The past 20 years have seen ongoing changes to the musical landscape of everyday life and growing evidence of the power of music and its ubiquity in our lives. The music education community, both academic and professional, are becoming increasingly aware of the need to rethink and change practices of teaching and learning that are likely to be beneficial to all. Knowing that across nations and cultures music accompanies the lives of 3.5-year-olds to 85-year-olds for over 80% of the time makes it all the more important that the topics of research that are featured in this final issue for 2011 reflect an international line up of studies originating from Spain, China, New Zealand, Africa, Australia and Britain. Echoing BJME's original aims ‘to strengthen connections between research and practice’ several articles reflect the rise in prominence of practitioners who undertake research as a means of informing practice and professional development.

Singing individually is both a necessary activity within the music class and an essential part of the cultural activity of improvising verses through singing. In this article we show how the introduction of this activity in the educational system of Catalonia has made it possible to obtain positive results with regard to participation in singing, especially solo singing. The analysis of the data also shows how this type of singing activity has a positive effect on negative attitudes towards singing derived from western perceptions of who or who isn't competent to sing, depending on gender, age and social status.

How might primary students utilise the stimulus of a painting in a collaborative composition drawing on a non-conventional sound palette of their own making? This practitioner research features 17 recorder players from a Year 6 class (10–11-year-olds) who attend a West Auckland primary school in New Zealand. These children were invited to experiment with the instrument to produce collectively an expanded ‘repertoire’ or ‘palette’ of sounds. In small groups, they then discussed a painting by an established New Zealand painter set in the Waitakere Ranges and attempted to formulate an interpretation in musical terms. On the basis of their interpretation, drawing on sounds from the collective palette (complemented with other sounds), they worked collaboratively to develop, refine and perform a structured composition named for their chosen painting. This case study is primarily descriptive (providing narrative accounts and rich vignettes of practice) and, secondarily, exploratory (description and analysis leading to the development of hypotheses). It has implications for a range of current educational issues, including curriculum integration and the place of composition and notation in the primary-school music programme.

Although there are many examples of notable string programmes there has been relatively little comparative analysis of these programmes. This paper examines three benchmark string programmes (The University of Illinois String Project, The Tower Hamlets String Teaching Project and Colourstrings) alongside Music4All, an innovative string programme run over three years in five primary schools in regional Australia. The paper discusses difficulties encountered in the Australian experience and gives recommendations for future programmes including allowing adequate time and resources for the planning phase and the importance of ongoing professional development for staff.

Team teaching – two or more teachers sharing the training of a group of students – has only recently been implemented in the curricula of many higher music education institutions. This article reports on a survey of 142 music students and their tutors from three departments (the Schools of Strings, Vocal and Opera Studies, and Wind, Brass and Percussion) in a major British conservatoire. Team teaching had been in use for one year in the first department, five years in the second and 30 years in the third. The extent to which respondents valued team teaching was not, however, related to the length of time it had been in use. Key benefits of team teaching were seen as exposure to new ideas and additional feedback. Respondents suggested a variety of improvements to mitigate drawbacks such as perceived differences between tutors' approaches and limited time for individual tuition. Provided tutors and students communicate effectively with each other and negotiate where necessary, this method of teaching and learning is likely to be beneficial for all.

This paper presents theoretical perspectives for choral conducting education. A wide range of related literature on choral practice and education in higher education contexts, as well as training in the workplace is reviewed. Whilst various attributes for effective choral conducting practice have been identified by research studies, there has been no systematic research on the process of choral conductor education and the contexts in which it occurs, particularly in the UK. The proposed framework consists of six interconnected parameters: (i) the tutor(s), (ii) the learner(s), (iii) the music repertoire and the singers, (iv) the sequence and amount of training, (v) the learning outcomes and (vi) the socio-cultural context(s), including teaching context(s) where practice takes place. The framework itself offers insights and related approaches for the development of choral conducting education.

This article examines the musical enculturation and early education of Wagogo children of the Dodoma region in central Tanzania. In support of the enculturation premise, long-standing practices in musical enculturation among the Wagogo are described, most of which are continuing today. The Wagogo hold to the belief that the behaviours of both mother and father affect the proper development of the young child prior to birth and this sense of joint child-raising responsibilities continues even as they enter into their school years. The intent of the article is to argue that the facilitation of musical experiences for young children and teachers through music and dance is a vital component of their holistic development, and to offer an understanding of how teachers and parents might incorporate daily singing, dancing and drumming experiences into the lives of children. By providing occasions for music in the lives of young children, and by nurturing their natural musical proclivities, the traditional music of the Wagogo of Tanzania remains a living tradition, a critical component of the identity of young Wagogo children, and an important means of human expression.

Every educational system has its goals and objectives, curricula and modes of implementation. There is however the need for periodic assessment and evaluation. Specifically, this research paper sets out to evaluate the success or otherwise of the music education delivery system in Kwara state of Nigeria and its implications for the goals of music education in Nigeria. Data were gathered primarily from field situations using empirical and deductive methodologies and secondarily from government publications and other publications related to the subject matter. The paper observes that the noble idea of bi-musicality, a concept that stresses musical literacy in both one's own culture and that of the West is hampered by lopsidedness, crisis of perspectives and inadequate resource materials and persons. There is also a structural defect in the vertical relationship between the various levels of music education in the state. The paper further identifies public perception of music as a Christian subject as one of the obstacles to an effective music education delivery system in Nigeria. The paper concludes that until significant musical theories and conceptual approaches emerge from extensive fieldwork into Nigeria's diverse musical cultures, it will be difficult to develop and sustain an authentic and functional music education framework in Nigeria.

This article critically examines how interactions between social changes, social harmony, and historical memory shape school music education in China. As a historical review and documentary analysis, it traces the historical development of music education and examines the Chinese government's role in such interactions over time. The article argues that the Chinese government uses music and music education as an influential nation-building system to enrich the politics of memory. In particular, it adapts the nation's past for political ends, and passes on state-prescribed values to its citizens with a view to legitimising its power. The dynamics and dilemmas that challenge school education result from two divergent aims: (1) to combine the functional education of Confucianism and nationalism so as to encourage social harmony and maintain national myths; and (2) to encourage popular and other world music with traditional Chinese music by using multicultural teaching strategies in music lessons. The question remains how to balance ideas of social harmony, musical cultures and nationalism in school music education in the contexts of current Chinese education policies, teacher education and the globally oriented economics of China today.