In considering the audition as a barrier to an entry into both music and music education, the question of excellence emerges as an important site of reckoning. "Excellence" in a music school audition encompasses Western classical music, the ability to read notation, and knowledge and execution of Western classical technique. Auditions…

In 1993, an increase was observed in the spatial IQ scores of the volunteers who listened to Mozart's sonata K448 for 10 min, and this phenomenon entered the literature as the "Mozart effect." Other studies have shown that this effect is particularly evident in spatial skill tests. A large body of research has provided evidence that…

This paper offers an invitation to higher music education communities to think differently about the significance of the connections between music and play. We highlight the many texts that articulate these connections and draw together a speculative ontological claim that all musicking is an enactment of play. In other words, we ask how…

Multimedia instructional materials are indispensable in the holistic process of instructional design, particularly for asynchronous online courses. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the impacts of background classical music played in an instructional video on learners' retention. The video started with a pretraining message…

This article explores the potential use of ethnomusicology in the development of entrepreneurialism amongst Western classical music students studying at UK music colleges. It is argued that both 'doing' and 'reading' ethnomusicology can encourage students to explore the diverse uses and meanings attached to Western classical music in varied social…

Classical musicians are under constant pressure to perform at near perfect levels, and are highly vulnerable to the negative effects of music performance anxiety. This study aimed to examine the mechanisms by which two types of perfectionism (personal standards and evaluative concerns) relate to music performance anxiety, and to explore the…

The practice of music diversity is colonialized. Its model is impotent to disrupt the Western canon. On the contrary, the practice has opened the door to sonic materialization and trafficking that has become indicative of the encounter between classical music and other music traditions in higher education. The Global South has become the mining…

Based on interviews with fourteen Finnish women classical music students and graduates from Finnish higher music education institutions, this article sheds light on the under-researched subject of emotional abuse in classical music education. "Emotional abuse" is defined as patterned deliberate non-contact behavior, such as verbal abuse…

Few university students in Italy today possess the necessary skills to read a musical score. Consequently, alternative strategies are needed in order to visualize -- and hence to memorise -- music. This is the main reason underpinning the pilot laboratory of musical architecture, which was launched in 2019 as university workshop thanks to the…

This study aims to discuss the fundamentals of music copywriting in music education and identify pathways for integrating musical compositions into the learning process without infringing copyright and prohibiting the use of specific music pieces. To achieve this goal, the authors used methods of analysis to identify the available resources in the…

In order to show how Michel Serres's work diverges from traditional (modernist) Western philosophy, this article explores a multitude of texts and contexts against which Serres might be better understood. Most starkly, Serres's work diverges from the eighteenth and nineteenth century Germanic tradition of "Bildung," meaning cultivation…

Higher music education (HME) in Europe is multifaceted due to the great variety of legal frameworks, conservatory histories and practices. However, following the Bologna declaration in 1999, traditional conservatories are gradually transforming into research-based institutions, which means combining advanced performer training with artistic…

In the field of higher music education conservatories, and more specifically in the so-called 'classical music', the first steps towards research regarding entrepreneurship are being taken, although the main obstacles to overcome are still at a conceptual level (to define what is entrepreneurship in this field, what the profile of a musician…

Practices of "Musikvermittlung" have become significantly more relevant since the last turn of the millennium against the background of a dwindling audience for classical concerts in the German speaking countries. For classically trained musicians, whether in permanent positions, as soloists or in portfolio careers, activities in the…

Student-centredness is being advocated for in research on higher music education (HME), yet its perils have been largely neglected by scholars. While issues of employability are important to address in order for music graduates to thrive in a neoliberal world, this article asserts that the underlying power mechanisms that are being criticised for…