This article is divided into three parts. In Part I a brief description of a music therapy session will highlight some key features of a music therapy approach with children. The session will be used as a springboard for a short survey of some theoretical perspectives that underpin music therapy practice. Part II will outline the development of music therapy in the UK and the current range of work with children. Some evidence of music therapy's effective contribution to the development of the whole child will be drawn from published research and case material. Part III will place music therapy in wider social, musical and cultural contexts, outlining some contemporary challenges including closer collaboration with music educators and researchers.

In this paper I explore the musical general knowledge of 46 applicants for places on a secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) music course. The applicants took a 35-question quiz designed to indicate something of their subject knowledge in connection with aspects of the Western art music tradition, knowledge of Western musical instruments and world musics. I will discuss methodological problems related to the use of the quiz results, then analyse the results. The analysis reveals patterns of strength and weakness in the subject knowledge of the applicants that are related to their educational and other musical experiences. Significant absences in areas of knowledge needed to teach the National Curriculum are detected. I then move on to consider the findings in the light of the new Benchmark Statement (QAA, 2002) for music degrees in the UK. Noting that no given body of knowledge is prescribed in the Benchmark Statement that both describes and governs the content of music first degrees, I raise questions about the difficulties this creates for all concerned.

My response to the question ‘What can philosophy bring to music education?’ is to offer a case in point. Three important tasks that philosophers can fulfil – clarifying ideas, interrogating commonplaces, and suggesting applications to practice – are illustrated through an analysis of musicianship. Doing philosophy is inseparable from the content of philosophy, and how the idea of musicianship is clarified, interrogated, and applied is of central interest to music education, as is the task of music education philosophy itself. The article highlights the crucial importance of teachers as participants in this work.

In December 2001, the Times Educational Supplement reported on an OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) inspection in which a school music department had been heavily criticised for placing too much emphasis on fun and enjoyment. In this paper, the OFSTED report is examined for evidence of the assumptions and justifications of its negative conclusions. The place of enjoyment in teaching and learning music is discussed and it is suggested that enjoyment is important to underpin necessary implicit learning, to maintain motivation and to ensure a lifelong commitment to music. Furthermore, enjoyment is not an easy option, depending as it does on a balance between challenge and developing competence. It is concluded that the OFSTED report fails to back its judgement with convincing evidence, fails to acknowledge the possibility and legitimacy of different positions, and relies on the power of OFSTED for its own legitimacy.

The introduction of a ‘Points for Debate’ section in BJME is a welcome innovation. It provides a context in which important aspects of music education can be discussed in a friendly and temperate manner. It is in this spirit that I offer this response to Vic Gammon's interesting article concerning the subject knowledge of intending PGCE music students and how such knowledge might be identified.