[new book] Instrumental Music Education

Description

Instrumental Music Education presents insights from instrumental and vocal teaching, including one-to-one and group contexts with learners of varied ages, levels and backgrounds across cultures and genres.

Many of the chapters in this open access book detail critical incidents, issues or challenges that have arisen for the authors; these are considered in relation to reflective practice and theoretical perspectives, exploring diverse approaches, resources and teaching philosophies. The contributors all include instrumental/vocal teaching within their work, and have drawn on a wealth of experience and original research to examine teaching contexts, cultures, processes and resources supporting the development of instrumental/vocal pedagogy.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by University of York, UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction, Elizabeth Haddon (University of York, UK)
Part I: Philosophies and Personas
1. 'Unseen Influences': The Effects of Philosophy and Biases on Approaches to Instrumental Teaching, Naomi Norton, Richard Powell, James Poole, Federico Pendenza and Sara Norouzi Iranzad (University of York, UK)
2. Considering the Effects of the Instrumental Music Teachers' Personality and Persona on the Student-Teacher relationship, Marianna Cortesi, Nasim Ansari, Rosemary Lynch, Richard Powell and Jennifer Cohen (University of York, UK)
3. Teacher-Performer? Performer-Teacher? How Musical Identity Shapes Teaching and Learning in and Beyond the Lesson, Caroline Owen and Edwina Smith (University of York, UK)
Part II: Contexts, Roles and Relationships
4. Avenues for pedagogical training in music education in China and the UK: Aims, availability and implications, Anca Eskandar and Xinpei Zheng (University of York, UK)
5. Cultivating Collaborative Relationships and Positive Working Environments between Instrumental Teachers and School Staff, Rosemary Lynch and Pete Dale

Shout at Cancer: A Decade of Voices Reclaimed – Landmark Concert “Louder than Before”

Shout at Cancer: A Decade of Voices Reclaimed – Landmark Concert "Louder than Before"

On Sun 26 Oct, Shout at Cancer marked a powerful milestone—ten years of transforming lives through music, helping individuals rediscover their voices and rebuild confidence after undergoing a laryngectomy. The landmark concert celebrated resilience, innovation, and the unbreakable human spirit.

The founder of Shout at Cancer, Dr Thomas Moors, and Professor Evangelos Himonides have been collaborating on various related projects for over a decade. One of their projects received the Provost's Award for Public Engagement (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2020/oct/ioe-and-shout-cancer-project-wins-public-engagement-award)

Having previously performed at prestigious venues such as the Royal Opera House London, Amsterdam Opera, V&A, Barbican, and Bozar Brussels, and honoured by both the Prime Minister and The Queen, the internationally acclaimed choir once again captivated audiences and media alike.

The concert offered a deeply emotional journey into the psychosocial impact of laryngectomy through:

• Musical storytelling

• Poetry and new compositions

• A groundbreaking laryngectomy vocal tract organ, created using MRI scans of choir members

• A stunning collaboration with the award-winning Die Verdammte Spielerei Saxophone Band

Blending science, art, and human perseverance, the performance demonstrated that the voice is more than sound—it is identity, connection, and strength.

For this special performance, Professor Himonides crafted the stage and furniture for the Vocal Tract Organ using CCM's new Crafting Sustainabilities Lab (https://craftingsustainabilities.org/) facilities, hosted at the UCL Knowledge Lab, with a focus on using repurposed and/or sustainably sourced materials.

This unforgettable production was made possible with public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Atos Medical and the The Delegation of Flanders to the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Fwd: Interested in learning about and performing research? Join a Research Study Group

