Search

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of mental practice, physical practice, and mental and physical practice combined on the ability to create melodic jazz solos within chord progressions, possessing relatively simple or complex harmonic characteristics. We also explored whether improvisation achievement varied as a function of general mental imagery ability. Fifty-six jazz studies majors from two large North American universities were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions (physical practice, mental practice, or physical and mental practice combined) and tasked with preparing melodic improvised solos over two sets of chord changes that varied in complexity (i.e., simple vs. complex). The participants' solos were rated for melodic jazz improvisation achievement by two expert-level professional jazz artists. Participants also completed a self-report questionnaire that captured the degree of the vividness of their visual, aural, cutaneous, kinesthetic, and organic mental imagery. We did not find significant differences in melodic improvisation achievement as a function of practice condition nor did we find that chord progression complexity moderated the effect of practice condition. However, significant differences were detected as a function of chord progression complexity. Theoretical avenues for designing future experiments are discussed in-depth with respect to the typical practice approaches jazz musicians use when developing improvised solos, issues of closed- versus open-class motor skills, cognitive load, and expert memory storage and retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is an examination of the effects of an authentic-context learning experience on the teaching motivation, efficacy, career commitment, and identity of high school instrumental music students (N = 9). This study is a replication and extension of the investigation of a music teacher recruitment program began by Austin & Miksza (in press). The participants served as sectional coaches alongside undergraduate music education students in a 12-week, university-sponsored middle school band and orchestra outreach program. Participants completed measures of (a) intrinsic and social motivation for teaching, (b) instructional strategy and classroom management efficacy, (c) commitment to teaching, and (d) music teacher identity one week before and after the program. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants reporting the least and most commitment to music teaching as well as a participant who reported the greatest changes in teacher commitment from the start to end of the program. A significant increase in teaching commitment was found among the sample from the start to end of the program (p < .05). A strong, significant positive correlation was found between instructional strategy and classroom management efficacy (rho = .92,p < .01). Interview results suggest several potential avenues for music teacher recruitment, music teacher education, and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to develop and test the construct validity and reliability of a self-report measure of self-regulated practice behaviors for beginning and intermediate instrumentalists. A questionnaire was designed to assess the motive, method, behavior, time management, and social influences dimensions of the theoretical model of self-regulation proposed by McPherson and Zimmerman. The questionnaire's construct validity was tested using confirmatory factor analysis, and a preliminary assessment of predictive validity was estimated by correlating the measure with self-reported practice habits. The measure's reliability in regard to internal consistency and consistency over time was assessed as well. The sample consisted of middle school band students in grades 6 to 8 (N = 302). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a model including factors representing the dimensions self-efficacy, method/behavior combined, time management, and social influences was the best fit. Cronbach's alpha and test -- retest reliability results indicated good to excellent consistency across all self-regulation subscales, with coefficients ranging from .76 to .90. Significant correlations (p > .001) between the self-regulation subscales and self-reported practice habits (i.e., time spent practicing, average daily practice efficiency, percentage of time spent on formal practice) provided preliminary evidence of predictive validity of the measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a longitudinal investigation of the relationships among music participation (i.e., band, chorus, orchestra), socioeconomic status (SES) and standardized measures of academic achievement (i.e., math, reading, social studies, science) in a national sample of American high school students (N = 5335). The data used for this study were drawn from the first three waves (i.e., 8th, 10th and 12th grade) of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (US. Department of Education). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze inter- and intra-individual differences in academic achievement over time. The final model included music participation and SES as significant predictors. Results indicated that music participants began the study with significantly higher academic achievement scores in all subjects and maintained higher scores over time. Although SES was found to be significant predictor, the variance explained by the interaction of SES and music participation was found to be negligible. The results confirmed those of previous studies linking music participation and academic achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an investigation of relationships among impulsiveness, locus of control, sex, observed practice behaviors, practice effectiveness, and self-reported practice habits in a sample of 40 college brass players. Practice effectiveness was defined by the amount of change in pretest and posttest performance achievement scores over one 23-minute practice session. Each subject's practice session was analyzed for frequency of practice behaviors. Measures included the Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire for Adults (1985), the Nowicki-Duke Locus of Control Scale for Adults (1974), and a researcher-designed practice questionnaire. Results indicated (a) a significant interaction effect (p < .01) between performance achievement and impulsiveness, with subjects in the low-impulsive group outperforming those in the high-impulsive group; (b) a significant relationship (p < .01) between subjects' locus of control and impulsiveness scores; (c) no significant differences (p > .05) in impulsiveness, locus of control, or performance achievement by sex; (d) significant relationships (p < .05) between performance achievement and the observed practice behaviors "repeat section, " "whole-part-whole, " "marks part, " and "varying pitch"; and (e) no significant relations (p > .05) between amount of time spent playing during the practice session in the study and performance achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]