Recent publications within the psychology of music and music education have begun to highlight the importance that social factors have for a child's developing musicality, but there is still much to understand about this influence. This paper highlights two projects that investigated aspects of the intrinsically social nature of musical participation. One study investigated the communication (both verbal and musical) taking place during compositions created by friends and non-friends. The second study investigated the musical and communication gains made by individuals with special needs who attended Gamelan workshops. The educational implications of these studies are considered, as are directions for future research.
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