Nigel Marshall

Music education in the twenty-first century: a psychological perspective

Starting from Hargreaves’ (1986a) review of the relationship between developmental psychology and music education, we characterise the mid-1980s as a point at which the different main strands of music psychology – cognitive, developmental, and social – began to unfold. We move to the present day and beyond, suggesting that a major change has been the incorporation of a social perspective: it may now make more sense to talk about the developmental social psychology of music and music education. Four levels of social influence are distinguished – the individual ,t heinterpersonal ,t heinstitutional, and the cultural –a nd we suggest that the concept of identity may enable explanations of social influence at the individual level. We review some research on musical style sensitivity as an exemplar of this general approach, and conclude by applying the social– cultural perspective to current developments in music education. This gives rise to two new conceptual models: of the opportunities that are offered by music education in the twenty-first century, and the outcomes that might be derived from it. Music education is changing very rapidly in the UK, as in many other countries, as a result of rapid social and technological change. What should be taught and learnt at school? What is taught and learnt out of school? How much attention should be paid to instrumental tuition? How much of music is self-taught rather than learnt from others? What are the modern-day roles of conservatoires, universities, and community organisations in music learning? What constitutes being a musician in the digital era? All of these are questions to which the answers are changing very rapidly. If this is true of music education itself, it is hardly surprising that music education research is also changing rapidly. One obvious feature is that it has become increasingly interdisciplinary, drawing on theory and methods from various other specialisms – and so the publication of this special issue is very timely. This paper looks at theory and practice in music education from the point of view of psychology, and takes as its starting point ap aper that one of us wrote well over a decade ago on ‘developmental psychology and music education’ (Hargreaves, 1986a). This paper argued that developmental psychology had a great deal to contribute to music education, and came soon after the publication of The Developmental Psychology of Music (Hargreaves, 1986b), which represented a first attempt to set out what the main features of this field of study might be. Th ep resent paper is in four main parts. We start in the mid-1980s, characterising the state of play when the original article was written as a point at which the different main strands of music psychology – cognitive, developmental, and social – began to unfold.

Crossing the humpback bridge: primary–secondary school transition in music education

This article explores the process of transferring from primary to secondary school in music from the perspective of the pupil. Seventy-five pupils from five schools were interviewed in small focus groups during their last weeks in primary school and follow-up interviews on 68 of the original pupils, representing 13 schools, took place one year later following a full year in their secondary school. The investigation explored how pupils’ attitudes towards classroom music change between primary and secondary school, and investigated if there was any evidence for the continuing existence of the five approaches to the introduction of music in the secondary school suggested ten years ago by Mills (Starting at secondary school, British Journal of Music Education, 13, 5–14, 1996). The results suggest that curriculum continuity in music has not necessarily improved as a result of the introduction of the national curriculum, and that progress in other aspects of the transfer process has been slow or non-existent. Information on individual pupils from school records is still sparse, with reference to music, but there is some evidence that pupils now experience lower levels of anxiety before they transfer to secondary school.

Instrument, gender and musical style associations in young children

Numerous studies have explored the relationship between musical instruments and their associations with a particular gender. This study focussed on the developing association between gender and musical instruments in young children and further explored the interaction between gender, instrument and musical style. The research was carried out on 65 participants aged three and four years old. Each participant took part in a short musical game which involved matching 14 musical excerpts with photographs of the individuals who might play the instruments represented within each excerpt. The research used a 2 (gender) × 2 (musical style) × 7 (instrument) factoral design in which a ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ instrument was featured playing in a ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ associated style. Our results suggested that prominent gender stereotypes for some instruments do appear to exist in very young children whilst in other instruments, gender associations appear to be also linked to the musical style in which they are represented and possibly the performance context in which they are experienced.

