Reflections on My Research
Date
1993
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
The Binder's Press
Abstract
Description
Shand provides an overview of her work in music education research, from her earliest
work as a Master’ s student in Toronto to 1993. At the University of Toronto she began
her association with the John Adaskin Project – which has, due to her position as its director, provided the compass for much of her work. Her greatest concern is that her
work be accessible and useful to teacher-practitioners in their classrooms. Hence her
doctoral research, collecting and analyzing Canadian string orchestra repertoire and
developing a clear methodology that she and her assistants and colleagues have used in
preparing all future Adaskin Project guidelists. Shand then discusses her work with the Canadian Conference for the Arts National Inquiry into Arts and Education in Canada. Her experience on this taskforce shaped the very pragmatic, step-by-step approach she stresses in her work. In her research collaborations with Lee Bartel at CMERC she has sought to evaluate the success of the John Adaskin Project in reaching its Canadian content goals in the classroom. Through questionnaires, surveys, and curriculum document study, Shand and Bartel have found intriguing results across the country, but are careful to stress that what was recommended in the curriculum documents they studied was not necessarily a reflection of practice in the classroom. Shand’ s approach often relies on descriptive content analysis, but she has found computers to be useful tools when dealing with large amounts of data. At the end of her reflections, she stresses
her desire to make modest research claims with practical consequences, and to work
with teachers who are often excluded from the very research that should be designed to
support them – “ bridging the gap between researcher and practitioner.”
Keywords
music education research, Canadian music education, Canadian music in education, Canadian music for student performers, John Adaskin Project, National Inquiry into Arts and Education in Canada, Canadian Music Education Research Centre (CMERC), music curriculum documents
Citation
Shand, Patricia. “ Reflections on My Research.” Our Research in Music Education: A Festschrift for Dr. Allen Clingman. St. John’ s, Newfoundland: The Binder’ s Press, 1993. pp. 157-172. Reproduced by permission.
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
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