Recent years have revealed local government to be a fundamental stakeholder in the development of arts and music communities. This article provides a context for an exploration and study of the issues, themes and dilemmas that surround local government and music communities. In particular the article provides this examination from an Irish perspective and focuses on recent research to provide insights from local government music practice. Key themes, questions and issues are raised concerning the impact of local government on the development of music communities, how arts agendas are integrated into local government, the tensions between artistic aims and political remits, as well as the ways local government is enhancing musical participation and development amongst communities.

Schmidt (1975) postulates that motor skills are learned as schemas, which should be better learned if built up from experiencing a wide variety of actions. This variable practice hypothesis is tested in teaching string pupils selected skills, namely the ability to control loudness, tempo and intonation. Results suggest a positive conclusion in the first two instances, but are more ambivalent in the third. There is some discussion of the implications for developing effective practising skills, to help learning become more productive and interesting, and in the application of such skills to the goal of musical and expressive performance.

This study examines the change of Hong Kong's sovereignty from one particular perspective – its effect on musical education. Our purpose is to analyse how the change of sovereignty and the idea of ‘one country, two systems’ are reflected in current practices, including published materials used in Hong Kong's secondary schools. Sources of data include selected textbooks, government documents concerning educational policies and curriculum, school syllabi and relevant studies.

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.

Developing effective parent–teacher relationships in music lessons is important for the well-being and learning outcomes of the learners. The aim of this collective case study was to explore the relationship between teachers and parents of pre-school children in group music lessons in the Klang Valley, which is an area in West Malaysia centred on Kuala Lumpur. It includes the neighbouring cities and towns in the state of Selangor. Interviews were conducted with nine parents and three teachers of three group music classes for pre-school children. The results point to the values and attitudes that parents and teachers hold and the interactions between them that both encouraged and discouraged parent–teacher partnerships, which are relationships where trust, reciprocity, mutuality, shared goals and decision making are essential characteristics.

Studies in the history of music education reveal much about the place and purpose of music in the changing curriculum. In this article, the ideas of some significant British music educators of the twentieth century are considered, in an evaluation of the apparent goals of music teaching that have been articulated over the decades. The connections between rationale and practice are discussed, with published ideas placed alongside the views of contemporary teachers in a small-scale questionnaire survey. The conclusion is proposed that school music, as a small part of the child's musical identity, must be modest in its intentions but ambitious in its provision.

The canon forming the backbone of most conceptions of Western music has been a feature of musical culture for decades, exerting an influence upon musical study in educational settings. In English school contexts, the once perceived superiority of classical music in educational terms has been substantially revised and reconsidered, opening up school curricula to other musical traditions and styles on an increasingly equal basis. However, reforms to GCSE and A-levels (examinations taken aged 16 and 18 respectively), which have taken place from 2010 onwards, have refocused attention on canonic knowledge rather than skills-based learning. In musical terms, this has reinforced the value of ‘prescribed works’ in A-level music specifications.

Thus far, little attention has been paid to the extent to which a kind of scholastic canon is maintained in the Western European Art Music section of the listening and appraising units in current A-level music specifications. Though directed in part by guidance from Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, the regulatory body for qualifications in England), there is evidence of a broader cultural trend at work. The present article seeks to compare the historical evidence presented in Robert Legg's 2012 article with current A-level specifications. Such a comparison establishes points of change and similarity in the canon of composers selected for close study in current A-levels, raising questions about the purpose and function of such qualifications.

In June 2015, the British government presented ‘the social justice case for an academic curriculum’ as the justification for recent radical changes to educational policy. However, this justification failed to account for both the key changes in the newly-revised National Curriculum for Music and the place of music in the National Curriculum as a whole.

Through a critical evaluation of the National Curriculum for Music, this study will propose how the place of music could successfully be justified within an education system wholly committed to ‘social justice’. Using the ‘habit concept’ of classical philosophical pragmatism, it will assess how and why music's educational value should be understood not through its ‘academic rigour’ but through its distinctive, inherently destabilising nature.

This paper examines Kelly's Personal Construct Theory (PCT) as a means of researching the development of the aesthetic response to the perception of music. It takes the techniques of association and construct elicitation derived from PCT as a means of investigating pupil responses, and attempts to shed some light both on the way pupils perceive their peer groups' compositions and on the role of the teacher/researcher in the assessment process.

This article describes three projects organised by the Royal Opera House Education Department between 1985 and 1997. Following the descriptions each project is analysed in terms of students, artists and teachers with a view to placing the work within an overall conceptual framework suggesting that arts education provides an interface between the professional work of artists and educational settings. It proposes that arts education can be most effective when students are encouraged to see themselves ‘as artists’ and by creating their own work they can then engage with the work of other artists, both living and from other generations.

The author presents an exploration of recent thinking in historiography as a basis for revitalising history in music education. An overview of developments in history and historical research in music education is followed by an examination of metaphors that illuminate the historical process and reflect a postmodern approach to ‘doing history’. The author then focuses on two issues that have been central to debate in historiography – history and narrative, and history and memory. She concludes with recommendations for revitalising history and historical research in music education, presented from three perspectives – dispositions towards history in the profession, the content of historical research, and methodological implications of the ‘new’ history.

This study investigates how a class of university music students who engaged in a ‘lived’ experience of informal learning adopted methods and strategies to complete a self-learning ‘aural copying’ performance assignment in a musicianship class in Hong Kong. Data were collected from observations of the performances and the students’ written reflections. The findings showed that they used the methods of intensive listening, using technology, and collaborative learning, as well as the strategies of putting their knowledge of music theory into practice, substitution of instruments, and learning a new instrument in order to emulate the sounds of various instruments. They found this an interesting task that gave them opportunities to improve their musicianship, and they became more sensitive to different voice parts.

