
Andrea CreechMcGill University | McGill · Schulich School of Music
Andrea Creech
PhD, Dip Psych, MA, BMus
About
117
Publications
89,728
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
2,861
Citations
Introduction
Additional affiliations
September 2006 - August 2016
September 2006 - present
Publications
Publications (117)
This book presents key findings from a 4-year project that sought to understand Ethno Gatherings, an organized residential folk, world, and traditional music programme for young people aged 18-30. In response to three lines of enquiry, pedagogy and professional development, participant experience, and the impact it had upon those who attended, the...
This book presents key findings from a 4-year project that sought to understand Ethno Gatherings, an organized residential folk, world, and traditional music programme for young people aged 18-30. In response to three lines of enquiry, pedagogy and professional development, participant experience, and the impact it had upon those who attended, the...
The Seoul Agenda by UNESCO has set goals to develop arts education, ensuring that learners from all social backgrounds have lifelong access to arts education in a wide range of community and institutional settings. However, the purpose of lifelong learning for individuals beyond labor-market age has been largely overlooked, making it challenging to...
The global pandemic has severely disrupted the performing arts sector, with research documenting economic, professional, and health impacts on musicians. The psychological effects of lockdowns have been recognized, but little is known regarding their impact on freelance creative collaborative artists. This qualitative case study uses a resilience l...
At the beginning of the pandemic, many music ensembles had to stop their activities due to the confinement. While some found creative ways to start making music again with the help of technologies, the transition from “real” rehearsals to “online” rehearsals was challenging, especially among older amateur musicians. The aim of this case study was t...
Within Sistema-inspired music education initiatives, claims have been made relating to the ways in which these experiences may contribute to the musical lifecourse, having lifewide and lifelong implications for young people. For example, a commonly held aspiration amongst Sistema-inspired programmes around the world is to foster participants’ well...
Developing musicians are expected to accumulate many hours of self-regulated practice to attain expertise on a musical instrument. The ability to choose appropriate strategies based on the internal and external feedback obtained while performing in the absence of the teacher’s support constitutes an important aspect of self-regulated practice. Neve...
The aim of this systematic review was to interrogate the existing literature that articulates indirect or direct links between quality of life (QoL) and creativity in later life musical learning and participation. Search terms were related to the concept (creativity), the context (music), the population (aging), and the outcome (QoL). Twenty-three...
Philosophers, composers, and musicians have long argued whether instrumental music finds meaning in its formal structure and musical content (Hanslick, 1986) or through reference to extra-musical elements, like narratives, emotions, or memories (Meyer, 1956). While the use of extra-musical elements appears grounded in individual musicians’ prioriti...
This chapter focuses on music learning and participation in tertiary contexts. We begin by discussing the purpose of tertiary music education, highlighting some critical questions and debates. We explore the ways that different facilitation approaches within tertiary music education can have a profound influence on the musical trajectories of stude...
This chapter explores musicking in the home. We begin by considering the idea of parents and children as musical partners in the home, focusing on research concerned with musical parenting. We then turn to parental involvement in formal instrumental learning and parents as facilitators of home-schooling in music, considering the ways in which diffe...
We begin this chapter with some definitions and theoretical frameworks for self-directed learning (SDL). We then consider the conditions for self-directed learning, framing this discussion with the six dimensions of learning proposed by Heron, as set out in Chap. 1 of this book. The intersection of self-directed learning and experiential learning i...
This chapter focuses on the aims, scope and purpose of adult music learning and participation within non-formal contexts. We begin by considering the idea of music-making as leisure. The question of whether adult learning is qualitatively different from learning at any other stage of life is discussed, framed by the concepts of andragogy and gerago...
This chapter explores the pedagogical characteristics of peer learning, considering how peer learning may be interpreted within the framework of the facilitation modes set out in Chap. 1. We begin this chapter with a review of evidence concerned with the potential benefits of symmetrical peer-to-peer learning or asymmetrical peer-assisted learning....
This chapter focuses on music learning and participation in primary school contexts, considering the ways in which these early formal music education experiences may contribute to lifelong musical possible selves. We begin the chapter with a discussion of some issues concerning the roles of specialist music teachers and generalist classroom teacher...
