During an investigation into learning in professional orchestral performance, space and place was observed to be important to the musicians' development of orchestral practices. Emplacement is advanced here as a useful concept to explain this spatial aspect of orchestral performance knowledge. Originating in sensory ethnographic research,…

Making Music: Composing "with" Young Musicians was a multi-year, multi-site research project partnered with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Canadian Music Centre to commission composers to collaborate with teachers and students to write educational music. On-site observations undertaken by the co-author and examined…

Injury risks associated with musical performance continue to be a serious problem for professional and student musicians. Much research has focused on the incidence and severity of these problems yet less information is available on the potential influence of health awareness and attitudes to injuries in these populations. This study aimed to…

In this study, one-to-one tuition in higher music education (HME) was theorised as a culturally and historically grounded activity system consisting of relationships between musicians, instruments, music-making traditions and audiences. The "skills paradox", as seen in the inherent conflict between musicians' need for long-term artistic…

This paper explores ideas of language as a cognitive tool and the role of gesture in expressing children's interests and levels of knowledge. The context is a group of three-year-old children who participate in a weekly music session with a trained musician. The authors present drawings from photographs of children's hands and interpret them,…

Four case studies are presented, which provide examples of performing musicians working with teachers and children in British schools. The studies assess the political, cultural, and professional implications of this interaction. The issues involved in cross-professional collaboration are highlighted, with political control of social programs a…