In recent years, music education has seen a decline in the number of students choosing to continue their studies at Key Stage 4 (14- to 16-year-old students) and choose music as a GCSE option in England. Whilst the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), a school performance measure which excludes the arts, has come under much scrutiny as to its impact on school music, enjoyment and the perceived importance of music lessons could also be contributing factors to low uptake. This paper presents student survey findings from the first part of a two-phase project that was based on a qualitatively driven mixed-method research design. Findings demonstrated that a decline in enjoyment and in the importance attributed to school music occurred in the first three years of lower secondary school (Key Stage 3). The enjoyment of school music was linked with the students’ engagement with practical components of music making, and its importance was mostly equated with future employment opportunities. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical implications in the teaching of music in secondary schools.

My role as a university-based, general classroom music teacher educator in England has become unclear, exacerbated by policies that have undermined the field of classroom music in schools and the role of universities in teacher education. Using self-critical inquiry enacted as critically reflexive autoethnography, I interrogated my professional practice to rethink my pedagogic identity. Theoretical perspectives, drawn from Bernstein and Bourdieu, were used to chart my shifting identity. This paper introduces a theorised model to illustrate a range of pedagogic identities for Key Stage 3 (KS3) general classroom music teacher education.

Despite the evidence of the benefits of improvisation in instrumental teaching, research indicates that many piano teachers do not include it in their lessons. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences on piano teachers’ pedagogy to determine what factors impacted the teaching of improvisation. A total of 117 UK-based piano teachers participated in the survey. The data obtained indicates that an understanding of how to teach improvisation is a significant influence on teachers’ pedagogy. The conclusion argues that there is a need for piano teachers to have greater access to instrumental teaching courses to encourage them to reflect on their teaching practice.

This article critically engages with the discipline of African musics in the academy. It examines the process of curriculum transformation of the African music section at the South African College of Music, University of Cape Town since 2005 as an emergent curriculum model for an integrated approach to the teaching of African musics at universities. The adoption of this curriculum predated the 2015–2016 fervent calls in South Africa to decolonise the university, which necessitates an approach to teaching African musics not rooted in its colonial past. As is known, the study and research of African musics in the academy partly stemmed from the efforts of European (and later US) researchers who often received support through the British colonial administration and much of their output seemed to be focused on convincing their peers about the virtues of ‘African music’ and the study thereof. Despite this history, there is evidence to support the fact that in most African universities, the music departments are far more interested in teaching Western art music and its virtues. In recognition of the calls by students for radical changes to the curricula in South African universities, the article seeks to answer the question ‘how do we consider ongoing changes to the knowledge both received and produced in this field?’

This exploratory study describes the design and implementation of a sound-based intervention in the initial training of specialist music teachers at a Spanish university. It aimed to create spaces geared towards more creative and contemporary approaches to musical learning in order to gauge the perceptions of trainee teachers regarding this kind of approach. The intervention (45 h of class time) was based on the creation of electroacoustic compositions following the SBM (Sound Based Music) approach using digital tools (Aglaya Play, AP). Qualitative process data were collected through self-reports, individual memories, and nine focus groups. The results suggest that the implementation of new intervention models that take into account the development of future teachers’ creativity with activities focused on exploration, experimentation, and creation with sound can generate new opportunities to enrich their teaching identities.

This study aims to increase understanding of the values and outcomes of teacher action research in conservatoire education. Teacher action research has been found to stimulate both professional development and improvement of teaching practice. A multiple-case study design was employed to examine teachers’ activities and their perceptions of the value of action research. Findings from the cross-case analysis include teachers’ perceptions of action research as a way to stimulate the advancement of both their teaching practice and their professional development. Constructive collaborations and self-reflections related to teacher action research were found to reinforce their learning and teaching.

The present study aimed to increase understanding of how singing activities may be initiated in primary school, and what support and assistance teachers require to conduct singing activities as an integrated part of the school day. Five music teachers participated in a focus group interview. The following main themes were identified: 1) pedagogical and methodological flexibility, 2) the role of routines and familiarity, 3) the embodied and multimodal dimensions of singing, 4) the importance of accompaniment and instruments, 5) the experience of insecurity and obstacles and 6) the perceived synergies between singing and other learning activities. This knowledge may be important to integrate within music teacher education in order to secure singing’s place in schools.

This research explored the impact of informal learning (IL) in primary music initial teacher training. A small group of undergraduate student teachers had an opportunity to learn about and facilitate an IL approach. Data were collected from interviews, participant reflective logs and researcher reflections. The findings show that perceived benefits included freedom for serendipity, pupil autonomy and aural learning; perceived tensions included student teacher anxiety and a lack of teacher control. The researchers propose two aspects for consideration: first, that language associated with IL has social meaning that must be updated; second, that while direct instruction remains at the heart of primary teacher education, IL can continue to be justified despite the current emphasis on direct explicit teaching.