This paper discusses data from a research that investigated how Brazilian music teachers’ conceptions and practices of music education constitute their music teaching practices at primary schools. Taking the social phenomenology of Schutz as our theoretical framework, we carried out qualitative case studies of three music teachers working at private schools of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. The results revealed some inconsistencies and contradictions underlying teachers’ conceptions and practices that block the realisation of their work as intended by them. The teachers did not seem to be aware of these inconsistencies and contradictions because, in their daily work, they have an eminently practical interest. Their main purpose is, firstly and mostly, to teach music to certain groups of students in specific contexts, and not to question the principles that ground their pedagogical practices. These results provide insights that can contribute for rethinking music teachers’ education and educational policies.