In this article, we describe the agency development in one student with special needs through Dalcroze-based music-and-movement activities. The case study was conducted in the context of classroom music education in a special school. The data were produced via a teaching experiment (from August 2015 to March 2016), in which a group (n = 13) of 15- to 16-year-old students participated in added lessons (one lesson per week) provided by the first author. The lessons included a variety of Dalcroze-based activities, such as singing with movement, quick reaction and follow exercises, movement improvisation, body percussion exercises, dances, and relaxation exercises. The data consist of video-recordings of the lessons, a research diary, and interviews with teachers, teaching assistants, a therapist, and a specialist of special education. During the teaching experiment, the case student’s agency developed from being a passive outsider to being an active participant and leader. The change in agency was noticed also outside the classroom. The study suggests that using music-and-movement in a music classroom offers possibilities for nonverbal embodied interaction and thereby opportunities for the development of students’ agency and autonomy foremost by developing their body and social skills. On a more general level, the article contributes to developing such music education theory and practice that acknowledges the significance of experience in learning music and in embodied interaction, where individuals interact and make sense of the world through nonverbal communication. In addition, this study highlights the strength of such education in supporting the development of the whole human being.

Based on my own research education courses for doctoral students, I examine the ways in which music provides powerful and rich models for perception, conceptualisation and engagement for both listeners and performers, to cultivate the processes and products of qualitative research in the social science in general, and in music education in particular. I discuss temporality and fluidity, listening and improvisation, originally terms associated with music, and their ramifications for qualitative inquiry. I then present some concrete examples from my research course, not as prescriptions to follow but as invitations for readers to generate their own activities and experiences.

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.

Within the growing field of publications on El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes around the world, a marked divide can be observed between the findings of critical academic studies and commissioned evaluations. Using evaluations of El Sistema in Venezuela and Aotearoa New Zealand as our principal case studies, we argue that this gulf can be explained at least partly by methodological problems in the way that some evaluations are carried out. We conclude that many Sistema evaluations display an alignment with advocacy rather than explorative research, and that the foundation for El Sistema's claims of social transformation is thus weak.

School students' immersion in a rich entertainment media environment has implications for classroom listening. Increasing interaction among media, design, games, communications and arts fields has led to a growing trend in the creative alignment of music and moving image. Video sharing sites such as YouTube are assisting in the proliferation and dissemination of such material, and are a source for the stimulation of creative and artistic activity from which music education can benefit. In this article I explore some of the possibilities of cross-media listening, which considers music from (variously) aural, visual, spatial and kinaesthetic orientations. Cross-media listening centres on visual musical works, pieces from moving image genres that are structured according to the codes, materials, devices and processes of music. Grounded in sound pedagogical principles and expounded through a series of analyses, cross-media listening advocates a reintegrated, multi-domain approach to encountering music in educational settings.

This article explores the relationship between how popular musicians learn and how they subsequently teach, and considers the extent to which they incorporate their own informal learning practices into their work as teachers. A group of eight UK teachers was recruited and data collection, involving interviews and lesson observations, took place between January 2006 and December 2008. Findings are reported here in relation to two teachers in particular, whose learning histories were similar but whose teaching practices were very different. The ways they valued the results of their informal learning practices seemed to determine the extent to which they sought to replicate them in their teaching. There is evidence for the significance of learning histories, and implications for training and professional development.

This study examines the effectiveness of combining video self-assessment, peer-assessment, instructor feedback, and the use of a Conductor Peer/Self Evaluation form, in the instruction of conducting gestural technique. Twenty-five P.G.C.E. music students from the University of London Institute of Education were videotaped while conducting. Concurrently, they were being assessed by a peer, and given feedback by the instructor. The peer and the conductor reviewed the videotape and determined three areas of strength and three areas that need improvement in the conductor gestural technique. The experimenter tabulated the results and surveyed the group as to the effectiveness of the teaching process. Results indicate that the instructional process was effective, and the inclusion of peer-assessment helped to present a more accurate view of each conductors skills.

