Why should an organisation like ONZA want to foster research? In part, this desire relates to ONZA’s role in Arts advocacy, including learning in and through the arts. The claims of Arts advocates are very much strengthened by evidence that is grounded in research. The establishment of ONZA itself in 2005 became a stimulus for research, particularly in relation to the improvement of classroom practice.

In 2006, ONZA signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Waikato  in part to help foster a culture of music education research at the University and beyond. The resulting Postgraduate Diploma and Masters in Education (Music Education) became goals for the many teachers that the Memorandum attracted to this University. However, changes in the University’s priorities and cost-cutting led to its termination of the Memorandum in 2016.

The research listed below in chronological order is impressive testimony to ONZA’s success in encouraging practitioners and academics to investigate aspects of classroom practice that have a relationship with Orff-based principles and practices. Where possible, we provide an abstract and a link to the full (downloadable) text.

• Linda Locke (2005). Teaching and Artistry. (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
• Terry Locke (2009). Orff and the “ivory tower”: Fostering critique as a mode of legitimation. International Journal of Music Education, 27(4), 314-325.
• Michelle Flint (2011). Directed study on the topic of “Musical activity as a way of enhancing mathematical reasoning” as part of a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Music Education) at the University of Waikato.
• Linda Locke & Terry Locke (2011). Sounds of Waitakere. Using practitioner research to explore how Year 6 recorder plays compose responses to visual representations of a natural environment. British Journal of Music Education, 28(3), 263-284.
• Millie (Linda) Locke & Terry Locke (2012). Introducing a mentor into a children’s composition project: Reflections on a process. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 7(1), 8-20.
• Celia Stewart (2013). Facilitating elemental composition in an Orff Classroom. (Unpublished masters’ thesis). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
• Damian Baker (2014). Improving student motivation and engagement in high school music composition through Orff Schulwerk pedagogy. (Unpublished masters’ thesis). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
• Michelle Hall (2014). Patriotism versus privacy: What is the price of citizenship? A teacher’s story. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 13(2), 141-156.
• Linda M. Locke (2015). Music education as a “practice of freedom”. In M. Peters & T. Besley (Eds.), Paulo Freire: The global legacy (pp. 503-515). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
• Lauren Prentice (2015). Using the GarageBand for iOS app to integrate composition tasks within a literacy unit in a generalist year 5 and 6 classroom.