ABSTRACT
The above extract is from a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ recording of a group of 13-to 14-yearold pupils working together in a school practice room. They were taking part in a research and development project which introduced and evaluated new pedagogical methods in the music classroom. The project’s approach derived from a study of the informal learning practices of popular musicians (Green 2002a), and represented an attempt – which might at first seem an impossible task or a contradiction in terms – to bring informal music learning practices into the formal environment of the school classroom. The project became part of a major national music education programme in England called ‘Musical Futures’, and the resulting teaching strategies and curriculum resources are already available for teachers’ use (Green with Walmsley 2006; <www.musicalfutures.org/PractionersResources.html>;). But the aim of this book is to present a more detailed and theoretical analysis of what went on during the project, how things occurred, why, and what benefits and challenges the project seemed to offer to music education.
