MENC Handbook of Research on Music Learning

Lee Bartel, Associate Professor, University of Toronto; Director, Canadian Music Education Research Centre Learning in relation to music is a highly complex process and understanding this process from a theoretical, curricular, and pedagogical perspective raises enormous challenges for scholars, teachers, and students. In this book a stellar international cast of leaders in music education systematically addresses important facets of music learning with comprehensive reviews of the current research base for each topic. Instructional aspects such as listening, reading, movement, and music making are surrounded with thorough reviews of learning theory, curriculum, and consideration of special learner levels and types. Colwell and Webster have created an invaluable and essential resource that should be in the hands of every music educator and scholar.

Robert Cutietta, Dean, Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California Thinking in the field of music education has expanded in unprecedented ways with the start of the new century. This handbook captures and portrays many of the new avenues of thought that underlie the practice of music education. Highly readable, yet with the depth of thought and insight one expects from the most scholarly of works, this book provides the perfect 'jumping off point' for many new and exciting areas of research. The book brings together some of the best and current research in the field, combines it with relevant research from outside the field, to produce an interdisciplinary view of the theories and perspectives that drive music education. This is a 'must have' book for graduate students and advanced scholars in the field.

Choice The essays offer valuable insights from researchers and practitioners on how people learn music and, thus, on how music is or should be taught. This work will be welcomed by scholars and practitioners of music education, who continually assess music teaching and strive to make it better...Recommended.

Richard Colwell is Professor Emeritus of Music Education at the University of Illinois and the New England Conservatory of Music. He is the founding editor of the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education and the Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning. He is also a Guggenheim scholar and a member of MENC's Hall of Fame. He is co-editor of The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, as well as editor of The MENC Handbook of Research Metholodolgoies and The MENC Handbook of Musical Cognition and Development.Peter R. Webster is Professor of Music Education and Director of the Center for Music Technology at Northwestern University School of Music, and co-author (with David Brian Williams) of Experiencing Music Technology

CONTRIBUTORS; 1. How Learning Theories Shape Our Understanding of Music Learners. Susan A. O'Neill and Yaroslav Senyshyn; 2. Construction of Music Learning. Peter R. Webster; 3. Roles of Direct Instruction, Critical Thinking, and Transfer in the Design of Curriculum for Music Learning. Richard Colwell; 4. Musical Development: Revisiting a Generic Theory. Keith Swanwick; 5. Biological and Environmental Factors in Music Cognition and Learning. Steven M. Demorest; 6. Motivation and Achievement. Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, Martin L. Maehr, and Paul R. Pintrich; 7. Motivation to Learn Music: A Discussion of Some Key Elements. Bret P. Smith; INDEX