top of page
_edited.png)
Then the Dream Started to be More:
Literature Review Summary
Use the listing below to review the 20 research articles which were included in the Literature Review in this report.
Remember to download the full report to read the literature review.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS PAGE IS VIEWED BEST IN A BROWSER
This information is also available as a spreadsheet.
Report Citation:
Jaber H., Garry F., Phelan H. 2023. “Then the Dream Started to be More”. Singing and Music-Making With Refugee Children and Unaccompanied Minors: Insights from Research and Practice. A Sing Up Foundation Report: University of Limerick, Limerick.
Go Back to
Research Report
Support our Surrey Arts Partnership Project - Vocalise!
Building upon this report, we have developed a 3-year action research project with Surrey Arts that will make major strides in building and disseminating a model for vocal work with young refugees and are currently seeking funds.
Title:
Creating unity through celebrating diversity: A case study that explores the impact of music education on refugee background students
Author:
Crawford
Year:
2017
Australia
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
An investigation of the impact of music education for Australian students. F-12 school. Pseudonym used for the school: Green College.
Key Points:
>
Making friends was difficult at the start due to language barriers. Learning to speak the language and gaining knowledge and skills helped students to feel more at ease at school in general.
>
“Learning music for all these students is more than just about acquiring new skills, and it results in the production of an outcome that can be shared with others. From this vantage point students learn about cooperation, different modalities for self-expression, and the reward of a sense of achievement that is derived from the school and community public performances”. p. 349
>
Speaking about music lessons, educators (including non-arts teachers) emphasised the importance of creating a positive learning environment that is fun and engaging, mutually respectful and non-judgemental. Also important was setting out clear goals and aiming towards a musical performance.
Relevance:
The case study is about refugee background young people. “As in previous research, the term refers to young people aged 10 to 25 years who share experiences commonly associated with being refugees such as trauma, displacement, and disruption to health, education and wellbeing, regardless of their visa classification and status upon entry to Australia” p.345
Musical Activities:
An investigation of the impact of music education for Australian students. F-12 school. Pseudonym used for the school: Green College.
Migrant Groups included in research:
Referred to as refugee background young people.
Title:
Socially inclusive practices in the music classroom: The impact of music education used as a vehicle to engage refugee background students
Author:
Crawford
Year:
2020
Australia
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
“to explore whether music education and the practices of the teacher had an impact on the wellbeing and learning outcomes of participants” p.249
Key Points:
>
.. “music class plays a critical role in consolidating friendships and provides students with a sense of belonging in the school community” p.254
>
Music: teamwork, self-expression through music-making, new skills. “The music teacher elaborated that creation of supportive and inclusive practice is based on valuing the potential of each person to learn and be creative” p.257
>
when students share music or dances from their own country, it “helps them to connect to something familiar” p.257
Relevance:
impact of classroom music as a way to engage refugee background students. Qualitative case study as part of “an ethnographic multi-case study” p.250 Music education. Pseudonym for school: Purple College
Musical Activities:
“to explore whether music education and the practices of the teacher had an impact on the wellbeing and learning outcomes of participants” p.249
Migrant Groups included in research:
20 students over 10 week school term. 10 male 10 female aged 13-17
Title:
At home, song, and fika - portraits of Swedish choral initiatives amidst the refugee crisis
Author:
De Quadros & Vu
Year:
2017
Sweden-authors are USA and Australia
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
“..to study how selected Swedish choral directors seek to include refugees into their choirs or musical groups…to understand how such efforts at inclusion are received, understood, and enacted” p.1113
Key Points:
>
Refugee youth choir “gathers every Friday to sing as a means of language acquisition” p.1116. The authors suggest that it is the intentional act of participating in weekly rehearsals that binds people together and creates a sense of community, rather than singing the songs.
