In this paper, I suggest that it is perhaps time to consider the pedagogy of popular music in more extensive terms than conventional rock band practices have to offer. One direction in which this might lead is the expansion of the informal pedagogy based on a ‘garage band’ model to encompass various modes of digital artistry wherever this artistry takes place. This might include: in face-to-face pedagogical situations, in other contexts of informal learning, and in such open networked learning environments as remix sites and musical online communities. The rock-based practice of learning songs by ear from records and rehearsing them together to perform live or to record is just one way to practice popular music artistry today. Such practices as DJing/turntablism; assembling of various bits and pieces to remixes; remixing entire songs to mash-ups in home studios; collective songwriting online; producing of one's own music videos to YouTube; exchanging and comparing videos of live performances of Guitar Hero and Rock Band game songs – all of these indicate a musical culture that differs substantially from conventional ‘garage band’ practices. The global eminence of digital music culture can be taken as one indication of the need to reconsider music as a transformative praxis. By examining the ways in which music is produced and used in digital music culture, we can prepare for new forms of artistry that have yet to emerge from the creative mosaic of digital appropriation. Thus, we expand and redefine our notions of informal music pedagogy. This paper concludes with consideration of several themes that Afrodiasporic aesthetics suggest to the understanding of this artistry.

This paper1 explores firstly the sense in which improvisation might be conceived of as an informal music education process and, secondly, the effects of a course in free improvisation on student teachers' perceptions in relation to themselves as musicians, music as a school subject and children as musicians. The results of a study conducted in two Greek universities are presented. Using a narrative methodology, examples of data from the reflective diaries or learning journals which 91 trainee teachers kept as part of their participation in an improvisation module are presented and discussed. The argument is made that improvisation, as a particular type of informal music learning process, has an important role to play in fostering the qualities required of teachers to work with informal pedagogies in music education. Furthermore, we would suggest that such musical experiences might gradually lead to the development of a critical perspective on both music education theories and practices. Improvisation might emerge as a moment and a practice of rupture with linearity of progress, working against reification of knowledge and glorification of received information. The findings suggest that improvisation might offer a route for creating an intimate, powerful, evolving dialogue between students' identities as learners, their attitudes towards children and their creative potential, and the interrelationships of the notions of expressive technique and culture, thus becoming ‘an act of transcendence’ (Allsup, 1997, p. 81). We propose that the issue of connecting informal learning and improvisation might be resolved by regarding improvisation as an exemplary case of creating a communicative context where most representations/conceptualisations/struggles to solve problems are left implicit. Such experiences for pupils and teachers alike might further extend the social and personal effectiveness of informal learning as music pedagogy.

This paper draws on the metaphor of ‘workplace landscape’ to highlight the role of institutional values, evidenced within a Greek University Music Department and a Music Conservatoire, in the construction of musical performance teachers' professional identity. Underpinned by a social constructionist framework and within an ethnographic case study approach, the findings revealed that, on the one hand, participating teachers were constrained by the ‘cultural scripts’ within their workplaces, and on the other, that they utilised and appropriated these cultural tools in constructing their professional identity and practice. The findings imply that advanced music training institutions should engage more radically in a critical rethinking of their ‘workplace landscapes’ as settings for professional identity construction in order to ensure that musical identities are most effectively nurtured.

We know that pupil talk is an integral part of the learning process. Previous research has not viewed affective engagement in a music composing task as a vehicle for developing higher order discourse skills. The aim of this study is to evaluate the significance of teacher questioning in encouraging quality dialogue with children during music composing. This paper reports on an empirical study investigating dialogue with young children during an imaginative music composing task. Pairs of children aged 6 and 7 years were audio recorded as they talked to each other and the researcher about the task. The dialogues between the researcher and the pupils highlight the importance of teacher questioning in encouraging young children to engage in evaluative talk and problem solving, through discussion and musical experimentation. Significantly, the findings suggest that young children are able to reflect on the learning process through meta-cognitive thinking. The findings highlight the significance of the role of the teacher in scaffolding and encouraging children's thinking and learning through dialogue, and the importance of talk and evaluation as a part of reflective music composing activities.

I am grateful to Ruth Wright and the editors of the journal for inviting me to make this brief response to the fascinating set of articles collected here. Taking the articles as a whole, I wish to offer a few thoughts which came to mind whilst reading them, concerning our roles as music-education researchers and music educators in relation to informal learning.

The introduction of a National Curriculum to England and Wales in 1988 provided the first compulsory framework for music education. Writing in 1996, Mills suggested that in ten years time the impact of this change would result in primary school student teachers needing refreshment, and not development, of their musical knowledge. This five-year study examines primary school student teacher's knowledge of the musical elements as they entered the one year Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course in one institution. The results suggest that some elements as defined by the relevant national curricula (duration, pace, pitch and silence) do indeed need only refreshment, but others (timbre, texture, dynamics, structure) need significant development in schools and in training courses.