In this issue two main themes can be discerned: the professional practice and experience of music teachers; and student experience at music college and university.

The extent to which musical learning takes place beyond the school curriculum presents a challenge to music teachers, requiring them to frame their classroom activities within the broader context of their students' diverse musical interests and experiences. At times, young people's self-directed musical education has been held up as a criticism of institutional approaches: the often-quoted comment from the 1963 Newsom Report that ‘out of school, adolescents are enthusiastically engaged in musical self-education’ was contrasted at the time with the view that classroom music was becoming increasingly out-dated and irrelevant – a charge that subsequent generations have also been called to answer.

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’.

Distributing one's music and discussing music-related topics at dedicated web sites have become a common practice for today's young musicians. Technological advances allow both easy production of music at computer-based home studios and free distribution even at a global level. An online survey was conducted to shed light on the reasons for participating in an online music community. The results indicate that although social reasons existed, musical reasons were the most important motives for taking part in the community. The participants were on average fairly active musicians, but only a minority of them had formal musical training.

During the last decade there has been an awakening interest in considering not only formalised learning situations within institutional settings, but also all the various forms of informal musical learning practices outside schools. Informal musical learning outside institutional settings has been shown to contribute to important knowledge and aspects of music education. In this article, I will examine research studies which in different ways focus on formal and informal learning situations and practices or formal and informal ways of learning. I will consider the relationship between music education as praxis (music pedagogy) and as research, and the relationship between these two facets of music education and the surrounding society. I will identify four different ways of using and defining formal and informal learning, respectively, either explicitly or implicitly, each one focusing on different aspects of learning: (i) the situation, (ii) learning style, (iii) ownership, and (iv) intentionality. Formal – informal should not be regarded as a dichotomy, but rather as the two poles of a continuum; in most learning situations, both these aspects of learning are in various degrees present and interacting. Music education researchers, in order to contribute to the attainment of a multiplicity of learning styles and a cultural diversity in music education, need to focus not only on the formal and informal musical learning in Western societies and cultures, but also to include the full global range of musical learning in popular, world and indigenous music in their studies.

The role of the subject leader, or co-ordinator, in the primary school has evolved considerably over recent years. Ultimately, responsibility for individual subjects remains with the headteacher and governors, but much work has been increasingly devolved, at least theoretically, to subject leaders. In this role they need to demonstrate the ability to be both leaders and managers. Whilst some aspects of leadership and management are generic, others may be specific to the subject and type of school. Through interviews with three subject leaders in schools where music is judged to be successful, this article examines their roles from a leadership and management perspective within the context of the existing primary school (3–11 years) structure. The tentative conclusion is that music is different and may need special considerations in equipping subject leaders to work effectively within this type of school.

This article reports on an investigation of the teaching of music by non-music specialists in the primary school. In particular, it examines attitudes to teaching music, factors affecting teachers' confidence, the relationship between confidence and training, support for music teaching, teaching experience and musical background. The non-specialist teachers taking part in this survey were chosen from twelve schools across one Local Education Authority (LEA). The attitudes and views on teaching music of 71 teachers were obtained through a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews. The findings of this survey show that there is much work still to be done in providing non-specialists with effective long-term training and support to increase their music skills, subject knowledge, and confidence, to enable them to make a more marked difference to children's musical education.

This paper reports on an education programme conducted with first-time mothers. The study aimed to establish whether mothers found an education session on lullaby singing beneficial for them and their babies as well as reporting what lullabies were sung and why. Twenty first-time mothers were provided with examples of lullabies and asked to sing lullabies to their babies at bedtime at least four times per week over a six-week period. Data contained in interviews and in diaries kept by the mothers were used to evaluate the value of the education session, the range of lullabies sung and their frequency of use, and to gain insight into mothers' thinking when choosing lullabies. Results indicate that mothers sing a broad range of lullabies utilising a repertoire of between five and seven lullabies. Reasons for selecting lullabies varied between the different mothers and for different lullabies but most frequently, selections were based on the perception that they were quietening, calming or relaxing for their babies. Selections were also based on whether mothers knew the lullabies and were confident to sing them. The education session was evaluated with mothers reporting on how singing lullabies facilitated a deeper understanding of their babies' responses, and enhanced their own feelings associated with motherhood. Recommendations are made as to the type and context of future education sessions.

This article reports on an exploratory investigation of the relationship between prior experience of formal instrumental music tuition (FIMT) and the process of collaborative computer-based music composition. The study linked a school in the UK with a school in Norway to engage in computer-mediated collaborative composition via e-mail. Participants were grouped into composing pairs (one from each country) balanced for prior musical experience. Results revealed prior experience of FIMT was associated with extended and complex musical dialogues, critical engagement with musical ideas and produced an ‘exploratory’ environment. No prior experience of FIMT was associated with uncritical and descriptive dialogues and a ‘cumulative’ environment. Proposals for future research are discussed.

