Music Education/Music Therapy Electronic Theses and Dissertations (UMKC)
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The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of Music Education/Music Therapy. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Kansas City. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Item Eyes on the conductor: understanding musicians’ visual focus of attention while viewing a conductor(2025) Brown, Abbie Dawn; Hamilton, Lani M.; Parisi, JosephThis paper explores the relationship between ensemble musicians and conductors, focusing on the visual attention and cognitive processes involved in interpreting conducting gestures. Through a review of existing literature, we establish a foundational understanding of how musicians allocate attention and process visual cues from a conductor in real-time performance. Chapter 1 discusses the perceptual demands placed on musicians, emphasizing the importance of attentional resources needed to accurately respond to a conductor's gestures. Chapter 2 presents a study on the visual focus of ensemble musicians during a live rehearsal, revealing how musicians engage with the conductor’s face, hands, and baton to track tempo, expressivity, and musical coordination. Chapter 3 details a pilot study that laid the groundwork for investigating musicians' visual attention patterns when viewing conductors through eye-tracking technology, providing insights into the effectiveness of controlled experimental setups. Chapter 4 expands the pilot study by examining how musicians allocate attention to various focal points of the conductor, finding that the face and torso are prioritized in the interpretation of conducting gestures, with the baton receiving comparatively less focus. Collectively, the findings highlight the complex, goal-directed nature of visual engagement in ensemble performance, offering valuable insights into how musicians navigate the conductor-performer interaction to achieve synchronization and expressive performance.Item Qualities of Impactful Mentors in Music Education: A Narrative Investigation of the Recollections of New Horizons Band Members(2022) Unnerstall, Grant; Parisi, Joseph; Schlein, CandaceFor this research, the author interviewed 10 volunteers who were members of the Roeland Park New Horizons Band in order to discover how they would describe the role of an impactful music educator in their lives, based on their own personal experiences. The interviews were conducted virtually using Zoom technology in one-on-one interview sessions with each study participant. During these individual interviews the author asked participants specific, pre-determined questions about their personal perspectives regarding qualities of an impactful music educator in their lives. This naturalistic study on the individual perceptions of the concepts behind impactful teaching is primarily qualitative methodology, implementing the data collection method of observing participants' individual reactions and retellings of their specific memories. The primary research question to be answered throughout this study is: How do selected members of a New Horizons Band describe the role of a single impactful music educator recalled as a mentor from their earlier life? Ultimately, this project seeks to focus a discussion on the importance of the memories that students make and the learning that students take away from any given educational experience. As the research from this work will show, oftentimes educators influence students in ways that are not always academic in nature. The proof of this narrative lies in the “stories of experience” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990) gleaned from [or collected from] every participant featured in this project.Item Choral Directors’ Experiences with Gender-Inclusive Teaching Practices Among Transgender Students(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2019) Cates, Dustin Stephen; Robinson, Charles R. (Charles Rufus)As adolescent gender identity expands to encompass non-binary forms of gender expression in contemporary social contexts, some music educators are beginning to examine their role in fostering an environment that is affirming of gender diversity. Anecdotal observations of choral music practices in US schools indicate some changes occurring in the naming of ensembles, the categories used to describe voicing of choral music, the gender terminology used by choral directors during instruction, and overall program structure and function. The purpose of this study was to examine school choral directors’ self-reported gender-inclusive teaching practices and confidence in teaching transgender students. Gender inclusive teaching practices reported in extant research were used to develop an online survey instrument for data collection. The survey contained a total of 39 items including questions regarding experience teaching singers who identify as transgender, gender inclusive instructional practices, and confidence in teaching students who identify as transgender. Study participants were choral directors (N = 227) currently teaching in secondary schools in the United States. Results indicated that a majority of participants were currently engaging in gender-inclusive teaching practices and that they had moderate confidence in the use of these approaches. Participants reported use of gender-inclusive language as an area of high confidence and the impact of medical and non-medical