Yang Yang

PhD Student, Music Education
Office: TC 122
Email: yyan2383@uwo.ca

Biography

Yang Yang is a PhD student in Music Education at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, Western University. She holds a Master of Music (MMus) in Music Education from Western University, a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Solfeggio and Ear Training from East China Normal University, and dual bachelor's degrees in Musicology (Music Education, BFA) and English (BA) from the University of Jinan, China.

Her academic background brings together music pedagogy, aural skills training, and interdisciplinary approaches to music learning. Her previous research explored embodied cognition and music learning strategies, with particular attention to chord perception and the relationships among musical acoustics, bodily experience, and music learning. She has teaching experience in elementary, middle, and high school settings in Shandong Province and Shanghai, China, including work as a collaborative pianist, in project-based learning (PBL), and in interdisciplinary STEAM arts education. She also served as a teaching assistant in Solfeggio and Ear Training at the School of Music, East China Normal University.

Yang's current research interests lie at the intersection of the philosophy and sociology of music education, community music, and musical participation. She is particularly interested in how shared musical practices shape social relationships, foster belonging, and create opportunities for participation across diverse social and cross-cultural contexts. Her emerging doctoral research focuses on contemporary urban China, exploring how music may help people build and sustain meaningful connections amid social change. More broadly, music can be not only a subject of this world, the education field, and an art form, but also a way of knowing ourselves, others, and the communities to which we belong.