Arts-based Research
Using Music and Storytelling in Research
With a rich background in songwriting, singing, performance, education, and working with young people in a range of contexts, Kael conducts research that focuses on using music and storytelling in a variety of ways. For many years, Kael has been using songs from their repertoire as teaching tools to open up dialogue with people about gender, sexuality, embodiment, and relationships. They also work with digital story-telling methods, combining narrative and music to document lived experiences. Most recently, Kael has been using a participatory research-creation method they developed called, “collaborative ethnographic songwriting” (CES). Kael uses CES to compose music for arts-based research projects using interview material from those projects and works directly with research participants to compose lyrics and music. CES is a robust method for analyzing, understanding, and disseminating people’s lived experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and perspectives about their social worlds.
Kael has composed and recorded songs for research-informed theatre productions, digital storytelling projects, and projects that support children and young people in telling their own stories in song. Kael presents their music-based research at academic and community-based conferences, in university classrooms and public schools, and at professional development training events for teachers and teacher candidates. Highlighted on this page are some of the projects Kael has directed or taken part in. If you would like to connect with Kael about incorporating music into your project, writing your own song, or having Kael deliver a presentation for your organization, please get in touch at kael@kaelreid.com.
