Music Education at Penn State
Faculty Research
The musical communities of interactive gamming.
I am in the preliminary stages of a new investigation on the uses of music centered interactive gamming. As game technology continues to create more realistic music themed games the players of the games appear to be experiencing “musicking” in a new and different way. I am curious to investigate the perceptions of gamers as they interact with these games and the ways in which musical communities develop to support their gaming interests. I am curious to know how similar or dissimilar these games are to actual music making and how related or unrelated the communities that support gaming are to the musical communities seen in more traditional music settings.
Community rock musicians and the implication of their musical processes to American music education.
Following the work of Lucy Green and Tina DeNora I am curious to document the music making in my own community. I am in year three of a longitudinal study that is exploring the musical “doings” of local rock musicians. Included in this study are their musical histories, performances, and their personal experiences in formal music education settings. Results from this study are on-going and have been presented in various settings focused toward music education researchers and practitioners.
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My research has focused on the nature of children's singing voices and techniques and materials for helping uncertain singers in a classroom setting. In order to investigate questions related to this focus, I developed the Singing Voice Development Measure, a tool to assess the use a child has of his/her singing voice. The unique feature of this measurement tool is that it only assesses the use of singing voice, not accuracy of intonation. Published studies by me in which the tool was used include:
Rutkowski, J. & Miller, M.S. (2003, Fall/Winter). A longitudinal study of elementary
children’s acquisition of their singing voices. Update: Applications of Research in
Music Education, 22(1), pp. 5-14.
Rutkowski, J. & Miller, M.S. (2003). The effect of teacher feedback and modeling on first graders' use of singing voice and developmental music aptitude. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 156, Spring 2003, pp. 1-10.
Rutkowski, J. & Miller, M.S. (2003). The effectiveness of frequency of instruction and individual/small group singing activities on first graders' use of singing voice and developmental music aptitude. Contributions to Music Education, 30(1), 2003, pp. 23-38.
Rutkowski, J. & Chen-Hafteck, L. (2001). The singing voice within every child: A cross-cultural comparison of first graders’ use of singing voice. Early Childhood Connections: Journal of Music- and Movement-Based Learning, 7(1), pp. 37-42.
Rutkowski, J. (1999). The nature of children’s singing voices. Canadian Music Educator, 40 (3), pp. 43-47. Paper reprinted from Sharing the Voices: The Phenomenon of Singing. Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada; 1998: Proceedings of the International Symposium, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, June 20-23, 1997 (pp. 201-209).
Rutkowski, J. (1996). Effectiveness of individual/small group singing activities on kindergarten children's use of singing voice and developmental music aptitude. Journal of Research in Music Education, 44 (4), 1996, pp. 353-368.
Rutkowski, J. (1990). The measurement and evaluation of children's singing voice development. The Quarterly: Center for Research in Music Learning and Teaching, 1(1-2), pp. 81-95.
I am currently completing a book, contracted through G.I.A. Publications, that details the development of the tool, establishment of reliability and validity, and how it can be appropriately used by teachers and researchers.