This article evaluates the impact of volunteering with a music education project for children and adults with learning disabilities on the professional development and career trajectory of music students at a Conservatoire in the United Kingdom. A mixed-methods online questionnaire captured the impact of volunteering with Melody Music Birmingham. Findings suggest that volunteering was a powerful aspect of the respondents’ learning, potentially influencing their career choices, perceptions and attitudes. Further training and experiences for Conservatoire students in engaging with, supporting, and delivering music-making for people with learning disabilities are recommended.

This article reports findings from a study that sought to identify barriers to music and music education in the UK. Emerging from empirical research involving n = 723 participants and clarified by an evidence base of over 10,000 research participants, the key findings presented in this paper relate to pupil and participant voice and involvement, location as a sub-theme of diversity and inclusion, collaboration and transition points. The research is contextualised by twenty years of policy initiatives seeking to address barriers to music learning. The article provides an overview of the research study before presenting the rich data that emerged within each theme reported. Research participant voice is used as much as possible to enable the reader to consider, reflect and interpret the data in a way that is meaningful for their own context. The paper concludes by asking why after 20 years of policy initiatives, research and evaluation the same barriers still exist and, as we emerge from the pandemic, suggests that this research provides a compelling case that now is the time for change.

Since the early 2000s, education policy in France has strongly encouraged publicly funded conservatoires and music schools to forge partnerships with various stakeholders in sectors outside of specialised music education. This change in the objectives traditionally assigned to music schools and conservatoires has given rise to new ‘pedagogical projects’, among which extracurricular music workshops are quite widespread. This study investigated the views of specialised music teachers in relation to these new pedagogical formats through an analysis of their evaluations of a workshop led in a French school between 2018 and 2019. I interviewed the music teachers who participated in the project (n = 8), those who refused to participate (n = 7) and also the administrative staff (n = 4). The results indicate that far from the ecumenism traditionally associated with policies promoting the democratisation of culture, conservatoire teachers think about and are involved in these projects in different ways, reflecting a wide range of considerations around pedagogy, project quality, purpose or politics.

Despite a renewed interest in educational practices to develop future music educators in South Africa for a rapidly changing professional landscape, little is known about the meaning students themselves ascribe to these practices towards their own development as music educators. This instrumental case study investigated the learning experiences of second-year BMus students creating a musical for pre-schoolers. Data were collected through interviews, observations and reflective journals. Six themes emerged through a thematic analysis of student experiences, namely interaction, preparation, skills development, stagecraft, performance and enjoyment. A conceptual model that explains the production of a musical as a pedagogical praxis connects these themes with existing literature on three teaching and learning approaches that framed the study, namely authentic arts-based pedagogy, project-based learning and community of practice.

Meyer and Land’s work (among subsequent others) on threshold concepts (TCs) has been influential in numerous subjects, particularly in higher education. However, despite its growing international interest, its application into the domain of music in schools is a highly under-researched area. This article draws on the notion of TCs focusing on the context of lower-secondary school (Key Stage 3: ages 11–14) group composing. Using video-recorded and interview data from three case-study schools in the English Midlands, examples of TCs are presented and how formative assessment was, or could have been, a key process in them being crossed is discussed.

‘The Sequence of Musical Development’ by Swanwick and Tillman was published in the British Journal of Music Education (BJME) in 1986. This year marks its 35th anniversary and provides an occasion to look back on the article’s content and legacy. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the antecedents for the article’s underlying concepts, as well as how our understanding of children and young people’s musical behaviours and development has evolved. Alternate and more nuanced perspectives, both available at the time and since, draw on an expanding, diverse, multidisciplinary research base. These enable us to have a better grasp of the strengths of the original, as well as what continues to need investigation.

Swanwick and Tillman set out three levels at which their “Sequence of Musical Development” may implicate music teaching: general curriculum planning, individual development, and the role of the teacher. From the perspective of a practitioner working as a secondary music teacher in England, this article critiques the practicalities of adopting an approach inspired by Swanwick and Tillman’s theory. Although recognising the challenges that music teachers face in the current context for music education, this article argues that educators should carefully consider how musical learning is structured, both in curriculum planning and approach.

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.

The notion of the spiral for progression and development is familiar both in general educational discourse and in the domain of music education. This brief article considers the spiral within the context of lower secondary school group composing in England. Through the use of examples taken from two schools in the English midlands, it argues that formative assessment is a key process for enhancing spiral-like musical learning.

The sequence of musical development is revisited. The origins of the underlying and evolving theory are considered, along with organisation and classification of the data of children’s compositions. The cumulative and recursive nature of the spiral is re-emphasised, and the dynamic relationship between the left and right side is clarified. The essential qualitative nature of the study is asserted and some possibilities for the future are considered, along with a two-dimensional model for curriculum and student evaluation based on spiral-related outcomes and the musical activities that promote and sustain them.

June Boyce-Tillman and Keith Swanwick’s article on musical development is the second most widely cited paper in the history of the British Journal of Music Education. It appears in many discussions of musical development. A selection of the diverse domains where the paper is cited includes: instrumental teaching, Special Education Needs, primary school teaching, the development of learning for professional musicians, secondary school teaching, musicians’ skill development, adult music teaching and jazz improvisation. However, the background to this work, which was conceived for June Boyce-Tillman’s PhD thesis, is not always so well known. This article presents a research interview with June Boyce-Tillman conducted in August 2017. It explores her musical background and music education experiences, and seeks to enable further discussion of the characteristics which were described in the spiral model. The interview focuses on the concepts of Materials, vernacular, and musical Values, in particular, and the implications of these modes of understanding for classroom practices, including curriculum design.

