Music Learning Places and Spaces: A Study of Young Musicians' Segmented, Situated, and Agentive Music Learning Ecologies

• In Event: Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: Music Education SIG: Music Education Pedagogy

Abstract

This study examines the music learning ecologies of 93 young people (aged 11-18 years) from the perspective of youth themselves. A Music Engagement Map and interview protocol were developed to provide visual guides during individual in-depth interviews that produced detailed accounts of participants’ music activities (at school and outside school) and their perspectives on their own music learning contexts. Results of thematic analysis and a systematic coding procedure indicated three main types of learning ecologies (segmented, situated, agentive) that take place across the physical and virtual life spaces and places of home, school, local and online communities. Implications for educators in terms of student engagement in music learning and for recognizing students’ diverse music learning pathways will be discussed.

Author

• Susan Ann O'Neill, Simon Fraser University