Teaching rhythm and blues music: Exploring the pedagogical content knowledge of collegiate R&B music ensemble directors

This multiple case study explored how collegiate R&B music ensemble directors gained, developed, and employed their skills to facilitate curricular-based learning experiences in R&B music. The theoretical framing for this study was based on Shulman (1986) and Gudmundsdottir and Shulman (1987) perspectives on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Four knowledge domains were explored: content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, and Knowledge of Learners. These four knowledge domains were utilized to identify and comprehend the various teaching concepts that participants employed in their classroom instructional settings based on the research questions guiding this study. The participants in the study are full-time R&B ensemble instructors with a minimum of five years of teaching experience in R&B ensembles. Three participants were selected through purposeful sampling (Creswell & Poth, 2018), prioritizing instructors’ teaching experience and proximity. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, in-person observations, and a review of archival data. Data analysis comprised of a single-case and cross-case analysis. Using the analysis recommendations of Yin (2018), first-cycle coding utilized in vivo coding to identify emerging codes. The second analysis cycle employed a priori coding based on the PCK theoretical framework. The cross-case analysis was conducted to aggregate the findings from the single-case analysis. The findings revealed that participants gained and developed their R&B instructional ability through family music experiences, self-taught music learning by ear, school music education, peer community music-making experiences, and professional careers as R&B music performers. Additionally, the participants employed their pedagogical content knowledge during instruction by sharing historical knowledge of R&B music and their lived experiences engaging in R&B music, facilitating music learning by ear, using YouTube as a curriculum resource, and navigating learner perceptions of R&B music-making. The findings also revealed several implications for higher popular music educators, music teacher educators, and popular music ensemble instructors. The implications indicate that higher popular music educators should assess their criteria for observing music education students’ informal music learning skills when they enter higher popular music education programs. Also, traditional ensemble experiences in band, choir, and orchestra may not be the most suitable for helping students develop informal music learning skills. Music teacher educators should help music education students gain proficiency in ear training and learning music by ear before focusing on pedagogical methods courses in popular music education. Lastly, popular music ensemble instructors can utilize YouTube to identify and organize a repertoire database to facilitate R&B and other popular music ensembles in school settings.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Dekle, Jr, James Edgar

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kruse, Adam
• Sweet, Bridget
• Gallo, Donna
• Fairbanks, Stephen

• Teaching Rhythm & Blues
• Popular Music Pedagogy
• Informal Music Learning

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 James Dekle, Jr

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124401

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124401