The place of music education in a crowded school curriculum

This paper considers the ways in which school music education has been a topic of discussion in terms of what its purposes are, and how its content matters to a range of stakeholders. It considers historical views placing music as singing and musical appreciation, and then moves to a discussion of what would be relevant and appropriate in contemporary curricula. It concludes by recommending that classroom music teachers would benefit from subject-specific continuing professional development in curriculum construction, especially for Key Stage 3 music teaching and learning.