The main section of this issue has two main foci: the first is the relationship and potential synergy between music education and the philosophical concepts of democracy and spirituality and the second is different aspects of performing or performance. Conversely, the contributions to the teacher-practitioner section focus entirely on composing within the UK classroom.

This is a rather different Editorial. It marks the end of five years of editorship. So, a few valedictory remarks will begin and end this piece. When we first took over co-editing the British Journal of Music Education in 2007–2008, from the distinguished editorship of Stephanie Pitts and Gordon Cox, we introduced ourselves alongside contributing authors in the editorial for Volume 25 with articles in a series tackling the contribution of music education research and theory to practice and so signalled our intention as an editorial team to strengthen further the remit of the journal. In this Volume 29, four years on, we feel very pleased to report a significant increase in submissions to the British Journal of Music Education and a welcome further internationalisation of contributions. We now web publish and feature teacher-researcher and school-based research in each issue. The British Journal of Music Education is now featured in the Thomson Reuters Arts & Humanities Citation Index and the Social Science Citation Index. We both feel privileged to have been given the opportunity of working for this highly regarded journal whose reputation has continued to grow and strive to strengthen connections between research and practice, and offer informed and passionate engagement with music education research for empowerment and advocacy.

The first issue of volume 29 introduces two significant innovations to the journal's development. The first is the introduction of a section dedicated to contributions by teachers and practitioners, whilst the second is a page on the BJME website which focuses on bringing to the attention of teachers articles from previous issues of the journal. The motivation for both of these sections is the furtherance of one of the BJME's original aims and mission statement which was and is ‘to strengthen connections between research and practice, so enhancing professional development and improving practice’; and ‘to help us towards a better-informed and possibly more cohesive profession’.

Amartya Sen's capability approach offers a new perspective for educators throughout the curriculum. This new insight has the potential to promote a music education that is inherently tailored to the individual. In essence it asks the question: What is music education going to offer to this student? This article represents an initial enquiry into the capability approach when applied to music education. With a theoretical understanding of the capability approach its application can provide insight into pupil voice, teacher voice, growing student autonomy and differentiation.

Early in my career as a music teacher I was very focused on providing my students with what I believed at the time were a range of musical experiences that broadened their understanding and appreciation of music from a variety of cultures and traditions. However, as I gained more experience, I was able to spend a greater amount of time reflecting on how the pupils were learning as well as what they were learning. Through my engagement in practitioner research I also became more aware of the musical experiences my pupils were having away from school and this led me to realise that an increasingly large number of pupils were already passionate about music but this interest was not necessarily transferring to music within a classroom context. For example, students who were often self-critical about their abilities during classroom music tasks were actually able to demonstrate an increasing level of knowledge and understanding of the music that they were involved in as listeners or performers away from school.

I am a composer, producer, pianist and part-time music lecturer at a Further Education college where I teach composing on Music Technology courses at levels 3 (equivalent to A-level) and 4 (Undergraduate/Foundation Degree). A ‘Music Technology’ course, distinct from a ‘Music’ course, often attracts applicants from diverse musical backgrounds; it is not uncommon for a typical class to contain a majority that cannot read staff notation and have taught themselves to play their instrument. Sometimes the student's only experience of music-making prior to the course has been sequencing beat patterns using computer software. Potential students are drawn to music technology courses for many different reasons – perhaps their individual interests lie in sound engineering, acoustics, live sound reinforcement, computer programming or software application design. As a teacher of composing in this context, I am faced with a challenge: how to bridge the knowledge and confidence gaps that exist between students with more and less formal musical experience? I believe that music technology applications can help in this area, particularly with fostering confidence and motivation in less-experienced students. What follows is a student profile and a case study of one assessment task in composing, which will illustrate how such strategies can work.

What is composing and how is it valued? What does a good education in composing look like; what constraints hinder it and is it possible to overcome such constraints? Can composing be a personal, creative and valuable activity for the school student? What role does the teacher play in all of this? These are questions that I discuss in this reflective study of composing in the classroom.

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.

Transition from primary to secondary school in the UK has received considerable attention in educational research over the last few decades, although specific focus on transition in music has only been relatively recently addressed. Research by Mills (1996) and Marshall and Hargreaves (2007, 2008) draws upon both general and music-specific studies to provide insights into the educational value of common transition practices for pupils and teachers. While evidence from the recent surveys indicate significant progress in promoting successful transitions compared with earlier research, there continue to be areas requiring further enquiry, particularly that of curriculum progression and pupil achievement in music.

