The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether an experimental programme, based on interdisciplinary interactions between music education and history and the implementation of arts and cultural education objectives, could influence pupils' interest in Western classical music of the 20th century. The programme was designed on the basis…

This edited book considers the impact of neoliberalism on music teaching, research and scholarship in a higher education context. As a subject that bears little resemblance to other university practical disciplines, and fares poorly in a model driven by economics, the book considers whether musicology is a 'public good' or a threatened species. It…

Recent changes in educational policy have placed 21st-century skills at the forefront of arts education, presenting arts educators with an opportunity to reassess instructional practices. Popular music pedagogies are approaches to learning and practicing popular music that may be useful for addressing 21st-century skills and knowledge in arts…

In 2011, the directors of the Phoenix Symphony came up with a bold plan to improve and expand their community outreach programs. Inspired by the growing movement to integrate the arts with the other subjects in the K-12 curriculum, they created a thriving program called Mind Over Music, which pairs professional musicians with local elementary…

People who do not know theatre may think the only creative artist in the field is the playwright--with actors, directors, and designers mere "interpreters" of the dramatist's vision. Historically, however, creative mastery and power have passed through different hands. Sometimes, the playwright did the staging. In other periods, leading…

Effective teaching in a music conservatoire needs a continual quest to find new and better ways of delivering excellence. The challenge is to keep the work innovative. In this article I argue that, for a classical musician the communication of personality is a vital component of excellence in performance and I give reasons why an authentic,…

In 2010, the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, was awarded an Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) grant to develop, implement, and disseminate a research-based program of professional development (PD) that equips prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers to infuse…

In the 1970s, Jose Antonio Abreu started the Venezuelan program that puts instruments into the hands of poor children and transforms their lives with free music education. Abreu, a musician and economist, sees in the arts not just a discipline and skill but a path to true selfhood. This is not the sort of talk one often finds in education.…

When selecting literature to study and perform in band, opportunities for enhancing students' understanding of the music may inadvertantly be missed. One such opportunity involves collaboration with other disciplines. The other disciplines inform the study of the music and, in turn, the association with music enhances study of the other…

One way of seeing music education is to think of it as the study of music as a series of sounds and silences. This model has dominated North American conservatories and many universities (2) and found its way into classroom practice. Another way of seeing music education is to define it as cultural studies--that is, a subject concerned with…

Musicians hold diverse opinions about the value of scientific inquiry in their field. Although some see music-making as a human behavior that can be studied from, say, a psychological perspective, others maintain that music's subjective and almost magical qualities defy scientific explanation. Even within the field of music education there seems…

The aim of the Sounds of Silk project was to develop an interdisciplinary educational program that combines the study of Chinese music and culture with the goal of motivating students' learning. It involved three schools, six teachers and 250 fifth- and sixth-grade students in New York City. Participants explored three topics in Chinese music and…