Research in Music Education - Handbook of Research On Music Teaching and Learning

Handbook of Research On Music Teaching and Learning

One of the dominant events in the field of music education research was the 1992 publication of the Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning. Edited by Richard Colwell, the Handbook contains fifty-five chapters written by more than seventy scholars. Colwell edited a second volume in 2002, The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning.

To see the shift of emphasis that has taken place in music education research in recent years, one need only compare the contents of the 1992 volume and the 2002 volume. The inclusion of sections on "Conceptual Framework" and "Evaluation" in the 1992 volume is evidence of emphasis on standards and a set body of knowledge. The absence of similar sections in the 2002 volume is evidence of a shift toward a pragmatic philosophical and a constructivist teaching theory. The inclusion of a section on "related arts" in the 2002 volume recalls the research of the late 1960s and 1970s.