Despite the evidence of the benefits of improvisation in instrumental teaching, research indicates that many piano teachers do not include it in their lessons. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences on piano teachers' pedagogy to determine what factors impacted the teaching of improvisation. A total of 117 UK-based piano…

This study investigates the phenomenon of "music fever" in the Chinese immigrant community in the UK, a relatively neglected research field in the English language literature. It explores the attitudes of Chinese immigrant parents towards their children's music learning through three key concepts in Bourdieu's cultural theory: capital,…

The forging and maintenance of alumni relations is critical to the sustainability of Higher Music Education Institutions worldwide. In contrast to university-based career mentoring programmes, research about the role of alumni in conservatoire students' professional development is scarce. Alumni profiles are often used to support conservatoires'…

This article presents a theoretical consideration of some of the ways in which capitalist realism is shaping the field of higher popular music education. We begin by presenting an overview of our understanding of Fisher's concept and then offer a critical but hopeful consideration of the interconnected areas in which the business ontology that…

This multi-authored article offers accounts of how programmes for teaching music theory within the Western-notated tradition were created in two UK higher education institutions. These accounts are followed by two more discursive reflections on the nature and purpose of music education today, advocating the importance of listening skills and…

Higher music education institutions should continually review their curricula to ensure that their graduates are best equipped to support musical learning for children and young people. Perspectives on early careers in instrumental teaching were obtained via an alumni-led workshop and focus group at a UK conservatoire. Findings revealed that…

A small group (n = 11) of singers from the same community of musical practice in the UK participated in focus group workshops to reflect on their experiences of group singing in nature. The study found that group singing in nature was considered to be a (non-religious) spiritual practice that enhances participants' experience of both communitas…

Choral singing was embraced by many missionaries as a means of attracting potential converts to Christianity. A principal choral singing method in 19th century Britain, Tonic Sol-fa, was introduced by missionaries and others to the Indian subcontinent where it was used as both a pedagogical method and a music notation system. Building on the…

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…

This article, which is intended as a contribution to wider conversations around music literacy, explores current conceptions of music literacy within the UK, using the area of aural skills training as a focus. Specifically, it considers the nature of music literacy and aural training in secondary (ages 11-18) music curricula and the role of aural…

This article explores the ways in which popular musicians in Malaysia learn the craft of Western popular music-making in comparison to those in the United Kingdom. Literature that studied popular musicians and their practices had largely focused on communities within Anglosphere regions, and there are insufficient understandings of the journeys of…

This research, carried out between 2020 and 2021, involves an online questionnaire and individual interviews with undergraduate music students at universities and conservatoires in the UK, to examine student experiences of receiving and delivering instrumental and singing tuition. There is no regulation of instrumental teaching in the UK, and…

A common conclusion drawn from publicly available Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data releases is that Higher Music Education (HME) courses have a predominantly male population. However, HESA data has key issues when examining HME courses: which courses are reported as 'music' courses to HESA; how do universities decide which courses…

Purpose: The aim of the article is to develop a framework for assessment for contemporary commercial music (CCM) in a music department that is still organised in a traditional way. Assessment of CCM in tertiary institutions and external graded music exams were described and analysed, followed by the presentation of an assessment framework.…

Music leaders who conduct ensembles in education and community settings, create an ecology of participation depending on their style of leadership. The paradigm of master/apprentice that has long been pilloried in music education academia is still a popular "modus operandi" for many conductors. Understanding the effect that leadership…