>
The authors emphasise the importance of creating an inclusive and welcoming space for multi-cultural choral singing. They argue that “the informal multilayered acts of hospitality may well be the most important aspects of this work, displacing the narrow goals of making music, acquiring language, and providing an insight into Swedish culture”. p. 1124
>
“Aside from choir singing, networking between Swedes and refugees is an important part of the choir meetings” p.1120
Relevance:
Multi-cultural choral experiences. Language acquisition.
Musical Activities:
“..to study how selected Swedish choral directors seek to include refugees into their choirs or musical groups…to understand how such efforts at inclusion are received, understood, and enacted” p.1113
Migrant Groups included in research:
One mention of a choral group of 40 refugee youth aged 16-19. Newcomers from Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Kenya, Croatia, and Iraq. 10 girls and 30 boys.
Title:
Musical pathways to the peer community: A collective case study of refugee children’s use of music therapy
Author:
Enge & Stige
Year:
2022
Norway
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
“This study explores a music therapy practice set in a public primary school in a rural area of Western Norway. It focuses on refugee children’s social wellbeing, with emphasis on the peer community” p. 7. Collective case study.
Key Points:
>
Music therapy can promote the social wellbeing, health and development of refugee children by supporting their psychological and social needs.
>
Literature regarding music therapy’s supporting role in the context of the social wellbeing of refugee children is limited.
>
Music therapy may foster interaction between peers in this context but further studies are needed in other schools and contexts to supplement the findings in this case study, in one school.
Relevance:
Music therapy with refugee children
Musical Activities:
“This study explores a music therapy practice set in a public primary school in a rural area of Western Norway. It focuses on refugee children’s social wellbeing, with emphasis on the peer community” p. 7. Collective case study.
Migrant Groups included in research:
Four refugee children aged 8-12 years.
Title:
Voice of Ireland? Children and music within asylum seeker accommodation.
Author:
Kenny
Year:
2018
Ireland
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
Ethnomusicology lessons with migrant background pupils in a primary and secondary schools.
Key Points:
>
“over the six workshop sessions, activities such as unison singing, part-singing, group composing, vocalisations, group chants and action songs all served to unite them in the task of music making” p.217
>
The children shared songs from their own cultures but also showed their knowledge of well-known mainstream pop and hip-hop songs illustrating complex socio-musical identities-workshops were a space to explore musical and other identities.
>
“Forced migration drives those who are displaced to transform their identities in order to adapt to new cultures, communities and contexts” p.221
Relevance:
Singing and associated activities with children who are in asylum seeker accommodation in Ireland
Musical Activities:
Ethnomusicology lessons with migrant background pupils in a primary and secondary schools.
Migrant Groups included in research:
11 children aged 7-12 years, six nationalities, male and female.
Title:
A Qualitative Investigation of Leisure Engagement and Health Benefits Among North Korean Adolescent Refugees
Author:
Kim et al.
Year:
2021
Korea
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
To investigate leisure behaviours of teenage defectors from North to South Korea
Key Points:
>
Making spaces available for leisure activities, including music and dance, is important to teenagers who want to connect musically and socially in their new lives in South Korea. This can also lead to musical career pathways, building self-esteem and confidence.
>
A combination of structured musical activity and improvisation helps to promote a sense of wellbeing and social inclusion and can facilitate cross-cultural dialogue.
>
Three key themes are outlined in the findings: “creating a sense of belonging, increasing psychological well-being and facilitating acculturation” p. 9. Referring to Berry et al. (1987) acculturation is defined as “the cultural change processes that occur during prolonged, constant, firsthand contacts between two different cultural groups” p. 3
Relevance:
Music is one of the many leisure activities that helps people to ‘accultrate’
Musical Activities:
To investigate leisure behaviours of teenage defectors from North to South Korea
Migrant Groups included in research:
Young defectors from North Korea
Title:
Representing Musical Identities of Children with Migrant Background-An Example from the Research Project Music without Borders.
