This article presents six case studies from England, Australia, and Hong Kong, which illustrate the different ways creativity in music is defined and assessed by teachers and learners in various educational contexts. It considers the influence of educational policies on the assessment of musical creativity. It also examines the key features of music creativity assessment in order to draw parallels between various contexts. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for classroom practice.

Recent debate within the domain of music education has focussed on issues of discriminating between higher and lower quality learning outcomes. Much of this debate has centred on the language of music education, particularly in giving both substantive and psychometric meaning to terms as diverse as 'the craft of music', 'musical skills', 'originality', 'musically convincing', and 'convincing development of ideas'. Moreover, in the search for standardisation in music assessment, much of what is conventionally described in assessment criteria reduces musical assessment to quantifiable competencies often not indicative of the higher-order musical thinking underlying the production of these competencies. That is, assessment often fails to resolve the dilemma of the 'parts' and the 'whole'. In this paper we propose an assessment framework based upon a synthesis of current text processing theory with Biggs and Collis' (1982) SOLO Taxonomy. We propose that musical assessment should primarily be sensitive to the quality and structure of music thinking. We argue that musical learning, like other domains of learning, can be analysed for evidence of structural quality and coherence, and that such evaluations may provide viable diagnostic as well as summative information about musical outcomes. ur purposes in this paper are broadly twofold: to highlight ambiguities and uncertainties associated with current practices in the assessment of creative arts, with particular reference to assessment processes in music; and to propose a framework for such assessment that may give greater clarity and certainty in describing musical performance and outcomes. It is not our intention at this time to propose an assessment schedule for an examination of music -such a schedule would require much empirical validation. What we do aim to achieve, however, is a theoretically defensible framework through which such a schedule may be developed. We argue that such a framework requires some degree of reconceptualisation of what is focussed on in musical assessment, how such foci may reflect the components and their relationships in describing 'good' musical performance, and how, in taxonomic form, such reconceptualized assessment may reliably indicate both quantitative (competencies) and qualitative (expressive) elements of musical outcomes.We argue that good assessment will achieve three objectives: it will reflect and be informative of the quality of learning/performance outcome, it will reflect and be informative of the processes yielding that outcome, and will reflect and be informative of the cognitive and metacognitive knowledge driving those processes. That is to say, good assessment processes must be descriptive of the quality of learning/ performance and, concomitantly, of those processes and knowledge implicitly indicative of the quality of learning/performance outcome (see Figure 1).

Group-based therapeutic songwriting has been applied to enhance the wellbeing of young people. Artist-led songwriting experiences have potential to enhance wellbeing of young people but this has not yet been fully explored. Understanding how this activity impacts wellbeing can advance practice. This study offers a music therapy perspective on artist-led group songwriting, highlighting contextual factors that impacted wellbeing outcomes. A two-day artist-led songwriting program with 85 young people was observed. Video footage, ethnographic field notes and artefacts were thematically analysed and produced themes relating to contextual factors and wellbeing outcomes. Three overarching themes resulted: young people feel safe; young people have fun; young people push beyond boundaries. Contextual factors (sub-themes) included direct and honest feedback, high-energy rituals and emphasis on artistic excellence. Insights into circumstances permitting wellbeing outcomes for young people were obtained. Contextual factors helped shape the songwriting environment by promoting fun, safety and pushing boundaries. This environment enabled young people to engage in the program and benefit from its wellbeing-focused activities. Findings can inform music therapy and other professions using group songwriting with young people to foster wellbeing.

No abstract

No abstract

This article grew out of a study of four preservice teacher education courses available in New South Wales for the secondary music specialist. Although the secondary syllabuses prescribe an integration of the activities of performing, composing and listening, tertiary teacher education courses are for the most part are based on the conservatoire model that compartmentalises aural, performing and musicology studies and almost entirely neglects composition. There also appears to be a lack of knowledge of and interest in general teacher education trends and their application to the above courses. It seems that the general structure of these curricula is out of step with current research in music and teacher education and desperately needs reviewing as we continue to produce teachers that perpetuate the model, both in high schools and at a tertiary level.

This article examines music in the generalist classroom, both its advantages and its challenges. The term “generalist” in this context refers to those teachers who have responsibility for all content areas of the primary/elementary curriculum. The article also addresses how best practices in music education can be embodied in generalist teachers' classrooms, and suggests that for effective music education in the generalist classroom, musical knowledge is not enough, and neither is confidence. Knowledge and confidence must be part of an integrated whole with a best practice pedagogy that is learner-centered and mindful of the multiple ways children learn and what each child brings to the classroom. There is also a need for generalist teachers to contextualize the knowledge of their students' development with regard to music learning, as they do with mathematics, language, or social studies.

Reported benefits of arts partnerships with schools range from improvements in students' motivation and engagement in learning to teachers' increased confidence in teaching the arts, and strengthened school and community relationships. Yet, in the scholarship on arts partnerships to date, limited critical attention has been given to the impact of programs primarily driven by government supported industry-based imperatives. There may be legitimate concerns that, in primarily servicing economic or employment needs, industry-school partnerships overlook social and interpersonal aspects of learning in favor of goal-orientated skills training to meet "the market." This article informs arts education policy and industry directions by acknowledging this concern and reporting on the outcomes of an industry-schools partnership where industry "training" appears to be leveraging a number of more holistic student learning outcomes. Jointly funded by industry and government, SongMakers is an Australian artist in residence program that aims to improve the export potential of Australia's contemporary music industry and contribute to the implementation of a contemporary music curriculum. It involves professional songwriters and producers with international recording experience working as mentors to students who create and produce new music in intensive two-day workshops. This article outlines how the program is demonstrating emergent positive impact not only on students' music knowledge and skill development, and understanding of the contemporary music industry, but on engagement, confidence in learning, and self-efficacy. It does not argue that all industry programs can or will achieve such impacts, but that diverse kinds of arts partnerships in schools can contribute to a viable ecology of quality educational practice in the arts.