The article summarises French Ministry of Education guidelines for music education and describes examples of actual practice. Mention is also made of Ministry of Culture provision for music education. An attempt is made to reflect current concerns among French music educators. Among issues raised are the nature of musical ability; what counts as music; questions of access and democratisation; and the relationship between classroom music and specialist instrumental tuition. The article is based on material gathered during a study visit to schools and colleges in Paris, and correspondence with teachers, advisers, and inspectors throughout France.

This article traces the development and influences on music teaching within the state primary school system in West Germany since 1900 and looks at recent significant curriculum changes in the Nordrhein Westfalen Grundschule music curriculum.

This is the story of a remarkable change in approach to musical education which has taken place in Scottish secondary schools during recent years.

Readers will bear in mind that the system of education in Scotland is independent of, and different from, that established in England. It is administered locally by education authorities which, together with head-teachers, are responsible for the curriculum taught within the schools. The Secretary of State for Scotland, nevertheless, retains an overall responsibility for the structure and balance of the school curriculum, which he fulfils by providing education authorities and head-teachers with general advice and guidance on curriculum matters. He is advised on these matters by HM Inspectorate of Schools (Scotland) and by the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum. The Consultative Committee on the Curriculum, in turn, is advised on musical matters by its subcommittee, the Scottish Central Committee on Music. Two external examinations, Ordinary and Higher Grades – taken at ages 16 and 17 respectively – are the responsibility of the Scottish Examination Board.

Scotland has a population of some five and a half million people. It has four professional orchestras – two with international reputations – professional opera and ballet companies, national youth brass and wind bands, and orchestra. There are over four hundred secondary schools. Instruction in music has been a feature of Scottish schools for centuries.

From the viewpoint of European Music Year (EMY) the author, currently HM Staff Inspector for Music and Chairman of the EMY Advisory Committee for Education, makes some general observations about the present condition of and future prospects for music education in the United Kingdom. Reviewing educational initiatives which have been taken during EMY, he relates these to the wider issues which inevitably preoccupy many of us at the present time. Despite the gloomy prognostications being made by some concerning the future of music education, he prefers at this stage to point to positive achievements and to suggest possible lines of development for the future.

From its inception in 1971, the National Festival of Music for Youth has grown to become the largest regular platform for young musicians in Europe (over 700 entries in 1984, amounting to some 20,000 performers). Its development and growth has closely paralleled the rise of in-school instrumental tuition in England and Wales, and in recent years entries to the Festival have included activities from almost every aspect of music making by young people at all educational levels.

This article will outline from both statistical and observational bases the evolution of the NFMY, arguing that, far from merely reflecting trends in music education, it has become a positive means of influence.

The author has been privileged to hear all performances at national level since 1977 (with exceptions from 1982 when multiple venues and simultaneous performances were introduced). He has been present at most of the regional auditions since 1982.

What exactly is the relationship between notation and the music we hear? How has this relationship been affected by the development of first analogue and then digital recording of sound during the present century? This article looks at these issues from the point of view of a composer working with both traditional and unconventional notation and with recorded sound in the electronic music studio. The arguments present a very much condensed and simplified version of a discussion presented in the author's recently published book On Sonic Art.