Author:
Lin
Year:
2017
Austria
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
A discussion of the challenges and limitations of the Music without Borders project and strategies for engaging in research on the musical identities of migrant background pupils. A key goal was to “foster the pupils’ understanding of the ‘other’ and the ‘unfamiliar’ in music that was new to them” p. 38
Key Points:
>
“… most pupils who come from migrant backgrounds are musically multilingual […] they listen to many different musical styles and identify with a multitude of musical languages” p. 41
>
The author argues that intercultural learning should be part of every subject but music is particularly suited to facilitating that as it is a form of cultural expression for different groups. The musicology lessons helped to establish a platform for “intercultural communication” (p. 42)
>
The authors argue that the Austrian school system needs to change.There is an over-obsession with German language acquisition and a lack of appreciation for students’ first language. Music projects such as this are unsustainable (after its two years) due to lack of resources.
Relevance:
Ethnomusicology lessons with migrant background pupils in a primary and secondary schools.
Musical Activities:
A discussion of the challenges and limitations of the Music without Borders project and strategies for engaging in research on the musical identities of migrant background pupils. A key goal was to “foster the pupils’ understanding of the ‘other’ and the ‘unfamiliar’ in music that was new to them” p. 38
Migrant Groups included in research:
Migrant background students, teachers and school directors.
Title:
“The beat will make you courage”: The role of a secondary school music program in supporting young refugees and newly arrived immigrants in Australia
Author:
Marsh
Year:
2012
Australia
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
This case study (one in a multi-case study) explores how a number of musical activities in a specialist secondary school for newly arrived immigrants and refugees helps students to integrate within their new host culture, in this case, Australia.
Key Points:
>
“The choir at the school provided not only an avenue for developing a feeling of community and belonging, but also a sense of cohesiveness and trust” p. 105
>
“In this school, music and dance assisted with acculturative processes, enabling students to forge new connections within the host culture while maintaining links with the home culture” p. 108.
>
“Towards the end of the rehearsal a completely new African student entered the room and stood at the back of the choir […] Within two minutes she was singing along with the rest of the choir, her prior knowledge of the song enabling her to gain some sense of belonging to the school within her first hour of attendance” p. 105
Relevance:
The study explores how singing, dancing and drumming facilitates non-verbal and verbal commRC:R[1]Cunication and helps young people to connect with their own culture and others from different cultural backgrounds.
Musical Activities:
This case study (one in a multi-case study) explores how a number of musical activities in a specialist secondary school for newly arrived immigrants and refugees helps students to integrate within their new host culture, in this case, Australia.
Migrant Groups included in research:
Secondary school age young people aged 12-18.
Title:
Creating Bridges: Music, Play and Well-Being in the Lives of Refugee and Immigrant Children and Young People.
Author:
Marsh
Year:
2017
Australia
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
Explores how musical participation, particularly musical play, contributes to the wellbeing of newly arrived migrant and refugee children and young people by helping to “provide new musical and social beginnings” p. 60
Key Points:
>
“Refugees face a range of psychosocial and cultural challenges related to geographical and cultural displacement and trauma experienced both in the country of origin, en route and during relocation and resettlement” p. 61. Children need to adapt to a new country and culture and may face “language problems, racism, social isolation and changes in family structure and roles.” p.61. Many voluntary migrant children face similar challenges.
>
“Bicultural children may use musical play as a mode through which identity and cultural practices from their birth countries can be supported, but may also use it as a way of adapting new cultural practices and for transitioning between the two” (p.63)
>
“In addition to its spontaneous occurrence in a variety of settings, the presence of music, musical play and dance in regular planned activities in schools and community facilities can enhance language development and social integration within the host culture” p. 70
Relevance:
Explores music in the lives of “refugee and newly arrived voluntary migrant children” p. 60-61
Musical Activities:
Explores how musical participation, particularly musical play, contributes to the wellbeing of newly arrived migrant and refugee children and young people by helping to “provide new musical and social beginnings” p. 60
Migrant Groups included in research:
Multiple groups discussed. Specific references: “Iraqi, South Sudanese and Sierra Leonean refugee children and young people in Australia, Punjabi children in the UK and newly arrived Central and South American immigrants in the USA” p. 60 [abstract]
Title:
Interculturality in the playground and playgroup
Author:
Marsh & Dieckmann
Year:
2016
Australia
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
Book chapter discussing “the potential for intercultural dialogue and expression of interculturality provide by the music of two oral traditions […] children’s playground singing games and lullabies” p. 358
Key Points:
>
The playground games and lullabies encourage intercultural expression and help participants to feel less out of place in a new host culture.
