Performance and Participation: A Qualitative Study of Music Education Practices in Digitally-Based Musicking with Young People with Physical Impairments – Bo Nilsson

Τεύχος 6 (1) 2014 – Article

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Performance and Participation: A Qualitative Study of Music Education Practices in Digitally-Based Musicking with Young People with Physical Impairments

Bo Nilsson

(pp.19-27)

Abstract

This article highlights results from a research study of ‘Music Week’; a one-week Swedish music project performed at a Swedish folk high school, a Nordic-style residential adult education college. The aim of the Music Week project was to enable young people with physical impairments to take part in musical activities. Digitally-based musical settings were used in order to provide tools for both performing and creating music. The Music Week project was part of a larger 3-year music project.

The main purpose of the present research study was both to explore the interaction and the music education practices applied during the Music Week project as well as to explore the musical settings used within the project. The research method was partially inspired by ethnographical methods. In the study, two main variations of teaching music in groups were identified: i) Performance-oriented, with a clear goal of performing songs for an audience and ii) Participatory-oriented, where the participants were able to explore their potential to play and create music. Furthermore, the results suggest that musical settings should be regarded in a holistic way to include all kinds of resources: musical, technical, physical, psychological and personal.

Keywords

musicking; music education; accessibility; digital music instruments; impairment; health promotion; interaction; cultural awareness; young people

Biography

Bo Nilsson, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Education at Kristianstad University, Sweden. His research interests include children’s musical creativity, music in special education, popular culture and ICT in music education and public health. He received his doctorate in Music Education in 2002 at Malmö Academy of Music, Lund University. Bo is teaching and supervising at the Teacher Education and at the Public Health Program. He taught music and science in a Swedish compulsory school for several years and was a member of the expert group that wrote the new music curriculum for Swedish compulsory schools in 2011.

Email: bo.nilsson@hkr.se