Given the differences in continuing musical after primary school, this study works with the idea that the development of music-making habits requires flow, which, in turn, depends on family musical practice. Flow is the state of mind of immersion in an intrinsically rewarding activity, which represents an optimal challenge fostering persistence and skill growth. Based on 164 students (82 girls) from six schools in Catalonia, we compared flow in primary school musical practice between students with high and low levels of family musical practice, concluding that family context should be considered in adapting musical activities to students’ previous experiences.

The Report of the Working Group for Music on the National Curriculum suggested that music teachers should incorporate music from non-Western cultures into their programmes of study. African Week proved to be an ideal opportunity to introduce the idea of music and dance from Africa to both students and the wider community in a predominantly white area, as well as to address the vexed problem of how to teach combined arts without diluting standards in the individual art forms.

By developing techniques for describing the varieties of behaviours and experiences in a college-level Dalcroze Eurhythmics class and by using those techniques to record practices in two semesters of Eurhythmies classes, this study addressed both the need in the arts for systematic procedures for documenting the nature of arts experiences and the need to codify features in a Dalcroze Eurhythmics class.

The findings yield a description of regular practices in one particular classroom which may provide a base for future research. The findings also suggest that description of surf ace phenomena does not capture all that we need to know about the instruction process, and it may not yield an understanding of what occurs in a Eurhythmies class.

Several of the articles in this issue encourage us to re-think taken for granted attitudes and practice, to jolt us out of complacency. Take ‘creativity’ for example. The word tends to get bandied around as a catch-all, so that it loses touch with any specific meaning. Jere Humphreys, in his Point for Debate, ‘Toward a reconstruction of ‘creativity’ in music education’ takes the long view, and ranges from Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to postmodernist ideologies. The basic tension (dualism) he identifies as being between realist and idealist positions, which leads him to conclude that creativity needs to be understood as a social construct. But there are no quick-fixes: to comprehend its significance requires us to consider psychological, cultural, and political/social and economic factors. Likewise,words such as ‘tradition’, ‘authenticity’ and ‘context’ tend to have politically correct connotations in connection with world music. But Huib Schippers, in his paper maintains that almost all music is transmitted out of context, and that the formal education system is a major exercise in recontextualisation. Music educators have to come to terms with what he calls the ‘global flow’.

The author examines the role of music in the Danish Gymnasium (grammar school), commenting upon the changes that have taken place over the last 10–15 years, and noting in particular the special opportunities provided by the ‘Music Education Wing’ in some schools. Although the students themselves tend to regard performance as something which should take priority, these unique ‘wing’ courses allow teachers to encourage a much greater involvement with music and a deeper understanding of music's power to unite the analytical and the creative: the intellect and the emotions.

‘Creative music-making’, as developed in recent years in Great Britain and other countries, has also become popular in Japanese music education; for many music teachers have come to think seriously about the significance of child-centred music education instead of teacher-centred music education. Such a trend seems to be new. However, as in the United States and Great Britain, child-centred music education has been implemented previously – during the 1920's, in Japan's case. This development began in the Elementary School Attached to Nara Women's Higher Teachers College. The author describes the ideas and practices of creative music education in this school, and its historical background, comparing them with creative music-making today.

This is a sister article to one that appeared in this journal in 1999, which established benefits in coupling instrumental study and voice-leading analysis, primarily for performers but also for analysts. That analytical students too were more receptive to study when connected with their instrument was the cue for the present article; performance has much to offer the teaching/learning of non-tonal analytical techniques founded on the basic tenets of set theory. This article details an experimental curriculum, ‘Practising set theory’, tested at Lancaster University across 2001–2, in comparison with more traditional methods employed across 1995–2002, and in relation to the new ‘Music benchmark statement’ (2002). Beyond the specifics, it is hoped this research may interest other practitioners seeking alternative pedagogical approaches to parts of the Music curriculum perceived as difficult or especially demanding.

