This paper explores models of teaching and learning music composition in higher education. It analyses the pedagogical approaches apparent in the literature on teaching and learning composition in schools and universities, and introduces a teaching model as: learning from the masters; mastery of techniques; exploring ideas; and developing voice. It then presents a learning model developed from a qualitative study into students’ experiences of learning composition at university as: craft, process and art. The relationship between the students’ experiences and the pedagogical model is examined. Finally, the implications for composition curricula in higher education are presented.

The implementation of a school-based integrated curriculum enables schools to plan a balanced, flexible and coherent curriculum in order to reduce subject specification, especially in kindergartens. Despite kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) being encouraged to integrate music content across subject areas, these boundaries still exist and prove challenging. This instrumental case study shows how one kindergarten teacher attempted to integrate other subjects into the music curriculum through movement and games, and encourage children's creativity. Eight detailed observations of music lessons and an interview with the kindergarten teacher depict her efforts at integration. Findings show that some progress was made and that the support of the principal was pivotal. They also suggest ways in which kindergarten teachers might begin to incorporate more creative integrated approaches to music education and have some applicability to other kindergarten settings where transmission approaches tend to dominate and teachers want to encourage music integration and children's musical creativity.

Current research in music education tends to put the emphasis on learning processes outside formal academic contexts, both to rethink and to renew academic educational formats. Our aim is to observe and describe three music learning cultures simultaneously, including formal, non-formal and informal settings: Classical, Jazz and Flamenco, respectively. We observed the conceptions of learning, teaching and evaluation within the framework of implicit theories. We used multiple-choice questionnaires to infer the profiles of these conceptions in 30 guitarists who are starting out on their professional careers in the three cultures and analysed whether there are related profiles. The results show that: (a) the Flamenco culture differs significantly from the others in the conception of teaching; (b) the three cultures are most alike in the conception of evaluation, for which conceptions are more sophisticated; (c) the classical culture is closer to constructive conceptions and farther from direct positions, while the opposite is true of Flamenco.

Teaching and learning dynamics in musical instrument tuition, especially in one-to-one teacher–student contexts, have not been studied in a truly systematic manner. The research described in this paper attempts to bring some insights to this area, for teachers and students were studied over a period of six months. More specifically, in the fourth month of the study, all the learners took a practical instrumental examination of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (either violin or piano, ranging from Grades 1 to 8). It thus became possible to explore how the teachers aided, developed and structured the students' preparation up to, during and after the examination, and also how the students worked and responded to the examinations within the context of their families. Furthermore, parents were observed and interviewed about their interactions with their children – the students – and the teachers. Looking at four teachers and eighteen students, the results revealed a number of complex and interconnected themes which both aided and hindered learning. The current paper highlights these.

In the past, the music curricula of Hong Kong (HK), Mainland China and Taiwan have focused on Western music, but with the advent of music technology and the new tripartite paradigm of globalisation, localisation and Sinophilia this has begun to change. Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei share a common historical culture and their populations are mainly Chinese, but their recent socio-political experiences have been diverse. This paper aims to explore the secondary school cultures of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei by examining the similarities and differences between their musical practices and the ways in which they have delineated this tripartite paradigm. Data are drawn from questionnaires completed by 5,133 students (1,750 from HK, 1,741 from Shanghai, and 1,642 from Taipei) attending grades 7 to 9 and interviews with their 46 music teachers between March and August 2004. The survey data show that students from the three communities much prefer Western classical and popular music to their respective forms of local traditional music and to traditional Chinese styles. Though most music teachers recognise the importance of teaching traditional Chinese music, local traditional music, and other world music in schools, they believe that it is difficult to teach different types of music in the classroom. This article argues that globalisation is leading to a common cosmopolitan culture of Western musical learning in school; the emergence of traditional Chinese music, local music, and socio-political movements challenge globalisation in school music education.

This paper reports the development and implementation of a unique Mindfulness for Singers (MfS) course designed to improve singers' vocal technique. Eight university students completed the intervention. Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) scores showed general improvement across all five facets of mindfulness. Qualitative results showed benefits of daily mindfulness exercises on breathing, micro-muscular awareness, vocal tone, text communication and problem solving. Exercises also positively affected teacher/pupil relationships, concentration and focus in lessons and practice. Teachers identified six of the eight participants in a blind controlled study indicating that vocal students at any level would benefit greatly from a mindfulness course as a holistic intervention.

