The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which professional musicians practise. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 freelance musicians spanning a wide range of age and experience and encompassing most of the instruments of the traditional orchestra. The interviews revealed considerable individual diversity in the ways in which the musicians approached and undertook their practice. The findings are discussed in terms of their educational implications.

This paper examines the tradition of ‘teaching’ in the arts, taking, as a case in point, recent attempts by music educators to make school music more appealing to students. Research is cited which would seem to call into question the effectiveness of years of so-called curriculum development in music, and the point is made that the reforms may not have been sufficiently radical. By reference to the writings of R. G. Collingwood and H.-G. Gadamer an argument is developed around the notion that the arts cannot in fact be ‘taught’ and that the troubles connected with, in this case, school music, arise from the failure of music teachers at all levels to acknowledge this fundamental intuition. The paper follows Collingwood further in suggesting an account of arts teaching which sees the arts as a way of having ideas, and the purpose of an education in the arts as helping someone find their authentic, expressive voice.

For the last ten years or so educational researchers such as Bloom, Sosniak, Sloboda and Shane have been dissecting and documenting the lives of successful musicians, their parents and teachers. In every study, parent and teacher commitments feature prominently, and music can be seen to be an integral part of home life. In their early years the most successful musicians often had strong parental support and practice supervision in some form. They heard recordings and/or live performances regularly and naturally. In addition, Sosniak (1985) identified the type of dedicated instrumental teachers who worked assiduously to provide these musically-able pupils with expertise and a wealth of musical opportunities. For pupils up to the age of 14 listening and appraising music is now, and will continue to be, a significant proportion of the national curriculum for music. Conscientiously and imaginatively delivered, it should provide a broad experience of musical listening.

The author reflects on his work with music teachers and students during three weeks in Buenos Aires in November 1994.

Under current legislation, the history of music forms a specific strand of listening and appraising at Key Stages 1 to 3. This article discusses some philosophical and practical aspects of these current requirements, together with their implications for further and higher education, as well as attempting an anticipation of future developments in the light of the recent review of the National Curriculum as a whole.

Free improvisation has two sources in the avant garde jazz, and experimental classical practices of the 1960s. Appeals to freedom, musical or otherwise, often result in more limitations. Sessions at Thames Valley University are managed by the students, and involve intense debate concerning how best to maximise collective musical freedom. Performances are triggered by individually prepared plans, which take the form of intervallic and rhythmic cells, registrally distinct roles, formal markers, dynamic processes, and even evocative poetics. Free collective improvisation in the classroom rewards sensitivity and sustained, intense concentration with a confrontational and convivial, ethical and musical, experience.

This paper reviews the implementation (1988) of a practical music-making curriculum in Scotland for 14—16 year olds in the context of its reliance on activity-based learning experiences. Such experiences, which result in the pupil taking part in subject-related activities such as performing, inventing, and active listening, enable knowledge and skills to be applied and developed in a variety of ways, and in so doing reinforce previous learning and allow new opportunities for learning and teaching. This approach has a theoretical foundation in a wide variety of literature, and the paper focuses on literature concerning creative and aesthetic activities, and more specifically the role of active-learning experiences in a musical context.

The term ‘visually impaired’ is applied generally to include those who have relatively good functional eyesight as well as those with little or no perception of images or light. Its use is preferable to the more emotive and frightening word ‘blind’, but nevertheless ‘visually impaired’ still contains a substantial degree of mystery and unknown for those teachers who rarely or never come into contact with children and/or students who have poor vision. This is due mainly to the difficulty of conceiving and appreciating what can and cannot be seen by someone who is visually impaired, and this itself then confuses the reaction to the needs of that person. These requirements are often a subtle mix of practical support, and understandably, most teachers would expect these to be the concern of established support systems. This is, however, not always the case, particularly as more and more visually impaired children are studying within mainstream education rather than at special schools, and as visually impaired students take up opportunities in further and higher education. It is, of course, no reflection on procedures and organizations that are concerned with the visually impaired in education to stress the need for increased awareness amongst teachers in mainstream education. This is particularly important because the most significant developments in technology have occurred within the last 10—15 years, and the cost has reduced so that it has become more widely accessible.

