A UNESCO Commission reported that many conflicts originate from cultural incompatibility. One of the four principles drawn up in Chicago (1993) by leaders of the world's religions was that people must commit themselves to a culture of tolerance. Such a commitment would improve our capacity to move towards greater understanding. Wide ranging views of recognized educators and ethnomusicologists lend support to the notion that increased comprehension, sensibility, even unity, is derived from intercultural education through music.

This paper sets out to interrogate the assertions contained in Malcolm Ross's What's Wrong With School Music? (British Journal of Music Education, Vol. 12, No. 3). Whilst resisting the tone of Ross's piece and rejecting its philosophical underpinnings, the author finds that there is some substance in its polemical thrust, even though Ross's caricaturing style does as much to mask as to analyse problems. Using ethnographic data collected over a number of years, Dr Gammon focuses on the relative unpopularity of music, the music curriculum, resourcing and the problems of music teachers in an attempt to identify areas for examination, discussion and progress.

The traditional basics of elementary education – the three R's: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic – whilst problematic, not least in the poverty of alliteration involved, are seriously limiting in the promotion of technique at the expense of creative thinking. There appears to be a corresponding situation with current trends in musical analysis. Here, events have moved a notch further with the three S's: Schenker, Semiology and Set-Theory. No doubt the quality of alliteration has improved, but we should still be wary of adopting techniques which may be used as a substitute for the essential creative processes involved in coming to understand how music works. If a back to basics approach is seriously to be considered, then perhaps we should return to the three A's: Analysis, Awareness and Accessibility.

So far, the ever-increasing popularity of music technology has had little effect on the way we conduct performance studies. However, with the appearance of Computer Controlled Player Pianos, such as the Yamaha Disklavier and Bosendorfer SE, the technology is just waiting to be used. In this article, the authors examine various ways in which this technology can be used to enhance traditional methods of piano teaching.

This paper reflects on the musical skills and abilities required of the improvising musician and suggests some possible strategies to help school music teachers enable children to develop improvisational skills. The writer includes musical materials which exemplify his own suggested teaching and learning approach and which aim to develop the musical memory of performers.

Peer assessment is a relatively new approach, especially in music higher education where there seems to be a resistance to changes which give more control of the assessment process to student and, apparently, less to lecturers. At Kingston University peer assessment has been introduced into a number of modules on the BA (Hons) in music and also the BEd (Hons – music specialism) courses. These include: performance; music, performance and communication (a community based performance project); music and business; and composition. The latter is the main focus of this paper, although some of the observations are applicable to other curriculum areas. The main purposes of the study have been to evaluate student attitudes towards peer assessment, to identify features which have been successful, and to identify features which could be improved.