ABSTRACT
Classroom music as currently conceptualized and organized may be an inappropriate vehicle for mass music education in twenty first century Britain. Swanwick and Lawson's earlier observation that 'music in the English secondary school seems ill at ease' had sounded out amidst wider clamour about the well-being of music education in school. Public policy gave attention to the cultural and creative development of young people and their future entrepreneurial character as citizens. Music education, in whatever state of formality or informality, was recognized as a worthy project and to be supported in such a way that the potentials and talents of young people were released. Music in school at the secondary level experienced two sources of potential renewal, contrasted in ethos, yet both seeking greater pupil engagement, the one arising largely from the expressed needs of children, the other derived from children's needs inferred by curriculum makers.