This report is the first stage of a longitudinal inCanto research project, the aim of which is to find out if children who receive an appropriate ‘musical education’, broadly speaking, from the 6th month of prenatal life onwards are able to sing in tune, and if they develop this skill earlier than the general population. In the stage presented here we try to establish the point at which children who have been musically stimulated 3–4 months before birth start to produce their first musical babbling, and analyse the musical content of their vocalisations. For these purposes we organised a weekly course of music for 68 mothers-to-be and for their children after birth. The amount and the quality of the vocalisations produced by the children in the experimental group were found to be higher than reported in previously published studies, and the analysis of the musical babbling revealed the presence of musical patterns belonging to our musical system.

This comparison case-study examines the compositional processes of a high school and a collegiate composer engaged in a similar task. Procedures included interviews with the composers, observations, and the collection of compositional sketches and ‘audio-journals’. Analysis involved the preparation of field-notes and interview transcripts, document analysis and study of the field note/interview text. Two professional composers and the researcher analysed the compositions to locate similarities and differences.

Important similarities were the use of an exploratory phase at the piano and the acknowledgement of both inspiration and revision as components of the composition process. Differences were found in the uses of time and structure.

Musical scores constitute a key element in the development of expertise in musicians from western tonal traditions, since they act as a mediator between the performer and the music itself. Our aim was to study the role of musical scores in instrumental performance practice by analysing the process of learning a new piece of music, as well as the frequency of activities related to that score, taking account of situations when studying alone and with a teacher. Sixteen flute students at two different education levels from conservatoires in Madrid participated in an individual semi-structured interview and completed a rating-scale questionnaire. Categorical analysis from interview data revealed differences between levels in relation to the activities they stated that they engaged in when learning new pieces. Results from the questionnaires showed that although students at both levels worked on playing the musical score correctly, higher-level students seemed to pay special attention to artistic issues. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research, as well as their implications for education.

The cultural contexts of home, school and community all have important parts to play in the music education of children, but at present in Australia, these three entities are insufficiently connected on a number of fronts, not the least being an understanding about the purpose(s) of young people's engagement with music. This paper puts forward two specific proposals for action aimed to help build linkages among the three cultural contexts and ensure young people's on-going engagement with music. These proposals, which call on the education sector to assume leadership for action, have implications for policy makers, school personnel, as well as parents, individual artists and community arts organisations.

Drawn from a larger mixed methods study, this case study provides an account of aspects of the music education programme that occurred with one teacher and a kindergarten class of children aged three and four years. Contrary to transmission approaches that are often used in Hong Kong, the case depicts how musical creativity was encouraged by the teacher in response to children's participation during the time for musical free play. It shows how the teacher scaffolded the attempts of George, a child aged 3 years and 6 months, to use musical notation. The findings are instructive for kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong and suggest ways in which teachers might begin to incorporate more creative approaches to musical education. They are also applicable to other kindergarten settings where transmission approaches tend to dominate and teachers want to encourage children's musical creativity.

The list of ‘non-negotiables’ for every lesson is comprehensive, amongst them are evidence of planned seating, homework set in every lesson and literacy addressed in the lesson as well as in marking. Students are expected to know the National Curriculum level at which they are currently working and should be able to share their current target for improvement in that subject with anyone that asks. Formal lesson observations, informal learning walks, an annual department review and regular ‘Work Scrutiny’ exercises are in the school calendar. This year, for the first time as a teacher of a foundation subject in my mixed, mainstream secondary school of 1200 students, I have been given target levels for students reaching the end of the compulsory music curriculum (currently at age 14 in England). I am expected to implement intervention strategies for students who may fall short of these. According to discussions on a popular online music teaching forum, I'm not alone. In a recent BBC News report it was found that music teachers are coming under increasing pressure to meet rigid targets as a means to measure school effectiveness in a climate of league tables and the aim to ‘add value’ throughout the secondary school experience.

