We write curriculum documents that are full of good intentions – ambitious musical aims, the highest educational aspirations and holistic principles that place the learner at the centre. Yet, in many ways, curriculum writing is an exercise in asserting control of what and how we might teach. The notion of the intended curriculum, that is, explicit goals to determine the outcome of learning, has its roots in what became known as the Tyler Rationale and has continued to influence curriculum inquiry, planning, development, test construction and learning outcomes to the present day (Schubert, 2008). In Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction, Ralph Tyler (1949) formulated a deceptively simple structure that has guided curriculum developers and researchers for over fifty years. This entailed: (i) Defining appropriate learning objectives, (ii) Introducing useful learning experiences, (iii) Organising experiences to maximise their effect; and (iv) Evaluating the process and revising the areas that were not effective. According to Schubert (2008), many curriculum scholars and developers ignored several other aspects of Tyler's work and many of his other recommendations were lost in the tendency to follow his curriculum ‘recipe’ in schools, state departments or ministries of education. What Tyler had argued was that perspectives be sought from other philosophical and psychological positions, and that the influences of society, the individual, and other disciplines also be considered. He also believed that learning experiences were more important than activities or content. Moreover, he asserted that non-school experiences of students and their active social lives were also worthy of study and finally, he believed that the four steps in his model should not be used in the order presented in his text, but according to situation need. However, only the bones of Tyler's message survived while his more embodied emphasis on careful attention to context and nuance in student lives was overlooked in the process (Schubert, 2008).

Work such as that of John Cooksey on boys’ changing voices has influenced choral practice in the USA and in certain UK youth choirs, but has hitherto had little impact in UK schools where many teachers continue to believe that boys’ voices ‘break’. Different practices are found across the independent and maintained sectors of secondary education. The former draws on the choral tradition associated with cathedral music. The latter tends, with notable exceptions, to subscribe to the populist media view that ‘boys don't sing’ or that singing by boys is individualised and the exceptional result of ‘X Factor’ style talent shows. In neither case is there much evidence of a systematic attempt to apply research findings to develop a structured programme of vocal development for boys in early adolescence. The paper examines case studies of different choral practice in schools where boys do sing, but as the result of enthusiastic teachers working in isolation rather than a systematic, research-based approach to boys’ singing development.

The importance of personal practice for instrumentalists and vocalists is well established among researchers, and axiomatic for practitioners. This paper reports on a phase of an action research project, investigating student approaches to personal practice. Following a preliminary questionnaire study, a residential clinic was conducted by practitioner-researchers for eight student participants. In a programme addressing practice, rehearsal and performance, students were introduced to and supported in the development of self-regulatory skills, through generic practice strategies and tools for time-management and self-evaluation. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, weblogs and practice schedules. Students’ previous experience with learning about practice was characterised, and complemented by the exploration of a programme offering support for more strategic approaches, beyond the setting of individual lessons.

This article discusses the use of gesture and body-movement in the teaching of singing and reports on a survey amongst professional singing teachers in Germany regarding their use of gesture and body movement as pedagogic tools in their teaching. The nomenclature of gestures and movements used in the survey is based on a previous study by the author (Nafisi, 2008, 2010) categorising movements in the teaching of singing according to their pedagogical intent into Physiological Gestures, Sensation-related Gestures, Musical Gestures and Body-Movements. The survey demonstrated that Gestures were used by a significant number of voice teachers to enhance explanation and/or demonstration, that a significant number of voice teachers encouraged their students to carry out similar Gestures whilst singing to enhance their learning experience and that another type of essentially non-expressive Body-Movements was also encouraged by a significant number of voice teachers to enhance students’ learning. The paper validates the author's nomenclature and offers some hitherto unpublished insights.

Social activism and education have been associated with hip-hop since it emerged in New York City 38 years ago. Therefore, it might not be surprising that universities have become interested in hip-hop. This article aims to highlight this ‘hip-hop academisation’ and analyse the discursive mechanisms that manifest in these academisation processes. The guiding research question explores how hip-hop scholars talk about this academisation. The theoretical framework is informed by the scholarship of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Hip-hop scholars were interviewed in New York City during 2010. The results demonstrate themes of hip-hop as an attractive label, a door opener, a form of ‘low-culture’, a trap and an educational tool.

This paper presents new data extracted from the National Survey of Jazz Instrumentalists and Vocalists. The survey was administered to 209 professional jazz musicians who resided and performed in Australia during 2009–2010. Presented here are five statistically significant characteristics which differentiate vocalists’ experiences from other jazz musicians. These are: the singers’ preference for learning by imitation, their use of chords to find starting notes, their reliance on aural feedback, their greater sense of personal risk in improvisation, and their desire to be comfortable when performing lyrics. The results are accompanied by suggestions as to how jazz educators may respond to the findings.

The purpose of this study was to explore why highly trained musicians choose to teach in higher education. An international population from nine countries of music instrument teachers was sampled via online survey, to determine their reasons for teaching in higher education. Motivational constructs from the expectancy-value framework were used, and data were analysed statistically and qualitatively for themes. Findings show that participants held significantly higher expectancy beliefs about teaching than performing, and significantly higher intrinsic interest value beliefs about performing than about teaching. All six constructs were positively correlated with cost for music performing and teaching predicting the most variance.