Perceptions of educators

Introduction

As McCrary (2001, p.29) remarked, “music educators and researchers should be tireless in their efforts when seeking answers to vitally important questions [including] are we providing outstanding music experiences that foster life-long participation in music”? Research evidence supports the benefits of musical participation across the lifespan. This includes intellectual transfer effects in earlier life (Henriksson-Macaulay and Welch, 2015; Williams et al., 2015) as well as broader benefits to socio-emotional and physical health and well-being into old age (Krause et al., 2018). Accordingly, the present research asks: What are the music educators’ practices for promoting on-going musical engagement? Are there practices appropriate to different forms of music education that serve different cultural contexts and life stages?