ABSTRACT
This chapter delves into the synergy between music and pedagogy to cultivate language awareness, critical thinking, and creativity. It investigates the integration of music as a pedagogical approach, unveiling its profound impact on second language development. The exploration traverses the nuanced relationship between musical language and verbal language, recognising connotative significance as a pivotal element. Education through music emerges as a potent strategy, using music as an emotional hook to enhance learning across subjects, particularly in second language acquisition (SLA). The chapter highlights the need for an equitable approach that embraces students’ diverse musical backgrounds, bridging the gap between educator and learner. It introduces the concept of ‘musical language’ as a conduit for communication with multi-dimensional attributes, where cultural and individual connotations intersect. The integration of musical language and pedagogical approaches is explored as a means of fostering artistic agency and self-expression. The chapter introduces ‘process music’, a practice that merges composition, improvisation, aural skills and performance in active learning. Insights from practice reveal outcomes such as engagement, creativity and a sense of belonging, encapsulated in the students’ own reflections.
