Commentary: Music in the Community

This article presents an overview of Section 2 of the Oxford Handbook of Music Education, Volume 2. It considers John Dewey's (1927) thoughts on the relationship between the “goods” (values, benefits) of some kind of activity and the nature of “community.” It argues that it is highly unlikely that there will never be a fixed concept or “how-to” of community music. For however and wherever community music is conceived and practiced, this elusive phenomenon continues to evolve and diversify locally and internationally to meet the changing needs of the people it serves today and those it will serve tomorrow. It reinvents itself continuously in relation to the musics and technologies its practitioners and clients desire and appropriate; and, of course, community music matures constantly as community music facilitators deploy their creativity to reframe, adjust, combine, integrate, and overlap existing ways of empowering people to make music for the realization of its many “goods” and the many ways that music making, musical sharing, and musical caring creates “community.”

Adult Music Learning in Formal, Nonformal, and Informal Contexts

This article examines current research and practice in formal, nonformal, and informal learning for adult music students. In a formal setting, the teacher controls the materials, pacing, and interactions in a structured environment. Nonformal learning practices involve systematic and deliberate but less regulated pursuits that occur outside of educational structures. Informal practices comprise aspects of knowledge and skill acquisition that are largely experiential.

Make Research, Not War: Methodologies and Music Education Research

This article argues that music education researchers need not define nor divide themselves by the types of research they choose to do. They should defend their choices only with respect to how well they address research questions, and not against some abstract set of presumed “nonbelievers.” They need not “take sides,” set up “camps,” or hurl salvos at those whose research pursuits are different from their own, but rather attempt to understand the differences, and respect and value them.

Music Education in the Postperformance World

This article examines music education in our present world, which is characterized as postperformance. The postperformance world is one where music is often experienced through recordings rather than live performances; where the music produced in a studio result in recordings that may be impossible to perform live due to sampling or synthesis; and where the prevalence of recordings radically changes the way we hear. The study discusses the awareness of media in the 1930; mass media as celebration in the 1960s; new media as transformative in the 1990s; and resituating music education in the postperformance world.

The Student Prince: Music-Making with Technology

This article examines recording studio practice in education. It begins by tracing the historical background of music-making with technology and providing an overview of how technology is used in the music curriculum. It then discusses the key relationships between curriculum, environment (studio), and community (learners, educators, studio users, support staff), that are essential in developing technology programs.

Preparation, Perseverance, and Performance in Music: Views from a Program of Educational Psychology Research

This article discusses five directions that have the potential to contribute to research, education, and practice in music education. These are (1) integrative and multidimensional motivation; (2) buoyancy and resilience; (3) adaptability; (4) personal bests; and (5) interpersonal relationships.

Lifelong Learning for Professional Musicians

This article explores the meaning of lifelong learning for professional musicians. It identifies three interrelated incentives that serve as anchors for musicians' self-identity throughout their lives: informal music-making; improvisation; and high-quality performance. It discusses how institutions and teachers can facilitate attitudes and capacities for lifelong learning. It concludes with recommendations for implementing lifelong learning in the education of professional musicians.

Sonic Hospitality: Migration, Community, and Music

This article explores the impact of human migration on the formation, negotiation, and contestation of community and music. In particular, it examines migration patterns in the Republic of Ireland. The first section provides a context for contemporary migration by surveying migration patterns over the last thirty years. The second section explores the impact of migration on community and introduces the concept of sonic hospitality. The final section examines the links between migration and knowledge transfer, with particular reference to tacit, embodied knowledge and its implications for teaching and learning in a multicultural context.

At-Risk Youth: Music-Making as a Means to Promote Positive Relationships

This article examines music programs for at-risk youth and their implications for music education and community music practices. It defines key terms, examines theoretical frameworks related to teaching at-risk youth, and describes practical applications of these frameworks. It discusses philosophies for addressing deviant behavior and controlling modes imposed from the outside to systems of cooperation. It is argued that cooperative systems are effective in facilitating music-making by for at-risk youth. The article concludes with implications for music education, suggestions for advocacy considerations, reflective questions, and a list of additional sources.

Intercultural Tensions and Creativity in Music

This article examines the role of creativity in the Iranian-Swedish association music school in Malmö and Maali's Music School in Gambia. Section 1 outlines the theoretical framework which combines Vygotsky's theories of creativity with current discussions in ethnomusicology on the value and nature of cultural meetings. Section 2 presents an overview of how the concept of the Other has been used in the present study, in seeking insights from the epistemology of non-Western cultures. Section 3 describes how creativity is conceived and practised in the Gambian and Persian/Swedish examples. Section 4 describes the approach used in course development for music teacher education, while Section 5 presents a summary of key principles and approaches.