Improvisation is an area of interest to both music education researchers and music educators alike. The purpose of this literature review was to examine extant studies related to improvisation at the elementary level. Selected research included the nature of improvisation, the amount of instructional time and activity type used, the development of…

Our aim is to identify the challenges of teaching music composition to today's students of composition at a tertiary or professional level. We undertake this by two different approaches: on one level, by establishing a context through reviewing literature on the teaching practices of three renowned teachers from the twentieth century; on a second…

A compelling body of research demonstrates that music continues to offer powerful potential for enhancing health and well-being in old age. Active music-making has been found to provide a source of enhanced social cohesion, enjoyment, personal development, and empowerment, and to contribute to recovery from depression and maintenance of personal…

In our research and educational practice we sometimes use songwriting as an alternative way to acquire and communicate insights about the social world. While this approach differs markedly from scientific ways of knowing, it offers valuable and perhaps unique opportunities, in keeping with turns towards narrative/performative methodologies in…

Having previously been employed to investigate science and English classrooms and listening in the music classroom, theories of multimodality would appear to have much to contribute to an examination of group composing using Information and Communications Technology (ICT), owing to the multimodal nature of music software and group discourse. This…

Previous research in education has investigated the relationship between gender and perceptions of musicality, suggesting that teachers' assessments of boys' and girls' achievements in music are different and unequal. This empirical study attempts to explore that relationship in more detail, building on research from the late 1990s, by asking…

Despite national initiatives in the UK such as Creative Partnerships, an organization formed in 2002 for exploring creative approaches to learning in the classroom, there is still a gap between aspiration and practice. This is especially evident in the teaching of musical composition in primary schools, partly because there seems to be a profound…

Over the past 25 years there has been an increasing and worldwide research interest in music education, embracing a range of disciplines and perspectives. As well as particular research foci on the nature of curricula, musical behaviour and development, new research literatures have been developed that link music education with ethnomusicology,…

Music educators are particularly keen to offer learning opportunities that enhance creativity. How this happens remains something of a mystery. Within an international context, this article reports on a study that used a cross-cultural perspective on creative thinking with a particular focus on examining the link between problem-solving and…