The global pandemic caused by the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in spring 2020 resulted in schools moving to remote learning (RL) models for the remainder of the academic year. The purpose of this ...study was to examine the practices, experiences, and perspectives of elementary and secondary school band directors in relation to RL during this period. Directors (N = 462) responded to survey questions related to several aspects of RL, including (a) technologies and materials, (b) activities and assessments, (c) student participation, (d) the challenges of teaching remotely, and (e) the extent to which experiences varied among participants in low-poverty versus high-poverty schools and at the elementary/middle school level versus high school level. I also examined (f) the conditions and practices of programs that experienced both high and consistent levels of student participation. Data indicated that the COVID-19 shutdown created many challenges for directors, particularly in schools with higher poverty levels and/or in rural locations. However, RL also created opportunities for instrumental teachers to incorporate into curricula (a) a wider range of technology; (b) more of a focus on individual musicianship; (c) lessons in music theory, history, and culture; and to a lesser extent, (d) student creativity through composition and arranging.
Around the world, musical engagement frequently involves movement. Most adults easily clap or sway to a wide range of tempos, even without formal musical training. The link between movement and music ...emerges early-young infants move more rhythmically to music than speech, but do not reliably align their movements to the beat. Laboratory work encouraging specific motor patterns (e.g., drumming, tapping) demonstrates that toddlers and young children's movements are affected by music in a rudimentary way, such that they move faster to faster rhythms (tempo flexibility). In the present study, we developed and implemented a novel home recording method to investigate how musical familiarity and tempo affect children's naturalistic free-dance movements. Caregivers made home recordings of their children's responses to an experimenter-created playlist (N = 83, age range = 1.25 to 3.91 years, Mage = 2.39 years, SD = .74 years; 41 girls, 42 boys; 75% of household incomes > $90 000 CAD). Children listened to 1-min excerpts of their favorite music and unfamiliar, genre-matched music, each played at 90, 120, and 150 bpm (pitch constant; order randomized). Children moved faster to faster music and demonstrated tempo flexibility for both favorite and unfamiliar music. Favorite music encouraged more smiling across tempo conditions than unfamiliar music, as well as more dancing in the slowest tempo condition. Results demonstrate that young children's self-selected movements are affected by musical tempo and familiarity. We also demonstrate the usefulness of a naturalistic home recording method for assessing early auditory-motor integration.
In K-12 schools, classes are forced to transform online due to the class suspension amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators began to design alternative ways to conduct some meaningful learning ...activities for their students. However, not all subject disciplines could be easily transformed online, especially for those requiring much social interaction and creation processes. In this article, we explore the learning processes through learning Shubailan, a form of music folk-talk-singing, with a mobile instrument application called muyu in an online flipped classroom among 122 secondary school students in Hong Kong. The opportunities can encourage students to learn music theories and instruments about Shubailan, and create a Shubailan piece through 6-lesson music learning. To gain more online face-to-face time for collaboration, flipping the online classroom is adopted in this study to engage students in lesson preparations via preassigned recorded videos and collaborative activities during face-to-face online lessons. In this study, a mixed research method was employed with the use of a learning satisfaction survey, teachers’ observations and semi-structured interviews. We found that this strategy could effectively motivate students to learn music and improve their music knowledge in Shubailan. This article presents evidence of implementing the online flipped classroom approach to enhance students’ satisfaction and knowledge acquisition throughout Shubailan music making processes, and offers recommendations for online music educators. Results provide a set of innovative pedagogical approaches to teach music in an online alternative mode during the difficult times.
Drawing extensively on the expertise of teachers of German in universities across the UK, this volume offers an overview of recent trends, new pedagogical approaches and practical guidance for ...teaching at beginners level in the higher education classroom. At a time when entries for UK school exams in modern foreign languages are decreasing, this book serves the urgent need for research and guidance on "ab initio" learning and teaching in HE. Using the example of teaching German, it offers theoretical reflections on teaching "ab initio" and practice-oriented approaches that will be useful for teachers of both German and other languages in higher education. The first chapters assess the role of "ab initio" provision within the wider context of modern languages departments and language centres. They are followed by sections on teaching methods and innovative approaches in the "ab initio" classroom that include chapters on the use of music, textbook evaluation, the effective use of a flipped classroom and the contribution of language apps. Finally, the book focuses on the learner in the "ab initio" context and explores issues around autonomy and learner strengths. The whole builds into a theoretically grounded guide that sketches out perspectives for teaching and learning "ab initio" languages that will benefit current and future generations of students.
