The focus of this article is on the analysis of reflection and peer learning in the pedagogical environment. The research draws on findings from an Australian study, which aimed to develop and critically evaluate a model of vocal pedagogy influenced by socio-cultural theories. The model sought to position Vygotsky's theories in the environment of university-level vocal instruction. To capture the developmental nature of this pedagogical project, a design-based development research methodology was employed. Central to this approach was flexibility of the design, multiple dependent variables and capturing social interaction. The students were not the subject of experimentation, but were co-participants in the design and analysis. The results of the study suggest that there is value in peer learning for both classical and non-classical singers at an undergraduate level. In particular, the data from the student journals in the present study also suggests that if the environment is arranged in such a way that peer learning is encouraged and purposely mediated, singing students find this extremely helpful as a learning strategy.

In 2008, peer assessment was introduced into the singing component of a tertiary level undergraduate creative arts performance course within an Australian regional university. The study investigated what effect changing the role of the actor/singer in an assessment has on the culture of the course as well as individual development of graduate qualities, such as critical thinking and responsibility. It also looked at what process was involved in order to integrate peer assessment into the subject, and what kind of support was needed to achieve this. Results suggested that students saw themselves as agents of their own assessment activities by taking control of assessment, and that having to think critically about other student performances made them reflect on how effective their own performances were.

Although musicians have always had portfolio careers, the discourse in conservatoires around training musicians specifically for portfolio careers is relatively new. This is partly because of increasing opportunities in the workplace for entrepreneurial and multi-faceted musicians and partly – in the UK at least – because of educational policy and practice. This article incorporates narratives provided by professional portfolio musicians and students and teachers at a single conservatoire in the UK, to illustrate disjunctures between the expectations fostered by conservatoires undergoing changes in their culture and the lived experiences of teachers and students responding, in real time, to changes both within the conservatoire and in the wider society. One of the key findings of the research is that teachers and students have qualitatively different conceptions of what it means for students to be trained for portfolio careers. The paper concludes by considering the implications of their different understandings for initiatives to reform conservatoire curricula.

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Earning a living via multiple income streams through a portfolio career is the reality for most music graduates. In the last 10–15 years, music conservatoires around the world have begun to recognise and respond to this reality in the way they train and prepare students for life after study (Bennet, 2008; Draper & Cunio, 2014; Rowley et al., 2015; Schippers et al., 2016). Conservatoire curricula is prescribed and controlled to ensure that students gain the skills required to build a career as a professional musician. Reforming conservatoire curricula to incorporate portfolio career training is an ongoing concern that is made more complex by the different conceptual understandings of what training for a portfolio career means (Latukefu & Ginsborg, 2018). This article contributes to the literature on how students conceptualise and make decisions surrounding their transition into work after graduation. It uses narrative analysis research to investigate the value of introducing career design into the curriculum of a Bachelor of Music. It incorporates narratives by students who took part in a series of interventions designed to increase self-efficacy and explores the role of career indecision in the designing of a creative career. Career indecision in this context relates to the inability of music students to conceive of what they wish for their creative career to look like after graduation, even when a decision is necessary. The narratives reveal how different factors such as family support, cultural and religious backgrounds and prior music education impact on their confidence and perceptions surrounding their ability to design and maintain a creative career. These narratives also uncovered the interplay of career exploration, career indecision and anxiety in the career decision-making process of undergraduate music students.