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Service-learning methodology seeks to achieve a balance between academic learning and the application of the acquired knowledge for the benefit of the community. Our study aims to assess the academic and personal development of the students who participated in the educational experience and identify the benefits it brought to the attended children. The total of 73 participants involved: a) university students of a faculty of education, b) hospitalized children and their families, c) a healthcare worker, and d) several volunteers. We conducted a case study featuring qualitative analysis (based on discussion groups, interviews, and daily narratives), analysis of cooccurrence, and data triangulation. The categories we obtained were related to learning achieved by university students, their personal growth, and the impact of hospital service on the different agents who participated in the experience. Findings suggest that service-learning, along with the positive emotional impact of experiential music learning, was associated with student progress in teacher training and personal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aimed to analyse factors related to conceptions and beliefs about expressivity in music among students and teachers. A questionnaire with 11 Likert-type items was developed covering the main factors included in the literature of teaching-learning of expressivity and emotion in music. Through exploratory factor analysis three factors were identifed: "expressive technique (ET)", "emotional expression" ("EE"), and "self-learning of expressivity" ("SLE"). Comparisons between teachers and students showed that teachers had signifcant higher scores in EE with no differences in ET or SLE, although the effect size for SLE was high. The three factors are proposed as a tool for the assessment of conceptions of expressivity and its learning in both teachers and advanced students of music for teaching and research objectives.

In recent years, in the field of music education, different research has been conducted on processes, methodologies and strategies to improve instrumental learning. The present exploratory study aims to provide information on what is currently happening in Italy in the violin branch. This research aims to understand the conceptions of Italian professional violinists from the point of view of the learning received and the teaching given. Considerable research attention has been paid to technical and motivational aspects, and some familiar aspect. A sample of 51 professional violinists from Italy was selected for analysis. The results provide information on a post-reform improvement and indicate that teachers do not go as deeply into technical aspects such as those associated with the performance of contemporary music and vibrato. Furthermore, the participants provide information on the appropriate profile of the violin teacher, an empathetic and motivating teacher. In conclusion, this study shows that it is essential to consider the important factors influencing the quality of the teaching-learning process and the beliefs of contemporary teachers, so to understand their perception of classroom reality for further improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service-Learning (SL) aims to improve students' academic knowledge and performance, as well as their civic and social competencies. This study uses the meta-analysis technique to summarise up-to-date research findings on SL in scientific papers that used mixed methods research. The findings indicate that SL leads to significant improvements in students, especially in terms of knowledge acquisition (d=1.07), with a similar effect size for the few studies using a control group (d=0.89), although this effect size is smaller in terms of attitude toward service (d=0.45). There are no significant effects when these variables are compared with dependent variables such as programme duration, gender, or sample size. Moreover, there is high heterogeneity in the evaluation methods and measurement instruments used in the articles. Although research on SL is increasing significantly, the methodological quality of most of the studies reviewed is quite low. It can be concluded that SL is beneficial to the students involved in the service, however, in order to properly appreciate the different scenarios of the findings, more rigorous research designs are required. We would recommend creating uniform research protocols and extending SL using mixed methodology across every discipline, including the arts, and at every level of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an increase in research on emotional expression in music and its teaching and learning, little is known about the beliefs and conceptualizations that students hold regarding musical expression, and how they differ depending on educational context. To address this gap, a comparison was made between a sample of 79 UK and 117 Spanish higher education students of music, who were asked to indicate their beliefs about expressivity, most useful instructional methods to develop expressive performance, and factors that influence expressiveness and its teaching and learning. Results indicated agreement, but also several significant differences across cohorts. UK students endorsed the idea more strongly that musical context (i.e., piece and instrument) influences expressivity and the choice of teaching strategy, while Spanish students linked expressivity more strongly to particular music-emotional characteristics. Both groups considered using technical explanation as the better method for teaching expressivity, whilst modelling was considered the worst. On the other hand, they agreed that the choice of the teaching approach should depend on the age of the student with modelling being preferred for younger age groups, and technique for adults only. These results highlight differences in the understanding of musical expressivity that parallel academic debates on emotional vs. stylistic expressiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]