School Band Research Articles

A Century of Band Contest Literature Lists: From National Origins to the State of Florida

Band repertoire lists for the National Band Contests evolved from a desire to make school bands “more educational” in the 1920s. The national band contest repertoire lists (1924–1943) formed the basis for the wind band canon during the first half of the twentieth century. Many state band organizations developed their own lists when national contests ended after World War II. This study was an analysis of the pieces and composers that were on the Florida band contest lists, how the lists evolved, and who influenced them, especially compared to the national lists. Findings include greater diversity in Florida’s concert music committee membership than National, but likely only since 1991. The percentage of original wind band works on Florida’s lists maintained the final proportions of the National Band Contest lists (approximately 50%–53%). White male composer representation over the 75 years of lists remained extremely high (98.08% of all works), though the proportion of women composers and composers of color on annual additions since 2015 has increased dramatically.

Situational belonging in high school band ensembles and high schools

Situational belonging in high school band ensembles and high schools

Link to the Library of Congress: Extra! Extra! Read All about Student Musicians, School Bands, Orchestra Directors, Choirs, Glee Clubs, and More!

Link to the Library of Congress: Extra! Extra! Read All about Student Musicians, School Bands, Orchestra Directors, Choirs, Glee Clubs, and More!

Creating the Canon of Wind Band Literature: A History of the National Contest Literature Lists, 1924–1943

Band repertoire lists evolved from a desire to make the school band experience “more educational” when school bands themselves were relatively new. The first national band repertoire list was created for the National Band Contest in 1924, with new lists published annually through 1943. These lists gave prominence to the literature they contained, and through nationwide dissemination, the literature contained on them formed the foundation of many band libraries. This study was an analysis of the pieces and composers that were on the lists, how the lists were structured, and also the people who created them. Only 9.25 percent of the literature on the earliest lists between 1924 and 1931 had been originally composed for band, whereas 40.23 percent of literature on the lists from 1931 to 1943 had been composed for band. Only 2.58 percent of the literature on the lists was composed by women or people of color, and their works on the list were all transcriptions for band. The literature lists, designed to make band “more educational,” excluded popular styles, including jazz and ragtime. These lists were created and maintained by 41 White men between 1924 and 1943, predominantly (88.1 percent) from New York and seven states in the Midwest.

Compulsory versus voluntary extensive reading: Investigating English learners' perceptions, proficiency and school banding

AbstractReading is a core element in language education. Despite extensive research in second/foreign language (L2/FL) reading, relatively little is known about the differences between two common practices: Compulsory reading (i.e. reading assigned by teachers) and voluntary reading (i.e. self‐initiated reading). This article reports two related quantitative studies (n = 124; n = 498) investigating learners' out‐of‐class compulsory and voluntary English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language (EFL) story reading frequencies in Hong Kong. Learners' perceptions, EFL proficiency and school banding were analysed in relation to reading frequencies. It was found that the frequencies of engaging in both kinds of reading were very low. Reading frequencies and favourability towards story reading were found to be mildly to moderately correlated with proficiency. Among these variables, however, only voluntary reading significantly predicted proficiency. Students who were academically more competent showed greater favourability while those in the middle school banding reported a higher frequency of reading. The findings are discussed and implications are drawn.

Darkhearts by James L. Sutter

Reviewed by: Darkhearts by James L. Sutter Aaren Tucker Sutter, James L. Darkhearts. Wednesday/St. Martin’s, 2023 [336p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781250869746 $20.00 E-book ed. ISBN 9781250869753 $11.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 9-12 David, Chance, and their friend Eli were Darkhearts, the hottest middle school band in Seattle, until Chance’s ego and Eli’s creative control drove David to quit. Shortly after, Darkhearts were signed to a major record label and David’s two best friends [End Page 339] left him behind for a life of fame and fortune. Fame is not all it’s cracked up to be: two years later Eli has died from alcohol poisoning, and Chance and David find themselves reconnecting at his funeral. David still can’t stand arrogant, charismatic Chance, but he’s drawn in by their memories and shared grief over Eli. In spite of himself, David’s feelings soon become more than friendly, but he will have to let go of his resentment and jealousy if he wants to have a shot at something real. Sutter’s swoony YA debut ticks all the boxes of the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers trope, but this pitch-perfect pop star romance leans out of the wish-fulfillment fantasy by exploring the darker side of fame and the often exploitative behavior of people in the record industry. Sutter’s character development is expert, utilizing David’s first-person POV to reveal Chance’s personality through David’s perceptions, which inadvertently reveals more about David then he even realizes. Chance is by turns pretentious, arrogant, and vulnerable, drawn to David specifically because he can be his true self around someone who doesn’t like him anyway; bitter, sarcastic David is full of philosophical insights about everything and everyone but himself. Their relationship is built on a series of small moments and the fun they have together when they set their differences aside. This book is romance at its absolute best, exploring dark and heavy themes counterbalanced by the hope and buoyancy of falling in love. Recommend it to teens who love Simon vs. the Homo-Sapiens Agenda or who read BTS fanfiction. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Joseph E. Maddy’s Instrumental Music Lessons via Radio

