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…

The creative music strategy is a dynamic and flexible seven-step model for guiding general music students through the music concepts of improvisation and composition, followed by critical reflection. These are musical behaviors that cultivate the development of our students' deeper conceptual understandings and music independence by helping them…

This article reports on a case study where a professional musician was assigned to a primary school as mentor in a project where 14 primary-aged children, with their teacher's direction, were involved in the composition of a piece of music that would act as prologue to the school's major production. The researchers were interested in aspects of…

How might songs, like John Lennon's "Imagine" or Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the wind", offer ways to explore alternative ways of being in the world, to challenge the status quo? How might these songs become springboards for original pieces that capture students' ideas about world issues? In this article, I observe what happens…

This work explores the study of interaction through discourse as a means for analysing and understanding the process of teaching and learning music. Over the course of a didactic sequence, we assess classroom conversations dealing with the analysis of a music score constituted as the reference for the process of creating a joint music composition.…

The field of creative music education is described as complex, unpredictable and versatile. The aim of this article is to explore this complexity and diversity on the basis of the continental "didaktik" tradition and Robin Alexander's generic model of teaching. The educational practice and orientation of the teacher are investigated in relation to…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a composition program, Composers in Public Schools (CiPS), on cognitive skills essential for academic success. The underlying hypothesis is that composition instruction will promote creative expression and increase performance on music-specific skills such as music reading, as well as foster…

This exploratory work describes and analyses the collaborative interactions that emerge during computer-based music composition in the primary school. The study draws on socio-cultural theories of learning, originated within Vygotsky's theoretical context, and proposes a new model, namely Computer-mediated Praxis and Logos under Synergy (ComPLuS).…

This paper describes a multimodality approach that helps primary-school students improve their learning performance during music instruction. Multimedia instruction is an effective way to help learners create meaningful knowledge and to make referential connections between mental representations. This paper proposes a multimodal, dual-channel,…

This case study consisted of an examination of the perspectives of students, teachers, and administrators at the Shuangling Primary School, a rural Chinese school in Shaanxi Province, as they relate to themes of China's most recent curricular reform efforts. The intent was to understand these perspectives and determine how to best assist teachers…

Using a constructionist framework in music, specifically through an emphasis on composition, is revolutionizing the field of music and education by bridging the gap between the novice and professional. Much of the research has been spearheaded by Jeanne Bamberger and others, who noted the computer's potential to highlight what it means to be a…

The purpose of this study was to examine and describe children's music improvisations and the interactions that transpired within their four-person groups during regular weekly music classes as they planned and performed music improvisations in response to three different prompts: a poem, a painting, and a musical composition. Participants were…

This article explores the use of lyric writing in elementary science. It details an exploratory project in which elementary students and a professional musician collaborated to write and record lyrics at the conclusion of an inquiry-based science unit. What we found was that lyric writing when used as a summary reflection activity in science…

This paper draws on results of a research project InterActive Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age (see www.interactiveeducation.ac.uk). The overall aim of the project was to examine ways in which new technologies can be used in educational settings to enhance learning. Research was carried out across a range of school subjects:…

An innovative ICT project called "Compose" has been implemented in some New Zealand primary schools in an effort to counteract the lack of classroom composition opportunities. "Compose" combines the use of music software and online learning with attempts to address barriers to primary classroom composition. This article…