Abstract: Enhancing our knowledge about students’ experiences during their studies in higher music education is essential to understand and support them as they cope with their specific workloads in studying music. This study provides a research-based understanding of what engaging in music means to music students when they reflected on their experiences of their studies and workloads. The data were collected from interviews with 29 students in higher music education institutions in Finland and the United Kingdom, and the analysis was conducted by following the framework of transcendental phenomenology. Music students’ experiences of their workload are connected in multifaceted ways to the meanings they ascribe to their engagement in music, such as intense and complex experiences that are also a source of vitality, their development as musicians, their creative self-expression, their interaction with others and in building a community, their personal growth and coping approaches during their studies, and the transcendental experiences they encounter during their engagement with music. Thus, the findings indicate that engaging in music is a holistic experience for music students. This study shows the importance of understanding and investing in music students’ unique workload experiences through research on the teaching and learning practices of higher music education institutions, which can in turn support music students’ well-being, learning, and future careers.

Abstract: This article reports research that identified and analyzed assessment for learning strategies employed by six Canadian music educators to support and develop student creativity. Findings include descriptions of creativity-nurturing practices organized into four categories: (a) developing assessment criteria, (b) encouraging creative processes, (c) optimizing the classroom context, and (d) activating self-assessment. Results include detailed descriptions of strategies that educators can employ to leverage formative assessment to nurture student creativity within and beyond music education contexts.

Abstract: This article draws on a classroom project to explore the complexities of collaborative teaching within the music classroom, where a professional team collaborated to facilitate digital music-making at a lower secondary school in Norway during a student teacher practicum placement. The collaborative team, including in-service and pre-service teachers, researchers, and a professional musician, facilitated a composing project by means of the digital audio workstation (DAW) Soundtrap. The purpose was to shed light on the complexity and emergence of the collaborative music project; how material, structural, and educational conditions impacted the process; and the pre-service music teachers’ ways of handling a complex situation. The study was theoretically guided by a socio-material perspective, more specifically by complexity theory, and an abductive analysis was performed. In keeping with the nonlinearity and complex causality of socio-materialism and complexity theory, the researchers created three reflexive viewpoints: emergence, enabling constraints, and entanglements. The results show that technological and technical issues permeated the classroom work, making it difficult to separate social and material aspects of the project. Awareness of the entanglement of social, institutional, historical, and material dimensions of education thus can provide a useful framework for emerging music teachers’ professional development. In this way, our findings support the claim that music teacher education should aim at helping pre-service teachers prepare for encounters with complex and versatile educational situations.

Abstract: Orchestra auditions form a critical career challenge for many aspiring classical musicians. Hence, emerging professional musicians—defined as promising musicians entering the professional circuit without having yet established full-time employment—require effective practice and performance strategies to manage the demands of auditions. The purpose of this collective case study was to gain an in-depth and contextualized understanding of such practice and performance management strategies in relation to mock orchestra auditions. Data were collected using an intensive qualitative approach, combining semi-structured interviews with regular structured monitoring interviews, with eight musicians. Content analysis revealed that participants, on average, engaged in 33 hr of music-related activities per week, during which they adopted self-regulating strategies (i.e., strategic goal setting, structuring practice, monitoring practice, and reflecting on progress) to a varying degree. Furthermore, participants used different performance management strategies to cope with the pressure of auditions (i.e., practicing under pressure, imagery, relaxation, cognitive reframing, routines, attentional control, and substance use). Overall, the data suggest that the emerging musicians possessed several different practice and performance strategies but showed great variation in the use of such strategies and had a preference for long practice hours. Potential implications for music education organizations aiming to prepare students for auditions are discussed.

