The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the parent as a supporter of practice during a whole-class beginner violin programme and whether it is considered most beneficial for practice to be undertaken at home, at school or in no formal manner. This mixed-methods research project involved a year-group of 31 pupils aged 6–7 years from a preparatory school in an affluent area of the south of England over a 10-week period. Two parent questionnaires were administered at the start and end of the programme and analysed together with pupil focus groups and teacher assessment. It was discovered that most pupils played at home only once a week, and this was only with parental help. Many challenges to practising at home were identified, and by the end of the programme parents considered that their children could have made as much progress without practising at home. Pupils considered the most desirable ways for their parents to support them were to watch and listen, and to play together. Parents were unsure what to do except for offering encouragement. Pupils were very clear that playing together at school was preferable to playing at home, and it was evident that finding a way to establish school practice sessions between lessons would be the most enjoyable arrangement and support the most progress.

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the creative musical identities of pre-service music education students in the United States and Singapore. The Creative Identity in Music (CIM) measure was utilized with both US and Singapore pre-service music teacher populations (n = 274). Items of the CIM relate to music-making activities often associated with creativity in music education in the literature, including composition, improvisation and popular music performance. Results suggest, similar to findings of previous research, that while both populations are similar in their degree of creative music-making self-efficacy and are similarly willing to allow for creativity in the classroom, Singaporean pre-service music teachers value the areas of creative identity and the use of popular music listening/performing within the learning environment to a significantly greater extent (p < 0.0001) than their US counterparts.