ABSTRACT
Psychological studies of music listening have established certain patterns of musical preference that seem to be common to most people and most music. Few texts explore the complexity of music teachers' practice, and those that do tend to be studies of single cases with little connection to each other or to an overarching theory of pedagogy. To study music pedagogies in 'real time' rather than simply discovering what the participants reported about them, researchers have used non-participant, naturalistic observations. 'Life history' tradition is based on the well-established finding that teachers and teaching are heavily influenced by the teachers' previous educational experiences. Teaching can happen in a variety of circumstances - parents 'potty-training' their children, colleagues advising each other how to treat their boss, nurses explaining how to take medication and so on.
