The application of objectives to the teaching of music can be easy enough when the results expected are clearly understood in advance. However, when some of the responsibility for the outcome is placed in the hands of pupils, the formulation of objectives becomes more difficult. This article explores the problem and makes suggestions for the framing of objectives in relation to children's compositional work. In support of the argument, the findings of a short course in composing undertaken with two pupils are described with scores and taped examples serving as evidence. The article ends with suggestions for the assessment of pupils' compositions.

This article describes an experiment in the assessment of composition by group consensus. It was designed to prove that small groups of assessors confronted with only aural evidence of particular compositions could, when using suitable criteria, under certain working conditions, come to similar enough judgements on these compositions to prove the method reliable. The method itself was based on the sessions in assessment held at the University of York in 1977 under the chairmanship of Robert Bunting, but, whereas the results in the York session were quite promising and pointed to the reliability of this method, the present experiment has exposed great flaws in a procedure that is advocated by at least one G.C.S.E. group as being suitable for the moderation of students' compositions.

This article describes some of the experiences of, and lessons learnt by a composer working as Head of Music in a secondary school. The article highlights in particular aspects which are considered to be of value to teachers and other colleagues now embarking on a new era of musical education in schools, notably aspects relevant to the composing component in public examinations. The text includes details of a recording of newly composed music.

The Gulbenkian Report (1982) highlighted the need for bridges to be built between performing artists, arts organisations, teachers and pupils. The London Sinfonietta Education Programme can be seen as an exemplar in this respect; it is not perceived as merely an arm of marketing, but seeks to be an educational resource in itself providing children with a rich rewarding experience that fosters not only musical skills but also transferable social and life skills.

A teaching method is described which is based on activity and participation in relation to recorded musical performances. The principles of repertoire choice are that it should represent various styles; that the expressive content should be in the realm of the emotional world of children; that there should be at least one compositional device in the music which is perceivable from the point of view of students. The relationship of participation and listening is explored through practical illustrations.

Against the background of current debate concerning the proposed national curriculum, a number of questions remain unanswered. This paper examines the issue of how, and indeed whether music education is practised from an expressivist point of view. The expressivist position, as evidenced for instance in the work of Herbert Read, Louis Arnard Reid and Suzanne Langer, is analysed in the more recent work of Robert Witkin and Malcolm Ross.

The paper continues by questioning whether there is an expressivist future in music education, discussing the work of Keith Swanwick and John Paynter alongside recent guidelines from HMI and the DES. Official utilitarian arguments are questioned and evidence of developments in Scotland and the United States are examined. The American tradition of developmental psychology in music leads to a discussion of the work of David J. Hargreaves in this country, and finally recommendations are made concerning the relationship between music and the other arts, with particular reference to curriculum structures and programmes of learning.