The first issue of volume 29 introduces two significant innovations to the journal's development. The first is the introduction of a section dedicated to contributions by teachers and practitioners, whilst the second is a page on the BJME website which focuses on bringing to the attention of teachers articles from previous issues of the journal. The motivation for both of these sections is the furtherance of one of the BJME's original aims and mission statement which was and is ‘to strengthen connections between research and practice, so enhancing professional development and improving practice’; and ‘to help us towards a better-informed and possibly more cohesive profession’.

Early in my career as a music teacher I was very focused on providing my students with what I believed at the time were a range of musical experiences that broadened their understanding and appreciation of music from a variety of cultures and traditions. However, as I gained more experience, I was able to spend a greater amount of time reflecting on how the pupils were learning as well as what they were learning. Through my engagement in practitioner research I also became more aware of the musical experiences my pupils were having away from school and this led me to realise that an increasingly large number of pupils were already passionate about music but this interest was not necessarily transferring to music within a classroom context. For example, students who were often self-critical about their abilities during classroom music tasks were actually able to demonstrate an increasing level of knowledge and understanding of the music that they were involved in as listeners or performers away from school.

The list of ‘non-negotiables’ for every lesson is comprehensive, amongst them are evidence of planned seating, homework set in every lesson and literacy addressed in the lesson as well as in marking. Students are expected to know the National Curriculum level at which they are currently working and should be able to share their current target for improvement in that subject with anyone that asks. Formal lesson observations, informal learning walks, an annual department review and regular ‘Work Scrutiny’ exercises are in the school calendar. This year, for the first time as a teacher of a foundation subject in my mixed, mainstream secondary school of 1200 students, I have been given target levels for students reaching the end of the compulsory music curriculum (currently at age 14 in England). I am expected to implement intervention strategies for students who may fall short of these. According to discussions on a popular online music teaching forum, I'm not alone. In a recent BBC News report it was found that music teachers are coming under increasing pressure to meet rigid targets as a means to measure school effectiveness in a climate of league tables and the aim to ‘add value’ throughout the secondary school experience.

It is a familiar comment from some new beginner music teachers, ‘I'm not a composer, how do I teach composition, I'm not sure about this, I don't feel confident . . .’. Since the work of Paynter (1982), Swanwick (1979), Swanwick and Taylor (1982) and others, whose work has influenced the National Curriculum in England, classroom music-making has focused on the key musical activities of listening, performing and composing, assuming an experiential learning approach which builds on the inter-relatedness of the three activities. Visits to school music departments reveal a range of pupil music-making but often the area which is least confidently facilitated and supported (and perhaps misunderstood) is composing. Why is this and what are the challenges of teaching composing?

The study investigates criteria chosen by music students for peer and self assessment of both the rehearsal process and performance outcome of their rock groups. The student-chosen criteria and their explanations of these criteria were analysed in relation to Birkett's skills taxonomy of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills. In the rehearsal process, students placed an emphasis on ‘soft’ skill issues, and in the performance outcome, on ‘hard’ skill issues. For students and staff, challenges raised include understanding how and whether to assess ‘soft’ skills; that there is a continuum of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills rather than a binary; and ensuring clear understanding of criteria terms.

This paper explores the relationship between school music and community music in Australia. While many Australian schools and community music activities tend to exist in relative isolation from one another, a range of unique school–community collaborations can be found throughout the country. Drawing on insights from Sound Links, one of Australia's largest studies into community music, this paper explores three case studies of these unique school–community collaborations. These collaborations include a community-initiated collaboration, a school-initiated collaboration and a mutual collaboration. The author brings these collaborations to life for the reader through the words and experiences of their participants, and explores their structures, relationships, benefits, and educational and social outcomes. These descriptions feature important concepts, which could be transferred to a range of other cultural and educational settings in order to foster more vibrant school–community collaborations.

The purpose of this article is to analyse three case study examples of musical folkbildning in Sweden. The first case study is from the establishment of the state-funded Framnäs Folk High Music School in the middle of the last century. The second case study, Hagström's music education, is from the same time but describes a music school run by a private company. The third case study concerns a contemporary expression of folkbildning, namely hip-hop. The theoretical framework that inspired this article stems from the work of Pierre Bourdieu. The double feature of folkbildning appears in terms of: elitist and democratic tendencies, high and low taste agendas, control and freedom.

In a recent article, ‘Sttepping in the right direction? Western classical music in an orchestral programme for disadvantaged African youth’, ‘sttepping’ was noted as no spelling error. The same applies here; reference is to STTEP Music School, an outreach project at the University of Pretoria. STTEP teaches the playing of orchestral instruments, plus background areas like music theory, to disadvantaged learners. Ethnographic and case study research of STTEP, its teachers, pupils and administrators, over the period 2005–2009 was conducted within a sociological meta-theoretical framework. From the hybrid data obtained, conclusions have been drawn, including on observed effects of the African philosophy Ubuntu.

Interactive music video games are a readily available, mainstream technology but they are not generally seen as educative tools. Nor are they established within school teaching and learning environments. This study investigated children's use of these games from a music education perspective. Nine children, aged 9–11 years, and two specialist music teachers each participated in an individual semi-structured interview. The child participants were drawn from four metropolitan schools and the teachers were from different metropolitan schools. Results indicate that the games may help to develop some music skills and knowledge and that the games are of high interest and importance to students. The music teachers acknowledged the potential of interactive music video games to be incorporated into traditional music curriculum but they each expressed a belief that ideally the technology needs further development, including a greater capacity to compose and create using the programs. These findings suggest that, based on constructivist learning theories, there may be a place for these games in music education.

For students in Years 1–10 in Queensland, Australia, The Arts (hereafter referred to as ‘arts’) is one of eight Key Learning Areas in the core curriculum. Yet, while arts – comprising five strands including music – is a mandatory component of the curriculum, implementation varies widely. This occurs for a range of reasons, one of which is the common practice that generalist teachers are allocated delivery of the arts programme in their teaching load. Furthermore, research reveals that music and the arts are frequently considered to be the ‘frills subject’ in a school's timetable, often the first to be removed from the timetable when time is short and the first to feel the impact of budget cuts, including the engagement of specialist arts educators (Russell-Bowie, 2004). This study highlights the gap between policy rhetoric for music and the arts and the pedagogical reality in generalist classrooms. Using a narrative informed case study methodology, a story constellation derived from a beginning generalist teacher and a school principal is revealed. The discussion which follows provides a focus, through the generation of key values statements derived from the data, on the tensions this beginning teacher has experienced in his practice as a teacher responsible for teaching music and the arts, juxtaposed with a similar narrative of the school principal.