Institutions, including collegiate schools of music, tell stories about the ways in which they have transformed to include and support diverse students, but what do students say about their institution? Collegiate music students possess powerful and intimate knowledge, and their stories can reveal the lived reality of their experiences of equity and justice within the institution. The purpose of this study was to gain understanding of the ways in which music students experience equity and inequity within their school of music and to learn from them how their institution as a system impacts their experiences. The research puzzle comprised, in part, the following questions: In what ways do music students experience equity and inequity?; What institutionalized systems facilitate or hinder their sense of inclusion?; How do their stories bump up against the stories the institution tells itself about equity?To explore these questions, I engaged in a qualitative study grounded in narrative inquiry that placed the counterstories of music students in dialogue with the story of diversity and inclusion as told by their collegiate institution. Eight university music students who each self-identify as being from a marginalized group participated in conversations and ongoing dialogue with me. As this study was premised on promoting equity, participants collaborated in the writing and selection of their narratives. Placing the students’ stories and the institution’s story of equity side by side highlighted the misalignment between the institution’s espoused values and the students’ experiences. The stories raised further questions, such as: How and when do students feel silenced or empowered to speak? What makes it possible for them to challenge an institution (or not)? How do students want faculty and administrators to engage with them? In what ways does their engagement in issues of equity and justice make them susceptible to risk, and what is the risk? Through narrative inquiry, I contribute a complex and nuanced understanding of how one institution, including its school of music, perpetuates oppressive practices, opening space for students who live these experiences to lead the interrogation of—and resistance within—this and similar places.

In this study, I offer a critique of representational thought and the related concept of intentionality in the theory and practice of curriculum in arts education. I use the philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze alongside new materialist and posthumanist theory to interrogate three figures of representational thought in arts education: the art object, the curriculum as enclosure, and the transmission-acquisition theory of learning. My analysis of these figures reveals how the theory and practice of curriculum in arts education uses privileged forms of interiority—the work of art, human subjectivity, and intentional consciousness—to pre-judge difference(s) according to recognizable subject-object determinations and established values. I argue that in the guise of representational thought, such determinations often (re)produce divisions and hierarchies of the human and nonhuman that, while making differences visible and knowable, also encloses them in fixed images. In arts education, such representational enclosures produce exclusionary boundaries for participation and learning which subordinate difference to identity, matter to form, and creativity to already-given determinations of subject and object in the mind of the intending human subject. I suggest that thinking about curriculum and learning in terms of inclosure rather than enclosure may allow arts educators to create living curricular forms that respond to and affirm differences rather contain them under representational identities.

The purpose of this study was to explore Chinese preservice music teachers’music teacher role-identity. McCall and Simmons’ (1978) theory of identities and interactions served as the theoretical framework. Three research questions guided this study: How do Chinese preservice music teachers describe their music teacher role- identity, specifically, their imagined character and role as an occupant of a music teacher position? How do Chinese preservice music teachers construct their music teacher role- identity through secondary socialization? Where do Chinese preservice music teachers place their music teacher role-identity in their prominence and salience hierarchies? Twenty-five preservice music teachers from two conservatories in China participated; all had more than six months of teaching experience. Data were collected through focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Findings revealed that each of the 25 Chinese preservice teachers constructed a music teacher role-identity as the occupant of an either group or private music teacher position. These preservice teachers’ imaginative views of self-as-teacher contained shared characters, including being respectful, responsible, and fair, and also shared roles, including acting professionally in music and in teaching. Each preservice teacher appeared to be an active agent, bringing their own idiosyncratic understandings to the characters and roles of specific music teacher positions, making them unique teachers. These preservice teachers constructed their music teacher role-identities through cognitive role-taking and role improvisation, and expressive role enactment and negotiations with important audiences. They consistently balanced the content of their music teacher role-identity, negotiating which characters and roles were and were not negotiable, to balance their own and others’ needs. While each preservice teacher constructed their own music teacher role-identity, not all considered it prominent. Only those who obtained desired rewards, particularly self-support and intrinsic rewards, from enacting their music teacher role-identity placed it higher in the prominence hierarchy of their identity-set. Findings suggested preservice teachers’ salient role-identities were not fixed, but changed, depending on their own interpretations of the situation, of themselves within the situation, and of the opportunities to obtain desired rewards from the situation. Implications for music teacher education policy and practice in China are discussed.

