The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of preservice teachers and experienced teachers when asked, “What skills and behaviors are important to successful music teaching in the first three years of experience?” The sample consisted of randomly selected groups of preservice teachers ( n = 35) and experienced teachers ( n = 35). Subjects were given a list of teacher skills/behaviors and asked to rate the level of importance of each item using a 4-point Likert-type scale. For each item, the mean score for both groups was calculated and used to determine rank order. Of the 10 top-ranked items for each group, 7 were common to both groups. On 6 of the 40 items, there existed a difference of 10 or more rankings between the groups. Nine of the 40 items were ranked equally or within one ranking of each other. As an ex post facto measure, each of the items was placed into one of three broad skill categories (personal, musical, or teaching). A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used to determine that both groups rated personal skills and teaching skills as significantly more important than musical skills.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the frequency of particular authentic-context learning (ACL) activities during undergraduate instrumental music teacher training and the initial teaching performance (ITP) of undergraduate instrumental music student teachers. Subjects (N = 30) were instrumental music student teachers at four major universities. Four ACL activities, identified from the literature and limited to instrumental music settings, included (a) early field experience teaching episodes, (b) peer-teaching episodes, (c) episodes of subjects watching videotapes of their teaching, and (d) episodes of subjects watching videotapes of their teaching with a coaching instructor. ITP was determined by evaluating teaching episodes, which occurred within the first 3 weeks of student teaching, using the Survey of Teaching Effectiveness (Hamann & Baker, 1996). Significant correlations were found between ITP and three of the four ACL activities. In addition, an overall ACL experience value was calculated and categorized into high, medium, and low levels. Those with a high level of ACL experiences were significantly better teachers than those with medium or low levels of ACL experiences.

The purposes of this study were to determine if significant differences existed among the occupational personality types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional) of music student teachers and to determine if the personality types or any of the major constructs of Holland's vocational theory (Consistency, Differentiation, Identity and Congruence) significantly contributed to music student teachers' teaching effectiveness. Subjects (n = 84) were music student teachers from institutions in Ohio, U.S.A. Significant within-group differences were found to exist among the personality types of music student teachers. Subjects' three highest mean scores were on the Artistic, Social and Investigative personality scores respectively. None of the personality types and none of Holland's constructs was found to significantly contribute to the overall variance of teaching effectiveness.

The author describes how contemporary music education at the secondary level has fallen short of Dr. Charles Leonhard's vision for developing musical understanding and musical responsiveness in all students and cites several historical events as pivotal in promoting the profession's current path. The author then challenges this generalization by describing the professional practices of a forward-thinking high school band director who epitomizes Leonhard's ideal of a music teacher and serves as a model for professional dispositions. The author also offers social interaction theory as a promising foundation on which to assemble a music teacher education program capable of producing teachers with dispositions that serve the highest goals of the music education profession.

The purpose of this study was to examine positive influences and barriers associated with entering a music teacher education doctoral program. Practicing music educators (N = 63), were asked to rate 48 positive-influence items and 54 barrier items. The highest-ranked positive influence was "Trainingyoung teachers to provide worthwhile educational experiences for their students, " while the highest-ranked barrier item was "Reduction of income while working on the degree." Using the top 21 positive-influence items and the top 21 barrier items, two factor-analysis procedures were calculated to determine whether positive-influence and barrier items could be reduced to a smaller number of discrete factors. Four positive-influence factors ("Prestige of and Connection with Faculty/University," 'Desire to Affect Future Music Teachers," 'Desire to Learn, " and "Personal/Professional Future") and two barrier factors ("Financial Challenges" and "Family/Time Considerations") were identified.There has been a growing concern in recent years over an anticipated shortage of those responsible for training music teachers in the United States. Asmus (2001) characterized the situation as the "new challenge ... befalling music education" (p. 3). When prognosticating the resultant effect on K-12 education, he warned that "the shortage of music teacher educators and the paucity of those in training to become music teacher educators pose the single biggest threat to the health of music in our nation's schools" (p. 4). Linking the current shortage of K-12 music educators with an anticipated echo among the university ranks, Kimpton (2002) stated, "without music David J. Teachout is an associate professor of music education with the