Welcome to this edition of the British Journal of Music Education. Given the unprecedented times and challenges brought about through the Coronavirus pandemic, the journal opens with an editorial article highlighting some of the current issues and situations that have arisen as a result of the inevitable changes to music education. Whilst we recognise that many changes have taken place globally, we have focussed on capturing some of the ways in which music education in the UK has been impacted.
Following this, although travel around the world is currently severely curtailed due to travel restrictions, we are delighted to once again include contributions to this edition from a truly international perspective, all of which were written before the current special circumstances were operating.
Julia Wieneke shares findings from a study in Germany reporting perspectives on facilitating contemporary music projects in schools. It utilises data from nine guided interviews with a range of music professionals with long-standing engagement in creative music education projects, and also a group interview with freelance musicians from a variety of backgrounds. As well as exploring definitions related to composing in the context of music education in Germany, the article outlines ways in which collaborative work between schools, arts organisations and musicians could be structured in order to facilitate processes which promote creative musical processes and outcomes for pupils.
Taking an interesting storytelling approach, John Habron and Liesl van der Merwe’s article adds to the growing body of work on spirituality in music education. Through narrative inquiry with Dalcroze students’ the authors explore opportunities for spirituality created in the Dalcroze classroom. The article also considers examples of inhibited spirituality identified by participants, presenting the students solutions to overcoming the problems identified and recognising the interrelated intrinsic and extrinsic factors that promote or inhibit spirituality in the Dalcroze classroom. The article offers evidence-based guidelines for teachers to consider in their own practice.
Lived experiences of ‘flow’ during performances, as identified by undergraduate music students in New York, are the focus of the next article. The emergent themes from this research – environmental context, emotional connectedness and interpersonal connectedness – are explored in relation to flow theory and previous findings from research in sport and music. There are some interesting implications for music educators to consider in relation to their role and the potential importance of challenging some assumptions about the performer’s relationship with both the music and the performance.
Moving to South Africa, the article by Michael Barrett, Roy Shipp-Page, Caroline Van Niekerk and Johan Ferriera explores the relationship between theory learning and singing in a choir. They describe how many members of choirs have little or no formal experience of music theory. Using a test at the beginning and end of the year, the authors researched the extent to which participants singing in a university choir acquired or improved theoretical understanding of music without a conscious learning process, for example, to identify note names and durations and to write intervals. The results of this study raise some interesting questions about the learning that takes place en passant through active musical engagement.
Parent–teacher partnerships in pre-school group music lessons in West Malaysia are the focus of the penultimate article. Through a collective case-study approach, the authors explore factors which encourage or discourage parent–teacher relationships. The three case studies chosen describe different age groups – babies, toddlers and pre-school children (aged 5–6 years). The similarities and differences between the perspectives of parents and teachers highlight some interesting points to consider about ways to establish and build relationships and what needs to be in place for relationships to be considered effective partnerships.
This edition of the journal concludes with the article ‘Work-integrated learning in university popular music programmes: localised approaches to vocational curricula in Melbourne, Australia and Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand’. This article seeks to plug some of the gaps identified in research relating to vocational music programmes, exploring ‘how infrastructure and resources shape the possibilities of work-integrated and industry-engaged learning, as well as the specific constraints determined by a university’s geographical location’. There is much to consider in here relating to the development of programmes aiming to bridge the gap between university study and industry and the vocational pedagogies that might be beneficial.
