In spite of centuries of experience and experiment, the practicalities and benefits of general education (schooling) remain uncertain. Can we sustain the spread of subjects that now make up the curriculum? In particular, can we justify time spent on music, which to many would appear to be a specialised study for the talented? The evidence of past practice suggests that the content of classroom music teaching has not done much to help the majority of people to understand music. Yet making music is manifestly an important feature of our humanity. Are there principles at work deep in the nature of music which explain this, and can those features be exploited as the basis of a musical education which will have value for everyone?

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.

This article, based on research for an MA (December 2000), investigates the connections between the private teacher and music in the National Curriculum. In the process present perceptions and practice are explored to gain a clearer understanding of the situation as it is today. Various ways of improving communications between schools and private teachers are looked at, with a view to helping the pupil feel that school and private lessons are working in harmony. From the research it has been found that an awareness exists of the need to develop teaching philosophies that relate the private lesson to music in the National Curriculum.

This article examines the impact of analysis teaching on performance by documenting the progress of 12 students who took part in an advanced undergraduate class in music analysis. Each class participant was asked to keep a diary of their performances, both during practice time and in instrumental lessons, and these are documented and analysed. Finally, the students were given oral viva voce examinations. The data from this short qualitative study shows a variety of results that illustrate the extent to which individual students react to the teaching of music analysis in different ways.

This article discusses the first year of the Project for Introductory Piano Education (the PIPO project) at The Hague, a training programme for young pianists starting at age 5–6. The programme combines general music activities, aiming at the development of general musical skills, with piano lessons in small groups. Rather than working from notation, the project takes an auditory approach to piano playing. After having described the principal characteristics of the PIPO project, the article reports on the musical progress of the children, and concludes by discussing some major educational issues that emerged during the first year.

What do the views of children, teachers and inspectors about the quality of a school's music provision have in common, or are they all different? A trained expert visited ten primary schools, and her judgements about the music provision for children aged 10–11 were compared with those of the teachers, the children's views about music at the school, and the judgements reported in the school's most recent published inspection report. It was the children, particularly the boys, who agreed most closely with the expert. The judgements of the expert and the inspectors were broadly consonant, but the generalisation in the inspection writing led to its requiring a careful read if weaknesses in some schools' provision for Year 6 were to be detected. While there was general agreement between the expert and the teachers over children's attainment in the more effective schools, the judgements of the teachers were seriously awry in schools that neglected an aspect of the National Curriculum, typically composing. At present, inspectors routinely survey the views of parents and carers, but not those of pupils. The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), the government department responsible for the inspection of schools in England, is currently considering some limited use of older secondary pupils' views as inspection evidence. The evidence of the research described in this paper is that younger children, in Year 6, could usefully be involved in providing inspection evidence. Indeed, it is possible that they may prove to be rather better ‘inspectors’ than older children, and also than some of their teachers.

The CD that accompanies this issue of BJME contains the recorded examples listed below. They are associated with articles in Volumes 17, 18 and 19, covering three years of issues.