Humphreys, Jere T.
This collection consists of articles, papers, keynote and other major speeches, reviews, and responses, mostly related to music education, but some to arts education and arts business, in some cases with reference to emerging countries. A number of these items appeared in difficult-to-access publications such as foreign journals and foreign and domestic proceedings. A few are translations of English-language articles that appeared in foreign language journals, and a few others are in English with accompanying foreign language abstracts.
Filtering by
- Creators: Schmidt, Charles P.
- Creators: Stevens, Robin Sydney
Compulsory education and school laws were enacted in the British colonies of North America beginning from the 1640s. Compulsory school laws were gradually enacted in all states of the United States of America between 1852 and 1918, with enforcement of the laws following gradually and but unevenly in the various states. Today, most states require attendance up to age 16. Music was gradually introduced to the elementary school curriculum from the 1830s. Today, music is mandatory for all (general) students in Grades 1-6 in most schools and in some schools in Grades 7-8, and is an elective subject in most schools in Grades 7-12. General music classes in the U.S. are similar to compulsory music classes in many other countries. Approximately 25 percent of American public secondary school students participate in elective music performing ensembles, which are a distinctive and positive feature of American music education.
The purpose of this study was to standardize the Primary Measures of Music Audiation in Greece (N = 1,188). Split-halves reliability was acceptable across grade levels (K through 3) for the Tonal and Rhythm subtests, but test-retest reliability was generally unacceptable, especially for the Rhythm subtest. Concurrent validity was mixed, with teacher ratings of musical achievement generally significantly correlated with Tonal but not Rhythm subtest scores. Composite test means were significantly higher for suburban and urban samples than for rural samples and were significantly higher for higher grade levels. Item difficulty coefficients were significantly correlated across grade levels. The Greek and U.S. composite means were similar except for a significantly higher U.S. mean for grade 1. However, when the rural subgroup was removed from the Greek sample to equate with the U.S. norming sample, there were nonsignificant differences from grades K through 1, but significant differences in favor of the Greek sample for grades 3 and 4.
The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between the membership of the Music Supervisors National Conference/Music Educators National Conference (MENC) from 1912-1838 and selected demographic and economic variables. The results include the following:
1. MENC membership grew considerably more rapidly than the nation's general and teacher
populations.
2. Membership and membership as a percentage of the population differed significantly between
MENC divisions.
3. Membership correlated with mean teacher salaries and with per capita education spending by
state.
4. Membership by state correlated only slightly with geographical distance to convention sites.
5. Women comprised a significant majority of the membership in each division, but a smaller
majority than in the nation's teaching profession as a whole.
6. Implementation of the MENC"s biennial convention plan did not affect membership totals
significantly.
We speculate that MENC membership as a percentage of music education may have differed between MENC divisions, and that such membership differences may have resulted from regional identification or other cultural factors not examined in this study. We recommend further application of quantitative sociological research techniques and cultural research approaches to the study of past and present practices in music and music education.
