Hong Kong music teachers ask: "Does Music Education Research Matter"?

Set within the context of a classroom discussion, Hong Kong music teachers ask: "Does Music Education Research Matter"? In exploring this issue concerning the role and value of research for music education, these Hong Kong students, normally hesitant in expressing their points of view, engage in an insightful, meaningful, and open discussion characterizing research as containing obscure language, bewildering statistics, equivocal findings, and contradictory conclusions. According to these music teachers, research is difficult to generalize and often unrelated from the day-to-day workings of music classrooms and rehearsal settings. Beginning with a (music teacher generated) premise that music education is consumed with rigor but not with usefulness, these music teachers chastise researchers for not knowing how to effectively share their research for the benefit and understanding of music teachers. Toward the end of this critical and flank discussion, these music teachers search for positive ways music students and teachers can be the ultimate beneficiary of music education research.