Ana Luísa Veloso

Biography

She is an assistant researcher at INET-md – Institute of Ethnomusicology – Centre for Studies in Music and Dance at the University of Aveiro, where she is developing the project ‘A sound-centred approach to music education: pedagogical gramework for a new paradigm in teaching and learning  music during childhood’, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). She is also coordinator of INET-md’s thematic line ‘Digital and Technological Performativities’, together with researchers Alfonso Benetti and Filipe Lopes. She has a PhD in Music in the area of Education at the University of Aveiro, having completed her doctorate in 2012 with an FCT scholarship.

From 2015 to 2020 she was a postdoctoral fellow at CIPEM, a branch of INET-md at the Polytechnic of Porto. Here, she had the opportunity to broaden her expertise in areas such as Music Education, Musical Creativity, Composition and Improvisation, Contemporary and Experimental Music in Educational Contexts, Formal and Non-formal Learning Contexts, or Music, Personal and Social Transformation, which are fundamental to her current work. She has also had the opportunity to lead and participate in research projects related to the areas mentioned above, which has allowed her to broaden her visibility through a wide range of production, both in terms of articles in international journals with a high impact factor, book chapters and oral communications, either by submission or as a guest. During this period, she was also a member of the board of the Portuguese Music Education Association (APEM), the Portuguese representative at the International Society for Music Education (ISME) of the ISME National Affiliates (Portuguese INA), director of the Portuguese Journal of Music Education and national coordinator of the European Association for Music in Schools (EAS).

She is a member/artist of Sonoscopia Association, where she actively develops her activity as a musician and guitarist, collaborating in various groups linked to improvisation, experimental music and sound art, and leading various educational activities and projects with children and adults.

Projeto CEEC

Título
A Sound centered approach to Music Education: A Pedagogical Framework for a new paradigm in teaching and learning music during childhood

Recent research in Music Education and Music Psychology has established important connections between music and children’s personal and social development. Consequently, several researchers have highlighted the need to implement more inclusive and democratic practices in formal and non-formal educational contexts, involving all children in participatory and meaningful musical experiences. Following this demand, some scholars have criticized hegemonic Eurocentric approaches to music teaching, suggesting instead a departure from sound and sounding phenomena as larger categories that might incorporate children’s diverse trajectories and life experiences. This turn to sound has been reinforced by researchers relating the field of Music Education with Sound Studies, Musical Performance and Creation, and Musicology, while addressing the many possibilities that might arise by interdisciplinary research involving these three fields. At the same time, and responding to the same initial call, other scholars have emphasized the many positive transformations that occur when children learn music though creative, collaborative and informal strategies, disrupting the more common practices focused on performance and the development of technical skills.

Responding to this double plea, the present project aims to design, implement and evaluate a Pedagogical Framework (PF) that might critically address a Sound Centered Approach to Music Education, promoting an equitable, inclusive and democratic education, aligned with the recent advancements of the fields of Sound Studies, Music Performance and Creation and Musicology. In order to achieve this aim, this study will adopt an Educational Design Research approach that will unfold through sequential research cycles of analysis, design and evaluation and will be divided in 3 stages: (1) Exploratory – that aims to design implement and evaluate a first outline of the PF through a Participatory Action Research design. (2) Multiple Case Study – that aims to analyze in depth the previous version of the PF and redefine it throughout 3 case studies. (3) Evaluation and Dissemination – that aims to disseminate and evaluate the impact of the previously developed PF in teaching and learning practices in Portugal and overseas. This new PF will emerge from a constant and dynamic collaboration between researchers, teachers, and other practitioners working in the field of Music Education, in national and international contexts. It is expected that this PF might play a key role in the development of an equitable, inclusive and democratic education, becoming a central element not only of new activities and projects developed by teachers and other practitioners in formal and non-formal contexts of learning, but also on the education of music teachers and musicians working in educational contexts, opening, thus, a new door for innovative developments in Music Education research, and for policy makers to reflect on feasible transformations in music education curricular guidelines and directives.

Keywords
Collaborative Creativity; Informal learning; Formal and non-formal educational contexts; Inclusion; Educational Design Research.

Funding
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (2022.04655.CEECIND/CP1720/CT0042)