interventions on the singing voice as an area of least confidence. Results also suggested that choral directors who engaged in formal training experiences such as professional development, conference presentations, or in the context of a college course, reported higher levels of confidence in their ability to teach a singer who identified as transgender.Item Music Education Professors’ Beliefs Regarding Essential Musical, Academic, and Emotional Skills in Undergraduate Music Education(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017) McGinnis, Emily Jane; Parisi, JosephUndergraduate music education majors sometimes lack the musical, academic, or emotional skills needed to successfully complete the degree program. Improvement in academic and emotional skills has been shown to have a positive effect on cognitive skill development, ease college transition, improve college retention, contribute to physical and mental health, and impact job success (Cunha & Heckman, 2010; Davidson, 2015; Kautz & Zanoni, 2014). Furthermore, past research indicates these skills are malleable into adulthood and can be effectively taught at the collegiate level (Cunha & Heckman, 2010; Davidson, 2015; Kautz, Heckman, Diris, ter Weel, & Borghans, 2014). The present study collected responses from music education professors to determine (1) Beliefs regarding essential musical, academic, and emotional skills needed for undergraduate music education majors to complete the degree successfully, (2) Beliefs about the teachability of these skills and whether they are taught at participants’ institutions, and (3) Strategies and learning activities to help students develop these skills. Professors (n = 287) who teach undergraduate music education courses were surveyed to discover what they believed to be the most essential skill in each of three areas: musical, academic, and emotional. They indicated whether they believed these skills are teachable and whether they are taught at their institutions, then provided an example of how one of their cited skills is taught. The following skills were most frequently cited: aural skills, musicality/musicianship, literacy (reading and writing), empathy, and perseverance. Musical skills were believed to be the most teachable and most frequently taught, followed by academic skills, then emotional skills. Some commonalities among teaching strategies emerged, as well as some unique examples. These findings are relevant to music education professors when considering curricular strategies that may best help their students successfully complete the degree program. The findings may also benefit current and prospective music education majors as they examine, develop, and refine the particular skills necessary to be a successful music education major.Item Cooperating Music Teachers’ Opinions Regarding the Importance of Selected Traits as Predictors of Successful Student Teaching Experiences(2016) Edelman, Philip Benjamin; Robinson, Charles R. (Charles Rufus)The purpose of the study was to determine the perceptions of cooperating mentor teachers regarding the importance of certain teacher traits as predictors of a successful student teaching experience. The data collection tool used in this study was an online survey which participants could complete online in approximately 10-15 minutes. The entire survey included 91 total questions; however, participants were presented with 54 questions to answer based on their responses to previous questions. The 54 questions included a consent statement, 40 four-point Likert-type scale responses, three multiple-selection questions, three open-ended responses, and seven demographic questions. The population targeted for this study was cooperating mentor teachers for preservice music education majors throughout the United States. Recruitment methods for this study included a combination of snowball sampling and an email soliciting participation that was sent nation-wide to music educators across the United States through the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). The snowball sampling method resulted in approximately 100 participants and the rest were recruited through the solicitation sent email by NAfME. Surveys from participants who either did not complete the survey fully, or who did not fit the inclusion criteria were discarded, resulting in a total of 519 surveys analyzed for this study. A combination of descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze participant data. Descriptive data were utilized to construct ranked lists of teacher traits based on the mean importance ratings of each respondent group. Inferential statistics used in this study included Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests and post-hoc protected t-tests. Cooperating teachers assigned highest importance ratings to the following teacher traits: demonstrating appropriate social behavior, stress management, fostering appropriate student behavior, establishing a positive rapport with others, and enthusiasm. Comparisons among band, orchestra, choral and general music teachers yielded the most variability when examining teacher traits as ordered lists based on the mean ratings of cooperating teachers. All participant groups rated personal traits as most important, followed by teaching traits, then musical traits. Content analyses of open-ended questions revealed that no teacher traits had a universal meaning or description among participants in this study.