This paper focuses on qualitative methodologies in Japanese music education research. It tries to illuminate their theoretical framework and to elucidate their role and significance in Japanese music classroom research. Our most recent discussions seem to have brought us the deconstruction of the dichotomy between “qualitative” and “quantitative” paradigms. In this circumstances, the role and significance of the qualitative research have to be considered in a much more flexible methodological framework. In order to make clear what contributions we should expect to the qualitative approaches, further discussions are needed on the following points :

  1) we need to re-examine the multi-disciplinary backgrounds of the qualitative paradigm from the viewpoint of what is needed in Japanese music education research.

  2) we should pay much more attention to the recent Japanese educational researches, where we find a flexible and comprehensive methodological framework working effectively.

  3) in doing qualitative research, music education researchers should be conscious of two advantages ; the one is their practical knowledge and the other is their multi-disciplinary attitude.

  4) the importance of qualitative approaches to music classroom is required to be shown by research practices. This paper exemplifies a qualitative research practice in Japanese elementary school music. It illustrates how children manage to make their own expression in the classroom, which suggests the importance of our learning from children's expression.

  Today, Japanese school education faces various problems. In 1999, the Ministry of Education (currently the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) released a new curriculum for school education. This curriculum focuses on the importance of facilitating children's ability to “live” for example, abilities to think and learn independently ; it is still unclear how such school education can be accomplished. This paper explores educational ideas practiced in nineteenth century America that may inspire current school music teachers in Japan. More specifically, this paper reveals the nature of music education offered to visually challenged juveniles at the Perkins Institution Kindergarten for the Blind in the nineteenth century. The findings are as follows : First, in the Perkins Institution Kindergarten, music education emphasized children's learning of musical knowledge and skills by means of instrumental performance and music theory instruction rather than merely its therapeutic purpose. This music instruction was targeted only to selected children. Second, the instruction for singing, offered to all children, was considered to be a mean to develop musical appreciation in children and a balanced growth of body and spirit. Finally, music education in the Perkins Institution Kindergarten for the Blind facilitated children's self-motivation, self-expression, cooperation, and friendship.

  The purpose of this paper is to examine the community development of music in the context of 2 case studies of the life-long learning of citizens who are concerned with their endogenous development. It applies the theory of adult learning by Cranton (1992) as a thinking model to these case studies in terms of her ideas of process and change. The analysis of learner process is given in terms that include “reflection”, “planning”, and “interaction”. The analysis of learner change is given in terms of “self-directedness” and “autonomy”.

  It is demonstrated that the music activities of citizen participation in the 2 case studies are not effective in adult learning. It is argued that this is because there are not the elements of adult learning (eg ; reflection, planning, interaction, self-directedness, autonomy) in the music activities.

  In response to this analysis I propose the idea of an interaction community for the development of music for citizens engaged in life-long learning. I am thinking of a community that is engaged in a process of endogenous development.

  Even though music is a part of Japanese compulsory education, most developmental research has focused on the preschool level. Unfortunately, such research has made a minimal contribution to teaching practice. The present study presents a research for the developmental study of school-age children, so that research findings can directly benefit school teachers who wish to improve their practice.

  The present paper examines the literature concerning curriculum development and instructional strategies, and discusses the importance of studying musical development of school-age children from both ontogenetic and sociocultural angles. By doing so, I propose that the following aspects need to be incorporated in developmental research for compulsory music education : flexibility of spiral development, importance of sociocultural context, synthesis between subject matter and teaching method, and inclusion of affective domains.

  The ability to improvise is important for instruction on music education, the player's solfège, and for fostering fundamental music ability through keyboard harmony and playing church organ music on a keyboard instrument. The importance of improvisation is recently seen as a reaction to music education as a technique for attaching importance to only one score. In music education in Japan, however, there are many objectives regarding the content and methods of improvisation, the least important of which is that there is no system. For improved recognition of the keyboard instrument by a person engaged in music education, the focus of improvising is fixed upon the sequence and valid methods of acquisition. Variations on the actual improvisation are also considered. The musicians learning to improvise enlarge music recognition. The elements of various types of music are the focal point, and by developing abundant music techniques, music can be expressed abundantly.