This study aims to understand the process of creating ambiguity regarding “sentiment” in Japanese music education by examining the tensions between the Ministry of Education and private organizations of education, Ongakukyoiku-no-Kai. It analyzes the Ienaga Textbook Court Cases in which the Ministry of Education and Ongakukyoiku-no-Kai asserted their respective positions on music education based on the background of the revision of the Courses of Study in 1968 and the criticism of the Courses of Study by the Ongakukyoiku-no-Kai. It focuses on the testimonies that Sumio Yonezawa (the plaintiff) and Susumu Mashino (the defendant) provided in the first lawsuit and obtains the following points : First, there were similarities between the Ministry of Education and private organizations for education in terms of music education practices such as “basic learning for music” and “sentiment.” Second, in response to the criticism of the Ongakukyoiku-no-Kai, the Ministry of Education acknowledged the continuity of music education with sentiment before and after World War II. The study concludes that the ambiguity regarding the concept of “sentiment” in music education was created due to the demands of both the Ministry of Education and private organizations for education at the time.

  Depressive tendencies are high among university students majoring in music. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between depressive tendencies and music performance anxiety, self-esteem, students’ evaluation of the relationship with a teacher, and students’ evaluation of relationships with friends. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses predicting depressive tendencies were performed with gender and age entered as control variables in the first step. Scores for music performance anxiety, self-esteem, student’s evaluation of the relationship with a teacher, and student’s evaluation of relationships with friends were entered in the second step. Finally, four interaction effects (self-esteem × music performance anxiety, self-esteem × student’s evaluation of the relationship with a teacher, self-esteem × student’s evaluation of relationships with friends, student’s evaluation of the relationship with a teacher × student’s evaluation of relationships with friends) were entered in the third step. Self-esteem and the student’s evaluation of the relationship with a teacher were negatively related to depressive tendencies. These findings suggest that, if students have low self-esteem and/or a poor relationship with their teacher, their depressive tendencies are likely to be higher.

  This study aims to reveal how the activity from a child’s standpoint in the realm of musical expression affects the ability of nursery teachers to encourage independent sound-making or musical expression in children. To examine this, 168 university students who were enrolled in a four-year nursery teacher training course, were divided into groups and asked to practice expressive activities from a child’s point of view. A questionnaire with 5-point scale questions as well as free form questions was conducted. In the sound expression activity, the students were divided into groups and were asked to use musical instruments to interpret excerpts of a picture book in which the story was told with onomatopoeia. The results of each survey revealed that engaging in the activity from a child’s standpoint was effective for the students in three points : actualising an image and discovering strategies, acquiring a flexible perspective on a material, and enhancing support skills. However, a comparative review of the quantitative and qualitative results also showed that in order to acquire the skills and knowledge, the students must think carefully for creating sounds and satisfied with it.