Believe in Yourself: A Case Study of Exemplary Music Teaching.

This case study addresses the need for qualitative descriptions of effective music teaching and explores exemplary elementary general music teaching. An elementary general music teacher with 23 years of experience was observed teaching sixth graders for 10 weeks of instruction and was interviewed before and after each observation. Patterns in teaching were compared to elements found in a musical composition called a fugue. The participant's teaching was represented in several phases. The first section of the compositional model began with the statement "believe in yourself" which informed the entirety of his teaching. Following this, ideas and concepts such as beliefs, representations of the content and stance, were directly stated or visible to students--ideas were manipulated and tested in various ways. The third section was a restatement of ideas from the first section, but with a focus on students. Two implications are highlighted for the potential to inform current and future research. First, studies originating from a musical context have the potential to make unique contributions to a growing body of research in teaching; and second, as a result of multiple years of experiences with students, arts educators can build upon past learning to provide essential experiences for students. (Contains approximately 60 references.) (AA)