Over the past century, American schools have been the focus of researchers and educators seeking to improve the education of the country's children. Few studies, though, have examined what the schools--their physical presence and the changes within them--have meant to the students who attended those schools (Currens 2017; Kilinc and Burlbaw 2011;…

This review of literature is a synthesis of research surrounding the production of superior choral performance. Findings described in this review suggest director characteristics, rehearsal techniques, singer behaviors, and auxiliary supports that are important to, or common in, the creation of meritorious performance. Effects of instructional…

At its most basic level, sight-reading can be defined as the production of accurate pitch and rhythm from a previously unseen musical score. For vocalists, sight-reading principally involves the production of pitches by determining their relationship within a tonal framework. The ability to mentally conceive tonal function and convert it into…

The ultimate goal for many choral directors is to develop independent musicians within the ensemble. The ability to sing a series of pitches and rhythms at first sight is widely understood to be a fundamental building block of independent musicianship. Yet sight-reading is not simply a holistic skill. There are separate components of…

The purpose of this study was to develop a model that may be used to estimate the financial costs of teacher turnover in urban school districts. It is estimated that 50% of the beginning teachers leave the profession within the first five years on the job (Murname, Singer, Wilett, Kemple, and Olsen 1991; Colbert and Wolff 1992; Ingersoll 2003;…

Sight-reading is widely considered one of the most important parts of a choral music education and plays an important role in developing independent music learners (Collins, 1993) and a good indicator of music achievement (Hayward & Gromko, 2009). It has also been said that better sight-readers tend to be better performers (Lehman &…

This study examines students' attitudes toward singing and choir participation related to gender, age, and ethnic background. It also looks at attitudes toward recordings from basal music series that are designed to provide an appropriate model and to encourage singing. Participants (N = 249) were third to fifth graders enrolled in two public…

The overall purpose of this study was the investigation of the singing abilities of kindergarten and first grade children. Information was sought concerning the following: (1) the maximum singing range of preschool children compared to that of first grade children, (2) the range within which accurate singing could be expected from the majority of…