Rate My Professor Kathryn Marsh

Professor Kathryn Marsh is Professor Emerita of Music Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. She earned her BA (Hons) in 1975, Diploma of Education from Sydney Teachers College, and PhD in 1998, all from the University of Sydney. Her career at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music included roles as Professor of Music Education, Associate Professor, and Chair of Music Education. Marsh has supervised research students and taught courses in music education, contributing to curriculum development and ethnographic research methodologies in the field.

Marsh's research focuses on children's musical play, global traditions and changes in children's songs and games across cultures, and the role of music in supporting refugee, immigrant, and Indigenous children. Her landmark book, The Musical Playground: Global Tradition and Change in Children's Songs and Games (Oxford University Press, 2008), is based on fifteen years of ethnomusicological fieldwork in urban and rural school playgrounds worldwide, exploring composition, oral transmission, and cultural influences in playground music. Key publications include 'Contributions of playground singing games to the social inclusion of refugee and newly arrived immigrant children in Australia' (2017), 'Creating bridges: music, play and well-being in the lives of refugee and immigrant children and young people' (2016), 'The beat will make you be courage: The role of a secondary school music program in supporting young refugees and newly arrived immigrants in Australia' (2012), 'The permeable classroom: Learning, teaching, and musical identity in a remote Australian Aboriginal homelands school' (2011), and 'Cycles of Appropriation in Children's Musical Play: Orality in the Age of Reproduction' (2006). She edited Research Studies in Music Education and her scholarship has over 950 citations. In 2021, Marsh received the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to music education as an academic, researcher, author, mentor, and to professional musicological societies, underscoring her impact on inclusive music education practices.