Abstract: The culture of competition in music education is pervasive, reflecting the overall growth in standardization and accountability measures in education. With this study, I addressed the intersection of two underexamined topics in music education: teachers’ experience with competitive ensemble events and the structural challenges of working in a low-income, student of color (SOC) majority campus. In this basic qualitative study, I examined how instrumental music teachers navigate the high-stakes policy of an adjudicated large-ensemble contest within and beyond their classrooms. Research questions include the following: (a) What do teachers perceive to be the unique challenges they face in preparing for and participating in ensemble adjudication as a result of their context in a low-income, SOC-majority campus? (b) How does preparation and participation ensemble adjudication influence teaching and learning in instrumental music classrooms? (c) What do teachers perceive to be the function and justification for compulsory ensemble adjudication? Findings suggest that teachers working in these contexts experience unique challenges in preparing for and succeeding in adjudication events due to the intersection of campus-based challenges and policy. In addition, music teachers experience similar narrowing of content and heightened stress as their general education counterparts within accountability structures.

Abstract: In 1997, Norway became the first country to make statutory provision for schools of music and arts requiring every municipality to run such a school. Based on an explicit vision of “schools of music and arts for everyone,” the aim is to provide music education for all children, regardless of social and economic background. Despite their statutory status, there are no official documents regulating the teaching content. The schools have an advisory curriculum framework, but as this framework barely mentions musical genres, teachers are free to choose content and modes of instruction. In this article, we address the following research questions: What kinds of music are used as teaching content in the schools of music and arts? Who, and what, decide which music is used? We report the findings from a survey of music teachers ( N = 151) working in schools of music and arts that were selected using a quota sampling strategy. The survey questionnaire comprised both structured and open-ended questions. We found that while the teaching content encompasses a wide range of musical genres and styles, various styles of popular music predominate. Moreover, the teachers’ own choice of music was altogether the most prominent option, along with other categories involving teacher-led decisions. Our findings also suggest that the teachers’ own preferences and taste in music had a certain impact on the content used. However, the students’ and teachers’ influence on the teaching content seems to vary with the musical style/genre being taught. Students’ preferences were emphasized to a higher degree when teaching popular music, while the teachers decided what music to play more often when teaching art music/classical music. The findings are discussed against Kallio’s ideas of the school censorship frame, and the authors argue that the wider cultural-musical heritage seems to be a strong force when making decisions about teaching content.

Abstract: Orchestra auditions form a critical career challenge for many aspiring classical musicians. Hence, emerging professional musicians—defined as promising musicians entering the professional circuit without having yet established full-time employment—require effective practice and performance strategies to manage the demands of auditions. The purpose of this collective case study was to gain an in-depth and contextualized understanding of such practice and performance management strategies in relation to mock orchestra auditions. Data were collected using an intensive qualitative approach, combining semi-structured interviews with regular structured monitoring interviews, with eight musicians. Content analysis revealed that participants, on average, engaged in 33 hr of music-related activities per week, during which they adopted self-regulating strategies (i.e., strategic goal setting, structuring practice, monitoring practice, and reflecting on progress) to a varying degree. Furthermore, participants used different performance management strategies to cope with the pressure of auditions (i.e., practicing under pressure, imagery, relaxation, cognitive reframing, routines, attentional control, and substance use). Overall, the data suggest that the emerging musicians possessed several different practice and performance strategies but showed great variation in the use of such strategies and had a preference for long practice hours. Potential implications for music education organizations aiming to prepare students for auditions are discussed.

Abstract: Self-efficacy is a key factor in performance success, yet little is known about how music educators nurture students’ self-belief within studio and class music lessons. This study explored teachers’ perceptions of pedagogical priorities in the development of self-efficacy. The goal was to understand how teachers intuitively nurture students’ performance self-efficacy and determine the optimal means by which positive self-perceptions and subsequent musical achievement could be most effectively fostered within music environments. Australian music educators ( n = 304) responded to a questionnaire asking them to share their strategies for helping students cope with common performance scenarios (exam, first concert, negative experience, and sub-par performance) and key performance issues such as music performance anxiety and confidence. Qualitative analyses coded to the four self-efficacy sources revealed that teachers preferred to focus on mastery experiences and employ verbal persuasion. The development of vicarious experience or the psychological performance skills that would benefit physiological and affective states were given substantially lower priority. There were also some significant between-group findings in the way that studio and school classroom teachers employed verbal persuasion which may be a reflection of the different teaching environments. Efforts to enhance performance self-efficacy could focus on the less-utilized sources. Further recommendations and implications for music pedagogy are outlined.

