The Peatland University student Lucka Fenwick has reached a milestone in her research project “communicative musicality for Peatland restoration” supervised by Prof. Dr. Tess Bouchet. Her research explores how music has a positive influence on engagement with nature restoration in the context of environmental transition. Lucka uses the theory of ‘communicative musicality’ which was developed “from ground breaking studies showing how in mother-infant communication there exist noticeable patterns of timing, vocal timbre and melodic gesture.” (Malloch et all. 2009).
Lucka undertook an empirical study with young people (18 – 26 years) inspired by the issue raised by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch (2020) to see if music can lead to social change. Lucka started with a first selection of 162 songs resulting from of an open search with terms such as Peat and Peatland. In consultation with young people the selection was narrowed down to 10. The resulting playlist was used in workshops, initiated with the playlist participants, as they were invited to create a Peatland soundscape. Responder analyses suggest increased motivation to engage with Peatland degradation and restoration initiatives. Participants gave high scores for shifting boundaries and societal engagement including for an emerging cognitive orientation towards the functioning of Peatland Ecosystems.
References
Galle, Sara & Deijen, Jan & Milders, Maarten & de Greef, Mathieu & Scherder, Erik & Duijn, Cornelia & Drent, Madeleine. (2023). The effects of a moderate physical activity intervention on physical fitness and cognition in healthy elderly with low levels of physical activity: a randomized controlled trial. Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy. 15. 10.1186/s13195-022-01123-3.
Malloch, S., & Trevarthen, C. (Eds.). (2009). Communicative musicality: Exploring the basis of human companionship. Oxford University Press
Rabinowitch, T. C. (2020). The potential of music to effect social change. Music & Science, 3, 2059204320939772.
Bouchet. T., (2021) Music, Peatlands and Social Change. Music perception. An Interdisciplinary Journal for Music and Environment
