Influences on career choice in music education audition candidates: Pilot study

The purpose of this pilot study was to survey prospective undergraduate music education majors to learn what motivated them to aspire to a career in music education. Respondents were candidates auditioning, but not yet accepted, for music teacher preparation programs at four institutions (N = 228). Findings corroborate prior research that suggests that school music teachers and/or private lesson teachers are highly influential. This study sought to quantify the types of experiences participants had in teaching roles at the time of their college audition, supporting other research suggesting that such experiences may increase interest in a music teaching career. Recommendations include engaging music educators at all PreK–12 levels in actively recruiting and encouraging future teachers, providing private instructors and performance majors with teacher recruitment information, emphasizing earlier identification and preparation of prospective educators, and refining and continuing the work begun in this pilot study.

Biomechanics on the Half Shell: Functional Performance Influences Patterns of Morphological Variation in the Emydid Turtle carapace

This study uses the carapace of emydid turtles to address hypothesized differences between terrestrial and aquatic species. Geometric morphometrics are used to quantify shell shape, and performance is estimated for two shell functions: shell strength and hydrodynamics. Aquatic turtle shells differ in shape from terrestrial turtle shells and are characterized by lower frontal areas and presumably lower drag. Terrestrial turtle shells are stronger than those of aquatic turtles; many-to-one mapping of morphology to function does not entirely mitigate a functional trade-off between mechanical strength and hydrodynamic performance. Furthermore, areas of morphospace characterized by exceptionally poor performance in either of the functions are not occupied by any emydid species. Though aquatic and terrestrial species show no significant differences in the rate of morphological evolution, aquatic species show a higher lineage density, indicative of a greater amount of convergence in their evolutionary history. The techniques employed in this study, including the modeling of theoretical shapes to assess performance in unoccupied areas of morphospace, suggest a framework for future studies of morphological variation.

Career Influences of Music Education Audition Candidates

In this descriptive study, we examined the influences and experiences motivating students to enter college-level music schools as reported by a population of precollegiate students auditioning (but not yet accepted) to music education degree programs. As a follow-up to a published pilot study, this research was designed to quantify the various experiences respondents had as part of their precollege school and community programs that related to teaching and music. Results indicate a strong connection between respondents’ primary musical background and future teaching interest. The top three influential experiences were related to high school ensemble membership (band, choir, orchestra), and the most influential group of individuals in the decision to become a music educator were high school ensemble directors. Respondents from all four primary background groups (band, choir, orchestra, and general or other) rated private lesson teaching as their second strongest future teaching interest, just behind teaching at the high school level in their primary background. Respondents rated parents as moderately influential on their desire to become a music teacher.