Everyday Musicality

All human beings are born with the potential to be musical, and our lives are enriched through musical engagement. We may not all end up professional musicians, but we can all enjoy engaging with and making music in our daily lives. The purpose of this website is to contribute to the conversation about music learning, music teaching, and music education research and to apply these ideas in practical ways, with the goal of helping people to have more positive and fulfilling musical experiences in their day-to-day lives.

Heather Nelson Shouldice, PhD


“Instead of leaving students to assume that music-making in the real world is only for professionals, music educators can encourage and communicate the value of everyday, participatory music-making. Musical potential does indeed lie in every human being, but to realize it, we must foster an appreciation for the musicality of which everyone is capable and a belief that this ‘everyday musicality’ is worthwhile.” 

Heather N. Shouldice (2020)

Recent posts on the “Research to Real Life: Practical Applications of Music Education Research for Teachers” blog and “Everyday Musicality” podcast: