The encouragement of aural methods should be basic to any fostering of musical experiences and understanding. This basis has been lost in European formal music education largely because of the all-pervading influence of musical literacy. Efforts to retain some importance for the aural experience through examinations have mostly been unsuccessful. If music is primarily an aural experience, then it is this that should govern the work of teachers at all times. A case is presented for both class and instrumental teachers to recognise the importance of psychomotor skills and the value of imitative methods for all pupils, enabling improvisation on all instruments. The argument draws on some examples of teaching and learning from other cultures.

Ghana, a former British colony, has, since 1987, embarked on a massive programme of educational reform. With regard to music education, there seems to be a conflict of opinions and objectives; between those of the curriculum planners on one hand, and the music teachers on the other. This paper examines recent literature on this topic, together with current debates about how music is to function at the basic level in the new system.

In many countries it has become commonplace for students at school to undertake their own composing in the classroom. At the same time students often develop their own creative musical interests outside school hours. This paper looks at how teachers might re-evaluate students’ self-initiated compositional activity. By utilising Martin Heidegger's writing, this paper seeks to contextualise a philosophical position in relation to the musical work and to question how we as educators envision the student's music, and ultimately how we come to understand and evaluate a student's work. With reference to the field of music theory and music education the intention of this paper is to open a discussion examining how we might view music as an art object seen within its own context. With reference to a case study of a student working in an online environment parallels are drawn between Heidegger's depiction of an art object as a ‘thing’ located and valued in its own context, as opposed to music seen as an object that is de-contextualised from an audience or its place of making.

This study addresses the baseline assessment of pupil composing competencies at age 11+. It asks whether it might be possible for these to be evaluated by the use of a whole-class listening task. A rationale for this proposal is discussed. Results from a pilot study which administered an original audiated puzzle-task to a cohort of pupils, followed by a related composing assignment, are presented, analysed and discussed. This methodology is shown to reveal information about pupil composing competencies.

Against the background of current debate concerning the proposed national curriculum, a number of questions remain unanswered. This paper examines the issue of how, and indeed whether music education is practised from an expressivist point of view. The expressivist position, as evidenced for instance in the work of Herbert Read, Louis Arnard Reid and Suzanne Langer, is analysed in the more recent work of Robert Witkin and Malcolm Ross.

The paper continues by questioning whether there is an expressivist future in music education, discussing the work of Keith Swanwick and John Paynter alongside recent guidelines from HMI and the DES. Official utilitarian arguments are questioned and evidence of developments in Scotland and the United States are examined. The American tradition of developmental psychology in music leads to a discussion of the work of David J. Hargreaves in this country, and finally recommendations are made concerning the relationship between music and the other arts, with particular reference to curriculum structures and programmes of learning.

When we enjoy a solo musical performance, two factors in particular may contribute to our appreciation: the technical skill of the performer in playing the instrument and the individual expressive interpretation of the work. The factor which predominates will vary from piece to piece according to the musical demands. In traditional piano method the skills of playing the instrument and of creating an interpretation are normally taught together. Here the author suggests that the two factors can be separated and considers how the skills of creating an interpretation might be explored independently. A computer-based system is described which enables a person to create individual expressive performances of piano music even without being able to play the piano. Some potentially limiting factors are considered.

Music education at present suffers from a dilemma that few in the field seem to realise or appreciate. To put it in perhaps overly simple terms, the issue involves whether the music teacher should teach music or concepts! In this day of growing interest in cognitive psychology, few would deny any longer the involvement and relevance of concepts and conception in any form of musical functioning. But the writers of methods texts and materials, and theorists of teaching alike, often give evidence of being woefully confused about the process of conception, the nature of its ‘products’ and therefore of the precise involvement of concepts in musical functioning.

Originally, the creative music workshop involving professional players was intended to give direct support to school teachers and to enhance music in the classroom, but today's large-scale, high-profile projects mounted by orchestras and opera companies appear to be developing into a full-scale industry on their own. Their role in partnership with schools and colleges now requires clarification: a survey of education policies has revealed some confusion of aims with few bodies looking closely at objectives, outcomes and effects. Music companies could profit from the experience of museums and art galleries.