This study examines how interactions between policy, institutions and individuals that reinforce inclusive music education can be framed from an activist standpoint. Resonaari, one among many music schools in Finland, provides an illustrative case of rather uncommonly inclusive practices among students with special educational needs. By exploring this case, contextualised within the Finnish music school system, we identify the challenges and opportunities for activism on micro, meso and macro levels. On the basis of our analysis, we argue that Resonaari's teachers are proactive because, within an inclusive teaching and learning structure, they act in anticipation of future needs and policy changes, engaging in what we call teacher activism. We claim that this type of activism is key for inclusive practices and policy disposition in music education.

The guitar has a high value in cultural capital and we are immersed in a culture in which the guitar is the predominant vehicle of music-making. Given the guitar's mass popularity, it follows that the guitar-learning community is vast and diverse. Subscribing to the social model of disability, I problematise the guitar as being disabled and conducted an instrumental case study using the ethnographic tools of video-based observation, field notes and a semi-structured interview to chronicle the experience of teaching an adolescent with Down syndrome how to play the guitar. Different approaches to enabling the guitar are examined including open-tuning, standard tuning and a modified two-string guitar. Findings discuss the importance of the guitar to the participant as a percussive and rhythmic instrument and additionally as support for singing in the context of jamming.

This qualitative instrumental case study examines collaborative composing in the operabyyou.com online music community from the perspective of learning by utilising the concept of a ‘community of practice’ as a heuristic frame. The article suggests that although informal music practices offer important opportunities for people with varied backgrounds to participate in the production of art works, and may thus represent and illustrate important aspects of the community life of the society, they do not necessarily provide ideal models for the music classroom. Based on the analysis of the operabyyou.com community, we discuss conditions for collaborative composing when aiming to design educational settings that support the students' construction of identity and ownership of musical meaning.

Despite pockets of excellence, singing in British secondary schools is not only weak but in a state of continuing decline. The unpopularity of singing is well documented but the reasons for that unpopularity are less certain. Through interviewing adults between the ages of 20 and 40 about their school days, the authors located the principal sources of most people's unease with singing, and also the seat of pleasure among those who enjoyed it. Some differences between age groups and the sexes emerged through the study. Unexpectedly, all interviewees were united in the view that singing should be retained as a worthwhile element of the secondary school curriculum.

The aim of this research was to explore the impact of the adoption of the Musical Futures approach on the musical progression of students in Musical Futures’ Champion schools. The research took place over three years in three phases with 733 students and 28 music teachers completing questionnaires. Data from the interviews with 39 staff and focus groups of 325 students provided greater insights into the questionnaire responses. Overall, teachers reported that Musical Futures had enhanced the musical progression of their students and increased take up at Key Stage 4. In some cases this had led to changes in the qualifications on offer with an emphasis on those which were vocational rather than academic. This created some tensions in catering for the needs of different groups of students who had a range of different musical skills.

Children hear music in the background of a large variety of situations and activities. Throughout development, they acquire knowledge both about the syntactical norms of tonal music, and about the relationship between musical form and emotion. Five to six-year-old children heard a story, with a background ‘happy’, ‘sad’ or no melody. Results show that background music affected children's interpretation of the story: ‘happy’ background music led to positive interpretations, whereas ‘sad’ background music led to more negative interpretations of the story. The effect of ‘happy’ music was stronger than that of ‘sad’ music. Implications for education are discussed.

This article reports on an exploratory investigation of the relationship between prior experience of formal instrumental music tuition (FIMT) and the process of collaborative computer-based music composition. The study linked a school in the UK with a school in Norway to engage in computer-mediated collaborative composition via e-mail. Participants were grouped into composing pairs (one from each country) balanced for prior musical experience. Results revealed prior experience of FIMT was associated with extended and complex musical dialogues, critical engagement with musical ideas and produced an ‘exploratory’ environment. No prior experience of FIMT was associated with uncritical and descriptive dialogues and a ‘cumulative’ environment. Proposals for future research are discussed.

This article originated from a research project examining pupils' perceptions of the GCSE Music examination (for pupils aged 15–16) in one large secondary school in the United Kingdom. The research explored the hypothesis that pupils considered it necessary to have additional instrumental or vocal tuition outside class music lessons in order to secure a high grade in the examination. The research also hypothesised that, despite the egalitarian philosophy underpinning the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination system, the music course was still viewed by pupils as being élitist. It was concluded that although there were some very positive comments from pupils, GCSE Music was still not the intended examination for all.