Where is all of the Native American Choral Music, and which undergrad courses are the most valuable?- Music Ed Research Report July 2024
Introducing the latest addition to our Choralosophy Community list of contributors. Ellie Johnson is doing the work of summarizing the latest research in Music Ed so you don't have to.
Hello again from the MERFY podcast, Choralosophy Community!
Here’s your July report on a few music education research studies you can learn more about on the MERFY pod.
This is a PACKED round-up of episodes and studies that speak to important topics in choral education today: thoughtful programming, student retention, effective teacher training, teacher burnout, and teacher agency.
Episode 21: GUEST SPECIAL with Dr. Mary Young - The Case for Native American Choral Music
In what may just be my favorite episode of the MERFY pod yet, Dr. Mary Young joins me to share her work with and for Native American choral composers and arrangers. She shares insights and stories from her research, her experiences organizing the very first First Nations Choral Festival, and what she believes is next for Native American choral scholarship. Mary gives us ideas for seeking out works by Indigenous American composers and arrangers as well as some notable names to include as we look ahead toward our next concert programs.
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Watch for her forthcoming, co-edited Native American choral series with Hinshaw publishing.
Here’s a link to Dr. Young’s doctoral document which contains information and resources for conductors looking to incorporate Native American choral music, available through ProQuest.
Check back here monthly for your Music Ed Research updates from the MERFY Pod!
Episode 14: A Longitudinal Study About Who Stays in Music from Middle to High School
In this episode, I discuss a 2023 study from the Journal of Research in Music Education called “Who Takes Music With Them When They Transition to High School?” by Tevis L. Tucker and Adam Winsler. This study included data from 3,393 diverse, predominantly low-income 8th grade participants from a large longitudinal data set to examine who among them persists in school music-making from 8th to 9th grade. Among the more devastating findings were a 24.5% overall retention rate - a roughly 1 in 4 persistence rate from 8th to 9th grade student musicians. However, there were many encouraging findings among the predictors, including that students with disabilities were found to be more likely to persist in music-making. Overall results seem to suggest that recruitment and retention strategies need to differ - for example, economic status was not a predictor for band student retention from 8th to 9th grade, but was potentially a predictor for being successfully recruited into the school band in the first place. Recruitment is important for growing programs (hard to retain someone who hasn’t been recruited…), but this study demonstrates that retention efforts need a little focused TLC as well.
Tucker, T. L., & Winsler, A. (2023). Who Takes Music With Them When They Transition to High School? Journal of Research in Music Education, 71(1), 22–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224294221121053
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Episode 20: What undergraduate courses hold the most value for active music teachers?
This episode is all about a 2016 study from the Journal of Music Teacher Education titled, “Perceptions of Course Value and Issues of Specialization in Undergraduate Music Teacher Education Curricula” by Timothy J. Groulx. This study gives us someinteresting insights into the catch-22 created when undergraduate programs are asked to balance students’ desire for specialization with the demands of broad licensure requirements and the realities of the K-12 music job market. While participants called for more opportunities to hone specialized skills during their undergraduate education, a whopping 83% reported teaching outside of their specialization at some point during their career. So - what do we do? What do you think?
Groulx, T. J. (2016). Perceptions of Course Value and Issues of Specialization in Undergraduate Music Teacher Education Curricula. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 25(2), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1057083714564874
Here, I cover a 2023 study from the Journal of Research in Music Education called, “Burnout and Perceived Agency Among Texas Choir Teachers” by Jessica Napoles, Jamey Kelley, and Thomas J. Rinn. These researchers explored the potential relationship between burnout and music teacher agency. They used a more nuanced (and, I think, helpful) understanding of burnout that defines the experience according to three key dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization/cynicism, and reduced personal accomplishment. SPOILER ALERT - teacher agency was related to all three dimensions in ways that suggest stakeholders and administrators could look at increasing teacher agency as one positive move toward mitigating music teacher burnout.
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Nápoles, J., Kelley, J., & Rinn, T. J. (2023). Burnout and Perceived Agency Among Texas Choir Teachers. Journal of Research in Music Education, 71(3), 283–296. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224294221126889
