The extent to which musical learning takes place beyond the school curriculum presents a challenge to music teachers, requiring them to frame their classroom activities within the broader context of their students' diverse musical interests and experiences. At times, young people's self-directed musical education has been held up as a criticism of institutional approaches: the often-quoted comment from the 1963 Newsom Report that ‘out of school, adolescents are enthusiastically engaged in musical self-education’ was contrasted at the time with the view that classroom music was becoming increasingly out-dated and irrelevant – a charge that subsequent generations have also been called to answer.

During the last decade there has been an awakening interest in considering not only formalised learning situations within institutional settings, but also all the various forms of informal musical learning practices outside schools. Informal musical learning outside institutional settings has been shown to contribute to important knowledge and aspects of music education. In this article, I will examine research studies which in different ways focus on formal and informal learning situations and practices or formal and informal ways of learning. I will consider the relationship between music education as praxis (music pedagogy) and as research, and the relationship between these two facets of music education and the surrounding society. I will identify four different ways of using and defining formal and informal learning, respectively, either explicitly or implicitly, each one focusing on different aspects of learning: (i) the situation, (ii) learning style, (iii) ownership, and (iv) intentionality. Formal – informal should not be regarded as a dichotomy, but rather as the two poles of a continuum; in most learning situations, both these aspects of learning are in various degrees present and interacting. Music education researchers, in order to contribute to the attainment of a multiplicity of learning styles and a cultural diversity in music education, need to focus not only on the formal and informal musical learning in Western societies and cultures, but also to include the full global range of musical learning in popular, world and indigenous music in their studies.

This paper reports on an education programme conducted with first-time mothers. The study aimed to establish whether mothers found an education session on lullaby singing beneficial for them and their babies as well as reporting what lullabies were sung and why. Twenty first-time mothers were provided with examples of lullabies and asked to sing lullabies to their babies at bedtime at least four times per week over a six-week period. Data contained in interviews and in diaries kept by the mothers were used to evaluate the value of the education session, the range of lullabies sung and their frequency of use, and to gain insight into mothers' thinking when choosing lullabies. Results indicate that mothers sing a broad range of lullabies utilising a repertoire of between five and seven lullabies. Reasons for selecting lullabies varied between the different mothers and for different lullabies but most frequently, selections were based on the perception that they were quietening, calming or relaxing for their babies. Selections were also based on whether mothers knew the lullabies and were confident to sing them. The education session was evaluated with mothers reporting on how singing lullabies facilitated a deeper understanding of their babies' responses, and enhanced their own feelings associated with motherhood. Recommendations are made as to the type and context of future education sessions.

Literature on children's singing development is largely skewed towards findings based on English-speaking children. The present study aims to fill the gap in research through an investigation of the effects of age, gender and language on the singing competency of Cantonese-speaking children. One hundred and twenty children aged 7 and 9 years participated in the study. Sixty children were Cantonese monolinguals and 60 were English bilinguals. Each child performed individually a criterion song and two independent judges rated the recorded singing performance. Welch's model of Pitch-matching Development (2000) and Rutkowski's Singing Voice Development Measure (1998) were used to evaluate singing competency. Results suggest that melodic singing achievement and the ability to use a singing voice are moderately related singing behaviours. Evidence also suggests that gender and language but not age affects singing competency.

This paper builds on the concept that fusion – the blending of styles and traditions resulting in new or hybridised genres – takes place in social interaction in the ‘transformative zone’ (Bresler, 2003). First I explore the issues surrounding the tension that can occur between the need, or desire, to maintain cherished traditions and the need to create and adapt forms of expression (Bebey 1969/1975) that are meaningful to practitioners. Next, I describe a spontaneous act of fusion that occurred during a music pedagogy workshop that I gave to music teachers in Cuba. Blending the tranquil mood of a Hebrew blessing, with lively Cuban polyrhythms the participants created a hybridised genre that reflected Cuban musical traditions and values. I suggest that while the blessing was transformed stylistically, its meaningful aspects were retained in the sense that the experience provided the conditions for a feeling of communion with others and the feelings of happiness that can arise from such communion.

This article reports on research investigating the ‘received’ music curriculum as experienced by children and how this corresponds with the expectations of the official music curriculum. The research was conducted in Cyprus and the sample consisted of 1196 children in their final year in primary school. Results verify a huge gap between curriculum theory and implementation, revealing that knowledge accumulated during the six years of primary education is far distant from the over-optimistic intentions of the official music curriculum. Additionally, music was found to be one of children's least favourite school subjects, suggesting the need for a more learner-centred and process-orientated music curriculum.

There has been little research conducted on Taiwanese Aboriginal music education in comparison to Aboriginal education. C. Hsu's Taiwanese Music History (1996) presents information on Aboriginal music including instruments, dance, ritual music, songs and singing, but information on music education practices is lacking. The examination of historical documentation shows that music education was used by both the Japanese government and Christian missionaries to advance their political and religious agendas. This paper will examine the development of the music education of Aborigines in Taiwan from the mid nineteenth century, when Christian missionaries first came to Taiwan, until the end of the Japanese protectorate (1945). I shall discuss how the missionaries from Britain and Canada successfully introduced Western religious music to Aboriginal communities by promoting various activities such as hymn singing and religious services. The paper will then look at the influence of government policy on Aboriginal music education during the colonial periods. These policies affected both the music taught in elementary schools and the teaching materials.

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.