Dina Alexander

Dina Alexander is Professor and Director of Music Education at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, N.Y. Expert in instrumental music teaching and learning, and intrinsic motivation in music education, Dr. Alexander presents research and workshops around the world. Dr. Alexander’s groundbreaking doctoral dissertation, Intrinsic Motivation in Collegiate Secondary Music Instrument Class, united exciting new research in motivation with research in music teaching and learning. Her article, “Intrinsic Motivation: The Key to Fully Engaged Music Students,” outlined this connection. It was published in Italy, but may be read in English here.

Prior to reentering academia for Ph.D. studies, Dina taught music in the public schools where she gained notoriety as the first music educator to demonstrate the effectiveness of teaching beginning instrumental music using “Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series (JRI).” JRI is a sound-before-sight approach to teaching beginning instrumental music. Videos of the extraordinary musical achievements demonstrated by Dina’s 4 th and 5 th grade students have been viewed by music educators at home and abroad. One such video may be viewed here.