The concept of diversity is central to Music Generation's approach in developing a national infrastructure for music education that includes many types of music and music practices, from pop to classical to marching bands to traditional and beyond. The ambition of the programme is to be inclusive, ensuring that access to performance music education of a high artistic standard is not limited by geographic, cultural, socio-economic or physical factors. Music Generation seeks to include but go beyond conventional models of instrumental and vocal music education. Rather than developing a 'one size fits all' approach, it allows a diversity of approaches to evolve, in response to local need and context.
The Board of Music Generation commissioned a research in partnership with St Patrick’s College Drumcondra in 2013, with the explicit wish that it would go beyond a survey-type evaluation and instead become a model that could guide the future directions of Music Generation and inform the strategic development of a new infrastructure for performance music education in Ireland.
The outcome - a detailed document titled Possible Selves in Music - provides an entirely new way of thinking about performance music education. It reflects the values of Music Generation, brings together the myriad of approaches encountered in local Music Education Partnerships and, through developing a model, charts a future for Music Generation. This model is informed by a depth of literature in the area and ultimately focuses on the possible selves children and young people can achieve through meaningful music-making across a range of music genres and approaches, when supported by strong and interconnected partnerships.
A summary of the research is now available to download.
The extensive report will be published online later this year.
Authors
Principal Investigator: Dr Patricia Flynn
Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Dr Thomas Johnston
Research Board
Dr Patricia Flynn, St Patrick’s College Drumcondra
Rosaleen Molloy, National Director Music Generation
Prof Stephanie Pitts, University of Sheffield
Prof Emer Smyth, ESRI
Research Partner
