Music teacher identity is constructed at the intersection between musician and teacher. This study investigated the meaning of music-making among Korean novice music teachers and its role in constructing music teacher identity. Five music teachers participated in this study, and I used two data collection methods, reflective journaling and individual interviews. The results showed that while playing their instruments outside the classroom, several music teachers understood the importance of music in their lives, which was essential in constructing music teacher identities. In addition, playing outside the classroom allowed these participants to demonstrate their musical abilities to students, parents and other teachers and gain credibility as music teachers. However, other participants did not appear to recognise the importance of the intersection between music-making outside the classroom and teaching, which was an obstacle to music-making. Music-making inside the classroom was an important pedagogical tool to teach low-level students effectively. Importantly, regardless of their level of music-making inside the classroom, novice music teachers commonly viewed professional playing skills with primary and secondary instruments as important for teaching.

In recent years, music education has seen a decline in the number of students choosing to continue their studies at Key Stage 4 (14- to 16-year-old students) and choose music as a GCSE option in England. Whilst the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), a school performance measure which excludes the arts, has come under much scrutiny as to its impact on school music, enjoyment and the perceived importance of music lessons could also be contributing factors to low uptake. This paper presents student survey findings from the first part of a two-phase project that was based on a qualitatively driven mixed-method research design. Findings demonstrated that a decline in enjoyment and in the importance attributed to school music occurred in the first three years of lower secondary school (Key Stage 3). The enjoyment of school music was linked with the students’ engagement with practical components of music making, and its importance was mostly equated with future employment opportunities. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical implications in the teaching of music in secondary schools.

The present study aimed to increase understanding of how singing activities may be initiated in primary school, and what support and assistance teachers require to conduct singing activities as an integrated part of the school day. Five music teachers participated in a focus group interview. The following main themes were identified: 1) pedagogical and methodological flexibility, 2) the role of routines and familiarity, 3) the embodied and multimodal dimensions of singing, 4) the importance of accompaniment and instruments, 5) the experience of insecurity and obstacles and 6) the perceived synergies between singing and other learning activities. This knowledge may be important to integrate within music teacher education in order to secure singing’s place in schools.

The study aimed to investigate how students in lower secondary schools in England perceive the subject of music in terms of its importance and enjoyment. Following findings from the first survey phase of the project, it specifically sought to shed light on the reasons why the majority of students decide not to choose music as one of their optional subjects at GCSE level. The paper presents interview findings with students in three schools at the north-east of England following the phenomenographic method of data analysis. Among factors found to impact on students’ decision to continue music at Key Stage 4 (ages 14–16 years) were the desire to spend more time learning music, having more choice and autonomy in the classroom, having more information about the content and requirements of GCSE music, feeling disadvantaged due to not being proficient at instrumental playing and having a limited perception of their own musicality or perceiving music as being elite or difficult. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical implications for the teaching and learning of music in secondary schools.

This exploratory study describes the design and implementation of a sound-based intervention in the initial training of specialist music teachers at a Spanish university. It aimed to create spaces geared towards more creative and contemporary approaches to musical learning in order to gauge the perceptions of trainee teachers regarding this kind of approach. The intervention (45 h of class time) was based on the creation of electroacoustic compositions following the SBM (Sound Based Music) approach using digital tools (Aglaya Play, AP). Qualitative process data were collected through self-reports, individual memories, and nine focus groups. The results suggest that the implementation of new intervention models that take into account the development of future teachers’ creativity with activities focused on exploration, experimentation, and creation with sound can generate new opportunities to enrich their teaching identities.

My role as a university-based, general classroom music teacher educator in England has become unclear, exacerbated by policies that have undermined the field of classroom music in schools and the role of universities in teacher education. Using self-critical inquiry enacted as critically reflexive autoethnography, I interrogated my professional practice to rethink my pedagogic identity. Theoretical perspectives, drawn from Bernstein and Bourdieu, were used to chart my shifting identity. This paper introduces a theorised model to illustrate a range of pedagogic identities for Key Stage 3 (KS3) general classroom music teacher education.

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.

