Research Shorts: Playful music learning for primary schools
3rd September 2024
Dr Rachael Byrne
Welcome back to Research Shorts, kicking off this September with Dr Rachael Byrne’s work on playful music. Her recent article presents a model of what ‘Playful Music Learning’ might mean for primary schools, and is co-authored with her supervisors Dr. Regina Murphy, Dr. Francis Ward, and Dr. Una McCabe. The research is part of her doctoral research into playful music pedagogy at Dublin City University (DCU).
Rachael’s research into play and playful learning sets outs to bring together scholarship and ideas, to outline a model of Playful Music Learning for primary schools, and to think about how children own their own learning.
“All children have the right to play. This research will be of interest to educators and policy makers looking for research-informed ideas and suggestions for facilitating playful music learning in primary schools. This has the potential to boost children’s enjoyment, motivation, understanding, and ownership of their learning in music education.”
The article looks at how play might be led by the child, and proposes a model to see totally child-led activities at one end of a continuum of child-to-adult ownership. They position guided musical play and musical games in the middle, with ‘non-playful musical instruction’ at the far end. There are thoughts on what these activities might look like, to ‘offer potential to engage children in increasingly joyful, embodied, creative, holistic and meaningful music learning experiences along a continuum of ownership across the primary school.’
Rachael has worked as a primary school teacher, studied in the Kodály Institute, Hungary, and completed an EdD from DCU in 2021. She is currently working with the NCCA towards the redevelopment of the national primary curriculum for Arts Education in Ireland.
Read more:
Interview by Dr Sarah K. Whitfield – Research Manager for Music Mark
