Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
‘Creative music-making’, as developed in recent years in Great Britain and other countries, has also become popular in Japanese music education; for many music teachers have come to think seriously about the significance of child-centred music education instead of teacher-centred music education. Such a trend seems to be new. However, as in the United States and Great Britain, child-centred music education has been implemented previously – during the 1920's, in Japan's case. This development began in the Elementary School Attached to Nara Women's Higher Teachers College. The author describes the ideas and practices of creative music education in this school, and its historical background, comparing them with creative music-making today.