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Final report to the General Nursing Council (GNC) Trust

Approaches to incarceration vary widely across the globe. As described within and throughout this book, approaches to and definitions of community music also differ in intricate ways. This chapter examines music-making in prisons, specifically led by people coming into U.S. and U.K. prison contexts, suggesting new insights into the values, applications, and meanings of community music. Contrasting approaches toward imprisonment exist not only across the globe, but also within particular countries. In the United States, for example, a wide range of practices within the contexts of imprisonment occur such as incarceration rates, lengths of sentences, use of capital punishment, voting rights for incarcerated people, and quality of legal representation, to name a few. Life behind bars restricts inmates’ opportunities for self-expression. Research and practice in music-making in prisons is newly developing and suggests that community music approaches within prisons provides a means toward desistance, improved self-esteem, social support, and a sense of accomplishment. Furthermore, music-making within the complex power dynamics of prison contexts emphasizes the importance of the concepts of the welcome and hospitality within our understanding of community music.

Research that has focused on the relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and lucid dreaming frequency has been restricted to student samples. The present study included adolescents and adults (N = 1375). i.e., the sample included a large range of ages. Lucid dreaming was more strongly related to openness to experiences compared to previous findings. The small but significant negative correlation between conscientiousness and lucid dreaming should be followed up by studies relating the Big Five personality factors to the contents of lucid dreams.

Membrane trafficking of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) is critical for neuronal function and plasticity. Although rapid forms of AMPAR internalization during long-term depression (LTD) require clathrin and dynamin, the mechanisms governing constitutive AMPAR turnover and internalization of AMPARs during slow homeostatic forms of synaptic plasticity remain unexplored. Here, we show that, in contrast to LTD, constitutive AMPAR internalization and homeostatic AMPAR downscaling in rat neurons do not require dynamin or clathrin function. Instead, constitutive AMPAR trafficking is blocked by a Rac1 inhibitor and is regulated by a dynamic nonstructural pool of F-actin. Our findings reveal a novel role for neuronal clathrin-independent endocytosis controlled by actin dynamics and suggest that the interplay between different modes of receptor endocytosis provides for segregation between distinct modes of neuronal plasticity.

Many primary school teachers believe that the teaching of music to children is outside their available expertise. Although primary teachers enjoy music, they often express a sense that music is a ‘specialist’ subject that requires some kind of advanced competence on a musical instrument. Underlying this perception is (i) a lack of confidence in their own musicianship, often linked to the mistaken belief that innate human musicality is unevenly distributed in the general population, and (ii) a lack of knowledge of how to bring music into their everyday teaching. In order to address these concerns, we initiated a specially designed cross-curricular course that sought to link music to other areas of the curriculum where teachers were required to demonstrate everyday expertise, such as in the promotion of children’s language and mathematical development. The article reports the integrated research-based design of the course and the subsequent experiences of student teachers using an action-research model that linked university-based sessions with work in school.

Jennie Henley explores her learning processes through learning Javanese Gamelan and considers the impact that this has had on her own instrumental teaching

The Learn As You Play scheme in Gloucestershire provides opportunities for adults to learn to play an instrument within an ensemble. Beginners can join a group and learn together developing both ensemble and instrumental skill whilst enjoying making music in a social environment. But how does it work? Jennie Henley explores the issues of the social context of learning through participation based on her own research into adult learning ensembles.