In the Republic of Kenya, song is widely used to enhance the whole curriculum in lower primary classes. Song is used especially to aid recall and therefore teachers adapt tunes that children already know, inserting relevant words from the subject at hand. Despite this widespread practice, this form of singing in schools is not recognised by the same teachers as music training in the classroom, and so little, if any, effort is put into the actual music production. Teachers do not attend to the sound of the music, as the intention is to capture facts about various things, including the soil, the weather, numbers etc. and present them in a way that the young learners will quickly remember. This paper interrogates the process that 6–8-year-old children underwent as they moved from using song to learn facts (singing to learn), to developing multiple musical abilities and capacities (learning to sing), through participation in the Music for Literacy Development (MLD)1 project in selected schools in the Nyanza region of Kenya.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with Greek Cypriot elementary school children in urban and rural areas of the Republic of Cyprus, the author describes and analyses the ways in which national musical identity is constructed in and out of school in connection with Cypriot traditional music. Findings reveal the development of fluid and often insecure, ambiguous and contradictory national musical identities as a result of the ideological messages children receive from their musical enculturation contexts. In addition public music education not only fails to assist pupils to become familiar with the tradition's inherent meanings and processes of creation and performance, but enhances children's contradictory ideological understanding and construction of an ambiguous national musical identity.

Guided by three theoretical frameworks in vocational psychology, (i) theory of work adjustment, (ii) two factor theory, and (iii) value discrepancy theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate Turkish pre-service music teachers' values and the role of fit between person and environment in understanding vocational satisfaction. Participants were 85 students enrolled in the department of music education in a Turkish university. The Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ) was used to examine the participants’ values in six dimensions: achievement, comfort, status, altruism, safety and autonomy. Results revealed that the pre-service teachers value achievement most followed by autonomy, which suggests that they would like to have a sense of accomplishment and control in their future job. The degree to which their values fit their predictions about future work environment was found to be highly correlated with vocational satisfaction. These results provided evidence that the vocational theories used in the current study offers a helpful and different perspective to understand the pre-service teachers' satisfaction with becoming a music teacher in the future. We believe that researchers in the field of music education may use these theories and MIQ to examine the role of values in pre-service and in-service music teachers' job satisfaction.

The invitation to provide a review of the articles published in our five year editorship prompts us to evaluate the aims and purposes of music education research, and to consider the function of journals such as BJME in bridging the artificial divide between academics and professionals. We identify four themes that were prominent in the volumes we edited: the roles and identities of music teachers; pupil perspectives; blurring of boundaries between home, school and community; and music in higher education. Surveying articles related to these themes, we consider the questions they raise for future research, addressing the day-to-day realities of teaching alongside the exploration of new ideas which extend music education as a significant field of study.

In 1872 John Hullah was appointed Inspector of Music in Training Colleges and his first act was to introduce a practical examination for each of the students. Each year he visited all of the colleges receiving financial aid from the Government to examine the students after which he wrote up his findings in a report for the Committee of Council on Education. These reports, and those of his successor John Stainer, give a unique account of music in the training colleges in the period 1872 to 1899.

Two case studies of different ages, levels of progress, capabilities and backgrounds are investigated in the light of methods employed by F. M. Alexander for inculcating relaxation in actors and musicians (the so-called ‘Alexander Technique’). The various tensions in the two learners, both physical and mental, were identified, the reasons therefor sought, then solutions provided and effected. The process is described in some detail and the development, most specifically regarding the improvement in tone quality, traced through its various stages. Specific Alexander techniques are described, with their in situ applications documented. The positive effects of correct posture are thereby demonstrated.

Possibly because very few teachers in Britain are fluent readers of Scandinavian languages while, on the other hand, the majority in the academic professions in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland speak and read – not infrequently write – English, the flow of thinking about music education and its developments often appears to be one way.

Yet although it may be true to say that, over the last twenty years or so, music educators in the Nordic countries have drawn quite a lot of inspiration from beyond their own borders (Finland and Sweden tending to look towards Hungary; Norway, Iceland and Denmark perhaps turning more often to Britain and the United States), it would be a serious error to imagine that they have no significant ideas of their own! Indeed, an enormous amount has been achieved in these countries from which the rest of us can usefully learn.

Unfortunately the March 2017 issue of the journal contained the wrong version of the editorial. The correct version is contained in this erratum.

The Editors apologise for the error.

Progress is a two-edged sword; for some it releases new and enriching opportunities, while for others it cuts away hope. We are all too familiar with the effects of mass unemployment, deadening the spirit and damaging the self-respect of so many people – particularly the young. Curiously, society's institutions of government and education appear reluctant tograsp a particular nettle – the by now pressing need to reappraise the concepts of ‘work’ and ‘leisure’. Even so, some enterprising young people, in various parts of the country, have shown considerable initiative in developing community music workshops where they meet to play rock music. For them this is an important work activity, even if it is not one that brings conventional monetary rewards. This article introduces three of these workshops, and examines the motivation of those who organize them.

Stirrings of change in secondary education in general, and in music in particular, were taking place in Scotland towards the end of the seventies. Reports published at that time suggested that a deal of thinking on curriculum, and on methods of assessing pupils' achievements, was required. The authors record that, ten years later, the many discussions and trials that have taken place have borne fruit. In this article they describe the planning of the new examination in Music at Standard Grade, and take a brief look at its requirements.

The effects of London Sinfonietta education projects on their participants are identified and analysed, through questionnaire and interview, and then measured against London Sinfonietta policy itself. To a great extent the aims of the policy are being met: the work is found to be an enjoyable and valuable experience leading towards an understanding of contemporary art music. Some problems identified concern the integration of the teachers, appropriate training for the players and composers, and the elitism of the concert hall. The fieldwork was undertaken with the kind co-operation of the London Sinfonietta education team and the schools involved.

Teachers describe work with pupils aged 10 to 15 which explores the connection between listening, appraising and composing and other aspects of listening as a learning process. These case studies provide evidence of how a group of Berkshire teachers make connections that were envisaged by the architects of the National Curriculum but not necessarily encountered in practice.

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.

This article is a narrative inquiry of the lived spiritual experiences of students participating in Dalcroze Eurhythmics training. Previous studies have located Jaques-Dalcroze’s own writings and thought within the context of spirituality and have explored the spiritual experiences of Dalcroze teachers, but students’ perspectives remain to be investigated. We interviewed seven students, broadly defined as anyone currently attending regular Dalcroze training or who have recently attended Dalcroze courses and still consider themselves Dalcroze students. Various strategies for narrative data analysis were synthesised into our own coding scheme. Themes emerged from the data analysis: situation, continuity, personal interaction, social interaction and significant moments. The themes helped us construct a fictive conversation between the participants, using direct quotations from the interviews. Implications for practice focus on what inhibits and promotes experiences of spirituality in the Dalcroze class. This research will be relevant to music educators, as it gives clear, evidence-based guidelines on how opportunities for spirituality can be created in the Dalcroze classroom. It also offers an original synthesis of existing coding schemes for other researchers undertaking narrative inquiries.