>
“Musical play in the playground is […] a space where the ‘out of place’ immigrant child can find a place to belong” p. 359
>
In the lullaby exchange group (attended by mothers with babies and young children)“ [t]he playgroup was a safe space, like ‘home’, where the women interacted with other interculturalists and were empowered to construct new identities and ‘express more fully all parts of themselves. p. 367.
Relevance:
An ethnographic study focusing on culturally diverse children and adolescents in a number of school and community settings in Sydney, Australia
Musical Activities:
Book chapter discussing “the potential for intercultural dialogue and expression of interculturality provide by the music of two oral traditions […] children’s playground singing games and lullabies” p. 358
Migrant Groups included in research:
Refugee school children and migrant and refugee women with babies and young children.
Title:
Contributions of playground singing games to the social inclusion of refugee and newly arrived immigrant children in Australia
Author:
Marsh & Dieckmann
Year:
2017
Australia
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
The article discusses how refugee and newly arrived immigrant children connect socially through playground singing games.
Key Points:
>
Playground games that evoked memories of peace and war in the children’s home countries “had the capacity to assist with the processing of traumatic events, where symbols of fear and threat could be verbally disempowered by ridicule and actions that embodied control by the players” p. 714
>
Children were able to connect socially through the non-verbal communicative aspects of playground singing games. The actions and movements of the games in the host country were very often familiar to newly arrived refugee and migrant children enabling them to immediately join in.
>
“As an intercultural and intertextual activity, musical play in the playground creates a space where refugee and newly arrived immigrant children can find a place to belong” p. 717.
Relevance:
Refugee and newly arrived immigrant children in a primary school in Australia. Playground singing games and lullaby sharing fosters cultural maintenance
Musical Activities:
The article discusses how refugee and newly arrived immigrant children connect socially through playground singing games.
Migrant Groups included in research:
Refugee and newly arrived migrant children from many different countries, and Australian born children with migrant parents.
Title:
Music and Refugees’ wellbeing in contexts of protracted displacement.
Author:
Millar & Warwick
Year:
2019
UK (study site, camp in Northern Greece)
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
To enhance understanding of the connection between music practice and the wellbeing of young refugees.
Key Points:
>
“Experiences of war, flight and life in a camp afterwards have the potential to compromise wellbeing in numerous ways, from emotional trauma, to the loss of autonomy and life opportunities” p. 67
>
The authors note the positive impacts of engagement with music in terms of health promotion through personal skill development, fostering supportive environments and community action.
>
The study was “informed by the social-ecological approach embedded within the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion” (p.70)
Relevance:
The study examines the perspectives of young, displaced, Yazidi music participants at a camp in Greece populated by Yazidi people only.
Musical Activities:
To enhance understanding of the connection between music practice and the wellbeing of young refugees.
Migrant Groups included in research:
Yazidi music participants aged 11-18.
Title:
The participatory arts-based project as an exceptional sphere of belonging
Author:
Nunn
Year:
2022
UK
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
The paper stems from the Dispersed Belongings project.
Key Points:
>
Participatory arts-based projects provide opportunities to not only build relationships between co-researchers, researchers, artists and audiences, but also provide opportunities to build relations beyond projects within the local community.
>
The author tells of the challenges faced by a young Syrian woman who was criticised by members of her own community for her part in a musical performance. “In this case, Amira’s own transformation as a young woman, musician and emerging leader was incongruent with a community still grappling with ethno-religious and gendered politics of (non)belonging in a new, post-migration socio-cultural context” p.264
>
“The unique combination of participation, arts and research creates exceptional conditions for supporting transformative belonging within and beyond the project” p. 265
Relevance:
Focuses on a project for refugee background young people and how a sense of belonging gained within the project can open up new possibilities for belonging beyond the project
Musical Activities:
The paper stems from the Dispersed Belongings project.
