There is currently a debate taking place in the UK as to the form and nature of public examinations. This has been caused in part by the influence of the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA process as it is more commonly known, but also by the notion of a government wishing to take a tough stance on standards. Music has not escaped this attention, and questions are being asked about the type, purpose and role of examinations in music in schools, and the sorts of curricula that are appropriate.

With the support of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the life histories of five visually impaired (VI) musicians were collected and analysed between November 2011 and August 2012. This research was conducted as a pilot for a two-year, national investigation of VI musical participation, ‘Visually-impaired musicians’ lives’ (VIML) funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC, 2013–2015), which has brought together the Institute of Education, University of London, the RNIB and the Royal Academy of Music, London as project partners. In this instance, life histories were co-constructed narratives – foci were the self-identities of this unique group and ‘insider’ perspectives on education, musical participation and society. Analytic induction of the biographies revealed that a perceived barrier to lifelong learning was having the ability to read notation, either adapted print or in Braille format, and the access to educators who had expertise to teach musicians with visual impairments. The respondents commented on the great value of ensemble participation and adopting teaching roles too. With widespread lore in society about the exceptional musical abilities of those with visual impairment, longstanding traditions of blind musicianship, plus evidence of distinct neural development and hearing, they acknowledged the cachet associated with blind musicians but, regardless, wished to be considered musicians first and foremost. The findings raise questions about social and music educational inclusion.

Affordance refers to the properties or designs of a thing that offer the function of the thing. This paper discusses the affordance of Braille music in terms of three notions: mediational means, mastery and appropriation, and focuses on answering the following three questions: (i) How do musicians with visual impairments (MVI) perceive Braille music and what does it reveal about the characteristics and limitations of Braille music? (ii) What are the traits influencing the affordance of Braille music and how does it fit the needs of MVI? (iii) What are the conditions that make Braille music more affordable? To qualitatively investigate these topics, we interviewed nine music teachers and their seven students with visual impairment at a school for the blind in Korea. We found that learning and mastering Braille music is not an easy task, and that blind musicians tend to depend more on auditory input and memorisation. These findings suggest that the current level of development, diffusion and employment of Braille music is not satisfactory in Korea. In order to promote the affordance of Braille music, the adaptability, learnability/usability and availability of Braille music must be enhanced.

The purpose of this study was to examine the visions of teacher educators of instrumental pedagogy (n = 12) in higher music education regarding ‘good’ teaching and instrumental student teacher preparation. The theoretical basis for the study was research on teachers’ visions (Hammerness, 2006): teachers’ own conceptions of ideal teaching practices. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed by qualitative content analysis. The interviewed teachers’ visions of good teaching of instrumental pedagogy were closely related to their visions of good teaching of instrumental or vocal music, which they attempted to communicate to their student teachers. The process of teacher development was primarily understood as acquiring a package of skills and knowledge that are partly instrument specific, partly generic, and strongly influenced by the labour market. Teaching practice was considered essential, and was perceived as building connections between theory and practical application. The findings support prior research within Nordic teacher education (Hammerness, 2012), in that faculty members’ visions related to teaching are individual and only partly negotiated with their colleagues.

Learning-practices of popular musicians are a prominent theme in Western music education literature; however, there appears to be a shortage of such literature in Asian countries. With the aim of comparing East and West, a qualitative study was conducted to investigate the learning-practices and involvement in music of Hong Kong popular musicians. Since Hong Kong is a former British colony, the study intended to investigate whether these practices resembled Western practices, or if they were derived from elements indigenous to Hong Kong. Interviews and observations of the informants’ performances and rehearsals were used to obtain data. It was found that all the informants learned mainly in an informal way and participated actively in music-making – similar to the Western popular music-making scenario – but the shadow of the mentor–apprentice learning relationship inherent in Chinese culture also appeared. Lastly, achievement-driven motivation in learning, which is prevalent in Chinese society, was also found among the informants in the present study. This may not be a significant finding in the context of popular music generally, but it is an issue in which Asian educators may be interested.

This paper examines teacher confidence in teaching music within the context of the introduction of a Foundation Phase ‘curriculum’ in Wales for pupils aged 3–7 years. This involved a move away from music as a single subject to being part of creative development. The findings are based on a small-scale study of 12 teachers from four primary schools in south Wales. The findings illustrate that teacher confidence has improved since the Foundation Phase was introduced. The language used in the new documentation was a contributory factor as teachers found it more straightforward to understand what they were expected to do, and being able to combine music with other topics made it easier and more enjoyable to teach music. As a result, music (both indoors and outdoors) is a more regular occurrence and has become liberated from its perceived single subject status with the associated confidence issues.

In this paper, I use a bricolage of arts-based research and writing practices to explore narratives by Grade 4 children about their experiences in a drumming circle called ‘Bam Bam’ as represented in a text they created with me called An ABC of drumming. The term ‘narrative’ is used here in a contemporary sense to simultaneously invoke a socially and musically situated and constructed story (Chase, 2005 p. 657); as an ‘account to self and others’ (Barrett & Stauffer, 2009, p. 7) about drumming in a particular place, with a particular group of children during a particular set of events; and, to explore narratives of drumming as the ‘shared relational work’ of myself as a drummer, teacher, researcher and ‘story-teller/story-liver’ (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990, p. 12) alongside the children. In synchronicity with the ABC of drumming produced by the children, the paper itself is framed and written creatively around letters of the alphabet and variously includes poetry and data or research poetry; ethnographic ‘thick descriptions’ (Geertz, 1973) of our drumming circle; and, visual and textual expressions by the children. By doing so, my aim is to move collectively from ‘narrative as a “story-presented” to narrative as a “form of meaning-making”, indeed, a form of “mind-making”’ (Barrett & Stauffer, 2009, p. 10) about the children's experience of drumming and the drumming circle itself. The central question underpinning this paper then is, what makes children's experience in a drumming circle meaningful, and how do they make sense of such meaning?