Title: Along one and the same road - a study of the people behind some hand written song books from around the turn of the 19th century. It is based on some hand written songbooks found in homes along the small byroad in Kruse, Alva, Gotland. My own connection to the place is that I was born in one of these houses. During the summer of 2008 interviews were made with four people who live or have lived along this road themselves. Some of them have even lived in the same houses as the owners of the books.

Denna studie är gjord för att undersöka ungdomars tankar kring musik och text, och då med utgångspunkt från forskningsfrågan: Vad är det som gör en låt "bra" och vilken roll spelar budskap och text i musik för tonåringar idag? Studien grundar sig i ett intresse för budskap i musik och funderingar kring huruvida detta budskap når fram till dagens tonåring. All musik förmedlar något men hur uppfattar mottagaren det? Handlar en bra låt endast om musik? Spelar texten den viktigaste rollen i sammanhanget eller är helheten det som tilltalar? Påverkas tonåringarna av musiken och det eventuella budskapet, eller är det något man inte alls bryr sig om? Under tre gruppsamtal med elever från årskurs 7-9 lät jag elever lyssna på låtar och läsa låtens text samt fritt reflektera kring detta. Slutsatsen man utifrån dessa samtal kan dra, är att musiken är det man först möter och således det som avgör hur låten tas emot, samt det som avgör om man är intresserad av att lyssna vidare.

Uppsatsens syfte var att utforska och definiera belting, den kontroversiella sångtekniken som kommit att bli allt mer vanlig och använd bland sångare, som ett resultat av ett ökat intresse och flöde av populärmusik i vårt samhälle. Syftet var också att studera hur denna teknik används av sångpedagoger i deras arbete. Denna kvalitativa undersökning är baserad på litteraturstudier inom röstfysiologi och röstens funktion, och specifika teorier angående belting. Den grundar sig även på intervjuer av sångpedagoger som använder belting i sitt vardagliga arbete, både som pedagoger och som sångare. Resultaten visar att belting kan ses som en röstfunktion eller som en utvidgning av det låga registret, eller som en blandning av båda.

Title: Music-esthetical productions in the educational work - a case study of the Allvar Gullstrand highschool.Problem: A problem associated with working with project- and thematic studies which result in esthetical productions is that it often demands extra effort and time beyond the schedule to carry the production through. There are no instructions saying that schools are to work with this kind of arrangements, but nevertheless it occurs in most schools, however in a different extent, quality and form. Purpose: The purpose of my study is to elucidate possibilities and limitations in different methods of work and structures, and also examine what motives the teachers and the school management have for working with a music-esthetical production as a goal. Method: I have done a qualitative case study of a Swedish upper secondary school where I interviewed four teachers and one principal, to get a view of reality and examine how teachers with different background look at, and in reality behave in, the work with music-esthetical productions in the education. Conclusions: What I have concluded in this case study is the importance of having a clear goal and that the project works are considered to create meaning and personal growth.

Title: Belting in teaching. A study of views and teaching-procedure.The purpose of this study is to map how the singing teachers at a Swedish college of music describe and implement the vocal technique 'belting' in their curriculum. This study is based on watching and interviewing six different teachers. The theoretical part deals with voice physiology and four different theories surrounding belting. The results show that the descriptions of belting vary between teachers and experts alike.

Title: The municipal school of arts and music - "a school for everyone?" - A study of the accessibility of "Kulturskolor", focusing on the absence of fees. The aim of this thesis is to increase the understanding of a complex of problems concerning broadened recruitment of students and teachers in "Kulturskolor". I have chosen to focus on three schools of performing arts offering programs free of charge to ascertain how they work with broadened recruitment and to see what effects they have achieved by having no fees. I have examined these schools through a qualitative study where I have interviewed the principals and teachers from each school.

I have made an inquiry about stage communication, small talk and on-stage rhetoric. The essay is divided into different parts. There is a background part that gives a short overview about other research and literature that has been made on the subject. A background has been put together to help you as a reader to understand the complex science can be. Here you will find work written by Dorothy Irving and Åke Lundberg among others.

I oktober 2006 presenterade jag för Utbildnings- och kulturförvaltningen i Markaryd idén att samla sångintresserade i Markaryds kommun till en projektkör för att uppföra ett större körverk med orkester. Målen med projektet var att stimulera till ökad sång- och körverksamhet i skola och kommun och genom denna aktivitet, dels skapa närkontakt med klassisk musik, dels att bygga broar mellan olika grupperingar i kommunen. Då man år 2007 firade Markaryds kommun 700 år, Markaryds kyrka 150 år och Linné 300 år tillkom aspekten att projektkören skulle kunna bidra med en konsert som avslutning på jubileumsåret. Min forskningsfråga i detta arbete är: På vilket eller vilka sätt har projektets målsättningar uppnåtts? Skriftliga utvärderingar med de deltagande körsångarna, reaktioner från kommunen, press och allmänheten samt en DVD dokumentation utav konserten ligger till grund för min resultatdiskussion.

Title: Spykist ? of course, what then? - A study of the future plans of young music students in a Swedish high school. This study is dedicated to examine in what direction music students on a Swedish high school are planning to continue their education. The students, mainly 18-19 years old, are in different ways influenced in their specialised music studies by the arts program offered by their school. Will they aim for future higher musical studies or are they satisfied to have music only as a leisure pursuit? This study is based on a survey which included 99 students from grades 2 and 3 in a high school in the south of Sweden, called "Spyken".

Title: Experiential learning in the upper secondary school ? a study of film as a method in music education. Today the school competes foremost with TV and the computer regarding the spreading of knowledge. I believe that it is of great importance for the school to move with the developments of society in order to, to a greater extent, reach and motivate pupils. My degree thesis is about how you, as a teacher, can use experiential learning in music teaching in the upper secondary school.

Title: "Everybody is talking about reception but what do they really mean?" - Teacher trainers' experience of work with aesthetic communication in perspective of a receiver with a special attention to the reception of music. The purpose of this thesis is to study the notion of reception among a group of teachers at the department of education at Malmö University. Our principal aim is to illuminate reception in an educational context as well as experiences of the teachers´ work with aesthetic communication in perspective of a receiver within the main subject KME (Culture Media Aesthetics). We are paying special attention to the reception of music since this is a part of our profession.