The initial application of evolutionary theory to the universal practice of music-making in humans was at best marginal and at worst dismissive of non-Western musics. Darwin's biography defines an agenda for musicality in the emergence of human culture that is receiving considerable attention in several disciplines, presenting a robust case for…

The purpose of this paper is to share the initial outcomes of a doctoral study about teaching for creativity in primary schools. The investigation inquired into how and why educators teach for creativity and implement creative processes in music, performing arts and generalist classrooms. The key outcomes discussed in this paper refer specifically…

Good musical education has been shown to have benefits across the curriculum but its delivery in schools is still extremely variable. Part of the problem is that many primary teachers lack skills and/or confidence to offer engaging music programs. In an attempt to find possible solutions to this problem we ran a pilot program of a short series of…

This article compares and evaluates the music components of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the NSW Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus. To guide the analysis, this article employs Bernstein's (1971) concepts of classification and frame, and the two levels of 'best practice' in primary music education proposed by…

Throughout history, societies have been fascinated with creativity and the creative personality. Researching creativity and its place in music education however has been fraught with difficulties. After sixty years of intensive study mainly in the USA, there is still no accepted methodology for researching creativity or an agreed definition. In…

This report captures the variety of music education research between 2012-2014 and covers a range of topics and events such as the International Society for Music Education (ISME) 2012, Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) 2013 and Australian and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education (ANZARME) 2014.

Cross-cultural music education can motivate children to look at music in fresh ways and awaken their imagination to new possibilities and ways of thinking. This paper presents the voices of three practitioners experienced in, and passionate about the field of culturally diverse music education. Over the past 25 years the presenters have ignited an…

In this thematic case study in a rural primary school, young children of diverse socio-cultural origins use transformative and transmodal redesign in music as they explore new conceptual meanings through self-reflexive interaction in classroom music events. A focus on music dialogue created by interaction between modes is seen to promote…

Students with communication disabilities present challenges to general music teachers with inclusive music classrooms. Typically, students perform, compose and improvise with others in the class, but students with physical disabilities that include communication difficulties or students with autism are left out or at best marginally participate.…