The critical role of disciplinary literacy in enhancing understanding and engagement within arts-based subjects has drawn increased recognition amongst researchers and practitioners alike in recent years. The successful integration of disciplinary literacy into the classroom however has been challenged in equal measures by a prevailing sense of confusion and misunderstanding surrounding the concept of disciplinary literacy and by the concurrent, deep-rooted pressures of performativity experienced by teachers and pupils operating within regimes of examination intensification. The result of these tensions has been a documented increase in reductionist classroom-based approaches to the development of disciplinary literacy. Given the frequently cited importance of engaged disciplinary literacy encounters in the music classroom, a review of the dominant pedagogical practices in this field is germane. This paper reports on the findings of a study exploring the integration of disciplinary literacy in the Irish secondary school music classroom. The findings of this research demonstrate a dominance of listening and performing strategies in classroom-based literacy development initiatives and an aligned relegation of student verbalisation in the music classroom. Recommendations for more disciplinary engaged, student-centred approaches in the development of music literacy within the secondary classroom are outlined.

In the context of falling recruitment to Initial Teacher Education programmes in the UK, this article focuses on motivators and demotivators affecting undergraduate students’ attitudes towards training as a teacher and considers these under the broad headings of altruistic (such as wanting to share a love of the subject and working with young people) and pragmatic (stable career, regular salary, good holidays). A review of the literature suggests that there are differences between the US and the UK in terms of the extent to which students can develop an identity as a teacher during their formative undergraduate years. An online survey was distributed to undergraduates in UK higher education institutions, the results were related to the issues identified in the literature and the differences between genders examined. The results suggested that there was no single significant barrier to undergraduate students deciding to train as secondary music teachers, but that there are opportunities to increase the number of students developing an identity as a music teacher while studying for their undergraduate degrees, and some gender-specific issues which could be addressed.

Curriculum design is a domain that infrequently forms a discrete element of initial teacher training, or continuing professional development for music teachers in English secondary schools. Classroom music teachers, teaching Key Stage 3 (KS3) learners (11–14-year olds), are, however, required to design their own curriculum. Teachers are accountable to school leaders for curricula they implement, and the outcomes from their selected approaches. This article discusses classroom music curriculum practices and their significance in music education. The research project was conducted with music teachers from schools in the East and West Midlands of England, utilising questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Research findings are conceptualised in a model of music curriculum activity. The research thereby facilitates discussion of unacknowledged complexities and tacit teacher planning practices in music curriculum design.

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.

Higher music education (HME) in Europe is multifaceted due to the great variety of legal frameworks, conservatory histories and practices. However, following the Bologna declaration in 1999, traditional conservatories are gradually transforming into research-based institutions, which means combining advanced performer training with artistic research. After a background on academisation in the higher education of classical, professional musicians, this article reports on a Swedish case study of meanings assigned to academisation in HME. Findings show that it is defined and justified as a quality development project, which requires adaptation and also gives opportunities for further development. Issues of agency in HME are discussed.

This pilot study analysed the learning strategies of advanced students and professional electroacoustic composers engaged in creating new musical pieces through online collaboration. The participants were divided into three groups and interacted in a virtual setting using synchronous (chat and Skype) and asynchronous tools (forum, compositional software) to perform the compositional activities. A multiple case study design was used to describe and interpret the actions of the participants. Forum discussions, Skype dialogues and e-mail exchanges were examined to explore the participants’ interactions and understand their actions during the online activities. Individual semi-structured interviews focusing on the processes and working approaches were conducted. The following themes were considered for the analysis of the collaborative compositional activity: working approach, relational model, leadership, organisation and compositional process. The participants effectively completed the compositional activities on the online platform, and based on the results, the following phases emerged as: (a) context definition; (b) planning/organising; (c) experimenting/generating musical ideas; (d) constructing and (e) evaluating. The findings are discussed regarding the educational implications of developing didactic activities based on collaborative composition.

Community Orientated and Opportunity Learning (COOL) Music was a 12-month collaborative project between researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University and practitioners at the Edinburgh-based social enterprise Heavy Sound. The project began in October 2017 and involved 16 sessions of participatory music making with 32 ‘hard-to-reach’ young people (aged 12–17) aimed at increasing confidence and self-esteem and improving social skills. Using COOL Music as a case study, this article explores some of the challenges faced by community-based arts organisations tasked with delivering such interventions, contrasting COOL Music’s small-scale, targeted, community-based approach with prevailing top-down music interventions in Scotland. We argue that such programmes are particularly suitable in engaging those at the margins of society, reaching them on their own terms through music that resonates with their own lived experience. However, we acknowledge the short-term and transitory nature of such projects may prove problematic for some hard-to-reach groups who require more stability in their lives and may also lead to staff fatigue and burnout. We call for further research in these areas, and greater policy attention to be paid to the sustainability of such projects.

This article outlines the development of an appropriate research approach, including methods from diverse disciplines, for researching the Colombian state-funded social music programme Music for Reconciliation (Música para la Reconciliación). After outlining the Colombian context and the literature, a pilot with ten participants is discussed. Findings show the contributions of sound postcards as part of life histories for capturing the experiences of displaced people in a country recovering from war. Their evocative capacity enriched the interviewees’ narrative, illustrating diverse sonorous landscapes throughout their lives that evidenced the changes generated by both the violence and programme participation. The conclusions offer suggestions for readers based in the arts, health, social sciences and beyond, interested in the uses of music and music education for other-than-musical purposes.