Dr Victoria Armstrong, Senior Lecturer and Programme Director for Education and Social Science at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, recently delivered a keynote presentation on the theme ‘What do we mean by inclusion in music education?’
The talk took place at the Loop Festival, Berlin, run by music technology company Ableton. It drew on her many years of research and explored issues relating to the concept of talent, the gender imbalance in technological spaces, the construction of girls as non-technological, and claims for inclusive classrooms which emphasise Western classical music and ignore students’ own musical cultures.
Dr Armstrong said, “This was a wonderful opportunity to talk and share ideas about the future of music education with a number people in the industry. I was invited to participate because of my long-standing research interests in gender and music technology and inclusive educational practices and, unlike traditional academic conferences, I was able to talk to software developers, music practitioners and industry specialists, so there was a real sense of people wanting to work together to find solutions.”
SOURCE:
St Mary’s University: https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/news/2017/11/victoria-armstrong-music-inclusion-berlin