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Self-care is a topic that has gained traction among helping professionals. It is considered a preventive health care measure used to promote physical and mental health as well as personal well-being. In this article, I use a self-care framework created for social workers and adapt it to music educators with the intention of aiding music teachers in practicing and maintaining their own self-care. The self-care framework is categorized into two dimensions—personal and professional self-care—which each contains various domains. Pragmatic strategies grounded in relevant literature in music education are described in each category within the self-care framework. By providing a self-care framework and relevant strategies, I aim to improve knowledge of self-care practices of music teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine invited orchestras and their selected repertoire at the Midwest Clinic from 1990 through 2019. A majority of invited orchestras (N = 261) were from the United States and primarily consisted of high school musicians. The most performed piece for full orchestra was Symphony No. 8, op. 88 by Dvořák and for string orchestra was Serenade, op. 48 by Tchaikovsky. The most performed full orchestra composer was Dvořák and string orchestra composer was Balmages. The most performed arranger for full orchestra was Meyer and for string orchestra was Dackow. Female composers and arrangers were vastly underrepresented compared with males and a majority of performed pieces conformed to the Western European music tradition. Orchestra directors may use findings from this study as a reference list of the most performed full and string orchestra pieces as well as popular composers and arrangers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to survey collegiate string musicians on their use of drone accompaniments to improve intonation. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to collegiate string musicians (N = 152). Most participants reported that they used a drone accompaniment as a tool to improve their intonation and that they were introduced to it in high school. Participants indicated they used a drone accompaniment more regularly when practicing scales and arpeggios. Additionally, they believed that it was an effective technique for improving intonation, especially for scales and arpeggios. A positive-moderate relationship between reported use of a drone accompaniment in practice and its perceived effectiveness to improve intonation was found for fast passages, slow passages, and solo repertoire. A majority of participants reported that they used a tuning application on their mobile device and a dedicated metronome and tuner to produce a drone accompaniment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]