The QUB Innovation Zones team welcomed Ulster Orchestra staff to the School of SSESW recently to exchange thoughts on how Crescendo research is evidencing improvements in pupils’ musical, social and emotional development. Crescendo is a primary school music education and social learning programme. The Innovation Zones initiative is led by School of SSESW colleague Liam O’Hare. 

The discussion centred around two Crescendo studies. The first study, based on the PhD work of Dr Conneth Poland (SSESW), sets out how Crescendo was designed and implemented in the Shankill and Colin communities of Belfast. It also provides preliminary evidence of how Crescendo improves musical, social and emotional skills of young children in primary schools facing multiple challenges.

The second study, funded by Urban Villages Initiative within the Northern Ireland Executive Office, was a quasi-experimental study of Crescendo’s effects on the musical, social and emotional development of over 400 Primary 1 pupils. This study was conducted in eight schools in the Colin and Shankill areas The study found that there were positive significant effects of Crescendo on pupil outcomes. The study also identified that there were significant declines in young children’s musical abilities during the Covid pandemic. The study investigators were Innovation Zones researchers Dr Liam O’Hare (SSESW), Dr Leeanne O’Hara (Centre for Public Health), and Dr Aideen Gildea (Nursing & Midwifery).

For more information on Crescendo or the Innovation Zones please contact Liam O’Hare l.ohare@qub.ac.uk.