This article begins with a defence of the study of traditional harmony in schools, colleges and universities, despite the welcome and invigorating competition from expanding conceptions of the role and content of music in education, and in society as a whole. But if this study is to retain a place in our curricula it must be taught quickly and effectively. It must limit its demands on teaching time while expanding the techniques for developing facility both in sound and in the symbols used to notate it.

Control of touch is the alpha and omega of beautiful piano playing. Each finger is a member of a playing apparatus that functions as a multiple lever comprising six segments, from shoulder to fingertips, each of which is controlled by its particular muscles. When a note is played inadequately, tests on the finger and wrist joints usually reveal weaknesses and the need for specific isometric gymnastic exercises to strengthen the muscles that control them. These produce a unity in the functioning of the whole limb, without which complete control is impossible. Such unity is duplicated by the kinaesthetic memory, and confirmed at subsequent practices.

In an attempt to clarify thinking about the musical preferences of fourteen-year old schoolchildren, the author devised an experiment to test the hypothesis that musical preference relates to the personality types of extroversion and introversion, as defined by Eysenck. The results did not confirm this hypothesis, so other factors – the sex of the subjects, the kinds of music and the chosen items themselves – were analysed and their interaction evaluated. There was no hierarchy of factors and the conclusion is that fourteen-year-olds are able to make judgements based on musical criteria.

An integrated musical experience is an elusive event whose occurrence is acknowledged – consciously or unconsciously – by all human beings. It comprises numerous interactive factors, any of which can impede or facilitate the move towards musical integration.

The implications exist that all human beings are inherently music-beings, that music is inherently therapeutic and that musical and self-integration are reciprocal. Thus changes in either will be reflected in the other, and when used in a specifically therapeutic way, music will promote self-integration. Acknowledging these implications broadens and enriches the concepts of healing, of teaching, and of music making, so that all who participate in these events can potentially be profoundly moved towards a more integrated creative experience.

Compulsory classroom music in Upper Schools is often not only ineffective but occasionally counterproductive. The enthusiastic young musician may be deterred from pursuing and enjoying the subject on account of the apathy or hostility of his or her contemporaries.

By permitting the motivated children to choose to study music, in other words to ‘opt in’, their interest and general musical education is greatly enriched. They are being taught in the company of like-minded enthusiasts.

Extra-curricular activities, which the author regards as a pinnacle of music making in the Upper School, receive enhanced status because of the standing of the subject in the school at classroom level.

‘Improvisation’ is a provocative word. For some the word is synonymous with lack of discipline, absence of intellectual rigour and anti-musical randomness; for others, it embodies life-giving qualities of freedom, spontaneity and natural expression. The polarisation is equally evident in music education circles: those who regard the process in terms of training and appreciation perhaps favouring the former view, while those who tend towards the notion of education through music doubtless endorsing the latter.

The writer examines the development of improvisation in Britain and especially jazz. The administrative and political implications of improvised music are explored and problems are identified to do with the freedom and excitement of such music and the dangers of education in improvisation.

The case is put for improvisation as the basis for world music, with special reference to flexibility of the blues and the gamelan. An overview of the impact of society on music leads to a general survey of the status of improvisation in pre-industrial Western European culture. Improvisation is contrasted with composition and consideration is given to the problems of providing education in improvisation without destroying its vitality and communicative power.

In the past, jazz musicians such as Miles Davis have had negative experiences of ‘straight’ academies and conservatories, and these institutions have been negative towards jazz. This may represent a conflict between creativity and recreativity. But as a teacher of jazz at the Guildhall School of Music the author is finding that this conflict disappears when students from jazz and classical backgrounds learn to improvise by the same approach. This approach works upwards from the harmonic basis of jazz, which in fact is the same as that of classical music. As, at the outset, both jazz and classical students often seem to lack a precise concept of underlying harmonic form, the author concludes that more needs to be done with harmony at an earlier stage in music education, and that jazz may be the best context in which for this to happen.

This article is based on research undertaken in adult education institutes of the Inner London Education Authority, and gives statistical details of students attending Music Appreciation classes. Their reasons for attending such classes, preferences for types of music attendance at performances, membership of musical societies and reading of books and articles on music are included. They were also asked to give details of their home listening, as this provides further proof of the commitment given to music by people who meet together once a week to learn about the subject.

From these personal details it should be possible for a tutor to devise a curriculum of interest which would stimulate adults to be more deeply involved in music-making.