Migrant Groups included in research:
As in Nunn (2018): Refugee background young people: Karen, Syrian, and Kurdish Syrian young people. Age range: 15-24
Title:
Dispersed Belongings: A Participatory arts-based study of experiences of resettled refugee young people in regional cities in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Author:
Nunn
Year:
2018
UK [project sites: UK and Australia]
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
Report: Explores how participatory arts-based methods can “explore, communicate and support belonging” p.26
Key Points:
>
“A trusting, inclusive environment is foundational to all aspects of participatory arts projects” p.4 Challenges: trust can be lost-couldn’t stop people videoing and nerves for performances.
>
“Creating and presenting art and music helps young people gain recognition as active agents-as artists, critical thinkers, representatives of their communities, and leaders” p.4
>
Song lyrics: “We all sang With the most beautiful voices. We had a wonderful time with all our friends… With the most beautiful melodies We made music together” p.28
Relevance:
The study explores the experiences of young resettled, refugee background people in regional settings in Australia and the UK. Participatory arts-based research.
Musical Activities:
Report: Explores how participatory arts-based methods can “explore, communicate and support belonging” p.26
Migrant Groups included in research:
Refugee background young people: Karen, Syrian, and Kurdish Syrian young people. Age range: 15-24
Title:
School-Based Prevention Programme for Refugee Children
Author:
Rousseau & Guzder
Year:
2008
Canada
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
Review of “school programs developed to improve the mental health of refugee children” p.534
Key Points:
>
Developing school-based prevention programs can support refugee children’s mental health but the development of these programs is hindered by a number of obstacles: fear of stigmatization, diverse migratory experiences, different social and institutional realities in host countries.
>
“Schools play a key role, both as mediators in helping children and youths adapt to their host country and as the main access point to prevention and treatment services for mental health problems” p.533
>
Sandplay program for preschoolers: In each session the opening ritual consists of the children sitting in a circle singing an action song. “They then create their own worlds in sand trays” p.539. The children use verbal and non-verbal expression in their individual and collective play.
Relevance:
“A Montreal team made up of schools, community organizations, and health professionals developed a set of prevention programs for preschools, elementary schools and high schools”
Musical Activities:
Review of “school programs developed to improve the mental health of refugee children” p.534
Migrant Groups included in research:
General discussion of programs rather than participants
Title:
Music without Borders: A Research Project about the New Methodologies of Music Teaching in the Viennese Primary and Secondary Schools.
Author:
Saglam
Year:
2019
Austria
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
To provide “an insight into possibilities of intercultural music education in Viennese primary schools” p.187. Ethnographic study.
Key Points:
>
The project involved the creation of a book and CD. The children were actively involved singers and illustrators.
>
The project highlighted the need for “new strategies of transmission and teaching which are freer of prejudice and hierarchies” p.197
>
It is important to have good communication between teachers and students and children should be free to establish their identity in their own ways.
Relevance:
Pupils brought their own songs or their favourite songs to class and spoke about them.
Musical Activities:
To provide “an insight into possibilities of intercultural music education in Viennese primary schools” p.187. Ethnographic study.
Migrant Groups included in research:
Described as: pupils, primary school teachers, ethnomusicologists and music teachers.
Title:
Mateneen [Together] - a music therapy project for and with young refugees and asylum seekers in Luxembourg.
Author:
Schmartz & Majerus
Year:
2020
Luxembourg
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
Short Communication-a report on a low barrier and small-scale intervention p.117, An overview of the project?
Key Points:
>
“Music, as a non-verbal medium, is the driving force behind the therapeutic relationship, helping to overcome language barriers and to open up constructive exchange as well as new channels of communication” p. 117
>
Feelings of belonging while connecting to culture using rhythm, singing, or dancing. p.118
>
Music Therapy sessions for young refugees and asylum seekers may be one way to address complex and often painful themes linked to forced displacement and resettlement. No research has been done in Luxembourg to date.
