Monograph on Music Performance Research: Implications for Teacher Professional Development

In recent years, Spain has observed a significant growth in the number of research studies related to the teaching and learning of music performance, supported by universities, higher education conservatories, publishers, as well as academic and professional associations. The current monograph is an initiative of the Spanish Association for Psychology of Music and Music Performance (AEPMIM). The goal of this monograph is to contribute to the body of research on this area, with a set of studies that pose implications for the professional development of teachers from Spanish conservatories and music schools. After describing the current context of music education and research in Spain, we introduce the AEPMIM and then present the six studies included in the special issue, which focus on: 1) action-research as resource for educational innovation in conservatories: 2) the features of several methods of early teaching and learning of the cello; 3) visual images as tools for the learning of lyric singing; 4) differences in self-concept, causal attributions and trait anxiety associated to age and gender in conservatory students; 5) instrumental teachers' ideas about evaluation procedures; and 6) student teachers' perceptions of the use of technological tools in the music classroom. We argue that the improvement of music teaching quality and innovation are also researchers' responsibility, and that scientific policies should prioritize research studies with clear educational implications, which foster the development of pre-service and in-service music teachers.