In promoting creativity and diversity in music education, collaboration and responsiveness are key to group improvisation, maximising the impact of creativity-focused curricula. Drawing on the work of Vygotsky, the Activity Theory (AT) framework (Engeström, 2014) explores how practice-based activities engage children in musical expression through improvisation. Emphasising individual creativity and sociomusical responsiveness, the constructs of Creative Musical Agency (CMA) and Socio-Musical Aptitude (S-MA) (MacGlone, 2019) provide insight into the dynamic flow of musical expression and communication in children's group improvisation.

This research aims to explore children's experiences and perspectives of music engagement during improvisation activities within the AT framework, using the visual research method (Zhukov & Barrett, 2023) and the Draw-and-Tell Conversation method to capture both verbal and non-verbal communication (Driessnack, 2006).

Following a series of music improvisation activities organised by two music specialists and an educational rehabilitator as part of the Everyone Can Improvise (ECI) Erasmus project, a group of 25 children aged 6-7 were invited to draw their experiences after the activities.

Using the children's perspectives from their drawings and statements, alongside the researcher's visual perspective, three new codes were identified within the existing AT categories: movement, participation in storytelling and role-based percussion play. The storytelling, initially led by the teacher, incorporated different musical forms and provided structure through role allocation and rule setting, indicating the interaction of AT elements and contributing to a deeper understanding of the improvisation process. Ultimately, this allows the teacher to step back and let the children independently create sound stories around their own themes, further developing their CMA and S-MA.

The use of visual research methods enhances the understanding of group improvisation as a key aspect of children's musical development and provides insights into both verbal and non-verbal expression, with important implications for further research and development in this field.

In an era where music education is evolving to embrace student-centered expression
and creativity through an inclusive musical dialogue, understanding the factors that
contribute to engaging and transformative learning experiences is crucial.
This study investigates the complex interplay between task constraints, learner
characteristics, and flow experiences during musical improvisation in schools. Using
a quasi-experimental design, 111 intermediate-level music students completed four
improvisation tasks that varied in degrees of improvisational freedom and preparation
time. Flow experiences were measured after each task, along with assessments of
personality, musical skills, and self-regulation.
Results showed significantly higher flow states under low constraints, when
improvising freely and with preparation time. Self-regulation was found to be a key
mediating factor, with highly self-regulated students maintaining flow even under
more constrained conditions. The type of improvisation task and experience with
improvisation were the strongest predictors of flow, followed by self-regulation,
openness to experience and class group.
These findings support a shift towards a more process-oriented, student-centered
approach to teaching improvisation that considers individual differences and fosters
self-regulatory skills. By examining how to structure improvisation activities to
enhance engagement across diverse learners, this research contributes to our
understanding of creating inclusive and transformative music education
experiences. Ultimately, our research can contribute to innovative approaches that
empower individuals to find and express their unique musical voices.
In this contribution we will present the main findings of our study and elaborate on the practical implications for music education and teacher training from the framework of
constraint-led pedagogy.

Relationships between music making and human well-being is a main topic in music pedagogy, because making music is related to personality development, creative self-expression and increasing the quality of life. Singing is a unique activity during which the human brain is involved in almost all cognitive processes: music perception, cognition, emotion management, learning and memorization (Hendry et al., 2022).

The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between the well-being of boys' choir members and singing in the choir. Since the satisfaction with life scale evaluates an individual's conscious evaluative judgment of his or her life using the individual's own criteria, it is advised as a complement to scales that concentrate on psychopathology or emotional well-being. For the purpose of this research, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL) questionnaire adapted for the children has been used. Scale consists of a 5 item self - report measure, which is designed to measure global life satisfaction of children and adolescents. The scale was adapted for children from the Ed Diener (1985) original Satisfaction With Life Scale.

The Sample consists of 30 boys choir singers and 30 boys who were not singing in the choir as a control group. The sample has the same school, age range (8 to 13), grades (2 to 7), education system and socio demographic.

Choir singing promotes a sense of happiness, increases the ability to concentrate, singing involves learning and activating processes of perception, thinking, memory and imagination, promotes a sense of belonging. The above processes are essential factors in promoting well-being. However, it is still unclear to what degree the individual level of musical engagement and musical skills is related to the subjectively perceived level of satisfaction with life in school-aged children.