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Renewing Musical Basics: Investigating College Students’ SRL Profiles in a Co-Regulated Approach to Ear Training
No full textThis mixed-method retrospective case study (Yin, 2018) investigated both the teaching and the learning facets of a co-regulated evidence-based approach to ear training (ET) pedagogy developed on an ePortfolio designed to scaffold musical self-regulation (Brook & Upitis, 2015). The blended co-regulated approach—involving face-to-face classes, applying active pedagogy principles, and instigating a self-regulated cycle (Zimmerman, 2000)—was developed at the end of a college music program (n = 58) in Québec (2014–2016) to counteract the specific challenges students faced prior to graduating (i.e., the use of surface strategies, lack of error detection, and lack of engagement in their personal practice) (De Grâce, 2017). Three research questions served to guide the secondary analysis:
(a) How did the teacher proceed to establish the co-regulated environment?
(b) What were the characteristics of the environment that might have implications regarding students’ achievement and persistence?
(c) How did the blended co-regulated environment shape the students’ self-directedness in their ET solitary practice outside the F2F meetings?
In answer to the first question, this poster presentation emphasized the interdependence between the students’ own appropriation of the strategic planning, enactment, and reflection cycle using standards (Hadwin et al., 2018) and the corresponding teacher’s change of posture, which evolved, during distance learning, from a knowledge provider to a process watcher. Following a two-step cluster analysis technique, the results for the second question conveyed that a subgroup of learners (e.g., those who were most engaged by using the media annotator, the sharing of artefacts with the teacher and/or peers, and receiving teacher feedback) might possibly have displayed a 6.2 mean-point advantage when compared to similar peers who were taught using a traditional approach. Following an a priori coding procedure (McCardle et al., 2017), the results of the third research question outlined three distinct college students’ SRL profiles. Such pedagogical profiles not only highlighted the students’ engagement, growth, and limits, but also the added value of supporting active, co-regulated, process-oriented pedagogical principles in ET to orient students towards their lifelong music literacy journey (Donn et al., 2024; Fleet, 2021). Finally, these findings could also have significant implications for research. While ePortfolio pedagogy has been positioned as an enduring catalyst for change and learning, few studies have addressed these changes from both the teacher and the learners’ viewpoints, in group settings, and—from a longitudinal perspective—in higher music education (Dunbar-Hall et al., 2015; Eynon & Gambino, 2017).
Reading Between the Lines: A Theoretical Framework for Exploring Boundaries in Music Education
No full textMusic education, especially studio teaching, is a field of potentially unclear boundaries—for example those between teachers and students. Still, little attention has been given to the boundaries and fringe zones surrounding teachers’ mandates and responsibilities within each teaching subject. Exploring these boundaries requires a nuanced conceptualization of boundary practices in educational settings, an aspect that has received limited attention. Part of a project on the boundaries of instrumental teaching in higher music education, this poster reports on the development of a theoretical framework for studying boundaries in music education.
Literature on boundaries has increased in scope and nuance over the last decades, spanning various disciplines and fields (Lamont et al., 2015; Lamont & Molnár, 2002). However, educational settings have received relatively little attention in this context (exceptions include Aultman et al., 2009; Jahreie & Ottesen, 2010; Lindqvist et al., 2019; Seddon, 2014; Shavard, 2022). While some literature considers boundaries more as something fixed, others are interested in boundary processes, giving rise to the concept of boundary-work (Gieryn, 1983, 1995, 1999; Langley et al., 2019; Pachucki et al., 2007). Boundary-work can be summarized as the discursive “work done to establish, develop, maintain, cross, navigate, or alter socially constructed boundaries” (Beddoes, 2019, p. 1) and holds potential to provide a rich and nuanced framework for exploring boundary processes in music education.
Developing such a framework involved identifying a diverse range of seminal and lesserrecognized literature on boundary-work through non-systematic searches, extensive exploration across various online platforms and repositories, and snowball searching techniques. This ensured a collection of relevant literature from varied sources, with a particular focus on understanding boundary processes in music education.
Perspectives and nuances from the literature were synthesized into a framework describing a wide variety of boundary-work characteristics, including different relationships in which boundary-work occurs (e.g., teacher-student, violinists-singers), diverse purposes of boundarywork (e.g., protecting one’s authority from administration, maintaining ambiguity in colleague relationships), varied strategies and modes (e.g., contesting traditional boundaries against “popular music”), different contents (e.g., boundaries of time, competency, intimacy) and multiple continua (e.g., intentionality, materiality, emotionality) for boundary-work.
The framework offers a systematic way of understanding boundaries and boundary processes in education. While studies of boundaries have been underrepresented in music education, the framework might turn researchers’ attention to the concept and importance of boundaries, providing a useful tool for new research whether on interpersonal boundaries between teachers and students or on larger organizational structures within music education
eMusic and Physical Education Interventions for Children\u27s Social Emotional Development: A Descriptive Case Study Methodology
No full textBackground: Near and far transfer effects of music practice have increasingly received attention in
the education research field. Similarly, the benefits from maintaining well-being through physical
education have emerged in earlier studies, especially from an early age. However, mixed results
and different methodological challenges have been identified in the literature. Thus, further
research is needed to clarify what are the musical/physical components that might facilitate such
behaviors. This paper is based on a current longitudinal study exploring the potential effects of
music and physical education in children’s social emotional development in the early childhood
years. The project is carried out for 2 years in daycare centers, for 4–5-year-old children.