Abstract: Contemporary professional landscapes in classical music fields are rapidly changing and younger generations of musicians are confronting their creative careers, more often than not in connection to self-employment and freelancing. This narrative inquiry investigates the pathways and livelihoods of composers in a changing professional ecosystem through interviews with 10 bigenerational composers in Finland. The analysis is presented in three “factional stories,” in which the empirical material is crafted into “fictional form” by an anonymous first-person narrator. The stories depict how the secure, traditional careers of the older generation are found to be bound to traditional orchestras and ensembles, whereas the protean careers of the younger generation of composers involve passionate pathfinding amid pluralizing ecosystems, within but also beyond traditional contexts and through various collaborations. The younger composers are expanding significantly, or consciously distancing themselves from, the traditional model and values of a contemporary composer. Competition is found to be increasing and professional education described as too short and insufficient in its concentration on technique—this does not provide new understandings and skills beyond traditional composing craft needed for navigating the profession and securing livelihoods. Although similarities are found in the pathways of both composers’ generations, such as strong career callings and experiences of luck, the “struggle” for a composer to find a place in society is more strongly experienced by the younger generation, for which the development of an ongoing “learner identity” is required to embrace—and not resist—such a challenge. As a whole, the study provides a new understanding of composers’ pathfinding through changing ecosystems and suggests that traditional and protean music careers co-exist—even within a single person—while they can also be clearly separated from each other. The study informs higher music education programs in Western countries.

Abstract: Enhancing our knowledge about students’ experiences during their studies in higher music education is essential to understand and support them as they cope with their specific workloads in studying music. This study provides a research-based understanding of what engaging in music means to music students when they reflected on their experiences of their studies and workloads. The data were collected from interviews with 29 students in higher music education institutions in Finland and the United Kingdom, and the analysis was conducted by following the framework of transcendental phenomenology. Music students’ experiences of their workload are connected in multifaceted ways to the meanings they ascribe to their engagement in music, such as intense and complex experiences that are also a source of vitality, their development as musicians, their creative self-expression, their interaction with others and in building a community, their personal growth and coping approaches during their studies, and the transcendental experiences they encounter during their engagement with music. Thus, the findings indicate that engaging in music is a holistic experience for music students. This study shows the importance of understanding and investing in music students’ unique workload experiences through research on the teaching and learning practices of higher music education institutions, which can in turn support music students’ well-being, learning, and future careers.

Abstract: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate how egotism was experienced in the lives of 15 musicians and music professionals. Participants representing a broad range of musical backgrounds shared accounts spanning teacher–student, conductor–performer, peer–peer, colleague–colleague, and internalized relations with arrogance. Data collection included one-on-one interviews, collaborative phenomenological texts, and hermeneutic reflections. Through the process of epoché, phenomenological reduction, and imaginative variation, four themes materialized: (a) self-preservation, (b) other-relegation, (c) elitism, and (d) interpersonal harms. The essence of the phenomenon surfaced as the social negotiation of power. Participants identified egotism as stemming from one’s efforts to (re)gain or preserve power as they worked to strip power away from others. Given pervasive feelings of powerlessness, worthlessness, and trauma among participants, I argue that a sense of urgency in addressing egotism within music scholarship is necessary—particularly in the interest of supporting humane and ethical musical relationships.

Abstract: This article reports the results of a participatory action research study into Norwegian generalist music teacher education, that intended to develop spaces for preservice music teachers to foster agency and prepare for future teaching. We aimed to challenge the discursive practice of generalist music teacher education through participatory action research conducted from January to April 2020 at two central teacher education institutions in Norway. In this article, we present extracts from transcribed video recordings of the completed participatory action research that identify preservice music teachers’ positioning in interactions as a response to the challenges posed by action research events. Through our analysis, which draws on positioning theory from discourse psychology, we identify three primary positions taken up by preservice music teachers: (a) novices, (b) not yet independent, and (c) resource persons. The study identifies a need to interrupt traditional music teaching as a discursive practice that maintains power relations that obstruct preservice music teachers’ agency in their education. We conclude that more systematic long-term work is needed to change both educator and student habits and mind-sets.