In this chapter, we discuss music programmes where the primary mission is to use music as a vehicle for fostering social change. We discuss the contexts for such programmes, as well as the characteristics and processes of facilitation and learning that can foster manifold learning and in turn influence musical possible selves. We consider a range o...
In this chapter, we discuss orientations to inclusive teaching, learning and music participation within secondary school music education. We begin the chapter by setting out some shifts in priorities and practices that have influenced secondary school music education. We then discuss the idea of inclusion, focusing on non-formal teaching, informal...
This chapter focuses on the role of technology and social media in music learning and participation. Our specific concern is with the potential for technology and social media to promote innovative approaches and to enable access to music learning among under-served groups. We begin this chapter with the idea of ‘disruptive technologies’ that provi...
This chapter, focusing on Early Years (age 0–5) contexts, explores the assertion that “how parents, educators, therapists, artists ‘see’ children as musical determines what experiences and opportunities they offer, what they encourage, foster and teach” (Young, Critical new perspectives in early childhood music—Young children engaging and learning...
This chapter discusses the aims and purpose of extra-curricular music learning and participation within non-formal contexts. We focus on contexts that serve school-aged children and young people. We consider the developmental potential of extra-curricular music learning and participation, interpreting this within the framework of positive and creat...
Susan Hallam is Professor Emerita at the UCL Institute of Education, UK. Her research interests in music include practising, performing, musical ability, musical understanding and the wider impact of engagement with music.
Andrea Creech is Professor of Didactique Instrumentale at the Faculty of Music, Université Laval, Canada, where she holds a Can...
Developing musicians typically engage in self-regulated practicing during the time that passes between lessons with their teachers. An important aspect of self-regulated practice is the ability to identify and correct areas of development in performance in the absence of a teacher’s feedback, but the effort required to perform as well as monitor a...
The aim of this study was to explore music performance anxiety (MPA) and trait anxiety as experienced by jazz music students at the post-secondary level. MPA has been conceptualised as a painful apprehension of music performance manifesting through affective, somatic, cognitive and behavioural symptoms. Although MPA has been studied extensively wit...
There has been little research on instrument differences in the length and nature of instrumental practice or how these may interact with level of expertise. This paper aimed to address this issue. A total of 3,325 young people ranging in level of expertise from beginner to the level required for entry to higher education conservatoire completed a...
Summary of Partnership Development Grant, Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Background: A growing body of evidence has demonstrated significant social and emotional benefits of music-making amongst senior citizens. However, several as-yet unresolved age-related barriers to “musicking” have been identified. Positioned within the emergent field of gerontechnology, concerned with the interface between aging and technology res...
Recently, models have been developed that recognise the complexity of motivation. These set out the interactions that occur between environmental (cultural, institutional, familial, educational) and internal factors (cognition and affect) enhancing or reducing motivation. Despite this we know very little about gender differences in motivation in re...
While there has been a great deal of research on instrumental practice and the nature of motivation to engage with music making, there has been relatively little that has considered the relationship of these with instrumental examination outcomes. This research aimed to address this issue. A total of 2,131 young musicians, aged 6–19, across a wide...
There has been considerable research on instrumental practice and musical motivation. This paper aimed to extend this research studying instrument differences in beginner players in relation to their practice and motivation. Almost 500 beginner instrumentalists and vocalists completed a questionnaire which consisted of a number of statements relati...
Introduction
Participation in musical activities has been shown to enhance social cohesion, enjoyment, personal development and empowerment (Sixsmith and Gibson, 2007; Hallam et al, 2017). Many benefits have been reported for older people (Creech et al, 2013a), with research on singing demonstrating how it contributes to increased energy; reduction...
This is the first of two volumes arising from the ground-breaking New Dynamics of Ageing Research Programme. While the Programme produced many scientific papers and several project-based books this is the only place where most of the projects are represented in specially commissioned chapters that not only report the key findings of each piece of r...
