Strings teaching and learning has tended to emphasize performance rather than the quality of experience for the children. School instruction has become rigid and focused on technical accuracy. Alternative teaching strategies must be pursued in order to provide a challenging yet enjoyable experience of playing and learning the bowed string…

Reports on study of 80 elementary students in grades 3-6 to determine whether tempo perception and performance abilities increased with grade level and musical training. Finds that student performance and perceptions did increase with grade level and training. Concludes that modern technology has made research into tempo perception more precise…

Describes study of effects of learning procedures and performance tempo on ability of 64 middle school students to perform previously learned rhythmic passages. Reviews the four learning procedures used for each rhythmic passage. Finds no evidence attributed to learning procedure but significant adverse differences if the tempo was changed from…

Reports on a study of an improvisation curriculum used with 66 fifth-grade music students. Finds that students who received instruction emphasizing improvisation performed at significantly higher achievement levels than students who did not receive such instruction. (CFR)

Reports on an interview with Frances Rauscher, a research psychologist and musician who has studied the effects of music on the brain. Maintains that students who have studied music have enhanced spatial reasoning. Recommends that music education begin at younger ages. (CFR)

Attempts to identify and describe the characteristics of effective teaching in the piano studio. Videotaped lessons with independent piano teachers and students were evaluated according to specific behavioral measures (general approval, music talk) and separately by pedagogical measures. Includes statistical and tabular data. (MJP)