Abstract: This article explores taste processes within a group of musical theater students and their voice teacher, the latter also acting as researcher, while working with an aesthetically broad repertoire in a higher education setting in Norway. The study is designed using an action research approach, and the collected data—students’ reflection notes, the researcher’s field notes, and workshop recordings—are analyzed through Antoine Hennion’s theoretical framework of taste as a performance that acts, engages, transforms, and is felt, and which involves skills and sensitizing. In the social sciences, taste is commonly regarded as a matter of cultural consumption. This article argues that tastes are also part of cultural production: musicians, here musical theater performers, are to be seen as music lovers, performing tastes that stabilize or challenge established taste patterns in the form of styles, genres, or traditions. Accounting for situations where tastes are performed, tested, and negotiated, this article argues that tastes have a history but are brought into a negotiating presence, producing implications for the future; in this case, tastes form vocal behaviors and vocal behaviors form tastes. Hence, in musical theater education, taste, taste-making, and taste-testing are part of systematic and formal pedagogics and students’ ongoing vocal training.

Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the process of composing educational music. As part of a research project titled Sound Connections: Composing Educational Music Canadian composers completed email interviews, responding to semi-structured questions about the process of composing educational music. Using qualitative data analysis, we sought to understand better this process and found that the composers in this study used a variety of compositional techniques at all stages of the compositional process (conceptualizing, writing, and refining) to promote the development of student musicians. Key findings included the importance of balancing skills review and challenge; the use of form, timbre, and harmony for the development of communication and listening skills specific to the ensemble context; the use of elements from various musical styles to support music appreciation; and the encouragement of student collaboration in the creative process of composition. An unexpected finding was the importance of composer collaboration with teachers and students in the composing process. The knowledge gained in this study adds to the literature on this under-researched topic, and may help composers, student composers, and composition teachers develop a better understanding of and appreciation for educational music, thereby encouraging educational music composition. In addition, the findings of this study may assist teachers in the difficult task of choosing educational music for their students.

Abstract: Culturally responsive pedagogy in music education is becoming increasingly crucial for all students, in all types of music programs, and at all levels of education as demographic shifts occur in schools. In music ensembles, the selection of repertoire is a critical component of culturally responsive pedagogy. The purpose of this study was to investigate student perceptions of repertoire in college music ensembles. This study was guided by the following research questions: (a) Do students perceive current ensemble repertoire as representative and supportive of their self-identities? (b) What are these perceptions according to students’ race or ethnicity, gender, and ensemble type? (c) What factors do students consider important in directors’ selection of repertoire? (d) How are directors’ current repertoire selection practices, as experienced by the respondents, informed by or responsive to gender and racial diversity in the ensembles? Respondents ( N = 278) were graduate and undergraduate college students enrolled in band, choir, or orchestra. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. Overall, respondents felt that current repertoire practices were representative and supportive, although male respondents rated composer gender as lower in importance in repertoire selection than both females and those not identifying as male or female. White students indicated that they felt repertoire selection was more representative of their gender than Black, Indigenous, and other students of color. Respondents also indicated a desire for more underrepresented composers in ensemble repertoire. Numerous implications are provided, including the need for an increased focus on culturally responsive repertoire selection processes in teacher preparation programs.

Abstract: Music can be a powerful activity and resource in a child’s ongoing identity construction. Rather than something that people have, musical identities are understood to be something people enact and continually work on. The correlation between musical identities and developing music skills raises serious questions regarding the possibilities and responsibilities for school music education and music teachers to positively contribute to children’s emerging identities. This study investigates how daily singing-based music classes at an Australian boys’ school shape and support children’s identity work. Research was conducted using one-on-one semistructured interviews incorporating a “draw and tell” artifact elicitation technique with seven students in Year 3. All students were engaged in their fourth year of Kodály-inspired music education as part of the school curriculum. Findings indicate that singing, singing games, playing the recorder, writing activities, musician models, and thinking musically positively contributed to boys’ identity work. These daily school music practices provided a resource for their identity work; fostered a high value for learning in, about, and through music; developed musical proficiency; ignited interest in learning musical instruments; and facilitated the entanglement of children’s musical worlds. Boys’ future identity work was supported by assisting the construction of musical possible selves and encouraging the continuation of music learning. This case study exemplifies music as a process and resource for children’s ongoing identity construction, the contributions of school music education to identity development, and the potential of singing-based music education to positively shape and support children’s musical identity work.

