasts in music education, focusing on learner-created podcasts as an opportunity for students to construct and represent knowledge. The author outlines a podcast assignment that enables secondary and postsecondary students to examine and more deeply understand the meaning music holds for them and the role it has…

In this article Leon Mones expresses his deep interest in the functional role of music in Western culture and particularly in the system of public education that has been designed to assure the survival and advancement of Western culture and the people who will live within it. In other words, he is interested in music as a dynamic experience in…

A number of scholars have investigated the roots of the "Arirang," although the origins are debated. Most agree that the original form of the song "Arirang" was first found upstream from Seoul along the Han River. The lyrics told the story of a woman waiting for her lover on the bank of the river. The term "Arirang"…

Since early times, human beings have searched for spiritual experiences that provide connections to their hearts and souls. People sometimes find these connections through experiencing music--perhaps the last remaining ubiquitous spiritual experience in Western culture. And yet, material values rule our world, even in music education. Is music in…

A primary difficulty with music performance assessment is managing its subjective nature. To help improve objectivity, rubrics can be used to develop a set of guidelines for clearly assessing student performance. Moreover, rubrics serve as documentation for student achievement that provides music teachers with a written form of accountability.…

Music educators can nurture students' lifelong musical involvement, both as consumers and as participants. Orienting musical instructional practices around classroom elements suggested by achievement goal theory can foster lifelong musical connections. Practices related to using meaningful and challenging tasks, evaluations that decrease emphasis…

For the past century and more, music education in the United States has focused primarily on Western European music traditions. Despite considerable efforts to include music from other regions and peoples in the curriculum, traditional music from world cultures is still not greatly represented. The benefits of a curriculum that incorporates…

Over the last forty years, popular music in America has consistently shown great variety, originality, and evolution. While American music has clearly flourished and evolved over the last several decades, it is difficult to say the same for American music education. Although there are important reasons to preserve long-standing traditions of…

Chances are that future music lovers are right now sitting in the orchestra, chorus, band, or general music class, waiting to be enlightened. True, they are working diligently in rehearsals toward excellent intonation in that Schumann transcription, and they seem to be loving the gem of a concert march they've been working on, but are they also…

Any music teacher who has planned a holiday concert knows about the politics underlying the selection of appropriate music. Some students do not sing carols or cite lyrics that refer to fictional characters such as elves, goblins, or Harry Potter. Still others do not sing the national anthem. To these students or their parents, such songs…

Few teachers, students, or parents would question the importance of practice when learning to sing or play an instrument. And, while most who are involved in music education would probably concur on certain aspects of what constitutes good music teaching and lessons, they would probably also agree that a problem may exist in what takes place in…

The music classroom is the perfect setting for investigative and imaginative inquiry--for teaching students how to talk about music. Because dialogue that is done well is too dynamic to be captured in a one-dimensional model, the ideas and frameworks in this article are merely intended to serve as springboards for eliciting richer discussions in…

The typical music history or appreciation class teaches students to analyze musical elements and think generally about the aesthetics of historical periods but rarely encourages them to consider why the overwhelming majority of the composers discussed are white, European, middle- and upper-class men. Courses on popular music often discuss jazz and…

Examines Western adaptations of music from other cultures. Argues against performing multicultural music according to the Western musical system. Provides suggestions for authentically performing multicultural music, including interacting with the music and learning about its cultural origins. (CMK)