About CSEME

The Center for the Study of Education and the Musical Experience (CSEME) seeks to understand the nature of the musical experience and how education can enhance its development. Faculty and fellows in the Center pursue solutions to problems of music teaching and learning through consistent and carefully designed programs of research reflecting multiple perspectives on complex issues. We acknowledge and value the growing number of questions related to the musical experience outside the walls of K-12 institutions.

Founded in 1985 by Dr. Bennett Reimer, the Center supports the work of its members and provides space for collaborative projects in the following ways:

CSEME promotes systematic inquiry designed not as an isolated study, but as a program of research that seeks to explain or transform music education theory and practice;

CSEME functions as a collegial laboratory with members supporting one another’s work through careful scrutiny and constructive dialogue, and;

CSEME facilitates collaborative research in music education and related fields, providing opportunities for the exchange of information, individuals, and resources both within and across institutions.

The primary goal of our work is to ensure that all people fully experience the cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of a musical education. CSEME exists to stimulate and support excellent music education research and to disseminate the results widely to scholars, teachers, policymakers, and the public.