This paper describes how a teacher explored her teaching of an introduction to recorder playing to children, and how she tested her belief that music notation was an essential component of that teaching.

Two roughly parallel classes of 7 to 8 year-olds were introduced to recorder playing. One group was given tuition accompanied by music notation, the other group learned to play by ear. An interaction was found between the ability of the child and the relative success of a method of teaching. More able pupils became demotivated without access to written music, whilst less able pupils retained their interest when playing by ear. An intermediate strategy, using notation with the names of the notes written below, proved effective for those of average ability.

An holistic assessment of the quality of performance created by the two groups was independently assessed. Contrary to expectations the playing by ear group produced better quality sound than that of the group exposed to music notation.

The implication for the introduction of music performance to young children is discussed.

The requirements of the National Curriculum in England make it compulsory for all students training for primary teaching to take curriculum courses in all the core and foundation subjects and RE. [Music is a foundation subject established in 1992 and revised in 1995.] The need to make this type of course stimulating and encouraging has been a major concern for many years. This article describes one course that is designed to meet these needs. Students' evaluations of the course have been very favourable. This has encouraged the writer to share the experience with others in the field and seek constructive criticism. The course, in this form, ran first in 1992–3.

paper deals with a central concept in music education, that of ‘appraising’ music. Through a series of incidents surrounding the development of the Music National Curriculum this concept, new to many, was left undefined. Using research which shows how people cope with change and successfully take on innovations, a need for deeper information on what appraising entails, and the underlying principles involved, was identified – that is, the ‘how-to’ and ‘principles’ knowledge of appraising. The paper reports research carried out with a group of teachers to define the activity of appraising music in a way which takes account of real classroom situations and can be used by the 90% of primary teachers who are not music specialists. Because the definition is developed by teachers it is more likely to be understood by other teachers. The paper ends with an example of a programme of work which uses the developed understanding. This includes nine areas of appraising, an explanatory definition and four stages in the process of appraising as well as an understanding of progression in this activity using seven words to indicate progression and identifying a ‘putting in’ and ‘drawing out’ stage within this.The children's appraising and progression is discussed and the paper argues that, in choosing this term, the Music Working Group has identified the way in which we come to know and understand the processes involved in music and musical thinking within the three activities of Composing, Performing and Listening.

An interest in listening to nursery age children spontaneously making music on percussion instruments led to re-thinking the role of adult as listener to children's music making. It is suggested that this role is not a passive one but active. The adult playfully participates with the child and takes responsibility for ‘scaffolding’ the child's emerging music making. Participant listening challenges conceptions of the listening act itself.

Existing classifications of West African musics seem to have a limited applicability as models for music education in schools and colleges. Hence, a more comprehensive classification, highlighting a range of syncretic forms, is merged with a structure in Ghanaian drum ensembles to yield a sequential, two dimensional, model. It is then argued that the model can be used as a framework for teaching West African musics in primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions. A more general discussion is followed by an integrated arts application; finally, a musical perspective, including compositions by the present writer, is presented.

Now that the system of functional tonality is regarded as obsolete by many composers and some British universities have abandoned the teaching of tonal harmony and counterpoint, it is time to re-examine the role of this area of the curriculum. This article argues that there is still a place for it but that up-to-date, scholarly materials are needed for the preliminary and intermediate stages of study.

Most university students of music, including many who are accomplished both academically and as instrumentalists, consistently under-achieve in the subject areas commonly known as ‘techniques of composition’. Why this is so, and how this aspect of the university curriculum has come about in Britain and Ireland, are the subjects of this paper. At a time when formal methods are being replaced by free composition in the secondary school music curriculum, the future direction of third-level studies is very much in doubt. Because school-leavers are less well equipped than formerly in musical rudiments and basic harmony, some university music departments have abandoned techniques teaching altogether – those where it is retained being seen as bastions of conservatism. In view of the obvious shortcomings of existing methods their demise is understandable. Future developments, however, must not be determined by reaction, but guided by research.