| This study was designed to investigate the attitudes and practices of general music teachers regarding the Content Standards (CSs) of the music portion of the National Standards for Arts Education (NSAE-Music). A sample of music specialists (N = 100) teaching fourth-grade general music classes in Arizona completed questionnaires on their attitudes toward the CSs. In addition, 47 classes taught by four expert music specialists were observed and videotaped, and the activities were coded according to the nine CSs.; All nine standards were seen at some time in the 47 observed lessons, though there were significant differences (p < .001) in the number of episodes of each CS and the amount of time devoted to each. There were significant correlations between expert teachers' self reported attitudes (survey responses) and practices (observed episodes and total time). Survey responses revealed differences in the importance of each standard with significant differences (p < .001) occurring between the six with the highest means (CS5/reading & writing, CS9/history & culture, CS2/playing instruments, CS1/singing, CS6/listening, and CS8/other disciplines) and the three with the lowest means (CS7/evaluating, CS3/improvising, and CS4/composing), and between CS7 and CS4. There were no significant differences when the sample was divided into groups according to years of experience or familiarity with the standards, or the interaction between the two.; The expert means were significantly higher than the sample means (Mann-Whitney U = 11.00, p < .009) on the survey responses, though when compared individually, significant univariate differences occurred only for CS1/singing and CS2/playing instruments. When the sample responses were compared to those from a previous study, no significant multivariate difference was found, but there were significant univariate differences for CS1/singing, CS3/improvising, CS4/composing, CS6/listening, CS7/evaluating, and CS8/other disciplines, all in favor of the earlier study. |
