This paper is one of the first presentations of research into brain gym's effectiveness in learning musical instruments. Brain gym (or Edu-K) is the popular, over-arching name for a system of exercises, approaches, and techniques intended to improve mental and physical performance. We explain the basic concepts and activities of brain gym and review the literature already published in other disciplines. We also track the short-term progress and experience of five instrumentalists when coached in brain gym. After one week, every participant rated brain gym as having a positive effect upon their playing. We also found that every participant had a more positive opinion of brain gym than they had prior to the experiment. While the findings are purely qualitative, they do suggest that brain gym has the potential to be an effective tool for music learning, and we encourage further research.

Through interviews with ten conservatoire students and ten professional orchestral musicians teaching at conservatoires, this paper seeks to establish whether young people regard the orchestral music profession as a worthwhile ambition. If so, are teachers preparing students sufficiently for their careers and passing on the benefits of their considerable experience? While interviewees express deep enthusiasm and love for the orchestral profession, both students and professors seem less sure about the consistency and quality of career preparation at the conservatoire level. Professors explain the difficulties of prioritising multiple agendas during lesson time, while students, though determined to pursue their dream of becoming orchestral players, reveal only partial understanding and knowledge of the profession.

This article was motivated by a staff development session when the brass faculty of a conservatoire were invited to share and discuss their approaches to teaching. It presents the results of interviews with six well known woodwind or brass players who have also taught at one or more conservatoires in London for periods of between one and 40 years. All are male. The six instruments represented are: trumpet, horn, trombone, flute, clarinet and bassoon. While there were commonalities in the approach of teachers, marked differences also emerged. Although some of these may reflect the particular demands of the instrument on which a teacher specialises, and the ease with which accomplished students of that instrument may be recruited to conservatoires, there also appear to be substantial differences in the individual approach of teachers. The findings raise the issue of whether it may be appropriate to provide some training for instrumental teachers at conservatoire level; surely one way of making the pool of accumulated wisdom more readily available, to prospective teachers and to the research community.

This article presents the results of research into methods and scorings for jazz assessment in Trinity College of Music, London, focusing on the possibility of introducing group assessment. It considers the advantages of group assessment methods, contrasting these with the more traditional approach, firmly established in conservatoires, of evaluating individual musicians. We question the role of jazz within the conservatoire, exploring not only the way institutions may transform jazz practice, but also the ways jazz may contribute to the evolution of higher education. The research formed part of a larger grant aimed at curricular development at Trinity College of Music. As such, we present it as an example of research's potential for immediate impact upon education policy. The project is also unusual in its use of students and instrumental professors not only as subjects of research but as participators fully involved in their own self-assessment and development.