Crafting Musical Encounters

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“Crafting ‘Musical Encounters’” is an interdisciplinary research project that explores music as a mode to create inclusive and affirming learning environments for children between the ages of three and seven years. Through the design and evaluation of two pilot workshops with nine children and their parents, we examined how pedagogies of music can be used to foster inclusivity through facilitating social emotional learning (SEL). Pilot data was collected through video recordings and a survey that was sent to parents after each workshop. We aimed to investigate i) how models of music education in early childhood can move beyond existing instructional paradigms that exclusively emphasise skill development, and ii) how embodied music pedagogy can be used in multicultural societies as a medium for fostering inclusion holistically. A qualitative analysis revealed that throughout both workshops children were actively engaged in musical encounters. High levels of SEL indicators were in evidence, which facilitated peer inclusion. Analysis of parental behaviours revealed that more child-centred parental interactions encouraged musical engagement. Conversely, overly corrective interactions tended to extinguish musical engagement. This pilot study provides new evidence regarding the way various theoretical approaches to inclusion may be translated into practice in the music classroom, and its findings reaffirm the value of musical play in early childhood.

 Keywords: music, inclusion, holistic, pedagogy, social emotional learning, early childhood

PRESENTATIONS 

This project was presented in an interactive installation format at the NYUAD Arts and Humanities Capstone Festival in The Cube (2024). Take a look at my installation here!