Rhythmic activities such as joint music-making and synchronous moving are known to produce prosocial effects in both adults and children, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. One possible ...mechanism is that the time-locked, fine-grained coordination characteristic of rhythmic activities plays a key role in producing powerful prosocial effects. The present study investigated how coordination in a joint music-making task would influence kindergarteners' prosociality toward both coperformers and unaffiliated strangers. The study involved 138 Chinese children (72 girls, M = 5 years and 6 months, range = 5.0 to 6.0 years) from urban middle-class families. Participants were paired and instructed to play percussion instruments in alternation accompanying a song. In the fine-grained coordination condition, the dyad alternated every measure, resulting in a moment-to-moment coordinative experience; in the coarse-grained coordination condition where the coordination was sparser, the dyad alternated every eight measures. Children in the fine-grained coordination condition were subsequently more willing to help their partner complete a block-assembly task and more generous in sharing stickers with unknown children in a dictator game, compared with children in the coarse-grained coordination condition. These findings demonstrate that fine-grained coordination in rhythmic activities increases prosociality above and beyond having a shared goal of coperforming, supporting that coordination is an integral part of the prosocial mechanism. The prosocial effects of joint rhythmic activities generalized beyond the coperformers to anonymous strangers, indicating that the role of coordination may change from directing specific bonding in infancy to encouraging general prosociality from early childhood and onward.
This research note is part of the thematic section, Giving Back in Solidarity, in the special issue titled “Giving Back in Field Research,” published as Volume 10, Issue 2 in the Journal of Research ...Practice.
This paper examines inequalities in attainment in vocabulary and mathematics at age 16 for a nationally representative cohort of people born in Britain in 1970 (the 1970 British Cohort Study). Our ...analytical sample is n = 3,583 cohort members who completed vocabulary and mathematics tests at age 16. We explore whether inequalities as a result of childhood social background are similar across the linguistic and mathematical domains, or whether they differ, and to what extent these inequalities are accounted for by families' social class position, parents' education and home reading resources, as well as by children's own reading for pleasure. As reading can be seen as an indicator of 'cultural capital', we also test the influence of an alternative indicator of cultural capital, playing a musical instrument. Our longitudinal analysis addresses the question of the extent to which differences in attainment are determined by age 10; and which factors are linked to a growth in differentials during adolescence. We show that childhood reading is linked to substantial cognitive progress between the ages of 10 and 16, whereas playing an instrument is not. Reading is most strongly linked to progress in vocabulary, with a weaker, but still substantial link to progress in mathematics. Strikingly, reading for pleasure is more strongly linked than parental education to cognitive progress in adolescence.
For gender-diverse (GD) college marching band (MB) artists, the risks for anxiety and depression may be higher as they navigate the demands and stressors associated with MB, college, and their gender ...identity.
To examine the risks of anxiety and depression across GD MB artists and to explore their barriers and attitudes toward seeking mental health (MH) care.
Cross-sectional study.
Online survey.
Seventy-eight GD individuals (transgender = 12, nonbinary = 66, age = 19 ± 1 years).
A survey was used to assess demographics, anxiety risk using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, depression risk using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and barriers and attitudes using the Barriers Towards Seeking Help Checklist, the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form, and the Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale. We calculated descriptive statistics and univariate analyses to evaluate scores, risks, and differences between MH and receiving assistance.
Participants had high state anxiety (mean = 52.0 ± 112.1), trait anxiety (mean = 55.2 ± 10.0), and symptoms of depression (mean = 30.4 ± 12.0) based on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Overall, 78.2% (n = 61 of 78) of GD MB artists were considered at risk for both state and trait anxiety and depression, and 18% (n = 11 of 61) did not seek help from an MH professional. These GD MB artists cited a lack of time (82.1%; n = 64 of 78) as the primary barrier to seeking professional help. The mean score on the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form for all GD artists was 19.5 ± 5.0, and the total score for the Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale was 47.8 ± 9.2, which indicated more favorable attitudes toward seeking professional help.
We identified high rates of clinical symptoms for depression and anxiety among GD MB artists. The data are consistent with those from other minority populations and above the normative values for cisgender students. The lack of help-seeking behaviors in nearly 15% of at-risk participants highlights the need for specialized resources for GD patients and those participating in MB.
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