With the articulation of new "Holistic and Balanced Assessment" initiatives in Singaporean schools, a new standard of conceptualising and enacting classroom assessment is expected of Singaporean teachers. This paper draws on findings from a study of the diversity of classroom assessment "concourse", representing the variations…

The purpose of this conceptual work was to provide a theory of curricular change in music education. The author introduced a "Model of Psychological Dimensions," and suggested how it might help the profession conceptualise the nexus between the individual and society. Identity as a manifestation of cultural psychology, and the role and…

This research explores the possibilities of music education in relation to improved interpersonal and social relationships. The paper focuses mainly on music teachers in primary and secondary schools in Spain. It aims to collect, analyse and provide arguments to defend a musical education that integrates musical diversity and facilitates the…

Research into musical practice has over recent decades focused on the technical and organisational strategies employed by novices and experts. What has been less studied are the background factors or influences on the quality of this music practice. Drawing on interview data collected from 66 children and adults from a mixed methods project, we…

This article discusses the development of music education in China and the integration of cultural politics and nationalism, using Shanghai, twentieth-century China's most developed city, as a case study; it examines the historical and political processes in Shanghai's music education to show what is cultural about politics and what is political…

Within the literature there exists a large volume of research studies attesting to the positive relationships between studying music and various psychological and sociological variables. A close examination of these studies reveals that only a handful were conducted on disadvantaged populations. Accordingly, it remains unclear to what extent these…

This article reports on the personal beliefs and attitudes of highly motivated Hong Kong school-age subjects who studied music. A total of 24 participants who demonstrated high achievement and interest in learning music were interviewed. Content analysis of the interview data was performed to elucidate four topics: background information about the…

This paper reports a study investigating trainee teachers' beliefs about music abilities and learning. The study employed two questionnaires: the "Music abilities beliefs questionnaire" (MABQ) and the "Music learning beliefs questionnaire" (MLBQ) which were specially designed to reveal the beliefs of trainee teachers of primary and secondary…

This is a pioneer study of Macau's music education focusing on music listening preference. Adopting models from Western cultures, the study, launched in 2006, aimed to explore the factors of age and gender in regard to music preference. The subjects ranged from fourth-graders to university students (N=2495) (15 missing). Participants rated their…

The scope of music education research has expanded significantly over the last 50 years. Nevertheless, many studies remain atomistic, with limited contexts for questions, methods, findings and implications. Such approaches may seek to validate instructional strategies within an established music education system, rather than developing a continuum…

Facing the ambiguous status of in-school music literacy, this follow-up eight-year study aims to touch on the effects of traditional staff notation (SN) learning on student's intuitive symbolizing behavior and musical perception. Subjects were 47 second-graders attending a religious Jewish school in Israel. One "pre-literate" meeting, in which…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between selected listener variables and musical preference of young students in Singapore. Based on the Leblanc 1982 model, gender, age, race, musical training and familiarity were chosen as independent variables. The data collected showed that musical preference was also influenced by…

In the light of an apparent paradox that has resulted from the integration of 'world music' into the school curriculum in many countries, the present paper proposes a tri-partite approach to music education. Such an approach would clearly distinguish between the teaching and learning of: 'inherent meaning', or the study of music for music's sake;…

This article examines the complexity of the education of values in the People's Republic of China (PRC) since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). It attempts to provide an insight into how the central state has managed the values of music education with respect to the dynamic changes to its political ideology across these four…

This essay examines the shift toward a globally interdependent world, starting with the ontological premise that thinking, identity and action are subsumed by culture. The author explores the view that globalism, with its break from modernist constraints, may enable liberation. The post-Soviet borderless economy implies a shift of rule and a new…