Music Teacher Knowledge: An Examination of the Intersections Between Instrumental Music Teaching and Conducting

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the complexities of instrumental music teacher knowledge as they relate to the intersection between instrumental music teaching and conducting, and to explore how participants describe and perceive these intersections. The key research question guiding this study was, How do high school instrumental music teachers describe the intersections between instrumental music teaching and conducting? This study focused on the participants’ ( N = 4) perceptions and descriptions of the intersections between instrumental music teaching and conducting. A multiple-case-study design was used. The central finding of this study suggests that the practice of instrumental music teaching demands a specialized form of knowledge that reflects the integration of, rather than the intersection between, both teaching and conducting. This specialized form of knowledge informs the participants’ in-the-moment decision making, judgments, decisions, and communication with students and the ensemble as a whole. The findings of this study suggest implications for music teacher education and conducting education, specifically in the areas of devising professional development opportunities that are systematic, multilevel, and multifaceted and that mirror the integrated nature of teaching and conducting that occurs in practice.

Influence Mechanism of Music Education on Psychological Health of Non-Music Major Students

“…The purpose of this study is to start from teaching practice and combine with on-the-spot teaching to explore the psychological regulation function of music education on non-music major students (Phillips, Chen, Diesfeld et al, 2013;Forrester, 2018). This study aims to more objectively understand the psychological state of contemporary college students in music education activities and summarize practical experiences for future teaching practice, so as to lay a foundation for schools to find more suitable teaching methods.…”

Real-Time Musical Conducting Gesture Recognition Based on a Dynamic Time Warping Classifier Using a Single-Depth Camera

“…Considerable time is required to become a professional musical conductor. In this study, we developed a musical conducting recognition system to help conducting learners improve their conducting [1]. The recognition system also helps musical performers access the orders with less limitation on playing in terms of weak eye sight and on-going tasks, such as turning a page and looking at the score.…”

Music Teacher Rankings of Selected Core Teaching Practices

“…Instrumental music teachers (N = 4) reported that developing and maintaining relationships was a key aspect of their practice, and this was the only intercase finding that was common across each of the participants. Forrester (2018) noted that this finding supports other literature that suggests relational work is an implicit philosophical and psychological framework for teaching and learning, and the interaction between teacher and student is a cornerstone to every aspect of teacher judgment, action, and reasoning (Grossman & McDonald, 2008;Lampert, 2001;Millican & Forrester, 2018). While the findings from the Delphi study (Millican & Forrester, 2018) provided a necessary first step in naming and describing core practices within music education, the authors noted additional research was needed to examine how music teachers conceptualize core teaching practices across a range of music teaching contexts and which core teaching practices are considered "must haves" for novice music teachers.…”