This article discusses inductee music service teachers (to 25 years of age). It explores how their lives, as perceived, shape current identities in teaching and result in several career problems. Respondents were drawn from a comprehensive life history study of 28 Local Education Authority employees. Of this larger cohort, four were age 25 years and below, and the remaining 24 teachers made retrospective comments. Data were collected and analysed between October 2002 and March 2004. Principal findings suggest that schooling failed to address these educators' needs as musical learners; key childhood experiences were external of schools. This often resulted in an idealistic trajectory, in teenage years, towards an occupation as a performer. An occupation in music education was entirely disregarded. Consequently, inductees now consider training experiences an inappropriate platform for their professional lives. Managing group teaching and children's behaviour engenders considerable anxiety. Music service work is also deemed a transient state of affairs. There are implications for training, retention and professional development.

Literature on children's singing development is largely skewed towards findings based on English-speaking children. The present study aims to fill the gap in research through an investigation of the effects of age, gender and language on the singing competency of Cantonese-speaking children. One hundred and twenty children aged 7 and 9 years participated in the study. Sixty children were Cantonese monolinguals and 60 were English bilinguals. Each child performed individually a criterion song and two independent judges rated the recorded singing performance. Welch's model of Pitch-matching Development (2000) and Rutkowski's Singing Voice Development Measure (1998) were used to evaluate singing competency. Results suggest that melodic singing achievement and the ability to use a singing voice are moderately related singing behaviours. Evidence also suggests that gender and language but not age affects singing competency.

The pathway to excellence is turbulent and aspiring musicians must cope with the ‘ebb and flow’ of development if they are to realise their potential. With this in mind, internationally renowned musicians were interviewed in order to identify the challenges of each stage of musical development and the psychological characteristics that can enable aspiring musicians to sustain this developmental process. Results suggest that while certain psychological characteristics are salient throughout the career and facilitate continued development, others are especially important at key stages and critically at key transitions. This research satisfies more than academic interest, as findings should sensibly inform music educators about the skills and characteristics required by aspiring musicians at key stages during the learning process.

This paper builds on the concept that fusion – the blending of styles and traditions resulting in new or hybridised genres – takes place in social interaction in the ‘transformative zone’ (Bresler, 2003). First I explore the issues surrounding the tension that can occur between the need, or desire, to maintain cherished traditions and the need to create and adapt forms of expression (Bebey 1969/1975) that are meaningful to practitioners. Next, I describe a spontaneous act of fusion that occurred during a music pedagogy workshop that I gave to music teachers in Cuba. Blending the tranquil mood of a Hebrew blessing, with lively Cuban polyrhythms the participants created a hybridised genre that reflected Cuban musical traditions and values. I suggest that while the blessing was transformed stylistically, its meaningful aspects were retained in the sense that the experience provided the conditions for a feeling of communion with others and the feelings of happiness that can arise from such communion.

The attitudes and experiences of 13 music students entering a conservatoire were tracked before their entry and throughout their first term at college. Aspirations and apprehensions towards the musical, academic and social aspects of college life were collected in addition to career aims, and the data analysed qualitatively to produce emergent themes. Three pivot points were drawn from the analysis, describing events or factors that appear to shape the development of the students as musicians. The first highlights the importance of the students' first performance at college, and the second focuses on overcoming possible feelings of inadequacy generated from being one of many outstanding musicians. Thirdly, the role of feedback is highlighted as an important part of the students becoming confident in all aspects of their musical work.

Children hear music in the background of a large variety of situations and activities. Throughout development, they acquire knowledge both about the syntactical norms of tonal music, and about the relationship between musical form and emotion. Five to six-year-old children heard a story, with a background ‘happy’, ‘sad’ or no melody. Results show that background music affected children's interpretation of the story: ‘happy’ background music led to positive interpretations, whereas ‘sad’ background music led to more negative interpretations of the story. The effect of ‘happy’ music was stronger than that of ‘sad’ music. Implications for education are discussed.

This article reports on research investigating the ‘received’ music curriculum as experienced by children and how this corresponds with the expectations of the official music curriculum. The research was conducted in Cyprus and the sample consisted of 1196 children in their final year in primary school. Results verify a huge gap between curriculum theory and implementation, revealing that knowledge accumulated during the six years of primary education is far distant from the over-optimistic intentions of the official music curriculum. Additionally, music was found to be one of children's least favourite school subjects, suggesting the need for a more learner-centred and process-orientated music curriculum.

This paper is informed by one clear guiding principle: collaborative learning provides the platform on which independent learning is nurtured. The nature of collaborative learning in musicology as well as performance is considered. The focus is on learning rather than achievement, on process rather than presentation, on how students are encouraged to develop good learning habits. It will be argued that the assessment of a group endeavour needs to be integral to rather than detached from the learning. The centrality of the group endeavour in the learning environment does not diminish the role of the individual. The integrity of an individual's contribution to a group endeavour is validated by the group.