This article critically engages with the discipline of African musics in the academy. It examines the process of curriculum transformation of the African music section at the South African College of Music, University of Cape Town since 2005 as an emergent curriculum model for an integrated approach to the teaching of African musics at universities. The adoption of this curriculum predated the 2015–2016 fervent calls in South Africa to decolonise the university, which necessitates an approach to teaching African musics not rooted in its colonial past. As is known, the study and research of African musics in the academy partly stemmed from the efforts of European (and later US) researchers who often received support through the British colonial administration and much of their output seemed to be focused on convincing their peers about the virtues of ‘African music’ and the study thereof. Despite this history, there is evidence to support the fact that in most African universities, the music departments are far more interested in teaching Western art music and its virtues. In recognition of the calls by students for radical changes to the curricula in South African universities, the article seeks to answer the question ‘how do we consider ongoing changes to the knowledge both received and produced in this field?’

This research explored the impact of informal learning (IL) in primary music initial teacher training. A small group of undergraduate student teachers had an opportunity to learn about and facilitate an IL approach. Data were collected from interviews, participant reflective logs and researcher reflections. The findings show that perceived benefits included freedom for serendipity, pupil autonomy and aural learning; perceived tensions included student teacher anxiety and a lack of teacher control. The researchers propose two aspects for consideration: first, that language associated with IL has social meaning that must be updated; second, that while direct instruction remains at the heart of primary teacher education, IL can continue to be justified despite the current emphasis on direct explicit teaching.

Uncovering the motivations towards a profession may contribute to a better understanding of how the profession is chosen and will be pursued. However, the research on the attractiveness of the music teaching profession is rather limited and predominantly focused on identity development, thereby overlooking other aspects that may play a role. In pursuing a case study, my aim is to contribute to this field of research by investigating the views of pre-service music teachers enrolled at the University of Karlstad in Sweden. The results depict a unique motivational profile compared to their counterparts in other subjects. These differential aspects are threefold, indicating a high prevalence of ‘extrinsic motivations’ driving their choice of profession, that ‘altruistic reasons’ have lower significance as a motivating factor, and that there is a poor perceived relevance of these individuals’ future profession. In addition, this study provides evidence of the prevalence of ‘musician identities’ over ‘teaching identities’ and foresees the dependence between the participants’ motivation and their future students’ progression. Moreover, I hypothesise that career changes and Pygmalion effects are to be expected if intrinsic motivation towards the profession is not fostered or if this population’s motivation is linked to the progress of their students rather than the challenge of motivating them in the first place.

This study examines the learning processes that take place when upper secondary students apply and generate theories while drawing on their preferred music and writing songs of their own. One music theory teacher and two researchers collaborated to design an emergent sequence of lessons focusing on students’ interests, questions and creative work. Interpretive and musical analysis of students’ progress suggests that learning to theorise through modes and sounds from popular music was experienced as motivating, involved similar difficulties as traditional major/minor-based approaches, and resulted in original songs that the students enjoyed and were proud to perform for their peers.

This article discusses the literature on music teacher education programmes for mainstream education in order to undertake critical reflection on what we are doing and why in our university classrooms, what theories are implicit and what could be done to improve our programmes. After analysis, mainly from European contexts, and considering the Spanish one in particular, we find an influence of the economic – and, ultimately, political – rationale on substantial aspects, manifested in apparent disjunctions between musical and educational features, as well as in formal issues, fundamentally due to the European Higher Education Area. In the end, it is concluded that, without renouncing the economic aspects, curricula should be more addressed towards the integration of pedagogical and musical knowledge, and the treatment of aspects related to social justice, if we do not want an uncritical reproduction of rationalities that are often obsolete in the training of pre-service music teachers.

Student motivation has been conceived as a crucial factor in the learning processes. However, research in motivation and creative learning in the secondary education music classroom has been limited. Student motivation is explored in this article through a collaborative action research study, in the form of several projects centred on the creation of music through group improvisation and cooperative composition, conducted over the course of five 1-year cycles, from 2008 to 2013. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the aspects determining student motivation during creative learning processes. Three secondary schools in the region of Madrid (Spain), eleven third-year secondary school classes (n = 267), teachers, researchers and artists participated in the study. Data were gathered through participant and non-participant observations, interviews, a classroom diary, and a questionnaire. In the findings, six intrinsically linked connected forms of motivation are grouped in three levels and are related to different factors emerged during the teaching and learning processes and connected to creativity.