Participating children receive either weekly physical education or music lessons or continue with
their usual routine at the daycare centers.
Objective: To establish a research-based protocol for music and physical education interventions.
Methods: To contribute to clarifying the musical and/or physical components that might be
associated with social-emotional development, the current paper focuses on describing the
interventions’ part of this project. The planning team, composed of teachers and researchers,
followed an exploratory inductive methodology. The theoretical foundations, context
characteristics and design planning are detailed. Although music and physical education share
common elements, some differentiating limits needed to be established for research purposes.
Results: The current paper showcases one lesson plan example. Besides this, several learnings from
the design process are discussed, such as (1) the adaptations needed to be made to the researchbased
intervention protocol as the interventions developed or (2) the challenges regarding the
operationalization of social-emotional skills and the continuous development of the framework as
ongoing research findings and discoveries arise.
Conclusion: By describing the music and physical education intervention characteristics, this paper
argues for the need to detail research-based intervention programs. As social-emotional skills are
intertwined with several individual, contextual, structural, and societal components, this
complicates a thorough understanding of the potential contributions from music and physical
education to social-emotional development. Thus, further descriptions and adaptations to the
intervention protocol might be needed to clarify the potential outcomes from the project
Influence of Nonmusical Variables on Performance Success at Bands of America Marching Band Festivals
No full textMusic education researchers have previously demonstrated the effect of nonmusical variables on performance outcomes at secondary band festivals in the United States (Bergee 2006; Bergee & McWhirter, 2005; Bergee & Platt, 2003; Bergee & Westfall, 2005; Lenard, 2021; Shouldice & Woolnough, 2022). In a transfer to Bands of America (BOA) marching band competitions, this study analyzed the potential influence of school size, time of day, and Title 1 status on marching band performance scores at all BOA festivals (n = 26) in a single year. Participating bands (N = 624) represented 850 individual entries across three festival formats: Regional (n = 22), Super Regional (n = 3), and Grand National (n = 1) competitions. Bands at Regional festivals competed in single-day competitions over one preliminary and one more exclusive final round. Statistically significant differences were found in all three main effects (school size, time of day, Title 1 status) during preliminary competition and in the main effects of school size and time of day in final competition. Super Regional festivals occurred over two days, allowing for more participating bands, and used the same dual-round format as Regional competitions. Statistically significant differences were found in the main effects of school size and time of day for both preliminary and final rounds. There were no differences in scores based on Title 1 status at Super Regional competition. Grand Nationals occurred over three days, with bands competing in three increasingly selective rounds: preliminary, semifinals, and finals competition. Statistically significant differences were found for the main effect of school size in preliminary and semifinals competition and for the main effect of time of day in semifinals and finals competition. There were no differences in scores based on Title 1 status in any performance rounds of Grand Nationals. Across all competitions, bands from bigger schools tended to earn better performance scores than bands from smaller size classifications. Performance scores also tended to improve as the day progressed. Title1 status only influenced performance success in the preliminary round of Regional competitions, with bands from non-Title 1 schools earning higher performance scores than bands from Title 1 schools. Taken together, school size classification and time of day seem to be reliable predictors of achievement at BOA marching band festivals. Discussion includes analysis of the efficacy of current BOA policies meant to mitigate the effects of non-musical variables on performance scores. Synthesis of results and policy is used to draw implications for the sustainability of broad populations of bands participating in performance assessments at music festivals worldwide
Overheard and Observed: Horizontal Surveillance in Austen and Edgeworth
No full textThis article examines how early nineteenth-century British novels employed horizontal surveillance—peer-based observation—to regulate women’s behavior and reinforce social norms. Focusing on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1833 [1811]) and Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda (1824 [1801]), it explores how different sensory modes of scrutiny—auditory in Austen’s world of whispered speculation, gossip, and overhearing, and visual in Edgeworth’s depiction of public spectacle—converge to produce a rich vocabulary of social control. Although separated by distinct social milieus, both authors responded to the shifting cultures of surveillance in the Romantic period, forging literary frameworks that anticipate both Victorian social policing and our own era’s digitally mediated modes of communal monitoring. Austen’s Marianne Dashwood and Edgeworth’s Harriet Freke emerge as instructive figures: Marianne’s emotional openness and Harriet’s nonconformity each invite intense scrutiny, compelling them and those around them to internalize regulatory norms. However, both also enact forms of resistance: one rooted in sincerity, the other in performance and defiance. As the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth occurred in December 2025, re-examining these novels through surveillance theory highlights their continued relevance. These novels illuminate how informal systems of social control operated across time and how women’s responses to surveillance can be both constrained and strategic
Corporate Panopticons: Eggers’ Exploration of Privacy and Personhood in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism
No full textDave Eggers’s novels The Circle (2013) and The Every (2021) explore the unsettling consequences of life under unrelenting digital scrutiny, shedding light on how constant connectivity can erode personal autonomy and reshape identity. In The Circle, Mae Holland’s rise from a private individual to a public figure demonstrates how technologies that promise social and professional benefits can, in practice, commodify human experiences. In The Every, Delaney Wells’s attempts to sabotage the company that succeeds the Circle reveal the overwhelming power of data-driven platforms and the difficulty of breaking free from them. Building on Shoshana Zuboff’s (2019a) concept of surveillance capitalism, this study examines how Eggers critiques a world where behaviour is traced, analysed, and exploited for profit. As characters navigate environments that demand perpetual sharing and content creation, they become cogs in an ecosystem that rewards performative participation over authentic connection. Sherry Turkle’s (1995, 2012, 2015) work on digital intimacy further illuminates the emotional toll of virtual interactions, illustrating how Eggers’s characters struggle to maintain genuine relationships when validation depends on algorithmic metrics. Eggers’s narratives raise urgent questions about privacy, selfhood, and agency. The relentless pursuit of transparency and “perfect” data reduces individuals to mere sources of information, leaving them vulnerable to burnout, social alienation, and a hollow sense of belonging. By focusing on Mae’s and Delaney’s personal journeys, the novels expose the hidden costs of algorithmic governance and corporate surveillance, ultimately warning readers about how unchecked data practices can undermine trust, fragment relationships, and reshape what it means to be human in a digitally dominated world
“Like Fiction, Only Considerably More Dangerous”: South Asia and Anxieties about Nuclear Surveillance in Twenty-First Century Indo-American Geopolitical Thrillers
No full textThis article investigates twenty-first-century literary depictions of contestations between the nuclear surveillance infrastructures of two of the largest democracies in the world—the United States and India. Recognizing that these disputes have shaped US-India relations since Indian independence from colonial British rule in 1947, this article examines how themes of deception—central to Cold War spy fiction—appear in contemporary literary works about surveillance conflicts between the two nations. These texts reflect mutual distrust: American surveillance portrays India as an irresponsible postcolonial nuclear power, while Indian countersurveillance depicts the US as a hypocritical and coercive hegemon who enables Pakistan’s nuclear program. With reference to these strategic conflicts over the politics and logic of knowledge about nuclear materials, infrastructures, bodies, ideas, and motivations, this article critically analyzes representative texts: an American novel and an Indian novel series—the American diplomat Matthew Palmer’s novel Secrets of State (2015) and the Indian novelist Shaunak Agarkhedkar’s tetralogy Let Bhutto Eat Grass (2017–2022). In revealing behind-the-scenes machinations of nuclear surveillance, this article highlights how literary productions are key cultural conduits for underscoring the importance of mutual trust in nuclear politics. Such trust, as the texts examined here show, requires moving beyond the rigid cycle of hiding and exposing secrets that has long characterized—and may still define—the tense relationship between two nuclear democracies, the United States of America and India
Music Education and the Development of Cognitive and Social Skills in Children from Disadvantaged Backgrounds
No full textChildren’s general and musical development depends on multiple factors including genetic potential, brain development and maturation, culture and environment, school education, and specific training. In the last decades, a solid body of research has emerged on the effects of music education on children’s development. Formal music education has been found to enhance musical skills, such as musical perception and cognition, performance and creation, and non-musical skills such as literacy, emotional sensitivity, and social behavior. Both cognitive and social skills play a crucial role in children’s development, in interacting and learning with others and in their academic success at school and in life. Music education involves a wide range of cognitive skills. Research suggested its benefits in children’s executive function, working memory, and spatial and verbal abilities. Empirical studies indicated positive effects of music education on children’s socioemotional skills: it promotes social cohesion within class, particularly in low ability pupils. However, recent metaanalyzes suggest inconsistent effects. Additionally, research with children from low-income families remains scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of music and drama education programs in primary schools on the development of both cognitive and social skills of children from disadvantaged communities. In our longitudinal design with pre- and post-evaluations of the children’s skills, both programs were carefully designed with performing, creating, and listening activities and were delivered for one weekly hour during one school year by experienced specialist teachers. Children’s cognitive skills were evaluated with five subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: Similarities, Picture Arrangement, Vocabulary, Cubes, and Digits. Using the Social Skills Rating System—Teacher Form, classroom teachers rated their students’ social skills on a 3-point scale in three domains: Social skills (Cooperation, Assertion, Self-control), Behavioral problems (Externalizing problems, Internalizing problems, Hyperactivity) and Academic competence. In children’s cognitive skills, for all sub-tests, we found a significant main effect of time, which represents a developmental effect. Their scores improved from pre- to post-tests, regardless of their experimental group. Some cognitive skills might be affected by their socioeconomic status – family income and parental level of education. Our findings suggest that participation in music and drama programs during one school year improved children’s social skills—assertion, self-control, and cooperation. It also appeared to serve as a protective factor by reducing externalizing, internalizing, and behavioral problems. These findings are discussed considering previous studies along with directions for future research