register subscribe donate Join Our 2026 Research Study Groups! The Research Study Groups are interactive and dynamic groups intended for people interested in research and its applications to teaching and performing. The groups will meet once a month between January and June. Each group will be moderated and guided by researchers and teachers Charlene Ryan, Cynthia Stephens-Himonides, and Margaret Young. Participants can choose between two interest tracks: Research-informed teaching and performing. This track is intended for teachers, pianists and students who want to explore reflective practices in teaching and performance. These groups will introduce and discuss existing research and its potential applications, with the goal of helping participants apply that research, and approach their teaching or performing with an inquiry-based mindset.    Research project incubator. The goal of this track is to offer mentoring, growth opportunities and collaboration opportunities to teachers, students, young professionals and emerging scholars interested in developing research projects. The discussion will focus on creating an effective research question, best ways to approach existing literature, choosing appropriate methodologies, collecting and analyzing data, and writing and submitting manuscripts and presentation/poster proposals. This track is intended for people with research interest, those with research ideas/questions, and researchers engaged in projects in early stages. Space is limited.  To register for these study groups, please fill out the following form by November 30, 2025. REGISTER Facilitators: Charlene Ryan Dr. Charlene Ryan is an Associate Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. With a background in piano pedagogy and music education, her research focuses on the experience and development of music performance anxiety in children and adolescents. Her work has been published in journals such as Psychology of Music, Musicae Scientiae, Music and Science, International Journal of Stress Management, Journal of Research in Music Education, and Medical Problems of Performing Artists, among others. She has published research-to-practice articles in a variety of teacher-focused journals, and her children's books, Hannabelle's Butterflies and Katherine Lost, consolidate her research findings into practical applications for children.  Cynthia Stephens-Himonides Dr. Cynthia Stephens-Himonides teaches at Kingston University in London, UK. Dr. Himonides' background in higher education has been as a teacher and researcher specializing in instrumental music teaching and learning, particularly the affordances of group teaching and learning in relation to accessibility and inclusion. Her current research examines teacher identity and the use of technology in music teaching and learning, as well as practices of expert pedagogues' use of technology. Her interest in inclusive teaching practices is reflected in ongoing projects which have brought together her department's Gamelan Ensemble and synthesiser lab with the Kingston community. Margaret Young Dr. Margaret Young is a professor in the School of Music at The Ohio State University at Lima where she serves as the dean and director for the campus. Her primary research aims include exploring the efficacy of technology use in piano instruction and identifying piano skills utilized by professional musicians. Her research has been published and presented in national and international settings. Create a free account for unlimited access to issues and full articles of the Journal of Piano Research!

The Frances Clark Center | P.O. 651 | Kingston , NJ 08528-0651 US

Fwd: Invitation to share short survey study with students

Dear colleagues and friends

I hope this message finds you well.

I am reaching out because we are conducting a new research study exploring the relationship between music, bodily movement, and emotional experience, and we would greatly appreciate your support in circulating this opportunity to students.

The study aims to investigate how physical engagement, movement, dance or even the urge to move, influences emotional experience when listening to music. The study is open to anyone with an interest in music and we are particularly interested in building a diverse, international dataset. Participants are asked to complete a short, anonymous online survey comprising both open and closed questions. The survey takes approximately 20-25 minutes to complete.

Take part here

(Attached a QR code too)

We would be grateful if you could take part and/or share this invitation with your students and wider networks :)

With many thanks and best wishes,
Andrea

--

Dr Andrea Schiavio (he/him/his) 

Senior Lecturer 

Principal Investigator of ERC Synergy Project 101167101 - REM@KE

Past President of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music - ESCOM

School of Arts and Creative Technologies 

University of York, UK

Staff Profile | Personal Website | Google Scholar 

Issue 53(5) of the Journal of New Music Research has been published

Issue 5 of volume 53 of the Journal of New Music Research has now been published!

 

The issue contains five articles, as follows:

• "Evaluation of audio-tactile congruences for a wearable musical interface" by Scott C. Aker, Claire Richards, Jeremy Marozeau, Damien Faux & Nicolas Misdariis
• "User experience with digital musical instruments: a transferable method for longitudinal evaluation" by P. J. Charles Reimer, Atishi Gupta, Catherine Guastavino & Marcelo M. Wanderley
• "How clarinettists vary amplitude, frequency, spectral features and microtiming to play music expressively" by André Almeida, Joe Wolfe, Emery Schubert, Weicong Li & John Smith
• "Mechanisms of musical emotion transfer: insights from 22 composers and the musicological and psychological literature" by Peter J. Varga & Brian Parkinson
• "Effective features to define harmonic distance models" by Hiroyuki Yamamoto & Satoshi Tojo

 

There is also a short editorial introducing the articles.

Volunteer at CMMR 2025

17th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research
(CMMR 2025)
Location: University College London's East London Campuses
Dates: 3–7 November 2025
Website: https://cmmr2025.prism.cnrs.fr

Are you a postgraduate student passionate about sound, music and computing? Join
the team behind one of the leading conferences.

