The purpose of this study was to examine university conducting teachers' attitudes about score study, the source materials they used to teach score study, their personal score study practices, and the score study approaches they taught their undergraduate conducting students. Respondents (N = 236) were members of the College Band Directors National Association who taught undergraduate conducting courses. Our findings indicated that "developing an interpretation of how the music should be performed" was considered the most important reason to study the score, that respondents spent an average of 6 hours in score study per week, and that The Art of Conducting by Donald Hunsberger and Roy Ernst was the most frequently used undergraduate conducting textbook. The two most frequently used personal score study practices, which were also reported as the two most frequently taught practices to undergraduate conductors, were "define all unfamiliar music terms" and "initial, casual read-through of the score."

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the beliefs of applied music faculty on desirable traits of prospective music education majors. Researcher-designed surveys were sent electronically to applied music faculty at 12 National Association of Schools of Music-accredited institutions randomly selected from each of the four major divisions of the United States. Data from returned surveys were analyzed to describe the admissions process for music majors at each institution, in addition to respondents' perceptions of the desirability of various professional dispositions and selection criteria for entering music education majors. Results suggest that music education faculty hold limited responsibility in the admissions process at the majority of respondents' institutions and that admissions decisions are primarily determined by applied music faculty. In addition, respondents reported that certain professional dispositions and selection criteria were more important than others in admitting prospective music education majors. Implications for music teacher educators are discussed.

The role of popular music in the classroom has been one of the most contentious areas of practice in music education since the middle of the 20th century. Educators have periodically called for the need for popular music in the music classroom, but it has yet to gain widespread acceptance. One of the strongest calls for popular music in classroom settings occurred at the 1967 Tanglewood Symposium. As stated in the Tanglewood Declaration, students should have experiences in the music classroom with "music of all periods, styles, forms and cultures . . ., including current popular teenage music and avant-garde music, American folk music, and the music of other cultures" (Choate, 1968, p. 139).Since Tanglewood, much has been written about the role of popular music in music classrooms in practitioner publications. These writings have discussed the value of popular music in music classes (e.g., MacCluskey, 1979;O'Brien, 1982;Woody, 2007) and how popular music can be effectively taught in music classes (e.g., Cutietta & Brennan, 1991;MacCluskey, 1969;Vulliamy & Lee, 1982). Research articles have also been published on the use of popular music in the curriculum since that time, and these have been summarized in two reviews (Isbell, 2007;Pembrook, 1990).Variously referred to as youth music (Mark, 1994), rock music (Fowler, 1970;MacCluskey, 1969), and pop music (MacCluskey, 1979;O'Brien, 1982), popular music is a complex descriptor that holds different meanings for different people. As a result, defining the term popular music is problematic, and authors have expressed disagreement on how this term can be adequately limited to a singular definition (Bowman, 2004). Rodriguez ( 2004) defines popular music based on three common features, including its (a) consumption (measured by ranking systems such as Top 40 radio stations or Billboard charts), (b) presentation in certain media that are indicators of its popularity (e.g., movie soundtracks, sheet music, etc.), and (c) alignment with a socially desirable group. Others (Frith, 1996;Toynbee, 2000) describe popular music based on how it differs from folk or art music. Humphreys ( 2004) describes popular music as any music that is intended for mass audience appeal, but he claims that this method is troublesome because it presumes that listeners can interpret the intention of the composers, performers, and producers. Davis and Blair (2011) offer a broader, more inclusive definition of popular music from a sociocultural perspective. They describe popular music as "a social construct influenced historically and culturally while also developing and transforming over time" (Davis & Blair, 2011, p. 127).

The purpose of this study was to examine inservice band directors’ perceptions of their undergraduate instrumental conducting curricula. Members ( N = 141) of the Facebook Band Directors Group who had completed undergraduate conducting and rehearsal techniques coursework responded to an online survey. Respondents felt more confident demonstrating technical conducting behaviors versus expressive ones, perceived their instruction in conducting skills superior to their rehearsal skill instruction, and desired additional conducting and rehearsal experiences that were more representative of what they encountered once they began teaching. Respondents’ most desired curricular change was for additional instruction in rehearsal planning, error detection and correction, and instrument-specific pedagogy. The three most frequently used score study behaviors were “initial, casual read-through of the score,” “define all unfamiliar terms,” and “marking important cues.” Based on our findings, we discuss ways in which music teacher educators can improve their instrumental conducting courses.

The purpose of this study was to investigate in-service music teachers’ perceptions of popular music in the classroom and to examine their own preparation to teach popular music. A sample of music teachers, drawn from two regional chapters of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association, completed a researcher-designed survey instrument. Results suggest that these teachers perceived popular music to be an effective instructional tool in the music classroom, although their responses suggest that they perceived it to be appropriate for older students and in certain classroom settings only. In addition, the sample reported a lack of training in popular music pedagogy and responded that they generally felt unprepared to teach popular music. Among three types of preparation, they provided significantly higher preparation ratings for informal experiences, followed by performance-oriented experiences and formal educational experiences. Implications for music educators and music teacher educators are discussed.