Although not developed specifically with musicians in mind, Alexander Technique has come to be associated with musical performers and with the problems of tension they may experience. In this article the author, a cellist and a cello teacher who has herself been helped by therapy based upon Alexander principles, acknowledges the special value that the technique has for musicians and demonstrates this by reference to the needs of string players. She goes on to show how other performers may benefit, and how F. M. Alexander's ideas can be particularly important for singers. She enlarges this view to take in a wider range of musical education and, arguing that singing has, of late, been sadly neglected in schools, illustrates the potential of the Alexander principles through a detailed account of how one child was helped to ‘find her voice’and how, in succeeding, she was able to increase her confidence in many other areas besides music.

The popular view that ‘the gifted can look after themselves’ is considered with reference to the identification of gifted orchestral instrumentalists. Among agroup of professional orchestral musicians, a substantial number are found to have started lessons on their principal instrument not on their own initiative, but on that of their school. The absence of a ‘method’ for the identification of gifted instrumentalists is considered, and some ways whereby the music teacher may develop an environment in which more gifted instrumentalists identify themselves are suggested.

A brief review of the state of music education in the UK at the time of the creation of the British Journal of Music Education (BJME) leads to a consideration of the range and focus of topics since the initiation of the Journal. In particular, the initial requirement of careful and critical enquiry is amplified, drawing out the inevitability of theorising, an activity which is considered to be essential for reflective practice. The relationship of theory and data is examined, in particular differentiating between the sciences and the arts. A ‘case study’ of theorising is presented and examined in some detail and possible strands of future development are identified.

For some years, music technology has been incorporated into the secondary music Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course at Kingston University. Student evaluations of this work have been supportive in the main, but identified continuing challenges in relation to establishing a sense of ease with its application in education. A range of course developments were devised in response, and closely monitored in 1997. The first half of this article outlines the rationale behind them. It draws upon a range of texts that document the reception of IT in schools and colleges, and on an interpretative response (based on theories of cognition), which the writer feels holds much relevance for music educators. The second half outlines course developments, and includes feedback from students and partner schools. Eighteen months on, the fundamental strategy is still in place, and staff have found it consistent with the requirements for ICT outlined in circular 4/98 by the DfEE.

Music notation is intrinsic in the composition and performance of Western art music and also in its analysis and research. The process of writing about music remains underexplored, in particular how excerpts of music notation are selected and arranged in a written text, and how that text describes and contextualises the excerpts. This article applies ‘semantic gravity’ from Legitimation Code Theory to characterise notational excerpts and their integration in a written text, by focusing on how closely they are connected to a particular performance or generalised across performances. It illustrates these concepts with case studies of tertiary students’ research projects to reveal how different purposes drive different notational usage when writing about music. This provides insight for music educators on how to support writing about music and the use of notational quotes.

Since the 1960s, there has been a growing awareness of the need for cultural plurality in Europe (Drummond et al., 2005). Globalisation and technological development stimulate rapid exchanges between today's diverse and hybrid societies.

The claims of certain reports increasingly appearing in the media suggesting that ‘music makes kids smarter’ invite critical evaluation. Several other recent studies have been re-examining the hypothesis that musical listening and learning it using methods like Kodály's may enhance spatial reasoning and social and cognitive growth. In weaving together these interrelated themes, the intention of this article is not only to sensitise music educators to an awareness of transfer's significance and singular character, but to advise discretion in the interpretation of research results. Since the mechanisms of transfer are still not fully understood, future enquiry will have to accommodate many problems facing researchers in the field for whom the formulation of a comprehensive theory of transfer is, as yet, a distant prospect.