The purpose of the study is to examine how professional growth is sustained over time through exploring a teacher’s narrative of personal and professional growth. The central question of this dissertation is: What creates sustainable and continuous positive professional change and growth in a teacher’s professional life? In this study, I discuss my journey towards understanding my practice while teaching a collegiate course and the implications of my journey for continual professional and personal growth. I used self-study methods to interrogate the personal, professional, and contextual experiences that shaped my thinking about teaching, learning, and my practice. The process of reflection was prompted by various data sources, including journal entries, storytelling, memory work, an experience matrix, concept-mapping, and education-related life histories. This self-study also includes action research projects that I conducted while teaching a college course over seven semesters. Data for action research projects included student reflective writing, observations of their learning, video recordings of group project meetings, and student value-creation stories.
Through reflection on how my personal, professional, and contextual knowledge of teaching developed, I examine how the values I held, the inquiries I undertook, and the communities in which I engaged affected my learning about teaching and shaped both my continuing professional development and who I am becoming as a teacher. Values that emerged in my teaching practice included: creating a student-friendly learning atmosphere, building a learning community, and being a reflective learner. Change agency functioned as a teacher lens and impacted student learning. I also analyzed patterns between my instructional plans, actions, and learning experiences in multiple professional communities. Professional and personal development relied not only on formal learning but was also promoted by informal learning opportunities and a personal learning process.
Findings suggest that teachers’ attempts to engage with external resources and awareness of their personal orientations as internal resources appear essential for sustainable change in teaching practice. Teacher professional growth requires exercising positive personal qualities, such as confidence, compassion, and courage, as well as resilience as an educator and a lifelong learner. Teacher reflection and self-study play a pivotal role in enabling teachers to sustain professional growth.

In this study, I sought to learn how members of college women’s choirs feel about

their choir and women’s choirs in general. Singers from 19 institutions in the American

Choral Directors Association Southern division participated. From the potential survey

population (n=986), 302 respondents participated (response rate = 28%).

These research questions guided this study:

1. How do current members of college women’s choirs feel their choir is

perceived compared to other types of choirs at their college or university and

in their community?

2. How do current members of college women’s choirs feel about singing in this

group? About women’s choirs in general?

A researcher-developed survey instrument was used to gather demographic

information and other data related to the research questions. After a pilot study, the

survey was edited for clarity. The director of choral activities and the director of the

women’s choir at each institution was contacted via email. The schools that agreed to

participate received the link to the survey and an email script to send to students. Two

weeks later, a follow-up email was sent with the same materials. Two weeks after that,

the survey window closed. The data were collected and analyzed for frequency and

percentage. While analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests found no significant differences,

the analysis of some of the independent variables, especially those having to do with the

age and experience of the singers, were highly suggestive.

In this study, women’s choir members responded positively to statements about

the value of their choir within their institutions and communities. While respondents

often indicate that women’s choirs are seen as inferior to mixed choirs, they nevertheless

enjoy the repertoire they sing and like being challenged. Respondents answered

affirmatively in Likert-scale questions about their women’s choirs and women’s choirs in

general, but answered more critically in open-ended response questions about the same

topics. The survey results echo the findings of earlier studies, amplified by the choir

members’ own opinions. The data in this study offer clear means to ensure that all

students in all choirs are proud of their work and feel equally valued.

Experienced mentor teachers that are prepared for the task of mentoring pre-service teachers are highly valued. Few studies in music education address the music teachers’ role of mentor or the music mentor’s perceptions and practices within the mentoring process. This study investigates the experiences and practices of music mentor teachers and how they construct an understanding of their mentoring role. Guiding questions were: 1) How do music teachers describe their mentoring experiences and practices? 2) What do music teachers’ descriptions of their mentoring experiences and practices reveal about their understanding of the mentoring role? and 3) What types of preparation and support do music teachers feel they need to serve in this role? Four music teacher mentors served as participants for this study. Participants described their mentoring experiences and practices in working with student teachers and responded to questions in three in-depth interviews over three semesters. Each interview was audio-recorded, transcribed, and verified for accuracy and clarification. Findings indicate that 1) Mentors tend to rely on their own student teaching experience and beliefs about teaching when working with student teachers; 2) Mentors construct their own conceptions of the mentor role, mentoring style and relationships based on personality and their beliefs about what mentoring is and is not; 3) The rewards of mentoring are closely tied to student teacher growth and successful relationships, and challenged by issues of time and student teacher readiness; and 4) Learning to mentor is like learning to teach. It is a process learned over time and requires experience. Music education programs and teacher educators should consider preparing student teachers and the cooperating mentor teachers who work with them, by discussing mentor relationships and role expectations within the student teacher triad.

This study examined the forty-five year history of a rural band program in Coolidge, Arizona from 1935–1980. Research questions included investigation into the band’s place in the diverse populations with whom they interacted, the stakeholders, and support from the community. Circumstances of the creation of the town, the high school and band, the stakeholders involved in those processes, the ensembles (including learning and teaching), and outside influences such as national level music policies, ecological, and socio-political events were a necessary part of the study. High school yearbooks, student-written newspapers, and local newspapers were consulted for the bulk of the primary-source data. Other sources were also used to corroborate biographical information about band directors, administrators, and influencers outside of Coolidge High School. The most significant finding was that over the forty-five years investigated, the unwavering community support sustained a strong music program in the rural town, even though teacher turnover was high. Publicly demonstrating learning and teaching, the Coolidge High School Band program engaged the local community with numerous performances, drew positive attention from state-level community, and was recognized outside of Arizona at least once regionally. The local community demonstrated tremendous support for the band program over the years, including constant communication in the newspapers, attendance at performances, providing of scholarships, and approval of various bond elections to improve facilities that would be used by the band. More research is recommended on rural music programs and community engagement.