Teachers’ views of the primary–secondary transition in music education in England

This article investigates the transition and transfer process from primary to secondary school in music from the teacher perspective. Thirteen secondary music teachers from 13 secondary schools throughout England were interviewed along with seven primary-school teachers representing five primary schools. This paper reports interview data from both groups of teachers, which together provide accounts of the transfer and transition process from both sides of what was referred to as ‘the humpback bridge’ in our previous report on the pupil data (Marshall and Hargreaves 2007). The research investigated teachers attitudes and current practice in the process of transfer and transition and explored whether or not the claims made in advance of the National Curriculum have been met through the creation of a common language and a progressive curriculum covering all ages and stages of education. Furthermore, we looked for any evidence of the continuing existence of the five approaches commonly used by secondary teachers to the introduction of music in the secondary school suggested 10 years ago by Mills (1996). Our results suggest that while some types of liaison activity between schools have increased, the majority of liaison carried out between primary- and secondary-school teachers in music specifically, tends to focus on administration of instrumental lessons. The results also suggest that, in common with findings from Mills (1996), most secondary teachers in music still feel compelled to start music in secondary school by ‘starting from scratch’. However, we further suggest that far from being viewed in a negative way, this approach can be developed into a beneficial experience enabling pupils to become familiar with and confident within their new secondary environment.

Two studies of musical style sensitivity with children in early years

In this paper, we report on two studies carried out to further explore the level of listening and discriminatory abilities present in very young children through the development of an age appropriate methodology. Working with children aged between 3 and 4 years of age, our first study explored the level of performance achieved on a matching task using musical excerpts from the same piece of music within a number of commonly experienced musical styles. Our second study, further explored issues of stylistic discrimination and stylistic competence with similar age children but also explored associations between musical styles and types of people. Results of the study suggested that even three-year-old children were able to make accurate discriminations between musical styles through the use of a broad range of referential criteria and also, we observed that a number of ‘person type’ and gender associations already appeared to be present in the attitudes and experiences of participants. The two studies also raised some further questions about the interaction between the gender associations that young children appear to have not only with instruments but also with musical styles.

Early career challenges in secondary school music teaching

The article reports an Economic and Social Research Council‐funded study of the early career experiences of secondary school music teachers in England, set within a wider national picture of decreasing age‐related pupil engagement with school music, career perceptions of music teaching, variable patterns of teacher recruitment and possible mismatches between the musical biographies of young people and intending music teachers. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from a short‐term longitudinal survey (first questionnaire: n = 74, second questionnaire: n = 29), supplemented by case studies (n = 6) and open‐ended, written questions (n = 20). Analyses suggest that only a half of the newly qualified participants chose to teach full‐time in a mainstream, state‐funded school music classroom. Of these, the majority were faced with a range of early career challenges stemming from curricular, extra‐curricular and non‐curricular school expectations. These included the need to balance their existing musical performer identity with that of being a new teacher.

musical style discrimination in the early years

Previous research has suggested that by the age of six, children display high levels of competence in identifying and reliably distinguishing between different musical styles. Until now, it has been difficult to investigate musical style sensitivity in the early years because the test procedures have relied heavily on the use of language, including the use of verbal instructions and written responses, and because they have demanded levels of concentration, attention and memory span that are beyond most preschoolers. This study reports on the development and piloting of a new procedure which overcomes these problems, and the results suggest that many preschool children do seem able to distinguish between different musical styles.