This chapter sets out the findings from the Music for Life project. This explored whether participation in community music making enhanced the social, emotional and cognitive well-being of older people. 398 people aged 50+ completed questionnaires that included two measures of well-being, prior to and following nine months of active engagement with...
The aim of this research was to explore the impact of the adoption of the Musical Futures approach on the musical progression of students in Musical Futures’ Champion schools. The research took place over three years in three phases with 733 students and 28 music teachers completing questionnaires. Data from the interviews with 39 staff and focus g...
This chapter explores the links between ipsative assessment and self-regulated music practice. It presents results from a study in which 16 college-level classical guitarists learned the same piece of music for ten practice sessions. On four occasions they recorded a rehearsal performance of the piece on camera and provided self-evaluative comments...
Music education has faced considerable challenges in trying to bridge the gap between music in young people’s lives and that taking place in the classroom. The ‘Musical Futures’ initiative aimed to devise new and imaginative ways of engaging young people, aged 11–19, in music activities through a process of informal learning based initially on popu...
This paper is based on the data collected from a longitudinal study of seven maintained, secondary schools in England that have adopted Musical Futures as an approach to teaching music. The research had a particular focus on key stage 3 (11–14). For the purposes of this paper, data gained from 18 music staff and 325 student interview transcriptions...
The inspiration for this study was a ‘critical incident’ that followed the annual end-of-course concert of the National Orchestra for All (NOFA), a non-auditioned, El Sistema inspired orchestra open to young players of all standards who face barriers in music making.
The study examines the perceived features of the inclusive environment of the orch...
This research aimed to provide an account of the impact of the Musical Futures approach on the wider school community in Musical Futures ‘Champion Schools’. Questionnaires were completed by 344 non-music teachers. Interviews were undertaken with members of senior management teams. The majority of staff indicated that Musical Futures had had a posit...
This research aimed to consider whether there were gender differences in the amount of practice undertaken by boys and girls, the practice strategies adopted and motivation to practise. A sample of 2027 girls and 1225 boys aged 6–19 years, ranging in level of expertise from beginner through to conservatory entrance level, playing instruments repres...
The research explored the provision of music services through hub partnerships in three 'plural' towns, where no ethnic group is in the majority. The key research focus was "How can we achieve and demonstrate greater access, inclusion and participation in and through music by more closely matching local music education provision to the particular n...
The research explored the provision of music services through hub partnerships in 'plural' towns, where no ethnic group is in the majority. The key research focus was "How can we achieve and demonstrate greater access, inclusion and participation in and through music by more closely matching local music education provision to the particular needs o...
Although there is now an accepted need for initiatives that support older people’s wellbeing, little attention has been paid to the potential for music making to effect a significant contribution to the quality of life of older people. The research summarised here explored the role of music in older people’s lives and how participation in community...
Recent models of musical motivation have recognised the complex interactions which occur between environmental (cultural, institutional, familial, educational) and internal factors (cognition and affect) in enhancing or reducing motivation. Much previous research has been small scale and not taken account of long term musical aspirations. This arti...
Although there is now an accepted need for initiatives that support older people’s well-being, little attention has been paid to the potential for music making to effect a significant contribution to the quality of life of older people. The research summarised here explored the role of music in older people’s lives and how participation in communit...
The aim of this research was to explore the impact of the adoption of the Musical Futures (MF) approach on secondary school music teachers working in MF Champion schools. The research took place over 3 years in 3 phases with 28 teachers completing questionnaires exploring the impact on their confidence, skills and pedagogy and 30 being interviewed...
Although there is now an accepted need for initiatives that support older people’s well-being, little attention has been paid to the role of those facilitating such activities. This research explored the benefits and challenges for those working in facilitating musical activities with older people. The research was undertaken at three UK case study...
Music education has faced considerable challenges in trying to bridge the gap between music in young people's lives and that taking place in the classroom. The ‘Musical Futures’ (MF) initiative aimed to devise new and imaginative ways of engaging young people, aged 11–19, in music activities through a process of informal learning based on popular m...
