(Re)connecting music and ecology. Teacher’s knowledge and perceptions of an interdisciplinary approach for environmental education

Abstract

Although in the past, Music and Ecology have been deeply intertwined; nowadays, they do not usually cross pathways. In the process, great opportunities for their integration in educational settings have been lost, and, thus, their potential for promoting natural, cultural, and social values. This research represents a meeting place between sciences and music, analyzing the historical connections between both subjects, contemplating the relationships of music with nature, and understanding music as part of the environment. Combining both quantitative and qualitative data from music teachers’ surveys and interviews, a mixed-method analysis is presented addressing the main study dimensions: teacher’s knowledge and training in the environmental field, and perception of music teachers about an interdisciplinary approach to the environmental issue. The empirical results of the triangulation, combined with the interdisciplinary theoretical framework, enable to establish didactic analogies between ecology and music, encouraging the re-connection of both disciplines and getting back a scientific approach to music and a musical approach to ecology.