Portals between worlds: A study of the experiences of children aged 7–11 years from primary schools in Wales making music outdoors

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Author
Adams, Dylan
Beauchamp, Gary
Date
2018-03-26Acceptance date
2018-01-15
Date Deposited
2018-04-18
Type
Article
acceptedVersion
Publisher
SAGE
ISSN
1834-5530 (ESSN)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
There has been increasing interest in the educational value of outdoor learning around the world and in the United Kingdom. This is reflected in the statutory curricula of each country. At present, however, there has been little research into the potential of music-making in the outdoors. This study investigated how changing the physical location of learners’ music-making to outdoor environments impacted on children aged 7–11 years. Seven classes of children and their teachers, from six different primary schools, created music for a ceremonial performance in various outdoor locations in Wales. These activities were video-recorded and after their musical performances, the children were interviewed using video-stimulated reflective dialogue (VSRD) in semi-structured interviews. Their teachers also took part in semi-structured interviews, but without the use of VSRD. The resultant iterative analysis of data revealed four overlapping and interwoven themes: freedom, emotion, senses and agency. In addition, the interviews revealed that the combination of the setting (including the ritual structure of the activity), the move from the school setting and the four themes (emotion, senses, freedom, agency) contribute to create a ‘vortex’ effect, potentially drawing the children into a state of liminality and peak experience, before achieving a state of calm focus. All of these factors are summed up in a tentative model of the impact of music-making outdoors with children aged 7–11 years.
Journal/conference proceeding
Research Studies in Music Education;
Citation
Adam, D and Beauchamp, G. (2018) 'Portals between worlds: A study of the experiences of children aged 7–11 years from primary schools in Wales making music outdoors', Research Studies in Music Education, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X17751251
Description
This article was published in Research Studies in Music Education on 26 March 2018, available at https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X17751251
Collections
- Education Research [256]
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