The principal aim of this paper is to address the question of whether and how professional practice within an informal teaching and learning context (music) may be understood through a critical-geragogy lens. Secondly, we consider whether critical geragogy has relevance to and potential
applications for enhancing practice among facilitators of olde...
This chapter concentrates on health and well-being, drawing on 11 New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA) projects covering the whole range, from basic biology to the arts and humanities. Our main purpose is to employ the findings from our projects to examine the barriers to healthy ageing and how to overcome them. By way of introduction to this discussion of...
This chapter discusses the various aspects of health and well-being in later life that were studied by fourteen different NDA projects. The first part of this chapter examines some of the key concepts in this field, including quality of life and subjective well-being. It focuses on the barriers to healthy ageing and good quality of life in old age....
Historically, in the professional training of musicians, the master-apprentice model has played a central role in instilling the methods and values of the discipline, contributing to the rigorous formation of talent. Expert professional musicians advocate that certain thinking skills can be modelled through the master-apprentice model, yet its crit...
Active Ageing with Music explores the powerful potential for active music-making to support wellbeing among older people. While major demographic transitions are currently underway, significant problems of social isolation, depression, and chronic disease among older people have been noted, requiring cost-effective and compassionate responses. This...
The principal aim of this paper is to address the question of whether and how professional practice within an informal teaching and learning context (music) may be understood through a critical geragogy lens. Secondly, we consider whether critical geragogy has relevance and potential applications with regard to enhancing practice amongst facilitato...
Background: There is considerable evidence that participating in music making can have benefits for children and young people. This research explored how participation in making music might support the social, emotional and cognitive well-being of older people. Methods: Comparisons were made between older people participating in a wide range of mus...
This research is an evaluation of the Musical Futures project set up to discover new ways of engaging 11 to 19-year-olds with music. IOE Research Briefings are short descriptions of significant research findings, based on the wide range of projects carried out by IOE researchers.
There has been a gradual increase in the body of literature regarding seniors’ musical preferences, learning approaches, development, and creativity. This literature dispels existing myths that perceive older people as a homogeneous group, characterized by decrepitude and diminishing capacity, and with a passive contribution to society. A phenomeno...
A compelling body of research demonstrates that music continues to offer powerful potential for enhancing health and well-being in old age. Active music-making has been found to provide a source of enhanced social cohesion, enjoyment, personal development, and empowerment, and to contribute to recovery from depression and maintenance of personal we...
The basis of this article is findings from the Music for Life Project which investigated the benefits and challenges of music activity participation for the over 50s in three case study sites in the United Kingdom. The paper uses a philosophical lens to explore the leaders’ and participants’ views on the purpose of the activities, how learners are...
The research reported here focuses on the organizational structure and facilitator strategies observed in musical activities with older people. The observations formed one part of the Music for Life Project, funded by the ESRC New Dynamics of Ageing Programme (http://www.newdynamics.group.shef.ac.uk/), which investigated the social, emotional and c...
There is now an accepted need for initiatives that support older people's well-being. There is increasing evidence that active engagement with music has the potential to contribute to this. This paper explores the relationship between musical possible selves and subjective well-being in later life. The research reported here formed part of a larger...
Between 2008 and 2010, the internationally acclaimed London Symphony Orchestra worked in partnership with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and 10 East London Music Services, delivering a range of music education projects that involved professional musicians, classroom teachers, primary school-aged pupils and college students. This article cons...
Aims:
This research explored the relationship between active music making and subjective well-being, in older people's lives. The research focused on how participation in making music might enhance older people's social, emotional and cognitive well-being, through meeting the basic psychological needs identified in earlier research.
Method:
The...
It has been said that participation in master classes provides an initiation into a community of practice (Hanken, 2008; Creech et al., 2009) and that contemporary practices in higher music education are strongly informed by those of the past (Froehlich, 2002, cf. Heikinheimo, 2009). This is certainly true of public master classes which provide stu...
This paper explores patterns of interpersonal behaviour amongst teachers and pupils during one-to-one instrumental lessons. It was hypothesised that these patterns might differ in systematic ways, according to an existing model of six interaction ‘types’ developed within a systems theory perspective and based on measures of interpersonal control an...