Since the 1980s, interest in the cognitive and affective influences on teaching has initiated studies on teacher beliefs and practices. Studies of teacher beliefs in academic areas such as reading, math, social studies, and science are prolific. However, studies about the teacher beliefs and practices of music teachers are scarce. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore the teacher beliefs of middle school orchestra teachers and to examine how their self-reported and observed teaching practices reflect these beliefs.

Based on the work of foreign language education researcher Simon Borg (2003) a conceptual framework was developed that shows the various sources of teacher beliefs and practices, including formative preservice musical experiences, inservice contextual factors, and inservice professional development. Employing a qualitative multiple case study method, six purposely-selected middle school orchestra teachers, representing a variety of experience levels and program characteristics, shared their teacher beliefs and practices. Data generation included observations, interviews, stimulated recall (think aloud teacher commentary of videotaped teaching episodes), and written reflection surveys. During analysis, six core teacher beliefs about middle school string students and how they learn were identified. These beliefs guided the teachers’ observed practices.

Findings from this study illustrated that preservice formative musical experiences influenced the middle school orchestra teachers’ beliefs about the value and importance of music teaching as a career. Data from the participants revealed a wide variety of instructional practices emanating from largely similar core pedagogical beliefs. Analysis suggested that experienced teachers held more developed teacher beliefs, and they selected instructional practices carefully, where inexperienced teachers were still formulating their own beliefs and experimenting with instructional practices. Data from the study point out that contextual constraints sometimes prevent teachers from enacting their closely held beliefs. This incongruence influenced three of the six participants to change teaching positions or retire early from the education profession.

The study of music teacher beliefs and practices may be of interest to preservice and inservice music teachers and music teacher educators. Future studies may explore the relationship between teacher beliefs and practices and student achievement, and contribute to string music education research.

Previous researchers documented that music teachers negotiate their identities throughout their career, but none of these studies examined identity negotiation from the perspective of both music teachers and their students. Assuming that music teachers and students negotiate their identities through the same interactions, how do music teachers and students together shape their social context and continually pursue possibilities for who they are becoming? I conducted an instrumental case study to explore the encounters of one veteran orchestra teacher—Steve—with three of his students to understand how they negotiated their identities together and pursued possibilities for who they were becoming. I used strong structuration theory (Stones, 2005) as a theoretical lens to organize and frame my study.

Each time Steve assessed students and placed them within the orchestra’s seating hierarchy, he experienced a tension in his identity as a music teacher. To relieve this tension, Steve changed the orchestra seating structure from a hierarchical-ranked structure to a randomized-rotating structure. This allowed him to provide individualized feedback to students as they rotated into the front row without issuing social sanctions. But this structural change also disrupted some of the students’ identities as musicians and the labels they used to position themselves in orchestra. Steve’s insistence that the student sitting in first-chair was the “leader for the day” continued an element of the hierarchical seating that conflicted with the students’ understandings of meritocracy and leadership. Additionally, by decoupling the students’ seating from the playing tests, Steve delegitimized his primary form of assessment. Based on my findings, I discuss implications for music education practice, and music teacher education.

This study examined discussion forum posts within a website dedicated to a medium and genre of music (chiptunes) with potential for music-centered making, a phrase I use to describe maker culture practices that revolve around music-related purposes. Three research questions guided this study: (1) What chiptune-related practices did members of chipmusic.org discuss between December 30th, 2009 and November 13th, 2017? (2) What do chipmusic.org discussion forum posts reveal about the multidisciplinary aspects of chiptunes? (3) What import might music-centered making evident within chipmusic.org discussion forum posts hold for music education? To address these research questions, I engaged in corpus-assisted discourse analysis tools and techniques to reveal and analyze patterns of discourse within 245,098 discussion forum posts within chipmusic.org. The analysis cycle consisted of (a) using corpus analysis techniques to reveal patterns of discourse across and within data consisting of 10,892,645 words, and (b) using discourse analysis techniques for a close reading of revealed patterns.

Findings revealed seven interconnected themes of chiptune-related practices: (a) composition practices, (b) performance practices, (c) maker practices, (d) coding practices, (e) entrepreneurial practices, (f), visual art practices, and (g) community practices. Members of chipmusic.org primarily discussed composing and performing chiptunes on a variety of instruments, as well as through retro computer and video game hardware. Members also discussed modifying and creating hardware and software for a multitude of electronic devices. Some members engaged in entrepreneurial practices to promote, sell, buy, and trade with other members. Throughout each of the revealed themes, members engaged in visual art practices, as well as community practices such as collective learning, collaborating, constructive criticism, competitive events, and collective efficacy.

Findings suggest the revealed themes incorporated practices from a multitude of academic disciplines or fields of study for music-related purposes. However, I argue that many of the music-related practices people discussed within chipmusic.org are not apparent within music education discourse, curricula, or standards. I call for an expansion of music education discourse and practices to include additional ways of being musical through practices that might borrow from multiple academic disciplines or fields of study for music-related purposes.