Fiction-based approaches for inclusive music education
My research explores how world-building and storytelling can function as creative frameworks for educational design. I am interested in how specialized and non-specialized educators can gain agency to integrate diverse pedagogical tools and create coherent musical learning environments that respond to the needs of diverse learners.
Current Research Focus
Educator agency
Supporting teachers as designers of meaningful, responsive music learning experiences.
Fiction-based frameworks
Fiction as a structure for designing coherent musical learning environments.
Inclusive and transcultural learning
Creating pathways into music that honor diverse learners, contexts, and musical systems.
A Framework for Designing Musical Worlds
At the center of my research is the design of musical worlds: coherent learning environments shaped by the relationship between educational goals, pedagogical pathways, sound structures, and contextual framing. Rather than beginning from a fixed musical system or a collection of isolated activities, this approach invites educators to think of music learning as an adaptable environment that can respond to the needs of diverse learners.
My research approaches fiction not simply as a storytelling device, but as a framework for educational design. In this model, fiction creates a space where educators can experiment with how music is organized, how learners participate, and how musical experiences are situated within meaningful contexts.
Because these dimensions are interdependent, the framework is not linear. Educators may begin from any point and develop the others in response, creating worlds that are pedagogically coherent while remaining open to experimentation.
This framework is part of my ongoing doctoral research at the University of Ottawa. If you are interested in citing, adapting, or exploring it in your own context, I would be happy to hear from you.
I work with educators and institutions to design research-informed musical learning experiences shaped by imagination, play, and the needs of diverse learners.