Incorporation of informal music learning practices in a primary classroom in Cyprus

Recently, a growing interest from music educators and researchers has focused on the ways informal music learning practices could be integrated in schools' classrooms, in a response to bridge the gap between the music studied at school and the hidden or private musical world of our students. This qualitative case study investigated the use of Green's informal learning approach in three stages as derived from Musical Futures, but with some differences. Participants were 18 fifth-grade students (aged 10-11 years) in a rural school in Cyprus, along with eight parents. The findings here focus on exploring the learning process that the children underwent, derived from a larger study which also examined the benefits (musical and extra-musical) perceived by children and their parents. Despite differences in the cultural contexts, musical styles, and ages of the children, findings reveal similarities with related work on informal music learning in other cultural contexts, and with Green's original work. However, different from Green's work which was set in secondary schools, but similar to other research on Musical Futures in primary schools, students extensively used singing and incorporated movement throughout the learning process. Findings support the notion that young students can construct their music learning when given the opportunity to be active agents and collaborators in the learning process.