This article analyses an interdisciplinary educational experience combining music, ICT, language and art to create an animated story with active listening as a means of improving knowledge of music education practices. The method consisted of a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study, with a semi-structured open-ended interview and analysis of the corresponding portfolio by both students and teachers with the aim of encouraging systematic reflection on practices and optimising teaching-learning in the nature of action research. The research population consisted of 104 students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching of the Faculty of Education of the University of Alicante (Spain). The results indicated an improvement in music education practices relating to active listening following the pedagogical intervention, leading to the conclusion that inclusion of ICT in music education facilitates real and effective insertion and enhances students’ autonomy in the process of acquisition of musical skills.

The purpose of this service-learning action research study was to develop and investigate after-school individualised vocal lessons for secondary students aged 14–18 years (n = 15) taught by preservice music educators (PMEs) (n = 12) in the United States. In service learning, all parties should benefit from the experience while addressing curricular and community needs. Therefore, our intentions were to: (a) improve secondary student preparedness for solo experiences, (b) provide an authentic teaching experience to improve the quality of instruction given by PMEs, and (c) develop a mutually beneficial and collaborative service-learning experience. The following themes emerged from the data: (a) perceptions of teaching disposition – such as confidence, interpersonal skills and enthusiasm; (b) perceptions of teaching skills – such as student engagement, questioning techniques and responsive teaching; and (c) perceptions of pedagogical content knowledge – such as vocal anatomy, physiology and pedagogy.

Teaching traditional art forms in schools and the community has proven an effective way of ensuring the transmission of traditional culture. But due to the lack of valid and normative assessment guidance, the assessments of Cantonese operatic singing are still developing, impairing the instructiveness in its teaching and learning and restraining the education and development of this traditional genre within contemporary society. Accordingly, to guide the design of a holistic assessment, the revised Bloom’s taxonomy was adopted to form a theoretical framework from which a criterion- and standard-based assessment framework with four domains has been proposed. Four teachers and 24 students of Cantonese opera institutions in Guangdong, China, were invited to pilot the assessment framework. Afterwards, semi-structured interviews were conducted from which two research questions were answered satisfactorily: 1) proposing a criteria- and standard-based assessment framework is necessary, for the traditional assessment practice is weak in guiding teaching and learning and 2) positive feedback supported the proposed assessment framework facilitates the teaching and learning of Cantonese operatic singing.

Much previous international research has demonstrated links between general school attainment and active engagement with music. The research reported here compared the change in examination outcomes in English and mathematics in national examinations at ages 11 and 16 of instrumentalists and non-instrumentalists. Data from 701 pupils showed statistically significant differences in examination outcomes between instrumentalists and non-instrumentalists, which was also related to the duration of learning and the instrument played. Instrumentalists had greater change scores in mathematics, but not English, although instrumentalists of lower socio-economic status showed greater change in both subjects. The implications for music education are discussed.

This study aims to shed light on the motivation governing instrument choice. To collect data, we designed, piloted and administered a survey to a population of students enrolled in a music teacher education programme in Sweden. In line with previous, Anglo-centred research, we identify the instrument’s timbre and parental influences as relevant motives for this decision. Uncommonly, however, taking part in a testing session is suggested to have a similarly influential effect. Accordingly, our study supports the value of offering free-to-all sessions where children may try different instruments and openly discuss them with music teachers. Further insights from our results include families exerting more influence than peers, genre preferences bearing little relevance and potential tendencies regarding the influence of gender and socio-economic background for instrument choice. In addition, we uncover several motives that counteract this decision, music provision being the main impediment to pursuing one’s original preference, thereby underscoring the urgency of reducing the Swedish communal schools’ waiting lists for specific instruments. Our results further suggest the presence of mediating factors, including the musician’s starting age, family environment (beyond parents/guardians) and the availability of the instrument at home. This finding opens a new path in the study of instrument choice and challenges the way this topic has been traditionally researched, given that such factors could function as confounding variables in the study of instrument choice.

Group teaching is rapidly spreading across the world, but little research has been conducted to investigate its impact on students’ musical abilities in comparison to inclusion in group tuition contexts. This article investigates how music teachers from the classical orchestra instrumental tradition discuss group tuition. Three focus group interviews were conducted with participants from one Art and Music School in Sweden. The results show a tension field between progression and inclusion as well as different views on the definition of these concepts. These differing views on teaching quality imply a balancing act for the different agents within the profession.