In view of the growing prevalence of dementia due to demographic change, the German government's ‘Nationale Demenzstrategie’ aims to improve the quality of life of people with dementia and advance research. In this context, the Bundesmusikverband Chor und Orchester (BMCO) is funding 40 exemplary vocal and instrumental projects for cultural participation of people with dementia in 2024 and 2025, an associated training programme for ensemble leaders and scientific monitoring in cooperation with the University of Education Karlsruhe and the Network Aging Research (Heidelberg).

The particular potential of music, especially singing, in the treatment of people with dementia is widely acknowledged: Musical interventions have been shown to contribute to emotional well-being, reduce depression and improve communication behaviour (Wosch & Eickholt, 2019). Furthermore, the musical long-term memory has been proven to be less affected by the degeneration processes of the Alzheimer’s disease and to often remain largely intact even at later disease stages (Jacobsen et al., 2015).

The accompanying research of the BMCO programme aims to identify opportunities and limitations of musicking in inclusive ensemble settings with people with dementia. One key component is the design of a dementia awareness programme for amateur music ensembles to point out ways to involve people with dementia. To determine requirements for the programme, group interviews were led with ensemble leaders, members, relatives and volunteers about their experiences in singing groups with people with dementia. Central indications for musicking with people with dementia were mapped out using qualitative content analysis (Kuckartz & Rädiker, 2022) and embedded in the current state of research. A pilot run of the awareness programme (11/2024) is currently evaluated.

Our results are meant to encourage music societies and music educators to implement dementia-sensitive music offers and thereby facilitate cultural participation for people with dementia while raising awareness for an increasingly relevant topic.

Improvisation in the current National Curriculum Framework for music education in Finland is emphasised along with other forms of music-making (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2019). However, lack of improvisation and creative practices in the music classroom is evident (Juntunen et al, 2011; Partti, 2016), as the school communities are challenged by the students’ increased levels of social anxiety (Kiviruusu et al., 2024) and the teachers reported serious inappropriate treatment (Melkko & Ilves, 2024). This poster presents the first results of a research and development project initiated to address this gap between educational aims at the curriculum level and school reality.

The project, titled “Improvisation as Transformational Momentum Towards Equity and Safety in School Community” (2023-2026), aims to understand how improvisation, with its diverse research-based pedagogical possibilities (Lage-Gómez & Cremades-Andreu, 2019; MacDonald & Wilson, 2014; Siljamäki, 2021), is and could be employed in the classroom to enhance student safety and well-being.

The empirical data collected in Finland includes interviews with teachers and students in primary, lower-secondary and upper-secondary schools, surveys and observations in music lessons, teachers’ learning diaries, and documentation of workshops between the artist-researcher (author) and the teachers.

This project asks if and how it is possible to develop music education where every student, regardless of their needs for learning and prior learning, is equally enabled and motivated by music education in a way that supports their participation in improvisation, holistic growth, well-being and experience of safety in the school community. In this way the project will stimulate debate on advancements of equity in music education, and the importance of music education and experienced safety as part of holistic growth and well-being.

Music and sound can affect people's bio-psycho-social processes in a variety of ways and have a broad spectrum of potential effects due to their high inherent affectivity. These non-drug potentials - especially those of singing - are particularly valuable for people with dementia syndromes. Numerous research studies have shown that singing offers multiple benefits for this target group (Särkämö et al., 2015; Pongan et al., 2019; Batt-Rawden & Stedje, 2020).

A communal and identity-strengthening promotion of well-being, social and cultural participation as well as the pure joy of singing together are at the heart of the offer “I sing, therefore I am”: senior citizens with and without age-related illnesses are given the opportunity to take part in open singing in a retirement home in Hamburg. The focus is on low-threshold participation, the gain in quality of life on a physical, mental and emotional level as well as the socializing joy of singing together in this heterogeneous group. The content is presented digitally on a screen with the help of a projector. The research and doctoral project of the author of the abstract deals with the question of how singing together in an inclusive, diversity- and resource-oriented way can promote the integration, diversity and well-being of this target group. In addition, the aim is to evaluate the extent to which the use of digital elements can promote low-threshold participation and empowerment and positively strengthen well-being. The study is being conducted using the design-based research (DBR) approach.

The research began in August 2024 and the first cycle is currently being evaluated. Initial evaluations indicate that the use of digital elements is highly suitable for supporting low-threshold access to a music-based program. In addition to refining the concept, the scalability and effectiveness of the offer in other contexts will also be investigated in the next steps.