Most university students of music, including many who are accomplished both academically and as instrumentalists, consistently under-achieve in the subject areas commonly known as ‘techniques of composition’. Why this is so, and how this aspect of the university curriculum has come about in Britain and Ireland, are the subjects of this paper. At a time when formal methods are being replaced by free composition in the secondary school music curriculum, the future direction of third-level studies is very much in doubt. Because school-leavers are less well equipped than formerly in musical rudiments and basic harmony, some university music departments have abandoned techniques teaching altogether – those where it is retained being seen as bastions of conservatism. In view of the obvious shortcomings of existing methods their demise is understandable. Future developments, however, must not be determined by reaction, but guided by research.

Calls to improve congregational psalmody in 18th century England strongly influenced early music pedagogy. In the first decades of the 19th century English music educators, concerned with psalmody and music in charitable schools, looked to Germany for models of successful practice. The Musikalisches Schulgesangbuch (1826) by Carl Gotthelf Gläser (1784–1829) influenced the music materials designed by Sarah Anna Glover (1786–1867). These, in turn, directly influenced John Turner (dates unknown), William Hickson (1803–1870) and, indirectly, John Curwen (1816–1880). It is illuminating to explore how influential a small collection of German didactic songs could be during an early and very active phase of the development of English school music curricula.

How do we channel teenagers' interest in music? What guides our music teaching today, and what possibilities are there for development and change? These questions have given me occasion to take a closer look at the situation of music teaching today.

Many teachers have asked themselves how we in the comprehensive school and the music school can look after the zest and creative power which are often exhibited by teenagers when they perform music freely, not under the direct control of a teacher. I have also, on quite a number of occasions during lessons, registered resignation and tedium on the part of pupils.

The consequence has been drop-out from music school – sometimes experienced as a relief both by teacher and pupil. Despite the fact that the educational orientation has been based on a ‘musical encounter’ between teacher and pupil, this encounter has not occurred (or has sometimes occurred with a difference which certainly might have been corrected). But the pupil's great interest in music has not diminished – great interest, that is, in music as the pupil understands the term!

‘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.

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.

It can be argued that Swanwick’s research and scholarship established the field of music education as an area of interdisciplinary study in the United Kingdom. A significant and seminal publication in this legacy is Swanwick’s work with Tillman on the sequence of musical development based on Tillman’s empirical study of children’s compositions. This paper will aim to place the resulting ‘spiral’ in the wider context of Swanwick’s meta-theory of music education and to understand some of the critical issues surrounding it. The paper will conclude with an appraisal of Swanwick’s impact on the theory and practice of music education.

Despite the long-established move towards the inclusion of composition as an element of music in schools, many teachers continue to be wary of it. Lack of confidence amongst women music teachers in their own abilities as composers may be a key to this situation. It is suggested that this arises as a result of rarely seeing music by women composers played and studied with the same attention afforded to music written by men. The popular mythology that only men have the ability to compose is challenged, and an argument is made for the inclusion of music by women composers (past and present) in the curriculum of schools and colleges. Practical suggestions are made as to how this can be achieved despite the current lack of resources.

This study aims to increase understanding of the values and outcomes of teacher action research in conservatoire education. Teacher action research has been found to stimulate both professional development and improvement of teaching practice. A multiple-case study design was employed to examine teachers’ activities and their perceptions of the value of action research. Findings from the cross-case analysis include teachers’ perceptions of action research as a way to stimulate the advancement of both their teaching practice and their professional development. Constructive collaborations and self-reflections related to teacher action research were found to reinforce their learning and teaching.

Teaching is a highly complex act, and learning to teach in an educational era that combines both teacher-centred and student-centred approaches presents additional challenges. Conducting demonstration lessons (DL) is one of the methods aimed at enhancing teachers’ instructional skills. This study examines the features and functions of this unique type of lesson from the perspective of music demonstration teachers in Guangdong, China. Through observation and interviews, the findings not only reveal the prevalence of DLs as performance-based lessons in Chinese teachers’ professional lives but also explore their distinctions from regular school teaching and their potential for improving teachers’ pedagogical abilities. Concerns and issues related to this type of lesson, along with possible solutions, are also discussed to provide recommendations for incorporating DLs into teacher training programmes in higher education institutions.