Technologies such as YouTube, mobile phones and MP3 players are increasingly integrated into secondary school music in the UK. At the same time, the gap between formal and informal music learning is being bridged by the incorporation of students’ preferred music into class activities. We conducted an ethnographic study in two secondary schools in London, investigating the roles of technology in the negotiation of musical concepts in music classes. From this, we report some observations on the relation between formal/informal and authorised/unauthorised activities in class, and some specific observations on the role of YouTube, mobile phones and MP3 players in the class context. In the lessons we observed, these technologies functioned as part of a richly multimodal ecosystem of technologies, combining aspects of formal and informal use. This carries implications for how we plan for the use of technology in the delivery of music education.

An innovative ICT project called Compose has been implemented in some New Zealand primary schools in an effort to counteract the lack of classroom composition opportunities. Compose combines the use of music software and online learning with attempts to address barriers to primary classroom composition. This article illustrates, through personal narrative, how Compose made successful composition experiences possible for a student in a classroom where no such opportunities had previously existed. The project led to the student acquiring compositional skill and knowledge and a positive music self-concept. Though it is not possible to generalise from a single case study, the findings indicate that Compose could offer a potentially viable way to increase classroom composition learning opportunities.

We develop a creative method for teaching and learning piano technique which motivates students to devote more time and energy to technical exercises. First, we describe the approach to technical exercises of pianists and piano students of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Second, we address a central feature of technical practice from earlier periods: fingering rules and systems. Third, we discuss whether and how older methods might be reintroduced to contemporary piano pedagogy and practice.

The article offers an explanation of the effects of music on children within a hospital setting and points up the multifaceted nature of this experience. The nature of the client group allows the musical experience to work on many different levels, such as modifying the child's perception of pain and reducing stress, whilst at the same time having an integral educational element that supports musical development. The evidence base is drawn from an extensive review of the music/medicine literature, interfaced with the first author's experience over many years as a participant musician in a paediatric oncology ward.

The purpose of this study was to examine the visions of teacher educators of instrumental pedagogy (n = 12) in higher music education regarding ‘good’ teaching and instrumental student teacher preparation. The theoretical basis for the study was research on teachers’ visions (Hammerness, 2006): teachers’ own conceptions of ideal teaching practices. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed by qualitative content analysis. The interviewed teachers’ visions of good teaching of instrumental pedagogy were closely related to their visions of good teaching of instrumental or vocal music, which they attempted to communicate to their student teachers. The process of teacher development was primarily understood as acquiring a package of skills and knowledge that are partly instrument specific, partly generic, and strongly influenced by the labour market. Teaching practice was considered essential, and was perceived as building connections between theory and practical application. The findings support prior research within Nordic teacher education (Hammerness, 2012), in that faculty members’ visions related to teaching are individual and only partly negotiated with their colleagues.

The aim of this paper is to explore perceptions of singing as a group process deriving from two research studies: (i) Study 1: CETL (Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning): C4C (Collaboration for Creativity) Research Project called Singing, Health and Well-being and (ii) Study 2: iSING. The studies consider singing in relation to health and well-being, personal ‘stories’ of singing which acknowledge the self in the process of research, and the effective use of presence in training using a lens developed from Gestalt psychotherapy. The research questions are: (a) What is the relationship between singing, health and well-being in group process? (b) How might this be researched? (c) What are the implications for pedagogic practice in music education?

This paper is based on research carried out into the effects of ICT on musical composition in secondary schools. It is based on a series of interviews with students and teachers, and classroom observations in eight schools following questionnaire responses from 18 secondary schools in south-eastern England. The strategies suggested for effective use of ICT in composing in the classroom resulting from the research include differentiation and classroom management. In addition to teachers' subject knowledge, and resources and their deployment, it appears that the physical learning environment is another crucial factor.

