Andrea Creech

The basis of this article is findings from the Music for Life Project which investigated the benefits and challenges of music activity participation for the over 50s in three case study sites in the United Kingdom. The paper uses a philosophical lens to explore the leaders' and participants' views on the purpose of the activities, how learners are characterised, the role of the activity leader, and the use of assessment. Data from 147 participant and 13 activity leader questionnaires, from 28 participant and 13 activity leader individual interviews, and ...

Abstract: The landscape of music education in the UK is constantly shifting and developing. This book provides a timely and unique overview of this restless sector by considering the achievements of music education, analysing its current performance and setting out aspirations for the future." Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom" addresses the power of music to influence and change human behaviour, analyses current and future issues in music education and casts a spotlight on particular areas of education ...

In 2001, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) published the White Paper 'Schools: achieving success' within which the Government pledged to ensure thatover time, evey primary school child who wanted to would have the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument. To deliver this commitment robust, current, data base was required which could be used to provide a baseline for wider opportunities in primary music, prepare the way for changes in Music Standards Fund allocations, enable national benchmarks to be established and complement the Music Services' Guidance as a tool for self-evaluation, development and target-setting.

Powerful images of musicians' parents have been immortalized in accounts of the lives of many iconic figures in Western music. Parents have been depicted as exerting enormous influence on their children's musical development, as in the cases of Mozart (Solomon 1994), Clara Schumann (Galloway 2002), and more recently, Yehudi Menuhin (Menuhin 1977) and Jacqueline du Pré (Easton 1989), to name but a few. At the other end of the spectrum are exceptional accounts of musicians who attained high levels of expertise and ...

Abstract The cyclic process of self-regulated learning has been identified as a predictor of achievement in musical skill acquisition and musical performance. Meta-cognition, intrinsic to the self-regulation process, develops as the student takes greater responsibility for their own learning. From this perspective we consider music students' responses to a questionnaire exploring the value and purpose of master classes. Overall, students valued the opportunity to perform in master classes, to receive relevant expert advice and to ...

This pioneering book reveals how the music classroom can draw upon the world of popular musicians' informal learning practices, so as to recognize and foster a range of musical skills and knowledge that have long been overlooked within music education. It investigates ...

Abstract The main objective of this research was to create a typology of teacher-pupil-parent interpersonal interaction in the context of learning a musical instrument. Three hundred and thirty-seven teacher-pupil-parent triads participated in the research, completing a survey measuring “control” and “responsiveness”. Factor analysis revealed a number of underlying interpersonal dimensions. A cluster analysis was carried out, using control and responsiveness factors as predictors of cluster membership. A model of six distinct ...

Abstract It has been said that participation in master classes provides an initiation into a community of practice (Hanken, 2008; Creech et al., 2009) and that contemporary practices in higher music education are strongly informed by those of the past (Froehlich, 2002, cf. Heikinheimo, 2009). This is certainly true of public master classes which provide students with the opportunity to perform in public and to receive feedback on their performance from a high-profile master musician. In terms of expertise, the master musician is perceived to ...

Abstract: The landscape of music education in the UK is constantly shifting and developing. This book provides a timely and unique overview of this restless sector by considering the achievements of music education, analysing its current performance and setting out aspirations for the future." Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom" addresses the power of music to influence and change human behaviour, analyses current and future issues in music education and casts a spotlight on particular areas of education ...

ABSTRACT Historically, in the professional training of musicians, the master-apprentice model has played a central role in instilling the methods and values of the discipline, contributing to the rigorous formation of talent. Expert professional musicians advocate that certain thinking skills can be modelled through the master-apprentice model, yet its critics argue that independent learning, interaction and creativity are stifled. We studied responses to a questionnaire detailing students' experiences as performers and listeners in master classes and discovered that principal instrument and level of study usually determined the extent of performing experiences. However, approaches in arranging master classes differed between instrument departments. There were positive perceptions of instrumental master classes, but students' disclosure of negative experiences showed that females were more likely than males to find master classes to be intimidating and unfriendly. In discussing these outcomes, we consider the institution's role in helping students to negotiate social gradients of expertise and socialisation to a professional self-concept.