There is now an accepted need for initiatives that support older people's health and well-being. There is increasing evidence that active engagement with music has the potential to contribute to this. This research aimed to explore the characteristics of older people who participated in active music making with a view to identifying the groups that...
This article focuses on the reported benefits of participation in music activities, identified by participants of the Music for Life Project. The participants engaged in weekly music activities offered in three locations: two centres in London and one in the North of England. Their
responses were collected through questionnaires and focus group int...
This article focuses on the reported benefits of participation in musical activi¬ties identified by people over the age of 50, who participated in the Music for Life Project (MFLP). The participants engaged in weekly musical activities offered in three locations; two centres in
London and one in northern England. Their responses were collected thro...
There has been considerable research considering how instrumental practice changes as expertise develops. Much of that research has been relatively small scale and restricted in the range of instrumentalists included. This paper aimed to explore the development of practising strategies and motivation to practise as expertise develops with a large s...
Between September 2008 and August 2010 24 KS2 classroom teachers were involved in a two-year programme of continuing professional development (CPD), delivered by the LSO in partnership with Local Authority Music Services. The teachers indicated that they embarked on the CPD programme looking forward to opportunities to share good practice, gain new...
This paper reports on qualitative research undertaken at a conservatoire in the United Kingdom, exploring students' perceptions of how they were supported in realising their aspirations as professional musicians and making the transition to professional life. In particular, the research explored students' perceptions of the role played by their ins...
Most research on musical performance anxiety has focused on musicians coming from a classical background, and performance anxiety experiences of musicians outside the western classical genre remain under-researched. The aim of this study was to investigate perceived performance anxiety experiences in undergraduate and professional musicians and to...
This article describes a music project that took place as part of a bigger project, entitled the Music for Life Project that explored the social and emotional benefits of music participation for people over fifty. The intergenerational project was led by two music leaders from the Guildhall
School of Music & Drama. The participants involved were pu...
Although there is now an accepted need for initiatives that support older people’s well-being, little attention has been paid to what constitutes effective leadership of such activities. This research explored perceptions of effective leaders of musical activities with older people.
Three case study sites engaged with the research that drew on the...
The cyclic process of self-regulated learning has been identified as a predictor of achievement in musical skill acquisition and musical performance. Meta-cognition, intrinsic to the self-regulation process, develops as the student takes greater responsibility for their own learning. From this perspective we consider music students' responses to a...
Researchers in recent years have increasingly placed an emphasis on seeking pupils' perceptions of educational settings. Alongside this shift towards attaching value to the pupil viewpoint has been a growing interest concerning how interpersonal relationships, manifested as control or responsiveness between teachers and pupils or parents and pupils...
This paper, following on from our previous paper focusing on findings regarding students’ approaches to learning, explores students’ approaches to performance with particular focus on musical self-efficacy beliefs and experiences of performance anxiety in solo and group performances. The research design included a large questionnaire survey followe...
The overall aims of this study were to identify qualities of interpersonal interaction within teacher- parent-pupil learning partnerships and to explore whether these characteristics were predictors of learning and teaching outcomes for teachers, parents and pupils participating in pursuit of expertise on musical instruments. This article presents...
Research in higher education has established a relationship between student approaches to learning and their perceptions of the learning environment. This study aims to make a contribution to music education literature by investigating undergraduate music students' perceptions of the learning context and their attitudes towards learning and perform...
The aim of this article was to compare musicians’ views on (a) the importance of musical skills and (b) the nature of expertise. Data were obtained from a specially devised web-based questionnaire completed by advanced musicians representing four musical genres (classical, popular, jazz, Scottish traditional) and varying degrees of professional mus...
The aims of this research were to identify the ways in which parents may most constructively support their children's musical development, and to ascertain whether styles of parent–teacher and parent–pupil interaction would influence the extent to which parents engage in different types of supportive behaviours. A model of parent involvement as com...
The landscape of music education in the UK is constantly shifting and developing. This book provides a timely and unique overview of this restless sector by considering the achievements of music education, analysing its current performance and setting out aspirations for the future. "Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom" addres...