Evidence found throughout the history of Western European art music reveals traditions that encompassed improvisation. This furthers the idea that without improvisation, music education based on canonized works of Western European art music is incomplete. When the goal of music education is to preserve works exactly as notated, improvisation…

People all over the world are engaging with popular music, particularly through social media platforms, where views are often in the billions and climbing. Sacks (2007), a world-renowned neurologist, coined the term "earworms" to refer to songs that play repetitively in one's head for no apparent reason, sometimes for days, even years,…

Historically, music programs in K-12 schools have emphasized performance opportunities for children and young people. Until the release of the 1994 National Standards in Music, targeted instruction in composition was frequently overlooked due to the emphasis on performance as well as the expectations of what a school music program ought to produce…

The City of Melbourne's ArtPlay is open to children and young people aged 3-13 years, and provides a wide range of artist-led programs that serve a broad community within and outside the municipality. Its sister facility, Signal, caters for young people 13-22 years. An Australia Council of the Arts funded Creative Community Partnership Initiative,…

Teachers who conduct ensembles of any ability level know that many skills are required for students to successfully participate. Often neglected or overlooked are the skills that students must have to interact musically with their peers. This article focuses on listening as a way to help make successful ensemble collaboration a reality. The method…

Educators need to develop teaching strategies that allow children to explore creative musical processes that will nurture musical skills, self-awareness, and imagination. A sequence of five lessons encompassing language arts and music demonstrates how students can develop creativity by writing haiku and then composing music to accompany the poems.…

This study tested the following hypothesis: that the study of original music composition confers benefits on the college music student which he would not ordinarily receive from the undergraduate music program, and that such study would therefore be a valuable addition to a music curriculum. Seven participants at a 3-week workshop in composition…

This article reports on a school-based research project into teaching composing at GCSE, setting this alongside a review of the literature. It suggests that research into cognition in composing in school students and teaching composing within a school context may be synthesised by understanding composing as problem solving. Composing is described…