Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

To address concerns about student dissatisfaction with school music classes, there has been significant interest in adopting more engaging teacher practices. One approach thought to make classroom music more meaningful for students by drawing their outside musical lives into their school music experiences is the Musical Futures program. Musical Futures incorporates the learning processes of popular musicians and is characterised by learning that is student-driven and peer-directed, with an emphasis on immersive music experiences. This ethnographic research investigates how teachers make use of Musical Futures and identifies the teacher practices which support student engagement in classroom music. Findings draw on participant-observation of music lessons, interviews and focus groups involving two music teachers and four classes of children aged ten to sixteen years. The research has identified that the connections between student engagement and classroom music teaching are complex, interconnected and interdependent in a way not anticipated in the music education research literature.