While mastery of aspects of music theory is relevant to rapid learning and understanding of a new choral part, many choirs comprise members with no formal education in music theory. Also, the language of music theory is not intuitive, with many terms having meanings different from those in common use, which can present obstacles for mature learners. The authors hypothesised that students joining an internationally recognised university choir might master aspects of music theory as a by-product of rehearsals. This was tested by having new admissions to such a choir complete a music theory test at the commencement and at the end of a year. The test evaluated the ability to name and write intervals and name notes and the duration of notes. Overall results did not reject the hypothesis. Subjects with no formal music training also showed most, and statistically significant, improvement in the questions related to intervals, which are arguably the most useful skills for choristers who do not sight-read. This appears to be a new finding: the literature shows occasional references to music theory skills, but their acquisition in a learning-by-doing style is not reported. Some insights into ways of enhancing choral performance are a by-product of the principal focus of the study.

A-level music, a qualification taken most often in English and Welsh school contexts around the age of 18, has been a long-standing feature of the musical training of many musicians. Historically bound up with Western European Art Music, the qualification has somewhat broadened its horizons in recent times, though with mixed success in opening up new ways of thinking about music. Recent research has highlighted the seemingly precarious nature of A-level music in many English schools. The reasons for this picture of decline are highly complex and difficult to disentangle, and are part of a much broader diminishing of creative subjects in the school curriculum. Decreasing numbers of A-level music entries run somewhat counter to popular policy discourse, which celebrates flagship announcements of £79 million given to Music Education Hubs in 2019–2020, and 2018 survey results that reported more than 700,000 children learning to play a musical instrument through music hub provision. However, behind these headlines, although there are many children having the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, few continue through to A-level and beyond. Despite its declining numbers, A-level music is recognised as a valuable qualification amongst music teachers, offering something distinct from graded music examinations and other Level 3 musical qualifications. This article presents the results of a recent nationwide survey of A-level music teachers to offer an insight into teacher perceptions of current A-level music specifications, the extent to which it prepares students for entry into higher musical education, and its appropriateness for aspiring young musicians.

In 2005, the Barenboim-Said Foundation launched the Early Childhood Music Education project in Andalusia (Spain) to promote music education for young children. Ten years later, an initial study was performed to evaluate the influence of the project on the development of the participating children. The results of this study form part of a broader ongoing research project, in collaboration with the University of Seville, aimed at investigating the influence of the Early Childhood Music Education project on general aspects of child development. This study has a quasi-experimental design, framed in Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, consisting of an experimental and a control group (n = 1101) and the administration of a questionnaire, adapted to measure and compare means between the two groups, as the sole measurement tool. The results, analysed using an independent samples t-test for the comparison of means and Cohen’s d effect size, reveal statistically significant differences in the means of the dimensions of the experimental and control groups. This confirms the hypothesis that the Early Childhood Music Education project has a positive impact on the different dimensions, in accordance with Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

‘Music is both a creative and a performing art’ (Hallam, 2006, p. 70). Many musicians and music educators maintain that composing and performing, although related, are essentially different aspects of musical activity. In the professional musical sphere, composition and performance are almost invariably separated; academic studies have treated them discretely; GCSE and ‘A’ level specifications assess them distinctly, and many music teachers assess them in the classroom as if they were separate disciplines. It is common practice for students in the lower secondary school in England to work in a more integrated way, however (Philpott, 2001; Major, 2008), composing, performing to the class, and appraising each others’ work. Recently produced assessment guidelines for secondary school music teachers in England (NAME, 2011) encourage this more integrated view, accepting the assumption made by Swanwick and Franca (1999, p. 12) that ‘musical understanding is a broad conceptual dimension’ by considering composing and performing as inter-linked ways of demonstrating and communicating musicality. This study sets out to investigate the links between composing and performing in the secondary school classroom, through peer-rating, teacher rating and students’ self-report attitudinal questionnaires, analysing these using a multi-trait, multi-method technique.

Evidence for convergent validity was found between performing and composing in the classroom, suggesting that they are closely linked and may indeed be related parts of the same trait. This may have implications for the ways in which composing and performing are taught and assessed. A larger-scale study could be undertaken to investigate this further.

A teaching method is described which is based on activity and participation in relation to recorded musical performances. The principles of repertoire choice are that it should represent various styles; that the expressive content should be in the realm of the emotional world of children; that there should be at least one compositional device in the music which is perceivable from the point of view of students. The relationship of participation and listening is explored through practical illustrations.