Conference Agenda

This contribution aims at sharing two perspectives on the role of the body linked to creativity in secondary education music education. Starting from a common theoretical framework, we will analyse our teacher training practice. The aim is to identify by which extent this course develops student teachers competencies to enhance participation and embodied learning in their music classroom.

The theoretical framework provided is rooted in a pragmatist and world centred perspective on education (Biesta, 2022). It combined embodied music learning (Leman, 2016; Bremmer & Nijs, 2024), creativity defined as creative experience (Glaveanu & Beghetto, 2021) and research about teachers’ stance to support student’s agency (Hendriks et al., 2023).

Based on this framework, we conduct an iterative practitioner research that will analyse two sets of data from a one-semester secondary music teacher education course in Switzerland (17 students, spring 2025) and Spain (32 students autumn 2025). Our comparative thematic analysis from a qualitative perspective is focused on the role of the body for music teaching, especially for music creation (group improvisation, song writing, composing with AI). The analysis is based on participatory observation, students’ work and semi-structured individual interviews in each context and a focus group composed of students from both contexts.

First results show that the teacher students gained a better understanding of the task design to foster participatory creativity. Their own experience of collective music creation during the course enhanced their confidence to include these tasks in their teaching. These tasks involved the body even when technology was used. Nevertheless, the theoretical inputs about the principles of embodiment for music learning should be refined to strengthen the link with their teaching practice.

During the presentation, a short moment of collective improvisation will be experienced by the participants.

Throughout the 20th century, movement education in schools became increasingly relevant. This educational approach of (re)discovering the body as central in children’s education and development was influenced by artistic and political trends, which emphasised the value of dance, physical education and the arts (Boal-Palheiros, 1999). In music education, the so-called active “methods” of European music pedagogues (e.g. Dalcroze, Kodály, Orff) became popular among music teachers. For Dalcroze (1865-1950), students learn and understand music best through their body, listening and responding to music through movement (Juntunen, 2004). In turn, Orff (1895-1982) advocated an “elemental” music with simple forms, made by the children, which integrates movement, dance and speech (Wuytack, 1993).

Inspired by those ideas and putting in practice his own thoughts as a music teacher educator, Wuytack, who studied with Orff, developed a music pedagogy that emphasizes learning music through experience, involving mind and body. He employs movement while teaching musical activities (listening, singing children’s songs and choir, dancing, improvising, and creating), both for their intrinsic value and as one of his teaching strategies to enhance experience and understanding.

In psychology, the relatively recent concept of embodied cognition claims that our understanding is deeply rooted in our physical body and sensory experiences and explains how mind and body are closely interrelated (Gibbs, 2006). There is no real separation between mental processes and body (Schiavio, 2015) and music perception is tightly linked with body movement, action and environmental interaction (Leman & Maes, 2015). Thus, embodied music cognition may offer a theoretical framework for those early pedagogical ideas in music education.

Some examples of professional development courses for music teachers will be analysed under this lens. The participants will perform examples of Wuytack’s “Active Music Listening” Pedagogy (Wuytack, 1974; 1989; 1995). Participants’ activities and their responses and comments will be discussed.

This study investigates the implementation of live arts as an interdisciplinary methodology within educational contexts, emphasizing their potential to integrate bodily, visual, and sonic languages in order to foster meaningful learning through technological resources. Using the Colors project—conducted in a public school in the city of Valencia—as a case study, the analysis highlights how performance, movement, and collective sound creation can function as pedagogical tools for the expression and comprehension of emotions, establishing connections between affective states and spatial, gestural, and chromatic qualities.

Within this framework, music technology has operated as a supporting element that amplifies interdisciplinarity, while deliberately avoiding a central or dominant role. It is articulated through a compendium of software (Creative Digital Pack) comprising tools for mobile collaborative composition, soundscape creation, and hybrid instrument–digital interaction. These tools were developed by a multidisciplinary research team from several Spanish universities. The digital resources have served as mediators between the analog and the virtual, enabling students to collectively compose, perform, and experiment in dialogue with their bodily and emotional expressions.

The pedagogical approach privileges process over product. Active listening, motor empathy, collective construction of meaning, and performative experimentation are foregrounded as key competencies. The findings illustrate how live arts, by organically integrating body, emotion, and technology, can generate innovative pedagogical dialogues that contribute to an inclusive, expansive, and transferable educational model. In this model, arts education emerges as a laboratory for emotional intelligence, collaborative practice, and critical thinking.

The presentation of the digital tools for the audience will focus on their role as catalysts for interdisciplinary practices, rather than as mere technological add-ons. By showcasing the Creative Digital Pack, we will demonstrate how mobile applications, sound design platforms, and hybrid interaction devices have been tailored to educational performance, making them accessible to children and teachers without requiring advanced technical expertise.