Music Education: Service on Editorial Review Boards

Music Education: Service on Editorial Review Boards

The School of Music’s Music Education program consists of renowned faculty with degrees from prestigious schools that actively perform and publish. Three of the Music Education program’s Faculty members, Jessica Nápoles, Associate Professor and Area Head, Joelle Lien, Associate Professor, and Nicole Robinson, Professor, go above their duties as Faculty members, and were elected as respected members of their profession to serve on editorial review boards for several scholarly peer-reviewed journals within the Music Education community.

Publications in scholarly peer-reviewed journals are a very important part of the tenure and promotion process in that faculty in academic fields are expected to produce and publish scholarly work regularly. As reviewers on these editorial boards, Nápoles, Lien, and Robinson make recommendations, whether the paper should be accepted, rejected, or revised.

Each journal has a unique focus. Nápoles currently serves on the editorial review boards for Journal of Music Teacher Education (JMTE) and International Journal of Research in Choral Singing (IJRCS). The JMTE focuses on training teachers effectively. It is the official journal of the Society for Music Teacher Education. The IJRCS is the official research journal of the ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) and is exclusively focused on research in choral singing and choral music education. Nápoles says, “It’s rewarding when a paper that we have reviewed gets accepted, we know we had the opportunity to have an influence in helping the author reach this milestone.”

Lien served on the Editorial Board of the Visions of Research in Music Education (VRME) journal for five years (2008 - 2013). VRME is published “as a public service to the profession” by the New Jersey Music Educators Association (a state affiliate of NAfME: The National Association for Music Education) from the facilities of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey. It is a fully refereed online-only critical journal. As an open-access journal, VRME is available to anyone without a subscription, membership fee, or affiliation with a subscribing institution. Issues of VRME are often organized by a central theme, and over the years, the VRME has also included historical reprints of seminal music education publications that are no longer available in print.

Lien shares, “A highlight for me whenever I review an article is having the opportunity to share helpful feedback with an author. It is important to read very carefully and critically what the author has written, while also offering comments and criticisms in a way that the author can receive them positively. As a peer reviewer, it is my responsibility to hold authors to a high standard, as well as to offer substantive, constructive comments and suggestions for improvement”

Nicole Robinson

Robinson currently serves on the editorial board for Update: Applications of Research in Music Education. Update, one of the five official journals sponsored by The National Association for Music Education (NAfME), is a peer-reviewed online-only journal that brings research in music teaching and learning to everyday practice by helping teachers apply research in their music classrooms and rehearsals. Robinson was elected to serve on this board in 2012 to serve a six-year term.

Robinson states, “I am honored to serve my profession as a reviewer. Research is an extremely important aspect of higher education, it is typically the portal through which professors obtain tenure at most universities; therefore, I take this task very seriously. As a researcher myself, I understand the amount of time and energy one invests into writing an article, so when I review a manuscript, I feel it is my duty to take the time to read carefully and provide the appropriate, specific feedback that will make the manuscript stronger—regardless of whether it is accepted for publication—for me, it is about the growth and development of the author.”

ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC

The University of Utah School of Music offers a comprehensive program of music study on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The School of Music educates professionally-oriented students across the musical spectrum through rigorous musical and academic experiences; serves the art of music through performance, composition, research and publication; and functions as the state’s center for intellectual, educational, and cultural musical activities. It has been an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Music since 1952.