Research on teachers’ assessments of students’ playing within music lessons has mainly focused on verbal (spoken) evaluations of their learning. However, closer exploration of these interactions shows that embodied assessments, that is, those that also include non-verbal, multi-modal features as part of the interaction, are found to be particularly relevant when making assessments in performing domains such as music. The study's aim was to examine the different types of assessments made by teachers of their students’ playing, how they were responded to by the student, and the function they served in opening up the learning dialogue. 18 video recordings from one-to-one conservatoire music lessons were analysed and two types of assessments were identified: (1) Explicit, definite assessments that provided a clear statement of the students’ playing (e.g., ‘excellent’, ‘very good’) that resulted in closing down the learning dialogue; and (2) Performative, instructive assessments that were more complex evaluations of the students’ playing (e.g., ‘that's closer’, ‘it's too top heavy’) that necessitated further work, thus leading to a more detailed pedagogic interaction. Findings highlight the importance of looking at embodied assessments as essential components to the learning dialogue in music, as well as discussing the implications that the different types of assessments have for opening up and closing learning interaction.

Selecting repertoire that adult piano students find motivating and musically satisfying is more complex than simply finding pieces that are aurally pleasing. Drawing on theories of motivation, adult learning and transformative pedagogy, this practitioner-based study describes how the author learned to involve her students in the selection process, to align repertoire with their tastes and goals, and to understand the impact of students’ values, expectations and perceptions of learning on their engagement with repertoire learned. It is hoped that the experiences and theories shared herein inspire teachers to reflect on their own pedagogical choices regarding repertoire selection.

The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate whether or not the allocation of time proposed in the Music Study Guide, adapted from the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) guidelines, is consistent and adequate for students with minimal musical knowledge. The report takes into account the importance of students’ previous knowledge and the relation this has to the time and effort expended by students in acquiring appropriate knowledge and skills. This is related also to the adequacy of the course specification to meet the demands of university study and the labour market. Results show that those students who enrolled at university without any previous musical knowledge are likely to experience significant difficulty in the acquisition of certain musical and professional competences. This highlights a need to reinforce the music curriculum, or establish zero-level courses, in order to enable such students to succeed in the subject.

In autumn of 1985, the Music Department of the Institute of Education, London University initiated an enquiry into music in schools. During 1986 the Gulbenkian Foundation generously supported the project, facilitating the appointment of a research assistant. The aim was to map out the current context and practice of music teaching in a wide range of school classrooms and examine the role of music within the wider school community. This article is a distillation of the published Report on the research.1

A multicultural imperative has emerged in American educational philosophy and practices of the last decade. Never before has there been such an emphasis on multicultural understanding in the school curriculum. The changing philosophy of education as expressed in the literature suggests that the melting-pot theory is outdated; instead, the various ethnic groups present a rich tapestry of American national culture while maintaining their distinct identity. In this article Dr Shehan examines the relationship between these developing educational attitudes and the music teacher's task in helping to expand students' musical understanding and taste.

This study explores ways to develop focused musical listening skills with six- to eight-year-olds. Groups of children listened to short musical extracts and decided upon a best-fit match from a selection of patterns, colours and textures. At all times their ‘expert’ status was emphasised to keep self-esteem as high as possible and maximise response levels. In requiring children to make an ‘expert judgement’ it was hoped that concentrated listening could be better sustained and actively fostered. Results suggest that listening skills were developed, musical self-esteem enhanced and verbal responses scaffolded. The greatest measurable progress was made by the less able musicians and those with low self-esteem.

Music education in Scotland has a long-standing tradition of community singing, originally taught using the sol-fa method. Virtually every Scottish secondary school possesses cupboards full of dusty piles of Burns song books and Hebridean folk tunes with the sol-fa and the rhythm printed underneath. Some may still be in use! Sol-fa is not nearly so prevalent in schools as it was twenty years ago, but for the majority of Scottish schools singing still forms the backbone of music classes. After all, there are definite advantages of ‘singing’ as opposed to ‘music’ classes; large numbers of children can be taught together, there is probably less preparation or effort involved for the teacher, and other staff, parents, and the pupils themselves may readily accept that music in school is singing.

This article examines curriculum and practice in Australian secondary classroom music education, in order to trace the inclusion of, and provision for, students with learning orientations based on popular music forms. A 60-year period of curriculum reform, matriculation statistics and literature is surveyed with a focus on the state of New South Wales (NSW), where the ‘non-literate’ student musician was first acknowledged in curriculum documents dating from the late 1970s at the senior secondary level (Music Syllabus Year 11 and 12: New 2 Unit A Course. Draft Document). Three overlapping eras frame discussion. The first discusses the original post–World War II school curriculum established for Western art music (WAM); the second discusses the period of curriculum reform beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, which leads to the inclusion of popular music at junior secondary levels; and the third is the present era from roughly 1980 onwards, where separate pathways of instruction are maintained for WAM and students with interests in popular and contemporary musics. Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) from the sociology of education is employed, with analysis unveiling a series of historic code shifts and clashes with implications for present practice. An unveiling of these codes explains the cause of ongoing tensions surrounding the inclusion of popular music and musicians in Australian music classrooms and provides foundation for much-needed curriculum development in the NSW context, and potentially elsewhere, where similar dynamics underpin practice in secondary classrooms.