Conventional wisdom holds that the main reason for doing research is to satisfy tenure and promotion requirements. MENC member John M. Geringer wondered if this held true for music education and found that in the 1990s, slightly more articles were published in  the Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME) by tenured faculty than by those without tenure. Clearly, something else motivates many researchers. Albert LeBlanc and Jan McCrary, in a survey described in the Spring 1990 JRME, found that researchers were motivated by enjoyment, intellectual curiosity, and by the desire to find answers to their own questions.

Where do those questions come from? Geringer, the Lewis V. Pankaskie Professor of Music and Director of the Center for Music Research at Florida State University in Tallahassee, describes several sources:

“Some come from teaching. Attempting to verbalize a subject helps one realize that many things remain unknown. Students are often sources of questions that we haven’t thought of and can remind all of us (sometimes embarrassingly so) of things we don’t know the answers to. Some of the questions come from talking with colleagues, who generate new ways of thinking about a topic. Questions come from statements in textbooks that we may not agree with. Questions also come from observing others teach and perform music.”

In a study published in the Winter 2006 JRME, John Geringer, Cliff Madsen, Rebecca MacLeod, and Kevin Droe looked at how articulation style affects listener perception of tempo. Geringer says, “This project came about after attending rehearsals where the conductor repeatedly complained that the ensemble was rushing during staccato sections and dragging in legato sections. We wondered if that was actually the case, or whether something about the articulation styles might be affecting tempo perception. Indeed, results indicated that music majors heard staccato excerpts as increasing in tempo more than comparable legato excerpts. Some listeners heard staccato examples as increasing in tempo even when the tempo was constant.”

“Like most studies, this one generates additional questions to be curious about,” Geringer concludes.

Resources for your students:  MENC has two journals containing music education research, the Journal of Research in Music Education and Update: Applications of Research in Music Education. For details about all MENC publications and guidelines for submission of manuscripts, click on “Periodicals” on the MENC Web site.

—Ella Wilcox, May 13, 2008, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education, www.menc.org