This article studies the compositions of two 15–16 year olds over a period of 12 months: following a similar study by the same author in BJME (1987) 4.1. Identifying traits common to the work discussed in both articles, the author points the way towards some new models for assessing pupils' progress: one of composing as a design process, the other describing musical ability as a style of thinking rather than a set of technical skills.

Within the context of British initiatives in music education such as the Wider Opportunities programme in England and the recommendations of the Music Manifesto emphasising the importance of singing in primary schools, the current paper explores examples of good practice in whole-class vocal tuition. The research included seven different primary schools in England and combined observational methods and semi-structured interviews with musicians, teachers and headteachers. Results indicate a variety of successful approaches to promoting singing in primary schools. Essential motivators for developing singing include an enthusiastic staff member, a supportive headteacher and support from other school staff. Additional motivators include access to musical expertise within and beyond the school, and a singing leader with keyboard skills. Challenges to good practice centre on the issue of confidence and skill in singing from both teachers and pupils, individually and in groups, recognising and rewarding quality in singing, and the sustainability of externally funded initiatives as pupils move through their schooling and particularly from primary to secondary school. Good-quality support from specialists and external organisations can facilitate good practice in schools, but it seems to be important to integrate singing into children's wider musical learning and development within the curriculum, in the extended curriculum and beyond school in order to help sustain a lifelong interest in singing.

This article suggests that traditional conceptions of musical ability, as advanced in the psychometric tradition of psychology, tell us very little about the nature of musical behaviour and how it is developed. The psychometric tradition, with its view that musical ability is innate rather than learned, has exerted a powerful and potentially damaging influence on the practice of music education over the past fifty or so years. It is only relatively recently, mainly in the field of Developmental Psychology, that these ideas have been challenged. In contrasting theories advanced by different psychological schools the article gives a broader perspective to the psychological debate on human intelligence / musical ability and shows the context in which musical behaviour might be viewed as a distinct or even autonomous form of intelligence – a ‘way of knowing’. It suggests that musical thinking should be considered as an ‘intellectual’ as well as aesthetic mode of thought and that musical ability, in the traditional sense, has little educational utility or relevance to music as a curriculum subject in schools.

The paper describes a research project undertaken recently in four primary schools. The study involved an investigation of those factors which motivated the members of a study group of 48 pupils to start learning to play a musical instrument. The findings of the research identify the importance of interest factors and the encouragement of the teacher as determinants of pupils' decisions. There is some indication of differences in the criteria used by girls and boys, particularly with regard to the socialisation aspect of instrumental learning.

This paper describes a longitudinal, collaborative case study, made in the framework of the project Students' Ownership of Learning (SOL) during one academic year with one vocal teacher and two female students. The aim of the study was to relate the interaction between the teacher's and the students' intentions and expectations to the institutional level as well as to the rules and ‘real-life’ practice of the musical profession that the students are trained for. In the study, one-to-one tuition in higher music education was theorised as a culturally and historically grounded activity system consisting of relationships between musicians, instruments, music-making traditions and audiences. The concept of contradiction was used as a tool when analysing individually experienced obstacles for musical learning. The results describe how learning obstacles such as conflicting views on the purpose of the activity may be articulated, confronted and transformed into options through collaborative work. By linking the individual and collective levels of knowledge and by using professional practice as a developmental transfer, all aspects of the ‘conservatoire tradition’ may be seen as holding potential for development and expansion.

In this article, we describe the characteristics of repertoires in music teaching and discuss how these repertoires are related to pedagogical improvisation. The empirical background for the article is classroom observations and interviews with two experienced music teachers. Video-taped examples of teacher repertoires and improvisational teaching practices are included in the article, where we argue that repertoires should be viewed as emerging practices. They can be identified and categorised as ‘techniques’ and ‘teaching acts’ performed by the teachers in constant interplay with the pupils within the context of overall learning activities in the music classroom.