Volume 1, No. 1 September 2003

Bruce P. Gleason, Editor

Welcome to the first edition of Research and Issues in Music Education (RIME),
an on-line peer-reviewed journal devoted to thorough research and commentary that advances the practice and pedagogy of music teaching. 

Our international editorial board, comprised of noted scholar-practitioners
is dedicated to these purposes, and has worked diligently to bring this forum to fruition.  I personally look forward to this new venue, and welcome your insights, comments, and article submissions. 

Notes from the Editor, Bruce Gleason

When I first began developing the concept of a journal
on research and issues in music education (RIME!) in 2000 at the urging of C. Thomas Brooks, music department chair at Gordon College, I fortunately had no idea of the obstacles facing me. This inaugural issue of RIME is a momentous event for the many people who have helped with advice, editing and instruction, including several senior scholars who have launched journals themselves, and who helped steer me through the murky waters of academic publishing. I especially thank the members of the editorial board who accepted my invitation to serve without knowing what would be entailed. They were selected with extreme care—prospective members needed to be strong researchers, writers and advisors themselves—and it was essential for them to be proactive in looking toward the future in research dissemination. As well, I am grateful for the administration of the University of St. Thomas for accepting RIME as an official St. Thomas publication. RIME marks another step in the grand experiment of on-line research publishing—an idea that is gaining stature in academic circles with the advent of quality journals. While on-line research reporting formats will probably never subsume print journals (I can detect a future music education historian quoting me here), RIME was founded with the premise that there is indeed room for a quality web-based music education research journal.

In this edition of RIME, four scholars share their work in music
education, and add substantive information to the process of teaching and learning music through historical-philosophical, descriptive-philosophical, literature review, and quantitative-experimental formats:

George Heller examines historical research in music education
in connection with historiography and the writing of history, using the works and ideas of Immanuel Kant, Oswald Spengler, and Michel Foucault. Drawing from works by and about these historian-philosophers, Heller addresses his findings in conjunction with history in general, and music education history in particular. Through cross-comparisons, he reports that general history and philosophy have important things to say to music education historians about the nature and value of history, which in turn may point towards the future of music education.

Elizabeth Gould builds a philosophical argument
using descriptive-qualitative evidence that addresses the culture of conducting college bands. Reviewing and interpreting the literature related to the cultures of music, performance, and college bands, she examines the condition in which the small percentage of women conducting college bands in the U.S. has remained stationary during the past thirty years.

Marlene Hanson investigates the effects of
sequenced Kodály literacy-based music instruction on the spatial reasoning skills of three groups of kindergarten students. While three separate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed no significant difference between the three groups in pretest, posttest, or gain scores (posttest minus pretest) for each of the three measures, the results of this study make a valuable contribution to music education by adding another piece to the complex puzzle of research that investigates the connections between music learning and other cognitive activity.

Phillip Hash examines the literature pertaining to the practice
of including deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students in school bands and orchestras. By examining research and opinion, Hash addresses concerns, and discusses ways of successfully including D/HH students in instrumental music programs. Personal characteristics, musical capabilities, and rehearsal room organization, as well as teaching modifications and musical instruments as related to D/HH individuals are all discussed.