Reinhard Kopiez has a degree in classical guitar, and a Master's and PhD degree in musicology. From 2000–2003 he was vice-president of ESCOM and organiser of the 2003 5th Triennial ESCOM Conference in Hanover, Germany. He holds a position as Professor of Music Psychology at the Hanover University of Music and Drama. His main area of speciality is performance research with a special interest in music and emotion, long-term performance (Satie's ‘Vexation’) and sight reading.

Marco Lehmann is currently research assistant and co-worker in the research group of Reinhard Kopiez. He holds a diploma degree in psychology. His main research interests are music perception in the early infant and the social psychology of musical development.

Tiija Rinta is a doctoral student and research assistant at the Institute of Education, University of London. Her background lies in the fields of psychology, music and education. Previously, she has worked in a variety of educational and clinical settings with children. She is primarily interested in exploring how musical and other artistic activities can be exploited in educational and therapeutic settings for a variety of benefits.

Katie Zhukov came to Australia from Ukraine as a teenager. She graduated with a First Class Honours from the University of Adelaide. As a recipient of an ITT International Fellowship, she studied at the Juilliard School of Music, New York, for a Masters degree in performance. She has recently earned a PhD from the University of New South Wales and has been a staff member of the Keyboard and Musicology Units at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music since 1995.

Cecilia Ferm works in the centre of Teaching and Learning at the University of Stockholm. She graduated as a Doctor of Music Education in 2004 with the thesis Openness and Awareness – A Phenomenological Study of Music Teaching and Learning Interaction. Her research focuses on Musikdidaktik and Aesthetic Communication in various educational contexts. She has published in a range of prestigious journals and has also presented papers at international educational and music educational conferences around the world.

Geir Johansen is Associate professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He graduated as a Doctor of Music Education in 2003 with the thesis Teacher, Curriculum and the Music subject, an interview study of teachers’ perceptions of the music subject as influenced by a new national curriculum. He has published in a range of prestigious journals and presented papers both internationally and at conferences of the Nordic Network of Research in Music Education.

Brydie-Leigh Bartleet is a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, where she is working on an Australia Research Council funded project that examines the dynamics of community music in Australia and its models for informal music teaching and learning. She has conducted primary school, university and community bands from Australia, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan. She has published widely on issues relating to women conductors, research methodologies, music ethnography, and pedagogy, in various journals and Cambridge Scholars Press publications.

Ralph Hultgren is Head of Pre-Tertiary Studies at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, where he also directs the Wind Symphony program and lectures in conducting and instrumental pedagogy. He has been conducting for over 30 years, and has worked as a consultant in conducting, composition and music education in the Asia-Pacific region, USA and throughout Australia. As a composer he has won a number of prestigious awards, with his works being performed widely across Australia, the USA, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and New Zealand.