Composition is a natural human activity that can both support other music instruction and help students develop creativity that is applicable to their extramusical endeavors. It also constitutes a major strand within national and state music standards. However, it is not consistently taught in ensemble classrooms, which are often students’ only form of music education past elementary school. In this article, I briefly summarize arguments in favor of composition instruction, then describe and analyze eight composition units and activities developed by researchers for use in the ensemble classroom. I conclude the article with a synthesis of the implications of the methods, along with other research on composition, into eight key ideas to help ensemble directors implement composition instruction in their classrooms. This article serves as a starting point for ensemble directors hoping to implement composition while also directing them to several other resources they might use.

Teaching music can be very stressful. The music education literature includes investigations of sources of stress and suggestions for stress relief, although it lacks a consistent underlying conceptual framework for stress. Role stress—a framework for understanding stress related to workplace dynamics—has the potential to provide structure while accounting for the nuance and complexity of organizations. The purpose of this study was to adapt and develop psychometrically sound questionnaires and then collect data to test a model to determine relationships among role stressors, role stress, and other variables of interest. Participants ( N = 1,576) responded to items related to six hypothesized role stressors, specialization and teaching loads, holding multiple jobs, years taught, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to leave the current job. I analyzed the data using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Key findings included (a) strong relationships among role stress and negative occupational outcomes, (b) confirmation of four known role stressors but nonseparation of role conflict and role ambiguity in statistical models, and (c) weak relationships between role stress and model covariates (years teaching, within-specialization teaching, and having multiple jobs). These results have implications for current and prospective secondary music teachers, music teacher educators, and school administrators.

Challenges are a constant across all kinds of musical contexts, and teachers are always looking for ways to help students overcome them. While there are many technical and pedagogical approaches to helping students achieve in music, psychology also plays a significant role in the struggles that students face. Counteractive optimism, the act of predicting success in preparation for completing a difficult task, improves performance in the face of challenge and serves as a vehicle for the development of self-efficacy, which has a powerful direct effect on overall performance outcomes. In this article, I explain counteractive optimism and self-efficacy, their benefits, and their direct applications to music.

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