Relevance:
Music therapy project with young refugees and asylum seekers in Luxembourg
Musical Activities:
Short Communication-a report on a low barrier and small-scale intervention p.117, An overview of the project?
Migrant Groups included in research:
Young refugees and asylum seekers, including unaccompanied minors.
Title:
Wellbeing and Integration through Community Music: The Role of Improvisation in a Music Group of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Local Community Members
Author:
Vougioukalou et al.
Year:
2019
UK
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
To “explore how community music-making and improvisation in Wales, UK, has contributed to participants’ experience of their wellbeing, sense of belonging, cross-cultural communication and integration” p. 534
Key Points:
>
Combining structured musical activities and improvisation can help to promote a sense of wellbeing, inclusivity, and intercultural dialogue.
>
“One RAS participant, a young woman who had recently arrived in the UK, became quite emotional during a women’s dance improvisation session. She later mentioned […] that she had cried because she realised how long it had been since she last felt happy” p.539.
>
Choir members learned a shared choral repertoire. The RAS participants spoke about how local group performances helped them to feel that they were contributing to their local community. At one local performance audience and participant children played percussion instruments together in the performance space.
Relevance:
This is about adults but mentions children who regularly participated in the singing activities and performances. Observational, autoethnographic- case study.
Musical Activities:
To “explore how community music-making and improvisation in Wales, UK, has contributed to participants’ experience of their wellbeing, sense of belonging, cross-cultural communication and integration” p. 534
Migrant Groups included in research:
Refugees, asylum seekers and community members. Two group leaders’ reflections.
Title:
Continuity and Social Support: A Longitudinal Study of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors’ Care Networks
Author:
Behrendt et al.
Year:
2021
Belgium
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
Examines how unaccompanied minors’ mental health is affected by continuity and disruption in social support networks.
Key Points:
>
“..practitioners and host societies need to ….stimulate an inclusive and accepting climate toward newcomers.. “ p.410
>
“Social connection is a basic human need fundamental to any individual’s well-being” p.398
>
“[l]oneliness…has a devastating effect on mental health and is often predominant in the lives of URMs” p.398
Relevance:
Longitudinal Study. Provides context relating to the challenges faced by unaccompanied refugee minors. References to music as a means of providing cultural continuity.
Musical Activities:
Examines how unaccompanied minors’ mental health is affected by continuity and disruption in social support networks.
Migrant Groups included in research:
unaccompanied refugee minors. Aged 14-20. 34 boys and 1 girl
Title:
Music in the school life of newly arrived migrant children: potential paths to participation and belonging
Author:
Burbridge Rinde & Kenny
Year:
2021
Norway
Country:
Aims/Purpose:
Investigates scope of musical participation available in an introductory class for newly arrived migrant children and how musical engagement fosters a sense of belonging.
Key Points:
>
A sense of belonging is not a guaranteed outcome of musical participation in educational settings. It must be researched.
>
Children could choose their own songs and therefore shared songs in their own language
>
Children seemed to experience belonging in their new setting through “common repertoire, and musical sharing leading to interpersonal encounters” p.627
Relevance:
Music education with newly arrived migrant children. Ethnographic study of one Norwegian primary school.
Musical Activities:
Investigates scope of musical participation available in an introductory class for newly arrived migrant children and how musical engagement fosters a sense of belonging.
Migrant Groups included in research:
Teaching staff and pupils. Six pupils aged 7-13. Four girls and two boys from Europe, South America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Southwest Asia. p.624
You might also be interested in...
Singing with Refugees: Literature Review Summary
Browse through the original research used for the literature review in our Singing for Refugees Report
Singing with young refugees
This extensive report considers the very challenging lives of refugee children and highlights the impact of singing and music-making.
World Voice Teaching Materials
A temporary home for a selection of World Voice resources.
bottom of page