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In recent years, Swedish preschool has been subjected to significant changes. As there is a lack of studies examining how teachers in music rhetorically position themselves within this context, the aim is to study subject positions that are constructed in conversations between preschool music teachers (PMTs) and to discuss these positions in relation to the quality of preschool practice in music education. The theoretical and methodological framework is grounded in social constructionist theories and the empirical material consists of group conversations with PMTs. The results reveal three prominent discourses, the discourses of Proficiency, of Subordination and of Resistance. In conclusion, the PMTs show that they are opposed by other pedagogues in various ways. This makes the possibility of establishing a music-teaching practice on their level of expertise severely restricted, which in turn has an impact on the quality of the preschool practice in music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music Education is changing rapidly worldwide. What effective and promising practices in music teaching and learning are available and can be cross-culturally applied? Using Finland as a case study, this exploratory research highlights promising current endeavors in primary and secondary school music education. In light of these undertakings, data were collected from interviews with students and teachers in Australia and England (N = 25) to investigate if these practices would be considered promising in both Australia and England. The results revealed four key areas of promising music teaching and learning: (1) Allocated Time for Music Teaching and Learning; (2) Teacher Training and Expertise; (3) A Diverse, Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Curriculum, and; (4) Transition to Tertiary Education. A number of practical recommendations are proposed and their pedagogical significance discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the concept of democratization and explains why it has been applied in unhelpful ways to the study of music. We focus on three examples to illustrate the real-world complexities involved in the adoption of new technologies that are often seen as democratic by dint of their widespread use. We argue for a close-reading of the participatory practices of socially-located actors with music-making devices – one that asks detailed questions about who is participating, how, and under what socio-economic conditions. We finish with a call to move beyond the term democratization to an application that is specific to the field of popular music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay attends to select affective politics of theoretical practices in the study of music and affect. Concentrating on EuroAmerican theoretical frames, I address how assumptions generating key theories in affect studies complicate ethnographic analyses of musics emanating from various historical, social and cultural locations. I attend to challenges that object-oriented approaches provide ethnomusicologists in particular, arguing that a focus on practice affords opportunities to avoid the reifications of 'music' and 'affect' as potentially agentive. In considering strategies of presentation and publication, I call citational practices into question, elucidating inequities in distinct processes of legitimation. This essay stands as an invitation for increased transparency and personal accountability in theorising, with special attention to affective entanglements and attachments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the practice strategies that collegiate music majors chose to employ in preparing for a jazz improvisation performance, and the relationships among selected practice behaviours and achievement in instrumental jazz improvisation. Participants for the study (N = 62) were enrolled as music majors at one of six universities in the USA. Expert judges assessed participants' improvisation performances, and participants' practice sessions were coded for time spent on various practice behaviours. Reliability for both achievement assessment and practice time coding was found to be high. Results indicated low, non-significant correlations between achievement scores and time spent on various practice behaviours, with participants spending the greatest amount of practice time improvising with a play-along recording. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into musical practice has over recent decades focused on the technical and organisational strategies employed by novices and experts. What has been less studied are the background factors or influences on the quality of this music practice. Drawing on interview data collected from 66 children and adults from a mixed methods project, we investigate dispositional factors involved in learning and their association with practice strategies and musical and technical outcomes. A qualitative cluster analysis of beliefs about music and learning, expressions of volition and practice strategies produced three distinctive patterns of learning that influenced technical, musical and affective outcomes for the participants. Implications for teaching and learning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In higher education music, individual practice remains a unique and solitary activity, perhaps the least accessible to the scrutiny of either teachers or researchers. This study reports on an investigation of the variety among student approaches to practice, with reference to year groups, age, instrumental groups and examination results. Data were collected through a questionnaire of 101 items with verbal rating scales. The interface between research and teaching and learning is seen to support reflection in the ongoing work of students, tutors and the institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of practise is self-evident to instrumental teachers and parents, who will put considerable energy into ensuring that pupils work between lessons to maintain progress on their instrument. A longitudinal study at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, has been investigating the cognitive strategies used by young instrumentalists when they practise, relating this and other factors, such as environment, motivation and general ability, to the progress that is made in the first years of learning. In this paper, case studies of three of the pupils involved in that study will be used to demonstrate the range of practise strategies that children devise, and to analyse their efficiency in promoting musical development. The implications for teachers and parents will be considered, and a definition of ‘effective practise’ sought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]