Most young people these days enjoy listening to music. It may well be their main interest and one of their favourite pastimes. Some may express a preference for classical music, others for minority interests, such as folk, country, blues, jazz, or big band. For the vast majority, however, it is likely that their taste will be partly, if not exclusively, for pop, i.e. that brand of music which originated with Bill Haley'1956 recording of ‘Rock Around The Clock’, and which now applies to all music loosely associated with the Top Forty charts. In this article the author describes a course, with 10 and 11 year old pupils, which examined the history, styles and social significance of pop music.

The application of objectives to the teaching of music can be easy enough when the results expected are clearly understood in advance. However, when some of the responsibility for the outcome is placed in the hands of pupils, the formulation of objectives becomes more difficult. This article explores the problem and makes suggestions for the framing of objectives in relation to children's compositional work. In support of the argument, the findings of a short course in composing undertaken with two pupils are described with scores and taped examples serving as evidence. The article ends with suggestions for the assessment of pupils' compositions.

This article gives an account of a study in which the practice of music consultancy in primary education was examined. Its aims were to discover to what extent the claims made for music consultancy can be substantiated by empirical evidence, and to identify the factors which contribute to its success. The trends indicated that schools having a music consultant tend to achieve a slightly more favourable standard of music education, in terms of frequency of activities undertaken, than schools with no postholder for music. Little evidence was found, however, of the qualitative benefits thought to be conferred by the classteacher, supported by the consultant, being responsible for music teaching. Several interrelated factors were identified as having possible influence on the efficacy of music consultancy in promoting a satisfactory standard of music teaching among class teachers.

This article describes an experiment in the assessment of composition by group consensus. It was designed to prove that small groups of assessors confronted with only aural evidence of particular compositions could, when using suitable criteria, under certain working conditions, come to similar enough judgements on these compositions to prove the method reliable. The method itself was based on the sessions in assessment held at the University of York in 1977 under the chairmanship of Robert Bunting, but, whereas the results in the York session were quite promising and pointed to the reliability of this method, the present experiment has exposed great flaws in a procedure that is advocated by at least one G.C.S.E. group as being suitable for the moderation of students' compositions.

Music examinations frequently require students to harmonise chorale melodies ‘in the style of J. S. Bach’, but the manner in which the skill is taught generally emphasises the adding of chords below the melody note by note ‘arithmetically’, and may thus fail to develop inner hearing and a sense of overall harmonic direction. Using the system of ‘harmonic sketching’ which she developed originally as an approach to keyboard harmony and described in detail in her book Sketching at the Keyboard, Laura Campbell extended the technique to the harmonisation of chorale melodies, in the process comparing her students' choices of outline harmony with those employed by Bach in four settings of the same chorale. In this article she describes the experiment and comments upon its results, showing how the ‘sketching’ method, which reveals the fundamental ‘harmonic landscape’ of a melody, is an especially valuable tool in the acquisition of written harmony skills.

This article describes some of the experiences of, and lessons learnt by a composer working as Head of Music in a secondary school. The article highlights in particular aspects which are considered to be of value to teachers and other colleagues now embarking on a new era of musical education in schools, notably aspects relevant to the composing component in public examinations. The text includes details of a recording of newly composed music.

The Gulbenkian Report (1982) highlighted the need for bridges to be built between performing artists, arts organisations, teachers and pupils. The London Sinfonietta Education Programme can be seen as an exemplar in this respect; it is not perceived as merely an arm of marketing, but seeks to be an educational resource in itself providing children with a rich rewarding experience that fosters not only musical skills but also transferable social and life skills.

After a brief summary of the development of ‘Creative Music’ in schools in the U.K., the author suggests that the emphasis on Improvisation, advocated by Orff and others, has been lost in favour of the Composition/Product model.

An attempt to define ‘Improvisation’ leads to various considerations of its value and purpose in various educational settings, and in Music Therapy. Links with ‘play’ in young children, and with practices in Movement/Dance education are drawn.

Practical examples are suggested, and a ‘spectrum’of degrees of ‘improvisation’ opportunity are suggested. Participants perceptions of improvisation and composition are described, and finally the case for improvisation as an essential part of any music curriculum is made.

One of the outcomes of the National Music Administrators' Conference held in Brisbane, Australia, in 1980 was a ‘Rationale for Music Education’ in Australian schools. This paper uses this Rationale as a stimulus for the discussion of the role of music in the curriculum. The issues raised here are neither new nor distinctively Australian. However, an attempt has been made to evaluate critically what Eisner would categorise as the ‘contexturalist’ and ‘essentialist’ justification for music in education. In an age of accountability and timetable restraints, teachers and administrators must explain their curricula to different audiences. Therefore, the ability to justify music in the curriculum must become part of the teacher's professional equipment.

A review is made of the contents of the Australian Journal of Music Education from 1969, and of conferences in the early history of the Australian Society of Music Education. The categories of music education theses 1936–78 are described. A review of the research presentations is made from reports of the conferences of the Association of Music Education Lecturers. The paper identifies seminal summaries of music education research issues over a twenty-five-year period. It traces the lines of reported research, distinguishing standards for identification of research. It is concluded that although awareness of research issues has been consistently present amongst music educators in Australia, a lack of research orientation, together with inadequate planning and organisational structure has left the field to haphazard individualism. Proposals for current research priorities and procedures for their pursuit are made.

A teaching method is described which is based on activity and participation in relation to recorded musical performances. The principles of repertoire choice are that it should represent various styles; that the expressive content should be in the realm of the emotional world of children; that there should be at least one compositional device in the music which is perceivable from the point of view of students. The relationship of participation and listening is explored through practical illustrations.

This article studies the compositions of two 15–16 year olds over a period of 12 months: following a similar study by the same author in BJME (1987) 4.1. Identifying traits common to the work discussed in both articles, the author points the way towards some new models for assessing pupils' progress: one of composing as a design process, the other describing musical ability as a style of thinking rather than a set of technical skills.

Against the background of current debate concerning the proposed national curriculum, a number of questions remain unanswered. This paper examines the issue of how, and indeed whether music education is practised from an expressivist point of view. The expressivist position, as evidenced for instance in the work of Herbert Read, Louis Arnard Reid and Suzanne Langer, is analysed in the more recent work of Robert Witkin and Malcolm Ross.

The paper continues by questioning whether there is an expressivist future in music education, discussing the work of Keith Swanwick and John Paynter alongside recent guidelines from HMI and the DES. Official utilitarian arguments are questioned and evidence of developments in Scotland and the United States are examined. The American tradition of developmental psychology in music leads to a discussion of the work of David J. Hargreaves in this country, and finally recommendations are made concerning the relationship between music and the other arts, with particular reference to curriculum structures and programmes of learning.