The focus of this study is the review of literature on peer tutoring, a powerful cooperative strategy where interaction within a pair of students is organized between tutor and tutee, working together providing assistance, instruction and feedback. Although the previous literature reviews showed peer tutoring was beneficial among K-12 music students, this review aims at providing data on the benefits, but also limitations present in studies in formal and informal music education at all academic stages. All of this, with the aim of discussing how peer tutoring can contribute to reducing barriers in music education. Overall, 51 studies published from 1980 to 2021 in peer-reviewed journals, dissertations, and books were analysed. The results reveal the potential of peer tutoring in music education, as well as point to specific elements to be considered to make the most of this paedagogical tool for teaching and learning music.

Currently, there still exist barriers that prevent a satisfactory connection between music education and the visually impaired population. This is due to the teachers’ lack of preparation and their general ignorance of the functioning of the Braille music system, the materials, specialist support, and other tools needed for the inclusion of this type of students in the classroom. In order to familiarize the educational community with the resources and specialist support involved in inclusive music teaching, we conducted and analysed semi-structured interviews with the following persons: (1) the music specialists at the Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles Resource Centre (Spanish National Organization of the Blind); (2) a music teacher who had two visually impaired students in her classes; and (3) a blind student who studied music and had specialized in piano performance. The contributions made by this article consist of the categorization of the different teaching–learning resources involved in inclusion, information on how specialist support can be provided to facilitate these resources, and the relationships between resources and specialist support taking into account the point of view of teacher as the main figure responsible for inclusion in the music classroom.

The relationship between music and mathematics has often been the subject of discussion, both inside and outside the field of education. As part of an exciting project on a European scale, the paper explores the changing contexts in Catalonia (Spain) and England (UK) in relation to the integrated approach to the teaching of music and mathematics. We analyse three areas: academic literature, the curriculum frameworks and publications and resources prepared by and for teachers. Our findings suggest that due to the more favourable attitude towards cross-curricular approaches in education, more progress has been made in England, in terms of developing resources to support an integrated approach to the teaching of music and mathematics, than in Catalonia. Nonetheless, teachers in both locations are very interested in developing these approaches. Although there is a need for further teacher training and support, there is evidence of progress already being made in schools.

The development of creative processes within the framework of music and dance constitutes an opportunity to promote and integrate learning from different subject areas. In these activities, the moments of knowledge transfer between the different parts of the curriculum emerge as key moments in the process. This article identifies and analyses the critical events that arise when carrying out group work based on the integrated learning of music, dance and mathematics around the concept of symmetry. For this purpose, and within an action-research framework, a 20-hour didactic sequence was designed and implemented, which focused on the creative processes followed with students in the last year of primary school (11–12 years old) at a center near Barcelona. The data obtained through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with the students brought to light the critical events that occurred in this creative, interdisciplinary context. The results show that the use of different forms of expression and the changes that students introduce when using one or another language to express their own ideas or knowledge are key moments in the advancement of joint creative activities and also of learning in itself.

Son múltiples los estudios en los últimos años que señalan la música como una actividad plenamente colaborativa, con las ventajas que esto conlleva. El presente artículo presenta “Oídos a pares”, un proyecto de innovación didáctica basado en el aprendizaje cooperativo para el desarrollo de la afinación y percepción auditiva del alumnado de violín y viola. La innovación didáctica consiste en el uso de la tutoría entre iguales recíproca, parejas de discentes con una relación asimétrica, que aprenden enseñándose, partiendo de un objetivo común, conocido y compartido. Todo ello, a través de un marco de interacción estructurado por el profesorado y un material didáctico específico. Para ello, se ha diseñado e implementado una experiencia con 10 estudiantes de violín y viola de Enseñanzas Elementales. El artículo pone en relieve el potencial de la tutoría entre iguales en la educación musical, señala elementos concretos que deben considerarse para aprovechar al máximo esta herramienta y muestra un ejemplo de la experiencia llevada a cabo. Los resultados indican que este proyecto resultó ser una experiencia positiva, evidenciando que, a pesar de ser una práctica poco explorada, puede ser una opción valiosa para la educación musical.