Preparing preservice teachers for primary and early years music education requires more than classroom strategies; it involves cultivating openness, cultural literacy, and appreciation of artistic diversity. At the University of Cyprus, generalist student teachers as part of their music education classes, attend a concert by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra and document their experiences through structured reflective diaries. This assignment is designed to expand students’ musical horizons, particularly for those with no prior exposure to live symphonic performance, by encouraging critical, affective, and contextual engagement. This study examines 400 reflective diaries of student teachers, which serve as the primary data collection source, to investigate how live classical music experiences inform preservice teachers’ perceptions of classical music’s educational and social significance. The main research question addresses how attending a live symphony orchestra concert influences students’ perceptions of classical music’s role in education and society. Two sub-questions explore how students articulate shifts in their musical understanding and attitudes, and how these reflections shape their developing identities as inclusive, culturally responsive educators. Thematic analysis revealed recurring themes of discovery, emotional impact, recognition of cultural value, pedagogical inspiration, and emerging professional responsibility. Students frequently described the concert as a transformative experience that challenged their prior assumptions, highlighted the accessibility of classical music, and foregrounded its collective and integrative dimensions. Reflections also indicated heightened awareness of music’s capacity to foster inclusion and social connection, alongside concrete ideas for classroom integration. Situated within the discourse on democracy and music education, the study argues that structured reflection on cultural experiences beyond students’ everyday contexts can enhance teachers’ capacity to foster participation and articulate the artistic value of diverse musical forms. Such experiences enrich professional identity formation and support the development of educational practices that position music as a means for social cohesion, empathy, and democratic engagement.

What happens if music education in schools – especially in the realm of concerts - shifts from a top-down focus to a bottom-up one, placing content, artistic design and executing squarely in the hands of students?

This presentation focuses on two practical examples of the development of “Concert Labs” in music education in school. Through their distinctive concept, they combine participation and concert design, creating connections between music education, community music and democratic education. A central aspect is the integration of democratic learning processes through Service Learning (Sliwka, 2005/2018), which links artistic practice with educational aims and the common good.

Furthermore, the term “Concert Lab” is introduced as a structural and methodological format in schools that combines creative experimentation with music and its mediation, performative practice, and reflection on the societal relevance of one’s own cultural influence. The guiding principles correspond to the four dimensions of the “Musical Creativities” model (Burnard, 2012): interculturality, collaboration, empathy, and communal interaction. The implementation of these aspects is illustrated through the practical examples and underlined with the concept of the “creative field” (Burow, 2019).

The presentation further discusses the democracy-education competencies teachers require in such collaborative, self-determined, cross-domain learning and working forms. It addresses intrapersonal, physical, and pedagogical–social factors that foster creativity in school projects (Haager, 2019).

A guiding question asks whether—and to what extent—these practice exemplars realize aspects of utopian thinking in music education (Kertz-Welzel, 2022), beginning with the democratization of music-making as exemplified by the “Concert Labs,” and their orientation toward the respective community, or a reflective practice in open teaching–learning situations in which cultural affiliations, identities, and attitudes are examined.

Conservatory music students often view themselves as either musicians/ performers or teachers, but not both simultaneously (Freer & Bennett, 2012). For the performance majors, students typically focus on playing and working towards being a virtuoso performer, with limited intention to teach. These students usually lack a formal pedagogical background, although they may occasionally engage in limited one-to-one teaching contexts. However, to make a living as a performer is not easy nowadays. The musical career compels them to integrate teaching into their artistic lives. Many of them tend to embrace a teaching artist career, which combines teaching and presenting their artistic work simultaneously (Jaffe et al., 2013). This study presents an analysis of the experiences of five Italian conservatory music major students who were involved in family concerts for the local community. This study aims to document how their participation in the family concerts fostered the development of an educational mindset.

The participants were enrolled in the pedagogy course during the 2025 academic year, and the family concert project was an integral part of the class activities. The project was divided into three stages: the first involved learning fundamental pedagogy theories and approaches, the second entailed designing and rehearsing two family concerts, and the final stage consisted of giving family concerts to a group of elementary students and completing a reflection questionnaire.

Based on the students’ questionnaire responses and written reflections, preliminary findings suggest that the students underwent a transformative process marked by a shift in their beliefs and values related to music education (Mezirow, 1995; 2018), as well as an expanded sense of musical identity (Parkes, 2022). The participants began to envision themselves as both teachers and performers, discovering a genuine interest in and passion for teaching. The findings and implications for music education will be discussed during the presentation.