Gender differences in computer- and instrumental-based musical composition

Background: Previous studies have argued that technology can be a major support to the music teacher enabling, amongst other things, increased student motivation, higher levels of confidence and more individualised learning to take place [Bolton, J. 2008. Technologically mediated composition learning: Josh’s story. British Journal of Music Education 25, no. 1: 41–55; Kardos, L. 2012. How music technology can make sound and music worlds accessible to student composers in further education colleges. British Journal of Music Education 29, no. 2: 143–51]. In contrast, a reasonable number of alternative voices [Conlon, T. and Simpson, M. 2003. Silicon Valley versus Silicon Glen: The impact of computers upon teaching and learning: A comparative study. British Journal of Educational Technology 34, no. 2: 137–50; Convery, A. 2009. The pedagogy of the impressed: How teachers become victims of technological vision. Teachers and Teaching 15, no. 1: 25–41; Treadway, M. 2001. Making a difference? An investigation into the relationship between ICT use and standards in secondary schools. Cowbridge: Fischer Family Trust] have also argued against the claims made for the effectiveness of technology in enhancing the learning process. More specifically, recent work by Armstrong [Armstrong, V. 2008. Hard bargaining on the hard drive: Gender bias in the music technology classroom. Gender and Education 20, no. 4: 375–86; Armstrong, V. 2011. Technology and the gendering of music education. Aldershot: Ashgate] has explored issues of technology and music education in relation to gender, suggesting that the construction of gendered meanings associated with digital technologies is having a major effect on pupils’ attitudes and thus ultimately, on their level of achievement in areas such as musical composition. However, there is relatively little research on how primary-aged boys and girls relate to technology as a composing tool and how they experience this compared with using more traditional instruments to compose. More specifically, very little research has been carried out into the extent to which boys and girls differ in their attitudes towards using technology as a composing tool. Purpose: This small-scale, exploratory study had two main aims. The first aim was to investigate whether any gender differences existed between the attitudes of boys and girls towards the use of computers in creating musical compositions. The second aim was to compare their attitudes between composing with instruments and composing with computers. Sample: Our study was based in England and involved class groups of 10–11-year-old pupils in three state primary schools; a total of 63 children were involved in creating short musical compositions over a two-week period. Forty-three of them were interviewed about their experiences. Methods: Our method involved children composing two pieces of music on the same theme. In the first lesson, they composed a piece using a musical notation software package on a computer whilst in the second lesson they composed a piece on the same theme using percussion instruments. Forty-three children (22 pairs of children) were subsequently interviewed about their attitudes towards composing with computers and with percussion instruments. Findings and discussion: Our findings suggested that children could appreciate both the advantages and disadvantages of using computers to compose musical pieces and a number of differences existed between boys and girls in terms of their attitudes and the way in which they composed their pieces. The findings also suggested that differences might exist in the way in which boys and girls integrated previous musical knowledge, skill and teaching into the compositional process as well as affecting their levels of motivation, confidence and self-esteem in gender-specific ways. Conclusions: This small and exploratory study suggests that variations do exist in children’s approaches to computer-based musical composition activities and that attitudes do appear to vary as a function of gender.

Gender associations for musical instruments in nursery children: the effect of sound and image

This paper reports on the results of a study carried out with 105 children, aged between three and four years in three nursery units in London and Surrey, UK. The aim of this study was to explore the level of association which young children have between various musical instruments, musical styles and a particular gender. However, we also aimed to investigate if and how any gender association could be affected through the addition of an image of the featured musical instrument along with the sound of the instrument being played. The study had two conditions. In condition one, children were played 14 short (10 seconds) musical excerpts, 7 classical pieces and 7 jazz/pop pieces on 7 musical instruments, which previous research had identified as having strong associations with either males or females; namely flute, violin, piano, guitar, trumpet and drums. In this condition, the children were also given the name and shown an image of the instrument featured in the excerpt. In condition two, participants heard only the sound of the instrument and were neither given a name nor shown an image. Children expressed their gender association through the use of small playing cards, each featuring the cartoon image of either a boy or girl. Our results suggested that gender associations do exist in very young children, many of whom have spent a relatively short time in the education system and the presence of an image, alongside the sound of an instrument can in some instances dramatically change the gender they assign to the individual instrument.

Exploring the impact of music concerts in promoting well-being in dementia care

ABSTRACT Objectives: This study explores the specific effects of live music concerts on the clients with dementia, their families and nursing staff/caregivers. Methods: Researchers attended 22 concerts in care facilities in England and Japan. Interviews were carried out with clients with dementia, nursing staff and family members. Observations were also carried out before, during and after the concerts. All observations were recorded in field notes. Results: The effect of the concerts in both countries was seen to be beneficial to all clients and nursing staff, whether or not they attended the concert. Interviews with clients with mild to mid-stage dementia noted increased levels of cooperation, interaction and conversation. Those with more advanced forms of dementia exhibited decreased levels of agitation and anti-social behaviour. Staff members reported increased levels of care, cooperation and opportunities for assessment. Family members noted an increase in the levels of well-being in their partner/parent as well as in themselves. The study also suggested that the knowledge of musical components, an awareness of the rules of music and specific musical preferences appear to remain well beyond the time when other cognitive skills and abilities have disappeared. Conclusions: This initial study provided some further indication in terms of the uses of music as a non-pharmacological intervention for those living with all stages of dementia. These included opportunities for assessment of physical abilities as well as facilitating an increasing level of care.