The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore the perceived values and benefits associated with participation in a highly successful community-based girls’ choral ensemble. The benefits of membership in the Seattle Girls’ Choir organization were explored, with particular attention to the expressed values and observed behaviors of choristers. Regular choir rehearsals, musicianship classes, festival and summer camp experiences, concert performances, faculty, staff and board meetings, and other community events were documented carefully and examined during a yearlong period of fieldwork. Semistructured interviews with choristers, faculty members, parents, and staff members were used to elicit participant perspectives on the girls’ choir experience and the perceived values and benefits of participation. Emergent themes included music, personal, social, and external benefits, which were examined in an effort to augment an ever-growing understanding of modern music-making and the value of music engagement in the lives of participants.

The purpose of this case study was to explore the experiences of undergraduates enrolled in a music education fundamentals course featuring a significant servicelearning component. In addition to attending weekly class meetings, students provided 30 minutes a week of classroom support for teachers at a preschool center serving students with and without disabilities. Student reflective writings collected throughout the semester, formal observations, and semistructured interviews with students, cooperating teachers, and the principal formed the pool of data. The data set was analyzed for themes relating to the perceived benefits of the servicelearning experience, the undergraduates' perceptions of children with disabilities, and undergraduates' attitudes toward civic engagement. The value of service-learning projects, and the effect of these experiences on the learning and personal growth of undergraduate music education majors are discussed in an effort to augment a growing understanding of the role of service-learning in the preparation of preservice music educators.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine preservice and first-year music educators’ perspectives on fieldwork activities embedded within a music teacher preparation program. One cohort of students was tracked for 2.5 years as they participated in an elementary teaching practicum, fulfilled the student teaching internship, and ultimately entered the field. Drawing on data from a previous study of the same cohort’s perceptions of a service-learning project (2013), this report provides a comparative analysis of the students’ evolving perceptions of fieldwork over time. The perceived transfers of emergent skills and dispositions to the first year of practice also are explored with particular attention to the voices of first-year teachers. Findings suggested a wide range of benefits associated with each type of fieldwork, including overlapping and unique constructs. Perceived collective transfers included comfort and experience, habits of self-reflection, skills and knowledge for job interviews, and comfort with the observation process. These findings may assist higher education professionals as they design field-teaching activities and make informed decisions about best practices in music teacher preparation.

A B S T R A C T The purpose of this research study was to extend current scholarship on self-regulated practice behaviors of young instrumentalists to the general music recorder classroom. This qualitative study explored the reflections of successful beginning recorder players in relation to the self-regulated practice model. Interviews were conducted with three high-achieving third-grade recorder players and responses were coded for themes relating to self-regulated practice. Results support the notion that self-regulation is an important component of effective practice and implications for music educators are explored. The study represents an unprecedented examination of the practice behaviors of children just beginning recorder study, and provides music educators with practical, research-based strategies for improving group recorder instruction in the elementary grades. K E Y W O R D S : general music, meta-cognition, self-regulation, strategic practice

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