In this issue the majority of articles focus on performance. Within this context we are invited particularly to reflect upon the perspectives of students, parents and children, all of whom may share the delights of music learning, musical knowledge and engagement but who experience and apply them in very different settings. Understanding how we learn music, how musical skills develop, how musical knowledge is represented and how music teachers can best teach and inspire, are challenging topics for music educators across all phases whether they be early music teachers, artists in residence or artist educators.

This paper analyses a collection of musical life histories, drawn from 71 British respondents who have maintained a lifelong interest in music as regular concert-goers, amateur performers and/or music educators. These respondents reflect on the influences and opportunities which have contributed to their lifelong engagement in music, and in doing so illustrate the impact of changes in British music education and culture over the last 50 years. Particular analytical focus is placed here on the relative influence of home and school, on the ideal characteristics of each environment, and the relationship between them. The value of a long-term perspective on music education is debated, and conclusions drawn about the challenges to teachers and researchers that are evident from this study.

This article draws on a study designed to analyse parental expectations of the Swedish municipal school of arts (hereafter MSA) (in Swedish: kommunal musik- och kulturskola). The study is based on in-depth interviews conducted and informed by grounded theory. Although parental expectations are scarcely uniform, the study reveals a hope that the whole child will be nurtured, both musically and socially. It also transpires that parental expectations vary according to the activities offered by the particular school. The MSAs are administered and financed by the local authorities, and parents therefore expect them to be distinguished not only by their educational ambitions and the range of cultural choices available, but also by their democratic norms and values.

This study concerns children's representational knowledge, more specifically, their ‘invented notations’ of music. A small-scale empirical study of four 5-year-old children and their teachers working on the representation of music is reported. The challenges posed by the teachers and how the children respond to these challenges are analysed. The teachers challenge the children to explain their understanding and use contrast to direct children's attention towards distinctions and important terms in the domain of music. The children use coloured geometrical shapes on paper and a sequence of building blocks to represent music. By means of these visuospatial representations, sounding and conversing about them, the children are able to communicate their understanding of the relationship between representation (sign) and sound. The role of external representations in the development of children's musical knowledge is discussed.

One hundred and sixty-five undergraduate music students studying in Scotland completed a 30-statement Q-sort to describe their self- and task-theories of musical performance. Statements reflected the importance of effort, confidence, technical ability, significant others and luck/chance in determining a successful performance. The Q-sorts were reduced to six underlying sorting patterns, or viewpoints. The relationship between sorting patterns and participants' primary genre affiliation was explored in order to identify whether self and task-theories were a function of genre affiliation. Some intuitive hypotheses of what performers of particular musical genres might think were supported by the data. However, results suggested that there was considerable diversity in self- and task-theory of performance within each of the genre affiliation groups, which supports previous research. Other background factors, such as gender, years of playing, chronological age and type of institution, were not significant predictors of self- or task-theory of musical performance.

The aim of this research was to investigate the value and purpose of Master Classes, from the perspective of Conservatoire students. Thirty-seven UK Conservatoire students responded to a questionnaire, providing information about their prior experiences of Master Classes, the factors that they considered to be important in a successful Master Class and any possible barriers to learning in Master Classes. The students considered Master Classes to offer valuable performance opportunities, fresh ideas for approaching musical interpretation and technique and access to a professional community of practice. Performance anxiety was noted as a barrier to learning for those who performed in Master Classes and students raised several issues relating to the problematic notion of ‘participation’ as an audience member. Whilst the sample was clearly limited, these findings contribute to an understanding of how students might best be facilitated in capitalising on the opportunity to learn in Master Class contexts.