This article presents the author's speech during the 2012 Senior Researcher award. The author is honored and delighted to accept the award from the Society for Research in Music Education (SRME) and NAfME, an organization of which she has been a member for about forty years. In this address, the author focuses on these four topics: (1) the…

The purpose of this study was to identify behavioral differences between children who dropped out of piano lessons and those who continued for 3 years. Two videotaped first-year lessons of 14 pairs of piano students were systematically observed to record the duration or frequency of occurrence of selected student and teacher behaviors. Students in…

One hundred eighteen middle school students from three different settings listened individually to a music excerpt and a prose excerpt that were each 3.5 minutes long. As they listened, they clicked a computer touchpad whenever they were distracted either by thoughts or external events, then refocused on the holistic listening task. After…

Presents a study which assessed undergraduates' and children's music preferences for examples of symphonic music. Serving as a teaching and planning experience for undergraduates, the study revealed that children's preferences were increased through undergraduate presentations and that college students used larger vocabularies when describing…

This study examined the effect of instruction in vocabulary and listening on number of changes counted in a music excerpt, verbal descriptions of these changes, and use of music vocabulary. After four weeks of differential instruction, results were mixed and more research is recommended. (Author/IS)

Recounts conclusions from interviews with disabled and nondisabled students concerning music preferences, experiences, and skills. Reports similar responses from the two groups, suggesting that the labels "disabled" and "handicapped" are unimportant for classroom instruction and routines. Concludes that dancing was the favorite…

Examined young children's abilities to echo short pitch patterns in relation to maintenance of a tonal center in self-chosen and taught songs. Found a low positive correlation between ability to echo pitches or contours and maintenance of a tonal center in singing. Reported that children consistently used larger vocal ranges in echoing pitch…

Examines first graders' existing knowledge in relation to what they are expected to learn, by: (1) listing music vocabulary words appearing in music textbooks; (2) comparing oral vocabulary with vocabulary listed for music instruction; and (3) comparing frequency of selected music terms with frequency of same terms in general oral vocabulary. (DSK)

Tested 5- through 9-year-old children in structured and unstructured contexts to determine their ability to demonstrate contrasts in tempo and dynamics using a synthesizer keyboard. Shows that they were able to demonstrate contrasts in loudness and duration. Reports further results based on varied environmental situations. (DSK)

Focuses on fifth- and sixth-grade students writing about music using three types of description: metaphor and emotion, analytic elements of music, and temporal change and sequence. (CMK)