Research

My research currently focuses on issues around adult music learners and introducing new research methods to music education research. 

I completed an MA in English Language in 2015, with a dissertation on online discourses of adult music learners. This used corpus-based discourse analysis techniques, creating large databases of text, which can then be analysed using a variety of tools and statistical measures. I investigated how adult music students talk about themselves as learners and musicians, and how they describe their relationships with teachers, their feelings about exams, and the process of learning music as an adult. 

I am also interested in music education more widely, and in education, language, and the use of digital technology in learning. I have recently carried out some work as a research assistant on the EU-funded 'Digital literacies in homes and communities' project. I'm a member of the Social Research Association (SRA) and the SRA North committee.

Masters Dissertation (MA English Language by distance, Lancaster University, 2015):
“You’re never too old for music!” Online discourses of adult music learners, a corpus-based study.​

Poster presented at SEMPRE Postgraduate Study Day and Manchester Forum in Linguistics, 2015:
'Not an ogre': Adult music learners and their teachers, a corpus-based discourse analysis.

Paper accepted for ISME Research Seminar, 2016:
Angels and ogres - Online discourses of adult music learners, a corpus-based study.

Poster​ accepted for NAMHE conerence 2017:
Music education training in UK Conservatoires and Universities - learning how to teach

Response to MUSOC debate: What do excellence and inclusion really mean?