Musician-teacher identity is a "work-in-progress" spanning a career lifetime, yet little research appears to explore how this culminative development occurs, particularly from an individualized musician-teacher viewpoint. Using a qualitative epistemology, the author examines autoethnographic vignettes of life experience to highlight how…

This article builds an interdisciplinary perspective on the nature of western classical music performance by combining concepts from literary theory, music philosophy and music education philosophy. The article concludes with practical proposals for the education of music performers. (Contains 2 notes.)

Reflection is an appropriate way of accounting for professional practice and is a standard way in which one can "become better acquainted with one's own story". Defining "subjectivity" as "the quality of an investigator that affects the results of observational investigation", Peshkin highlights the requirement for…

If the modern conservatorium is to prosper in a rapidly changing cultural and economic landscape, it will need to provide a learning experience that produces multi-skilled and adaptable graduates who are self-monitoring and self-directing. By implication, teaching practices that have dominated in the past will need to be re-thought, and…

This article considers some ways in which the school classroom enters into, changes and complicates musical meanings, focusing particularly on the role of popular music and how it relates to classical music. I suggest that in bringing popular music into the curriculum, educators have largely ignored the informal learning practices of popular…

For philosopher Gilles Deleuze, the work of philosophy consists of affirmatively and artistically creating and reworking concepts in response to real-life problems in an ongoing process that invites new perspectives and ways of thinking. Carol Matthews's music composition pedagogical practices reflect these processes, arguing that they demonstrate…

Why has music education needed to argue for its worth as part of schooling? Several answers have existed, attempting to demonstrate that music is more than "what comes naturally", that it deserves to be studied as all other school subjects are, and that its benefits require clear and thoughtful explanation. While valid, these answers focus…

In my country of Kosovo, where we endured 10 years of terrible conflict, even in the most difficult of times songs were created speaking of freedom. As children sang these songs, it brought them hope for a better life in the future. When the conflict came to an end and peace was established in 1999, a special concert (the first classical concert…

This article looks at the indigenous music of Botswana as an African musical idiom, to illustrate common aspects between approaches to teaching and learning music in African societies and the Jaques-Dalcroze approach. The author argues that a strong foundation exists in African musical practices upon which the Dalcroze approach can build. That…

Advocacy for music education has become a major professional activity that is not always understood by music educators. Education decision makers--boards of education, legislators, government policy makers--must appreciate why music education is important to society so they can make informed decisions about any number of issues that affect music…