The issue of inclusion is currently a hot topic in music education both in the UK and elsewhere. There are many discussions about what it means, what it should involve, and how it can be enacted. This is to say nothing of the positive effects inclusion can have on the lives of young people in terms of personal fulfilment, as well as musical participation. For a journal concerned with educational research in music education, as is clearly the case with the BJME, there is, or there should be, more to it, however, than just these simple matters. After all, having children and young people in wheelchairs participating in a musical event is all very well – even if it does not happen often enough - but is this really all we mean by inclusion? And it is this aspect which needs problematisation for music education. After all, having young people who are disabled in some form, visible or invisible, taking part in music education should be something which just happens, we shouldn't need, pardon the phrase, to be making a big song and dance about it!

This article explores the significance of context and discourse from a gender perspective within three different studies of the Swedish music classroom, conducted in lower secondary school, upper secondary school and higher music education respectively. The theoretical point of departure is that gender performances as well as the music classroom are discursively constructed within a specific context. The result suggests that if discourse and context are directed towards music as identity and skill, gender is performed in music, but if the music classroom is constructed as educational, gender is performed beside music. A conclusion is therefore that the impact of gender in the music classroom has to be understood as a matter of school discourse and school context in close relationship. It is argued that studying the interplay between context and discourse can be a way ahead for understanding the complexity in the relationship between music education and gender.

Recent decades have seen gender and feminist research emerge as major fields of enquiry in musicology and to a far lesser extent, music education. While these fields have increased awareness of the issues confronting women and other marginalised groups, the pedagogical practices and curricular design that might support aspiring women composers are in urgent need of attention. This article reports from an international survey of women composers (n=225), who in western art music continue to experience a masculine bias that has its roots in the past. The findings in the survey were focused on income, work and learning, relationships and networks, and gender. Numerous composers surveyed noted the under-representation of music composed by women in their higher education curricula. They also described their unpreparedness for a career in music. The article explores the issue of gender in music composition and makes practical recommendations for a more gender balanced music curriculum in higher education.

Within the growing field of publications on El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes around the world, a marked divide can be observed between the findings of critical academic studies and commissioned evaluations. Using evaluations of El Sistema in Venezuela and Aotearoa New Zealand as our principal case studies, we argue that this gulf can be explained at least partly by methodological problems in the way that some evaluations are carried out. We conclude that many Sistema evaluations display an alignment with advocacy rather than explorative research, and that the foundation for El Sistema's claims of social transformation is thus weak.

There is much dialogue in the academy about the role of doctoral studies in relation to employment, career trajectories and graduate outcomes. This project explores the experiences of Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) graduates and students at the Queensland Conservatorium in Australia to reveal how the programme has impacted upon their professional activities, while also addressing assumptions promulgated through the literature on artistic practice and research education. The paper presents emergent themes and concludes by offering insights into artistic research in music more broadly.

Selecting repertoire that adult piano students find motivating and musically satisfying is more complex than simply finding pieces that are aurally pleasing. Drawing on theories of motivation, adult learning and transformative pedagogy, this practitioner-based study describes how the author learned to involve her students in the selection process, to align repertoire with their tastes and goals, and to understand the impact of students’ values, expectations and perceptions of learning on their engagement with repertoire learned. It is hoped that the experiences and theories shared herein inspire teachers to reflect on their own pedagogical choices regarding repertoire selection.

The pervasiveness of popular music and its associated practices in current youth cultures brings into question the relevance and effectiveness of more traditional music pedagogies, and propels a search for a more current and engaging music pedagogy informed by popular music practices. With this as the basis, this study seeks to explore factors that may enable the success and effectiveness of popular music programmes in public schools through the lenses of three Singapore secondary school teachers as they conducted their popular music lessons over seven to ten weeks. In the process, the study also describes how these teachers pragmatically negotiated the execution of these programmes within Singapore's unique educational context. The findings may serve to inform music teachers and school leaders keen to establish similar programmes as a matter of on-going dialogue.