It is a familiar comment from some new beginner music teachers, ‘I'm not a composer, how do I teach composition, I'm not sure about this, I don't feel confident . . .’. Since the work of Paynter (1982), Swanwick (1979), Swanwick and Taylor (1982) and others, whose work has influenced the National Curriculum in England, classroom music-making has focused on the key musical activities of listening, performing and composing, assuming an experiential learning approach which builds on the inter-relatedness of the three activities. Visits to school music departments reveal a range of pupil music-making but often the area which is least confidently facilitated and supported (and perhaps misunderstood) is composing. Why is this and what are the challenges of teaching composing?

Since the 1960s, there has been a growing awareness of the need for cultural plurality in Europe (Drummond et al., 2005). Globalisation and technological development stimulate rapid exchanges between today's diverse and hybrid societies.

I enjoy composing and feel able to write songs that I like and which feel significant to me. This has not always been the case and the change had nothing to do with my school education or my degree. Composing at secondary school did not move beyond Bach and Handel pastiche. I did not take any composing courses during my degree. What did influence the change in me was the fact that I made a friend of a songwriter.

The study investigates criteria chosen by music students for peer and self assessment of both the rehearsal process and performance outcome of their rock groups. The student-chosen criteria and their explanations of these criteria were analysed in relation to Birkett's skills taxonomy of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills. In the rehearsal process, students placed an emphasis on ‘soft’ skill issues, and in the performance outcome, on ‘hard’ skill issues. For students and staff, challenges raised include understanding how and whether to assess ‘soft’ skills; that there is a continuum of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills rather than a binary; and ensuring clear understanding of criteria terms.

This philosophical essay is a meditation on the multiple and contested meanings of the concept of democracy with the aim of redirecting dominant discourses in music education practices and building new capacities for democracy's practical use in music classrooms. Inspired by philosopher John Dewey's travels to China, and his influence on major Chinese thinkers like Hu Shih and Tao Xingzhi, the author plays with the etymological origins of the term ‘democracy’, finding limited value in its Greek origins, but inspiration in the many ways of referring to democracy in Chinese [Minzhu: 民 主 / Pingmin: 平 民 / Shumin: 庶 民 / Minben: 民 本] each of which has the potential to direct and enlarge contemporary instructional practices in formal music education settings.

This paper discusses recent developments in the senior music curriculum in New Zealand. I suggest that school music is in transition from its clearly defined origins to its ‘regionalisation’ by new content and knowledge. The concepts of knowledge differentiation and verticality are considered in relation to the subject's now diverse range of curriculum segments, and I argue that the varied progression requirements of these segments combined with an ‘emptying out’ of significant aspects of knowledge within an outcomes-based curriculum presents significant challenges for curriculum construction and pedagogy. Also vying for space within the curriculum are elements of informal music learning. These challenges need to be carefully considered in light of recent social realist critiques which highlight the significance of the relationship between knowledge structures, curriculum, pedagogy and student access to powerful knowledge.

In many countries it has become commonplace for students at school to undertake their own composing in the classroom. At the same time students often develop their own creative musical interests outside school hours. This paper looks at how teachers might re-evaluate students’ self-initiated compositional activity. By utilising Martin Heidegger's writing, this paper seeks to contextualise a philosophical position in relation to the musical work and to question how we as educators envision the student's music, and ultimately how we come to understand and evaluate a student's work. With reference to the field of music theory and music education the intention of this paper is to open a discussion examining how we might view music as an art object seen within its own context. With reference to a case study of a student working in an online environment parallels are drawn between Heidegger's depiction of an art object as a ‘thing’ located and valued in its own context, as opposed to music seen as an object that is de-contextualised from an audience or its place of making.

In this paper the role of spirituality in learning music for North American adult students is explored by examining the case of shakuhachi music. One distinctive character of engaging in music through the shakuhachi is that it facilitates the attainment of an ‘optimal relationship’ between the practitioners’ musical pursuit and self-cultivation through a ‘simple’ media, such as a single tone. The findings indicate that spirituality could be experienced regardless of one's musical skills or the level of outward expression. A second characteristic is that both experienced players and beginners could experience what the spirituality of music means through certain forms of music practice, including the shakuhachi practice, which followed the principle of ‘less is more’.