Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a widely acknowledged condition in the field of music performance. However, MPA is rarely discussed in the field of music education. Classroom, studio and conservatoire teachers observe their students experiencing MPA related to performances, examinations or auditions, but few have the prerequisite skills to…

Drawing on the work of the philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend, this paper argues that the popular yet mistaken notion of scientific method has had a deleterious effect on music education by discouraging us from embracing conflict or pursuing counterinductive ways of thinking about music. Feyerabend argues that knowledge advances not according…

The distinction between learning to perform on an instrument or voice and learning music in a wider sense is one that is made in many countries, and is especially pertinent in England in the context of recent policy developments. This article argues that, whilst this distinction has come to represent curricula based on the opposing paradigms of…

This article considers some paradigms of educational research, and their relation to teachers' action research in their classrooms or studios. The positivist/scientific paradigm and the interpretive/naturalist paradigm are examined, with reference to two cases of music teachers' action research studies. These studies are found to be flawed because…

For a practicing arts educator, the relationship between theory and practice is often unproblematic: theory is considered to be irrelevant for the good practice. Considering the matter from an academic standpoint, one faces the distinction between poietic, or productive, and contemplative, or responsive, mindsets stemming from the classical…

This paper explores the concept of instrumental/vocal learning when studying the same instrument or voice with more than one concurrent teacher. In this context, teachers may be working as a team, or one or both teachers may not know of the other's contribution to a student's learning. Qualitative data from music students and teachers at the…

This paper explores recent developments in relation to doctoral research training in music. Drawing on the findings of a case-study of a recently established practice-led doctorate at an Australian conservatoire, we offer insights into the attributes of its expanding cohort. We interrogate a blended research training structure of academic…

The power of one-to-one tuition in Higher Music Education is evidenced by its continuing place at the heart of conservatoire education. The need to examine this student-teacher relationship more closely has been emphasised in the last decades by increasing understanding of processes of student learning in Higher Education as a whole, and in…

"Rivers of Musical Experience" were used as a research tool to explore the wide range of musical experiences and concomitant identity construction that six amateur keyboard players over the age of 55 brought to their learning as mature adults. It appears that significant changes in their lives acted as triggers for them to engage in musical…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

How do student teachers learn to use informal learning and pedagogy in their teaching? Through focusing on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in England, this paper will explore the possibility of developing a meta-pedagogy which embraces informal learning and pedagogy in music. The paper is in two parts, the first of which examines the background to…