Abstract: Self-regulation strategies and behaviors are important aspects of instrumental music learning because they allow students to set learning goals by testing and controlling their cognition, motivation, behaviors, and emotions. This work investigates the self-regulation processes of four young instrumentalists (aged 10–11 years) in their initial stages of viola and violin learning, during practice with Plectrus, a real-time instrumental intonation training and assessment software. The qualitative-hermeneutical nature of this research employed a multiple case study design to investigate the construct of self-regulation within a software-supported instrumental learning process. Data were collected from the participants’ practice diaries over a 4-week period. The final practice session was also analyzed from audio-visual recordings. The results indicate that, despite their limited experience, the students showed a diversity of strategies and behaviors with which they self-regulated their cognitions, motivations, behaviors, and emotions. However, not all the students employed the same processes, and there was variability in the frequency of their use. One of the students showed more self-regulatory processes than the rest and achieved the best scores, although it has not been possible to establish a relationship between the scores and self-regulation.

Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the process of composing educational music. As part of a research project titled Sound Connections: Composing Educational Music Canadian composers completed email interviews, responding to semi-structured questions about the process of composing educational music. Using qualitative data analysis, we sought to understand better this process and found that the composers in this study used a variety of compositional techniques at all stages of the compositional process (conceptualizing, writing, and refining) to promote the development of student musicians. Key findings included the importance of balancing skills review and challenge; the use of form, timbre, and harmony for the development of communication and listening skills specific to the ensemble context; the use of elements from various musical styles to support music appreciation; and the encouragement of student collaboration in the creative process of composition. An unexpected finding was the importance of composer collaboration with teachers and students in the composing process. The knowledge gained in this study adds to the literature on this under-researched topic, and may help composers, student composers, and composition teachers develop a better understanding of and appreciation for educational music, thereby encouraging educational music composition. In addition, the findings of this study may assist teachers in the difficult task of choosing educational music for their students.

Abstract: While tertiary music programs traditionally focus on developing musicians’ craft, there is an increasing emphasis on the need to develop students’ ability to use their craft in socially engaged ways. This has led to an increase in community music, mobility programs, and performance outreach opportunities being embedded into tertiary music programs. There is also, however, potential for students to develop their craft more explicitly in service of social change through activist-musicianship, but little academic exploration into how this might be embedded into tertiary music programs. This article, through interviews and focus groups, investigates tertiary music students’ perspectives on music’s role in activism, their social values and aspirations, and perceived opportunities and challenges for musicians and tertiary music institutions. Music activism was seen to be possible through focusing on the musician as embodying the message or the music communicating the message, with repertoire choice and the degree of explicit messaging deemed important considerations regarding potential impact. Students highlighted a desire to plant seeds for change, to encourage audience members to become aware of and question unconscious biases and values, and to spark ongoing conversations. Within their programs, students expressed a desire for more autonomy in repertoire selection, for training on the inclusion of extra-musical features to support messaging, and for strong integration and alignment of academic and performance courses that could provide opportunities to practice activist-musicianship as part of their programs. Further to this, there are a range of ethical considerations educators need to be mindful of, which are outlined throughout this article. Insights shared highlight a need for further understanding of the activist-musician and how associated skill sets and opportunities might be embedded within existing tertiary music programs.

Abstract: Previous sport research has demonstrated that athletes of higher levels employ imagery more than low-level athletes. Because there is currently little research on imagery’s application in singers, the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether this finding is reflected in low-level and high-level singers. A study-specific questionnaire was developed that examined singers’ imagery use. The questionnaire consisted of four subscales that assessed vocal technique, performance anxiety regulation, goals, and characterization. It was found that singers used imagery most for characterization (i.e., portraying a character or feeling), followed by goals, vocal technique, and performance anxiety regulation. No differences existed between professional and student singers’ imagery use. There was a significant difference between males and females on the characterization subscale, suggesting that female singers may use imagery for characterization more so than males. Introducing this approach to imagery to singers and teachers of singing has the potential to influence music education in school settings and impact curriculum development.

