The pedagogical-artistic strategies of community music facilitators as an inspiration for formal music education: A single case study

In this article, we elaborate on the pedagogical-artistic strategies of a community music project and how they may inspire formal music educational practices. To do so, we draw on findings from a study on the pedagogical-artistic strategies of the musicians-coaches of The Ostend Street Orchestra (TOSO), a community music project that started as an artistic response towards the commotion around a group of homeless people in the coastal town of Ostend, Belgium. The peda- gogical-artistic strategies adopted by the TOSO coaches foster the emergence of an educational approach that may have the potential to enrich music educational practices by creating a learning environment that is more democratic and inclu- sive. Data collection included in-depth semi-structured interviews with the TOSO coaches in 2017 and 2021, as well as video-stimulated recall. The interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. Seven themes emerged from our analy- sis: embodied interaction, co-coaching, re-thinking musical parameters, personal musical skills, collaboration, collective experiential learning and inclusion. We present the framework and rationale of the study, describe the pedagogical-artistic strategies of the coaches, and discuss the results. In conclusion, we briefly consider possibilities for further research and music teacher education.