We are looking for volunteers to help with:
❖ Setup and logistics:
➢ Liaising with artists, venues, and organising committee members
➢ Set up registration desks, welcome areas and session rooms
➢ Maintain and organise presentation spaces
➢ Distribute conference packs, badges, programs and promotion materials
❖ Registration and attendee support:
➢ Check-in attendees
➢ Monitor entry points and maintain a friendly atmosphere
➢ Answering logistical questions (rooms, Wi-Fi, catering, transport)
➢ Checking in participants, handing out badges, conference packs, and programs
❖ Technical assistance during sessions:
➢ Helping speakers set up slides, microphones, or connecting them with AV staff
➢ Keep track of session timing and signal speakers when time is running out
➢ Coordinate with moderators to maintain the schedule
➢ Quickly notify the tech team or organizers if major issues arise
Why volunteer?
❖ Be part of an international academic and artistic community
❖ Gain hands-on experience in conference organisation
❖ Network with researchers, musicians, and technologists
❖ Free access to sessions, concerts and performances

Interested? Apply Now!
Fill out the form at

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=KVxybjp2UE-
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=KVxybjp2UE-B8i4lTwEzyO6OafUE9BNJgdfm3TZUiWBURUI1SlBTTktIWFdFQkNKWUpSVUg2TFREUC4u
or contact Xuanyi Ma at Xuanyi.Ma@glasgow.ac.uk
Let's make CMMR 2025 unforgettable—with your help!

SIMM-posium 24-26 November in Brussels + deadline calls research seminars + calls for papers for publications in 2026

1. 10th SIMM-posium from 24 to 26th November in Brussels, is organised together with the academic Chair Jonet and the cultural centre Bozar. The keynote speaker will be Professor Lee Higgins, director of the International Centre for Community Music, York St John University. Here you can find the links to registration (in person or online), as well as to the programme and to all abstracts of the many papers which will be presented. This year's SIMM-posium is again an amazing programme!

2. In 2026, we plan at least the following 3 research seminars:

1. For the 12th SIMM research seminar (4-6 May 2026) we will be invited in Brussels by the contemporary music Ensemble Ictus to propose the 3rd edition of a 3-day research seminar which will focus on research findings on the role of composers and music composition in social and community music projects and programmes. Deadline for applications will be 15th January 2026. See info here.

 

3.  For the 13th SIMM research seminar (7-9 September 2026) we will be invited in Luxemburg by the Institute of Musicology and Arts of the Department of Education and Social Work of the University of Luxemburg, to propose the 2nd edition of a 3-day research seminar which will again bring together socially engaged practice-researchers from diverse arts disciplines. Deadline for applications will be 15th April 2026. See info here.   

 

4.  For the 14th SIMM research seminar, (11-13 November 2026) we will be invited in Ghent by the Chair Jonet (University of Ghent). This SIMM research seminar will again – following the 1st such seminar in 2021 in Porto at CIPEM/INET-md (Centro de Investigação em Psicologia da Música e Educação Musical) – focus on research on music programmes in detention centres and prisons. Deadline for applications will be 15th April 2026. See info here.

3. In 2026 we will also co-edit 2 special issues of academic journals:

1. The Italian Journal Musica e Storia prepares together with SIMM a special issue on historical research on music as resistance and as oppression. I am guest editor together with Janie Cole (University of Connecticut). Deadline for contributions: December 31, 2025. See info here.  

2. The International Journal of Music Mediation (IJMM) prepares together with SIMM a special issue (nr 5) on participatory opera and music theatre. Deadline for contributions: May 31, 2026. Find info here.  

 

4. And if you want to find out about the SIMM-sessions we just organised this month as part of the world congress of the Toronto based Glenn Gould Foundation, you can find texts and recordings on this webpage.  

—————

Prof. Dr. Lukas Pairon

www.lukas-pairon.eu

+32475445181

founder & managing director SIMM

founder Chair Jonet & Centre for Social Action and Music-Making (CESAMM)

founder Music Fund

president Actions in the Mediterranean (AIM)

invited scholar at 

Jena University, Institut für Soziologie 

(2024-2025)

article published in Circuit (Sept. 2024) on 'pluriversity' and participatory music-making

editorial of The Ensemble (June 2025) on the art of 'positive fatalism' in Kinshasa

6th October 2025: keynote speech on 'positive fatalism' at Promise of Music Congress of the Glenn Gould Foundation, Toronto

2026 publication new book on 'The Art of Positive Fatalism - lessons from Kinshasa' (in English by Routledge & in French by Editions Edern)