The project ‚Digitality – Diversity – Producing: Practices of Popular Music in Schools and Further Education (DiDiPro)‘ develops diversity-sensitive professional development programs for (future) music educators, with a particular emphasis on digital music production.

Producing encompasses a wide rande of core practices within popular music, thus presenting significant potential for music education that remains largely neglected, particularly in German-speaking countries. However, the unreflective introduction of aspects of music production into the classroom could not only overwhelm participants but also exacerbate existing social inequalities. In response, DiDiPro aims to build, expand, and transfer the academic and didactic skills of educators through diversity-sensitive approaches to music production in the contexts of popular music and culture.

This interdisciplinary project integrates perspectives from music education with extensive expertise from teacher training – both theoretical and practical - alongside contributions from popular music studies, sound studies, and cultural and media studies research. Together, the project develops modules for further education focusing on music production and diversity. These modules are being created through five sub-projects across three university locations, in collaboration with dedicated development teams comprising researchers, educators, and artists.

The establishment of diversity-sensitive approaches to music production as a central focus in music education is being achieved through the systematic development, evaluation, and delivery of modules; the creation of further education programs; contributions to national conferences and symposia for teacher professional development; publications in relevant academic journals; and the establishment of an openly accessible, cross-phase teaching and learning platform as Open Educational Resources (OER) for music teacher education."

This poster specifically highlights the two sub-projects, "Music Videos" and "Tutorials," showcasing practical diversity-sensitive approaches to music production.

The submitted poster provides an overview of the structure and aims of the ProDiMuk research project. We are targeting the first focus ‘Empowering Diverse Voices in Music Education’ and the third ‘Adapting to Changing Educational Landscapes’, as we understand inclusive development in music education as a transformation that relates to both didactic and curricular aspects.

ProDiMuk (funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, funding period 2024-2027) examines how teachers perceive and construct difference in music education and how these constructions affect teaching students with learning difficulties. We look at school and extracurricular contexts. ProDiMuk contributes to answering the question of how music education can support processes of social transformation that make diversity a natural and enriching item of societies. We focus on the following research questions:

- How do teachers' constructions of difference emerge in various fields of music education, shaped by biographical experiences and profession-related beliefs?

- How are constructions of difference made (un)relevant in teaching situations?

- Which music-related practices enable the situational irrelevance of disability difference markers?

Initially, we conduct episodic interviews (Flick, 1996, 2011) and analyse them according to the reflexive GTM (Breuer, et al. 2019). Secondly, we examine teaching situations videographically and analyse this data by using an interaction-analysing approach (Tuma, et al. 2013, Rauin, et al. 2016). Finally, we conduct focus interviews with teachers (Trautmann, 2010) to determine the extent to which the constructions of difference reconstructed in the videos are reflexively and communicatively accessible to the teachers. The results of the empirical sub-studies will be used to develop professionalisation modules (including reflection tasks, teaching impulses, video vignettes)for music teachers. These will be available as Open Educational Resources (OER) for various formats of inclusion-orientated advanced training and for university teacher training.

The German music education system still prioritizes an understanding of Eurocentric art music as well as the practical experience of music. But although students predominantly consume popular music in their leisure time (Feierabend et al., 2022), facets of popular music beyond genres and music theory are insufficiently covered in school. This research project assumes that especially students’ theoretical understanding of popular music and the reflection of its influence on society would be relevant and beneficial for students by including their musical interests, contemporary music and thought-provoking discussions in the music classroom. Consequently, maintainable and easily implementable materials need to be developed and provided to music teachers.

This dissertational research project focuses on developing and evaluating a unit on popular music theories for grade ten (approx. ages 14 to 16). The included topics are based on suggestions of scholars of popular music and cultural studies and assessed by music teachers from across Germany. The unit will be designed as a flexible, modular system that allows teachers to adapt the lessons to meet the interests and needs of their students. All lessons will include student-centered learning in the form of inclusive peer-teaching and -learning to encourage students to explore their diverse musical voices and identities and discuss personal interests in class.

The poster presents the latest developments and findings on this ongoing design-based research by including the results of the pre-study with scholars and music teachers, the current developments of the unit on popular music theories, its aims and methods to include students in the learning process as well as the steps that will follow, i.e. the objectives of the implementation and follow-up research in schools.

‘So the pulse is what you nod to and the rhythm is what you dance to at the disco?’: Developing the classroom musicianship and confidence of generalist teachers in a special school to teach music.

Dr. Amy Johnston