Abstract: Reflection is a key component in teachers’ educational programs. As teachers transfer human values through the subject(s) they teach, their pedagogical thinking plays an essential role in decision-making. As part of the Arctic Reformative and Exploratory Teaching Profession (ArkTOP) project (Finland), this case study examines the potential for developing pedagogical thinking in the education of primary school teachers. The aim of this study was to identify the levels of pedagogical thinking in students and educators through studying their reflections on piano courses. The results indicated that student teachers reflected on an action level rather than upon metatheory. Teacher educators shared reflections from both an object theory and metatheory level, while the student teachers’ reflections were focused on their individual skills when making music. Thus, teacher educators should offer student teachers more guidance on how to reflect upon their activities and provide argumentation for their possible pedagogical decisions.

Abstract: Many scholars have advocated the addition of more intellectual activities in music classrooms, the most prominent being critical thinking through inquiry. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) has been recognized as necessary for teaching and learning that increases critical thinking skills and dispositions. This study describes an extensive list of indicators that could ascertain the pedagogical practices and intellectual quality of knowledge work indicating the strength of inquiry in music classrooms. It shows the relationships between these indicators that help us understand the enablers and hindrances to critical thinking as an aspect of IBL in music. The article focuses on the Descriptive Statistics results of 114 classroom observations for music at the Primary and Secondary levels, using coding schemes developed in the Singapore Core3-PP project from 2018 to 2020. The results confirm the gap identified in the literature that music classes lack significant inquiry work that would nurture critical thinking skills and dispositions. The findings provide pedagogical insights that can (a) inform educators on how to examine and grow their IBL practice in music lessons; (b) move music education’s objective toward a balanced development of music skills and knowledge construction; (c) develop critical musicality and independent musicianship among students; and (d) provide concrete measures for researchers to design interventions in the areas of teacher learning in IBL.

Abstract: In this article, based on a longitudinal study that the author conducted in a primary school in Japan, a methodology for assessing the long-term impact of music education is discussed. With the intention of understanding the meaning of primary music education from the perspectives of the learners, retrospective data were collected from former primary school students who became university students. Methodological possibilities are discussed in the light of nine themes, including the use of retrospective data and video recordings, focus group interviews, the involvement of teachers, subjectivity, and the view of narrative understanding. While most impact case studies pay little attention to how student learning actually takes place, the proposed methodology in this article emphasizes the importance of qualitative understanding in the initial stages as well as underscoring learners’ retrospective valuations of their own learning experiences.

Abstract: Previous sport research has demonstrated that athletes of higher levels employ imagery more than low-level athletes. Because there is currently little research on imagery’s application in singers, the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether this finding is reflected in low-level and high-level singers. A study-specific questionnaire was developed that examined singers’ imagery use. The questionnaire consisted of four subscales that assessed vocal technique, performance anxiety regulation, goals, and characterization. It was found that singers used imagery most for characterization (i.e., portraying a character or feeling), followed by goals, vocal technique, and performance anxiety regulation. No differences existed between professional and student singers’ imagery use. There was a significant difference between males and females on the characterization subscale, suggesting that female singers may use imagery for characterization more so than males. Introducing this approach to imagery to singers and teachers of singing has the potential to influence music education in school settings and impact curriculum development.

Abstract: In 1997, Norway became the first country to make statutory provision for schools of music and arts requiring every municipality to run such a school. Based on an explicit vision of “schools of music and arts for everyone,” the aim is to provide music education for all children, regardless of social and economic background. Despite their statutory status, there are no official documents regulating the teaching content. The schools have an advisory curriculum framework, but as this framework barely mentions musical genres, teachers are free to choose content and modes of instruction. In this article, we address the following research questions: What kinds of music are used as teaching content in the schools of music and arts? Who, and what, decide which music is used? We report the findings from a survey of music teachers (N = 151) working in schools of music and arts that were selected using a quota sampling strategy. The survey questionnaire comprised both structured and open-ended questions. We found that while the teaching content encompasses a wide range of musical genres and styles, various styles of popular music predominate. Moreover, the teachers’ own choice of music was altogether the most prominent option, along with other categories involving teacher-led decisions. Our findings also suggest that the teachers’ own preferences and taste in music had a certain impact on the content used. However, the students’ and teachers’ influence on the teaching content seems to vary with the musical style/genre being taught. Students’ preferences were emphasized to a higher degree when teaching popular music, while the teachers decided what music to play more often when teaching art music/classical music. The findings are discussed against Kallio’s ideas of the school censorship frame, and the authors argue that the wider cultural-musical heritage seems to be a strong force when making decisions about teaching content.