The purpose of this study was to examine instrumental music lessons taught for schoolchildren over the radio by Joseph Maddy in the 1930s and early 1950s. Research questions addressed (a) conditions, circumstances, and details surrounding the lessons and (b) pedagogical principles, strategies, methods, and didactic materials utilized in these broadcasts. Maddy, a pioneer in music education and a professor at the University of Michigan, taught band instruments over WJR in Detroit beginning in February 1931. He added lessons for strings in January 1933 and continued both series for the next four years. After a successful trial over WMAQ in Chicago during the 1935–1936 school year, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) scheduled Maddy’s band lessons nationwide starting with the 1936–1937 season. Maddy expanded the program beginning fall 1937 to include winds, percussion, orchestral strings, piano, accordion, and fretted instruments. The broadcasts ended in spring 1939 due to lackluster sales of instructional materials and other factors. String lessons returned in February 1950 and continued locally through the fall of 1951 over WUOM at the University of Michigan. These programs contributed to the development of school bands and orchestras in North America and hold implications for distance learning in music today.

When social hierarchy meets hierarchical school culture: Implications for Chinese Hong Kong school leaders

This article provides school leaders with insights into within and beyond-school influences on school collaborative culture. The study examines how social demographics, and school culture prevalent in different school bandings, influence school capacities (principalleadership; shared and supportive leadership; shared values and vision; and collaborative learning). A structural equation model is constructed from 10 Hong Kong schools’ survey data to trace the path influences of the study variables. The results show that hierarchical cultures tend to prevail in lower banding schools, affecting school collaborative culture negatively. In contrast, rule-seeking cultures have a positive influence on individuals with humbler childhood family upbringing. Likewise at the individual level, unlike most risk-takers found to negatively influence school collaborative culture, English childhood home language speakers’ risk-taking values do not have a significant influence on such school capacities. Nevertheless, rule-seeking and risk-taking teachers are as likely to be recruited in schools regardless of school banding. The results have global significance on how broader social hierarchy embeds in leadership relations differentiated by school banding, with an impact on school collaborative culture. School leaders may consider leveraging leadership relations and professional development to promote school cultures that enhance collaboration at different levels of the organizational hierarchy.

Two Music Educators’ Resistance to Competition

Abstract Competition is a common practice in school bands and professional music education organizations. The purpose of this study was to describe the retrospective accounts of two high school band directors’ agency during a period of their active resistance to competition. We sought to verify and supplement their recollections with the lasting memories of multiple stakeholders involved in their programs. Research questions were: (a) What led two band directors to minimize competition and create a noncompetitive concert festival for their students? and (b) What ecological elements were salient in their agency? We collected data through interviews and document review, and we used Priestley et al.’s (2015) ecological approach to examine teacher agency as an emergent phenomenon. Themes included paradigm shift, disillusionment with the status quo, and nurturing, trusting relationships. A prescribed repertoire list, dissatisfaction with state adjudicators, and personality traits of nonconformity and open mindedness fueled the two educators’ disillusionment. We provide implications for music educators, music teacher educators, and professional organizations.

An examination of learners’ homework engagement, academic achievement, and perceptions

ABSTRACT Completing homework is a highly common task shared by nearly all primary- and secondary-level learners throughout their compulsory education globally. This mixed-methods study examined whether the estimated amount of homework completed (HW) in primary and secondary education is related to learners’ academic achievement (AA), and what learners’ perceptions of the value of homework are. 434 tertiary-level students completed a survey and 24 of them also attended follow-up individual interviews. The findings revealed no statistically significant relationships between HW and AA. Although HW was associated with school banding, we found no relationship between HW and AA when grouping the participants by banding and gender. Two themes emerged from the interviews, namely the presence/absence of the perceived value of homework and positive/negative emotions associated with homework. The findings pose some challenges to beliefs (or ‘conventional wisdom’) such as homework having an unquestionably positive impact on learning, and the more homework the better.

