In the most recent Ministry of Education work plan seminar (Ministry of Education, 2010), a clear signal was sent out that arts education, primarily music and visual art, would become one of the key areas of focus in pursuing the goal of holistic education of a primary school child in the Singapore school system. This article, as part of a larger…

Thirty vocal improviser-educators from Australia (n = 15) and the United States (n = 15) were surveyed for musical background, influences and pedagogical views, and assessed for personality type using the "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" ("MBTI"). The purpose was to both combine and compare the two groups to identify overall…

This article, based on my PhD empirical study, was conducted in a qualitative and holistic approach. It had examined how students had used formal and informal strategies, styles and situations while improvising and composing for the research task. Eighteen research groups made up of a total of 40 males and nine females had participated in…

This article describes a didactic experience concerning the interaction between young children and the Continuator, an Interactive Reflexive Musical System (IRMS) elaborated at SONY- Computer Science Laboratory in Paris. The general aim was to analyse whether and how the Continuator can be used in the kindergartner during the daily school…

This article examines the wider meanings of collective inquiries, creative collaboration and learning at work through analyzing a teacher's learning process when plunging into collaborative inquiry and creation with the students in primary classroom context. The incorporation of "songcrafting" into the existing practice of singing…

This article reports on the practice and evaluation of a music education model, In Harmony, which utilizes new technologies and current theories of learning to mediate the music learning experience. In response to the needs of twenty-first century learners, the educational software programs Teach, Learn, Evaluate! and Impromptu served as central…

Improvisation pedagogy has presented a challenge to music educators since jazz courses began being offered in North American universities in the 1950s, a development which has raised important pedagogical questions ranging from 'Can improvisation be taught?' to "Should it be taught?" Following on the increase in academic…

Research regarding music teaching in primary school reveals generalist teachers' and student teachers' low musical abilities and low confidence in teaching Music, and even more, in including creative activities in music teaching. This article reports on a study which sought to create a fruitful and supportive environment that would allow 64…

The learning of jazz improvisation is often treated as the incorporation of stylistic vocabulary and development of technical dexterity. Although this methodology is effective, considering other aspects of jazz improvisation can make the learning process a more holistic and less technical endeavour. My experience teaching improvisation has led me…

Idea generation is an integral component of jazz improvising. This article merges theoretical origins and practical experiences through the examination of two seminal works from Pressing and Sudnow. A comparative analysis yields three common sources with distinct characteristics. The greater body of jazz literature supports this potential link…

Few studies have been conducted on the physiological effects of creative art activities. In this study, the effects of creative art activities on human stress were investigated, and their effects were compared in 57 healthy college students (27 males and 30 females). Subjects were divided into four groups, each of which participated in 30-minute…

The aim of this article is to assess the relative merits of two approaches to teaching musical improvisation: a music-theoretical approach, focusing on chords and scales, and a "dramaturgical" one, emphasizing questions of balance, variation and tension. Adult students of music pedagogy, with limited previous experience in improvisation, took part…

The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of musical improvisation within two contrasting musical genres--jazz piano and liturgical and concert organ. While improvisation is well documented in both genres, there is little literature relating the two forms and, in particular, the process of improvisation. The aim of this study is to…

The purpose of this article is to present the idea that the music education profession's current drive to include improvisation in school music is limited in its approach, and that "teaching" improvisation, in the traditional sense, is not possible. These beliefs are based on an examination of current methodologies and texts in light of the…

The aim of the Sounds of Silk project was to develop an interdisciplinary educational program that combines the study of Chinese music and culture with the goal of motivating students' learning. It involved three schools, six teachers and 250 fifth- and sixth-grade students in New York City. Participants explored three topics in Chinese music and…