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Kelsey DiGregorio
Jessica Harrell
English 4 Honors
October 21, 2014

Research Questions: What must a music educator do to ensure their student(s) is/are receiving
the best education possible?
Working Thesis Statement: In order to learn to their full advantage, a student must be taught
using many different techniques.
Refined Thesis Statement: A music educator must include visuals, sounds, art, history, and
physical movement to ensure their students are receiving and absorbing (in all possible ways)
useful information to become a more knowledgeable and exceptional musician.
Annotated Bibliography

1.) Teaching Music to the Non-Major: A Review of the Literature By: Enz, Nicholas J., Update: Applications of
Research in Music Education, 87551233, 20131101, Vol. 32, Issue 1

When musical training seemed to hit a dead end, it was decided by several composers,
teachers, and performers that new methods of teaching would need to be discovered and applied
to music students. Creating art and experiencing art educate feeling. Bennett Reimer. Using
art to help visualize a certain emotion can help a student create an idea of what kind of color
they would like to make out of their music. The art may represent a certain time-period, which
they will visualize in their minds to create the full effect for themselves when remembering
which style of music, which dynamics, and which technique would be most appropriate for that

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particular performance. Certain sounds may also play an important role in music education. For
example, a student who listens to multiple songs from each genre and/or time period will have a
better understanding of what was common in music during that time. They will also be able to
connect other songs and genres of music with each other by knowing which tunes or order of
notes arrived in which era. If you want to understand music better, you can do nothing more
important than listen to it. Aaron Copland.

2.)

Helding, Lynn. Journal of Singing , Jan/Feb2014, Vol. 70 Issue 3, p349-354, 6p, Database: Education Full
Text (H.W. Wilson)

Practice makes perfect! Constant repetition of the same technique or practice helps students
learning to be able to use this technique when or performing a new song automatically. The
ultimate product of performance artlive performanceis also supported by a fund of acquired
knowledge and deliberate practice. Lynn Helding. Psychology plays a big part in music
education. For example, physical movement may help a student produce a specific sound as long
as they think it will. Since singing requires movement and work from the entire body, each
physical singing crutch is crucial in developing a better feel for the technique.

3.) GARNER, ALISON M. Teaching Music. Aug2011, Vol. 19 Issue 1, p28-31. 4p.

Teaching music history doesnt only serve the purpose of informing the student about his or
her musics origins, but it also helps them to connect to their music on a more personal level.
Alison Garner explains in her article, Teaching Music, how she was able to explain a musical
dynamic to her student by telling a story about Beethoven and his emotional reaction to this

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dynamic. The student was able to remember the story while singing, and used the dynamic
correctly. Music history may also be used to help the musician understand music theory and art,
because they will have learned of all the background work that went into deciding how music
will look on paper. Objects, artifacts, and works of art can pique the imagination. Try directing
students to an object or visual image to help them recognize common ground or learn historical
perspective. Historical periods, events, and people come alive through painting, sculpture,
architecture, and artifacts of the time. Alison Garner.