Exploring students' learning management system acceptance patterns: Antecedents and consequences of profile membership

Although numerous studies have revealed various mechanisms involved in users' technology acceptance behaviors, the literature lacks insights about distinct profiles of teenagers' e-learning technology acceptance and how these profiles are associated with teenagers' contextual backgrounds and continued technology use. This study fills this gap by unpacking teenagers' learning management system (LMS) acceptance patterns through three-step latent profile analysis (LPA). The results of LPA on a survey of 1180 junior secondary students from 25 Hong Kong school identified three profiles, namely: Reluctant Pattern (8%), Embracing Pattern (61%), and Affirmative Pattern (31%), with ascending acceptance of LMS. A number of contextual factors were identified as antecedents of LMS acceptance, including school factors (i.e., school banding), family factors (i.e., family socio-economic status (SES), family environment, and both parents' parenting styles), and personal factors (i.e., gender, experience, conceptions of learning, and ICT literacy). All the antecedents were significantly associated with profile membership, except for family SES and experience. In addition, the three acceptance patterns also affected consequences of LMS acceptance, represented by LMS continued use and use satisfaction. Students from Affirmative Pattern had higher satisfaction and more intensive LMS use than other acceptance patterns. The findings of this study not only contribute to theory through the development of teenagers' different latent profiles of LMS acceptance and relating these profiles to teenagers' contextual characteristics and LMS continued use, but also provide strong implications for future research on teenagers’ e-learning technology use and for practitioners to improve LMS implementation and LMS use among teenagers.

Jazz Feminism is to Soul as Purple is to Lavender

Jazz Feminism is to <i>Soul</i> as Purple is to Lavender

Soul

<i>Soul</i>

I, Jill Alexander, American Girl Revolutionary

Analyzing the insider-outsider continuum in Remembrance of the Sun (1986, 2011) by Kate Gilmore, the purpose of this paper is to reveal different levels of being a female outsider protagonist moving along the insider-outsider continuum, maintaining an outsider voice, and at the same time developing an insider perspective. Remembrance of the Sun is a historical fiction authored by an outsider and set in 1978, one year before the Islamic revolution in Iran. After moving from New England to Tehran, Jill, a seventeen-year-old American girl, struggles to adjust to an unfamiliar lifestyle. However, her experience becomes a story of love and fascination when she meets Shaheen, the charismatic Iranian boy who is the first French horn player in the high school band. Frequently, Jill as an outsider to Persian culture is aligning herself with Shaheen’s culture and their romance acts as a bridge, between two seemingly disparate cultures. Remembrance of the Sun reinforces that insider-outsider status is not fixed but situated within a continuum in a state of flux. The innocence of Jill and Shaheen’s romance moves “Jill Alexander, American girl revolutionary” (p. 170) toward the insider position. At the end, Jill, crosses American-Iranian cultural gap with her own pace.

Band Teacher Agency in a High-Stakes Performance Environment

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to investigate band teacher agency in a high-stakes performance environment. Research questions were: (1) What experiences and professional relationships were most salient in the past (iterative), present (practical-evaluative), and future (projective) dimensions of band teacher agency in a high-stakes performance environment? and (2) How did high-stakes performance practices, mediated by teacher agency, shape music teaching and learning in school bands? I used Emirbayer and Mische’s chordal triad of agency and Priestley et al.’s ecological framework of teacher agency as theoretical frameworks, and I collected data in the forms of interviews, observations, and document review in 2019. Participants’ agency emerged from their interactions with music education organizations that perpetuated a high-stakes performance environment. Powerful structures (state associations) and individual agents (band teachers) sustained each other through norms and values derived from their contextual discourse. Findings indicated that visions for holistic music-making and greater diversity and inclusion in school music must include structural changes in professional organizations. For example, state associations could enact policies that incentivize teachers to exert agency to engage students in other forms of music learning in addition to performance preparation.

