This study analysed the content of 30 in-service primary school music teachers’ lesson plans for mobile music creation during a 5-week professional development course from 2019 to 2022 in Hong Kong. During the course, the teachers were taught by the researcher on how to use the mobile application GarageBand in their instructional design for classroom music teaching. Various mobile learning pedagogies were discussed during the course to facilitate listening, performing and creating in music teaching and learning. As a learning outcome of this course, the teachers were asked to upload their lesson plans to the Knowledge Transfer website to exchange ideas for further discussion and professional sharing with other in-service teachers from their respective schools. The purpose of this study was to provide an analysis of their teaching plans based on previously published research on mobile learning and motivation. This study aimed to a) deepen the understanding of music lessons in mobile music creation, and b) analysing the lesson plans and suggesting how different teaching strategies and approaches can be used in classroom teaching. Based on the results of the study, a pedagogical model is proposed as a reference point for knowledge exchange in the research and practice of music education. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

This study explores the impacts of popular music education in classroom practices from different aspects such as learning by ear, motivation, musicianship, peer learning and creativity. The Sing by Ear approach was created based on the concepts of informal learning in singing a cappella. A total of 323 participants aged 11–14 were invited to participate in the 3-month project. Students learnt to sing cover songs by ear in an a cappella setting instead of reading music notations. The result from the case studies showed that students gained positive experiences in musicianship, peer-learning and peer-teaching, confidence and satisfaction, and creativity following the project. A pedagogical model was proposed based on the literature and findings in the study to inform the research and practice in popular music education for teachers and researchers. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This pilot study investigates the impact of using mobile devices to facilitate the practising of scales and arpeggios. The AI application was designed by an engineer/musician in Hong Kong. This AI application enables students to practise, record themselves, view their mistakes and prepare for examinations based on the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music’s scales and arpeggios syllabus for five instruments (violin, flute, clarinet, trumpet and saxophone). This study (a) examines the progress of learners who use the application to practise scales and arpeggios; (b) observes how elementary learners perceive mobile practising in a virtual learning environment and (c) proposes a blended learning model that uses mobile practising with the support of AI. Copyright © 2020 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

This study examined 44 students’ engagement in the composition of popular and classical music in a computer-mediated environment. The study took place over the course of one school year at a government-funded secondary school in Hong Kong that had 30 iMac music workstations. Participants were 22 Form 3 students (aged 14–15) and 22 Form 4 students (aged 15–16) who composed in different genres consisting of popular music styles and classical music styles (i.e. baroque, classical and romantic period music), respectively, on the computer as part of the school’s music curriculum. At the end of the study, participants completed a retrospective assessment to examine the correlation between engagement in music learning and computer-mediated composition. The results indicated three areas that should be considered in music curriculum development: 1) sustainable engagement in learning both classical and popular music; and 2) the idea of ‘de-composing’ and ‘re-composing’ pedagogy in both classical and popular music styles. The findings suggest that ‘de-composing’ and ‘re-composing’ pedagogy in computer-mediated composition may engage students in ways that promote deeper learning by combining ‘old’ and ‘new’ musical styles through an engagement cycle that enhances an understanding of both classical and popular music. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The purpose of this study was to examine creative thinking and learning in arts-infused education by using the invention kit Makey Makey as a platform for Human-Centred Design Instrument (HCDI). Data were collected from 249 adolescents (n = 249) from a Hong Kong secondary school in a participatory design format. They were selected for the STEAM project, which is provided through the school curriculum to examine the level of attitude change towards creativity through the creation of human-centred musical instruments for different age cohorts, including children (aged 3–6), adults and elderly people (aged over 65). The research objectives were concerned with the development of collaborative creative thinking through an HCDI and with how students combined and transformed new knowledge for everyday application with meaning – a breakthrough in musical instrument design for human needs. Questionnaires, observation and interviews were conducted to examine the students’ level of creative thinking. Based on a modification of the creativity measurement framework from the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS), a significant increase in the attitude change of students’ creativity was shown from the paired-sample t-test in the dimensions of originality, flexibility, fluency and elaboration through the STEAM project. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG.