In this paper, we provide a reflection upon the influence of the Swanwick-Tillman (ST) model (1986) from the perspectives of music research in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this paper we take stock of where music education in New Zealand currently sits in relation to the Swanwick Tillman theory of musical development. We examine the strengths and the…

In the creative sector, "music technology" refers to a wide range of musical practices, tools and devices enabled or facilitated by computers. Yet the music technology curriculum in New Zealand, as in other parts of the world, is dominated by two specific tools: commercial Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) and notation software. In this…

Toward the end of the nineteenth century a number of external music examining systems were introduced to New Zealand. Two of them, Trinity College, London, and the Associated Board, gained a strong following and became de facto standards in the absence of a national music conservatorium. This article briefly outlines the beginning of external…

This article develops the concept of "low-end phonographic pedagogies" through a life-long engagement with vinyl records and the Afro-diasporic music practices of reggae, dub, and dancehall. Approaching my record collection as a counter-archive of vibrational feeling and learning, I explore everyday practices of playing and listening to…

Several years have passed since the removal of National Standards, however the current provision and enactment of music education in New Zealand remains unknown. Using a case study, this article seeks to illustrate the current practice of music education at one high decile primary school. This study finds that despite the removal National…

Art disciplines such as music have continued to be marginalised in the curriculum, due to educational policies such as National Standards that have focused solely on numeracy and literacy. With growing concerns of a narrowing curriculum, there have been several developments in education, including the removal of National Standards in 2017, the…

As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, the much-heralded threat of climate change has become a reality whose effects we not only read and hear about daily but also experience in a raft of seen and unseen ways in our local communities. Morton (2012) called unequivocally for a broader vision of music education that includes and embraces a…

Musical Futures (MF) is an internationally recognised approach to music teaching aimed at developing high levels of student engagement through practical music making. Set up in the UK in 2003 "Musical Futures" is typical of approaches to education aimed at increasing levels of student autonomy through a strong emphasis on student-led…

For arts practitioners and the creative community, the response to COVID has meant cancellations or postponements and a rethinking of how to share stories. The same too can be said for how students experience the arts in school. For two years in a row the biennial and much anticipated school production was cancelled due to COVID disruptions, not…

Increased interest in music technology education in recent years has prompted music teachers, technology educators and theorists to reconsider both the human and technical processes rendered by creative work in digital sound media. Music technology learning environments range from more structured classroom learning to informal, autodidactic…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of the Curriculum Design Coherence Model (CDC Model -- Rata, 2019) on the design practice of two music teachers in a middle school music class in New Zealand. The CDC Model proposes that deep learning first requires deep design coherence. This coherence is generated by three interrelated design…

In Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia work is ongoing to upskill teachers in culturally responsive practice as a way of addressing inequalities for Maori and Aboriginal students (Macfarlane, 2004; Morrison et al., 2019). Through supplementary materials to the New Zealand Curriculum, such as Tataiako and The Hikairo Schema (New Zealand Ministry of…

This ethnographic study explores how elementary school children's participation in a culturally diverse music program, which featured their active engagement in group music-making and their acquaintance with the cultural-historical context of the music, affected them on interpersonal, collective, and social levels. The study focuses on the…

Recent developments in the sociology of education highlight the importance of the school as a site for the transformation of students' everyday knowledge into a more ordered and systemised form that provides the means for the development of creative conceptual higher order thinking. However, in recent times there has been a shift towards a…

In this paper we explore the adoption of a neoliberal turn in New Zealand's education system and its consequences, focusing particularly on secondary school music education. In the 1980s, New Zealand was one of the first states in the Western world to implement comprehensive neoliberal economic policies. Some 35 years later, education in New…