My research explores music-making that connects with contemporary and traditional international sounds in educational and community settings. The focus of my PhD is local musicking of newly-arrived and continually marginalised groups, in communities around the West Midlands, who have a connection to diaspora.

At the interface of an interdisciplinary area between ethnomusicology; music education; community music and applied ethnomusicology scholarship, my main areas of inquiry are:

• participant-led, responsive praxis within intercultural music education
  
• international music-making of children and families in the West Midlands.
  

In my fieldwork, I will be a participant-observer of music-making sessions and interview adult participants. A focus on participant-led practice has informed my decision to develop a child-centred approach to my PhD research, so I will hold focus groups with children to inform music sessions to test pedagogical ideas for international intercultural music-making. Due to the pandemic, I have made some adaptations to my research methodology to be able to do my research remotely, but remain connected to the music-making experience via the use of wearable technology. 

Research in this field is important to influence development of new pedagogies and equitable eduction, in a time when music in schools can be perceived to be under threat. I hope to contribute to better sustainability of this work and its future iterations, while creating important primary research into a little documented field of emergent music practice(s) in this region.