Abstract: Reflecting their dominance within music education, most musical instruments used in schools are of Western origin. In stark contrast, the adoption of folk instruments for the purposes of facilitating students’ music-making and learning in the educational context is rarely encountered. This article reports the empirical data of a study in which a modified, 3D-printed instrument in the form of a shakuhachi was tested based on its usability in a classroom setting and the degree to which students were motivated to learn it. The positive results make a case for child-friendly, affordable, educational instruments that facilitate easy sound production and pitch bending without compromising authenticity and expression. Developing such educational instruments can play a crucial role in invigorating and transmitting traditional music.

Abstract: The ideas and philosophies of preservice secondary music teachers (PSMTs) are formalized in their tertiary education years. In these years, PSMTs must reconcile the expectations, beliefs, and values espoused by their lecturers, tutors, and other significant people from their past. PSMTs have accumulated various musical experiences through prior interactions with their primary and secondary school teachers and private tutors, which nurture and shape the kind of teachers they anticipate becoming. This research focuses on a group of six PSMTs who face a very different future, teaching in the COVID-19 world of digital delivery amid a time of curriculum change in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Thirty-minute Zoom interviews with the six participants took place over the two semesters of 2020, beginning before the COVID-19 outbreak in Australia and investigating how prepared PSMTs felt they were for classroom teaching. Their most positive responses regarding online learning provided evidence that their music lecturers had built PSMTs’ understanding of the curriculum, which increased their confidence in their musical ability during practicum. The findings in this article provide an informed NSW perspective about PSMTs’ tertiary education, adding to research about classroom music pedagogy. Finally, the opinions of PSMTs on their current learning and future careers are of importance and interest for both tertiary education institutions and curriculum designers.

Abstract: One of the most important issues in music education is the development of children’s musical abilities, which are in turn impacted by teachers’ beliefs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the beliefs of general classroom and music specialist teachers in Hungary about the development of the musical abilities of children. A total of 176 general classroom teachers and 272 music specialist teachers participated in the research process. Data were collected using an online questionnaire method. SPSS was used to process data using quantitative methods. The researcher used descriptive statistical methods (frequencies, means, standard deviations) for data analysis, and inferential statistics—independent samples t test, Pearson’s correlation, and factor analysis (Maximum Likelihood method, Oblimin rotation)—to examine differences and correlations between variables. The results indicated that teachers cognitively organize musical abilities differently from the Hungarian National Core Curriculum content. Moreover, the study observed several differences among the beliefs of general classroom and music specialist teachers regarding the level of development of musical abilities of primary school children. A significant correlation was noted between the teachers’ qualifications, practice, and length of instrumental learning, and their beliefs about developing musical abilities in children. One main educational implication emerged from the results was the importance of modification of beliefs for educating teachers in university courses, which poses a major problem because changing teachers’ beliefs is a complex process.

Abstract: Reflection is a key component in teachers’ educational programs. As teachers transfer human values through the subject(s) they teach, their pedagogical thinking plays an essential role in decision-making. As part of the Arctic Reformative and Exploratory Teaching Profession (ArkTOP) project (Finland), this case study examines the potential for developing pedagogical thinking in the education of primary school teachers. The aim of this study was to identify the levels of pedagogical thinking in students and educators through studying their reflections on piano courses. The results indicated that student teachers reflected on an action level rather than upon metatheory. Teacher educators shared reflections from both an object theory and metatheory level, while the student teachers’ reflections were focused on their individual skills when making music. Thus, teacher educators should offer student teachers more guidance on how to reflect upon their activities and provide argumentation for their possible pedagogical decisions.