Pilot case studies

Ethno Sweden

Author: Sarah-Jane Gibson

In a time where borders between people appear to be strengthening, music projects that enable positive interactions between people from diverse places serve a vital need.

Ethno Sweden, the oldest and largest of Jeunesses Musicale International's folk music programmes, provides such an opportunity. This week long residential music camp aims at connecting young folk musicians from around the world by providing a space where they can learn traditional music practices from each other.

Download: Case Study: Ethno Sweden (PDF, 1.3 MB)

Ethno Portugal

Author: Lee Higgins

Ethno Portugal 2019 had 62 participants: 50 musicians and 12 dancers from 28 countries.

Using an ethnographic strategy, data collection included participant observation, interviews, and visual documentation.

Using inductive coding key themes were explored and analysed in response to 3 lines of enquiry set for these pilot projects: pedagogy and professional development, experience, and reverberations.

Download: Case Study: Ethno Portugal (PDF, 2.2 MB)

Ethno Denmark (1)

Author: Lisandra Roosioja

Drawing on ethnographic research methods, this study unpacks the experiences and personal impacts of the participants.

Ethno camps provide their participants with liminal space, which can be understood as a means for self-growth and intercultural learning and represent some of the key factors in participants' desires to attend further camps. Such environments however, can also be a struggle, especially for the first-timers.

Ways of learning within the camp can be understood as the combined result of ritualesque and carnivalesque characteristics that the participants experience through transformative individual changes and play.

Download: Case Study: Ethno Denmark (1) (PDF, 0.9 MB)

Ethno Denmark (2)

Author: Catherine Birch

Music-making, as a human endeavour, can enable deep rooted connections across profound social and cultural barriers. This discrete case study examines how, with clearly defined facilitation methods that respect individual autonomy, Ethno Denmark 2019 provided a framework in which participants could develop significant connections to themselves and others within the context of a structured music-making experience.

Themes emerging from the data collection, suggest that the foundational community music principles of 'welcome' and 'hospitality' (Higgins, 2012) are crucial to the development of strong interpersonal and musical connections.

Download: Case Study: Ethno Denmark (2) (PDF, 0.9 MB)

Ethno Flanders

Author: Linus Ellström

This pilot case study investigates Ethno, a concept of intercultural learning and dialogue that has existed for nearly 30 years. In particular, this study focuses on Ethno Flanders 2019. Three lines of enquiry guided the research: pedagogy, experience, and reverberations.

Utilizing qualitative data collection processes and Grounded Theory as an approach, the hypothesis of this enquiry was: in what way do the experiences of attending an Ethno affect life, what parts of the experience appear to be the most meaningful, and more generally what are some of the narratives surrounding Ethno?

Download: Case Study: Ethno Flanders (PDF, 1.7 MB)

Ethno Estonia

Author: Ana Coric

Ethno Estonia youth music camp has for more than 2 decades built a (g)local community, successfully bridging borders between formal, non-formal and informal education in the country. The camp itself links all Estonian institutions and NGOs connected with the folk music with Viljandi Folk Music Festival and gathers people of diverse ages, cultural, musical and educational backgrounds. 

The report is based on the historical background, people's experiences and theoretical insights from democratic music pedagogies, community music and service-learning. It uses a qualitative methodological approach.

Download: Case Study: Ethno Estonia (PDF, 1.2 MB)

Ethno Catalonia

Author: Elise Gayraud

Within the format and scope of the Ethno research project, this report highlights some of the key points that emerged from ethnographic fieldwork and interviews carried out at Ethno Catalonia 2019.

It also offers a critical analysis of the themes developed through the interviews, including globalisation, approaches to teaching and learning and personal experience. Through its fieldwork and theoretical lenses, it develops upon narratives generated by the participants, to highlight some of the impacts of a growing organisation which offers face to face encounters in an age of digital communications.

Download: Case Study: Ethno Catalonia (PDF, 0.5 MB)