The Music Practice Motivation Scale: An exploration of secondary instrumental music students’ motivation to practice

This study sought to explore high school band students’ motivation for practicing their instruments using the basic tenets of self-determination theory as a theoretical lens. Exploring levels of self-determination alongside years of musical experience, time reported practicing, grade level, gender, instrument selection, and private lesson study, this study sought to utilize the Music Practice Motivation Scale (MPMS) with a high school instrumental music population. Using multivariate analyses of variance, participants reported higher levels of intrinsic motivational beliefs toward practicing over external motivations. Extrinsically motivated students, however, were more likely to rate stronger agreement with an introjected regulation style indicating the importance of others’ views of practice on their own belief system. Despite potential issues with the fulfillment of the psychological need for autonomy, data suggest a weak correlation between private lesson study and the bolstering of intrinsic motivation. Reliability analysis demonstrated strong support for the inclusion of the MPMS in high school-level classrooms when seeking to determine and guide student self-determination to practice. Strong connections were found to support the fulfillment of psychological needs in the instrumental music classroom through targeted activities that focus on the development of intrinsic motivational beliefs focused on feelings of achievement, knowledge, and affect.

Dreaming Out Loud: Four Music Educators Dream for the Future of Music Education

Abstract In order to hold hope for a future music education profession that addresses racial inequities in music teaching, music educators must possess the tools and concepts needed to discuss race and racism. This research specifically explores how four music educators, informed by critical race theory, dream for the future of music education. Two participants identify as cisgender women; one teaches middle school band (Beth) and the other high school band (Angela). The other two participants identify as cisgender men; one teaches elementary general music (Jesse) and the other high school beat-making and songwriting in an after-school setting (Ty). Each participant engaged in an eight-session professional learning community focused explicitly on critical race theory. During the final professional learning community workshop, the participants were asked to use the new knowledge they gained to dream for the future of music education. Freedom dreaming (Kelley, 2002; New York Collective of Radical Educators, 2020) is a powerful tool to imagine a most ideal future by challenging oppressive structures. Love (2019) discusses the importance of being able to dream for a future that embraces justice and equity where students who experience systemic hardship can thrive. Critical race theory can provide a lens for music educators to critically examine their own practices as teachers and consider what equitable teaching practices look like for them. Results from this study show the importance of learning about race and racism within music education and highlight the value of emphasizing student autonomy through exploration in the music classroom.

High School Bands in Jackson, Mississippi, Before and After Integration

Although the United States Supreme Court declared segregation in education under law unconstitutional in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, the public high schools in Jackson, Mississippi, would remain segregated until 1970. The present study examines the effects of this social climate on the high school band programs in Jackson, Mississippi, during segregation and integration. Information about the band programs was investigated using in-person and telephone interviews, as well as yearbooks, books, and other print media. The implications of this study indicate that segregation had a negative effect on the segregated all-African American high school band programs in Jackson, Mississippi. This study also shows that, initially, integration had a positive effect on the previously all-white high schools in Jackson and that integration immediately had a negative impact on the previously all-African American high schools.

Relationships Among Band Festival Ratings, Director Gender, and Other Selected Factors

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among high school band festival ratings and director gender as well as school locale, school size, student socioeconomic status (SES), student race, repertoire difficulty, and ensemble name. Data included overall ratings of bands ( N = 257) that performed at District Concert Assessments held across the state of Virginia during 2019 as well as demographic information from the National Center for Education Statistics. Statistical analysis of a subset of these performances ( n = 151) revealed a statistically significant association between ratings and director gender, with male-directed ensembles more likely to receive a “I” rating than female-directed ensembles. However, hierarchical logistic regression revealed that repertoire difficulty and ensemble name were the best predictors of whether an ensemble would receive a “I” rating. Implications include the need to examine why female band directors may choose less difficult repertoire than male directors and to explore strategies for making the secondary band teaching profession more equitable and inclusive.

An Exploratory Case Study of Mindfulness Techniques in a High School Band Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of mindfulness practices on high school band students. This action research project took place in spring 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders. Four students enrolled in the high school band participated in five weeks of mindfulness practice interventions over the virtual format alongside their instrumental music director. Mindfulness practices included diaphragmatic breathing, relaxation imagery, cued relaxation, and stretching. Throughout the five weeks, student participants discussed improved focus, improvement of stress management, and increased frequency of mindfulness practice. However, four months after data collection was complete, three of the four student participants continued to practice mindfulness techniques on their own time to assist with nervousness, anxiety, and stress.