Ben Bolden
Professor of Music Education
Graduate Supervisor
Music Education
BMus (Carleton), B.Ed. (OISE/UT), MMus (British Columbia), PhD (Toronto)
Professor of Music Education, Graduate Faculty
Dr. Benjamin Bolden, music educator and composer, is a professor and UNESCO Chair of Arts and Learning at Queen’s University, Canada. His research interests include transformative arts education, music education, the learning and teaching of composing, creativity, arts-based research, assessment in the arts, teacher education, teacher knowledge, and teachers’ professional learning. His research has been published in journals including Review of Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, Music Education Research, and Music Educators Journal. He serves on the editorial boards of The International Journal of Research in Aesthetic, Arts, and Cultural Education; The Canadian Music Educator; and The Canadian Music Teacher. As a teacher, Ben has worked with pre-school, elementary, secondary, and university students in Canada, England, and Taiwan. Ben is an award-winning associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre; his compositions have been performed by professional and amateur performing ensembles across Canada and internationally.
Research Interests
- arts education
- music education
- the learning and teaching of composing
- creativity
- arts-based research
- teacher education
- teacher knowledge
- teachers’ professional learning
Selected Publications
Bolden, B., Corcoran, S., Kukkonen, T., Newberry, J., & Rickey, N. (2024). Arts for transformative education: A guide for teachers informed by learning experiences from the UNESCO Associated Schools Network. Paris: UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000388701
Bolden B. (2023). Artistic methods and approaches to research in education. International Journal for Research in Cultural, Aesthetic, and Arts Education, 1(1), 10-15. https://doi.org/10.31244/IJRCAAE.2023.01.02
Bolden, B., Rickey, N., & DeLuca, C. (2023). Nurturing musical creativity through assessment for learning. Music Educators Journal, 109(4), 18-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/00274321231176683
Bolden, B. (2023). Teaching composing in Canadian music classrooms. In K. Devaney, M. Fautley, J. Grow, & A. Ziegenmeyer (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives (1st ed.) (Chapter 4, 9 pages). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003184317-6
Kukkonen, T., & Bolden, B. (2022). Nurturing creativity in the visual arts classroom: Understanding teacher strategies through Amabile’s componential theory. Canadian Review of Art Education, 49(1), 48-62. https://doi.org/10.26443/crae.v49i1.166
Bolden, B., DeLuca, C., Kukkonen, T., Roy, S., & Wearing, J. (2020). Assessment of creativity in K-12 education: A scoping review. Review of Education, 8(2), 343-376. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3188
Bolden, B., & Beach, P. (2020). Integrating music and literacy: Applying music concepts to support prosody and reading fluency. General Music Today, 34(2), 5-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371320926603
Soleas, E. K., & Bolden, B. (2020). What helped me innovate: Identified motivation factors from Canadian Innovators’ education experiences. Canadian Journal of Education/ Revue Canadienne de l’éducation, 43(3), 740-769. https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/4193
Beach, P., & Bolden, B. (2018). Word painting: Using a musical technique to enhance vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 72(6), 750-754. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1780
Kukkonen, T., & Bolden, B. (2018). Teaching lives: An arts-informed exploration of teacher experience. Art/Research International 3(2), 150-171. https://doi.org/10.18432/ari29329
Bolden, B. (2017). Music as method: Musically enhanced narrative inquiry. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 18(9), 1-19. http://www.ijea.org/v18n9/v18n9.pdf
DeLuca, C., Bolden, B., & Chan, J. (2017). Systematic professional learning through collaborative inquiry: Examining teachers’ perspectives. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.05.014
Bolden, B., & DeLuca, C. (2016). Making space for the magical: Leveraging assessment as an incitement for emergent learning. Assessment Matters, 10, 52-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.18296/am.0017
Selected Musical Compositions & Notable Performances
Bolden, B. (2024). Hope, for SA choir and piano. https://benjaminbolden.ca/hope/
- Premiere performance by the Holy Trinity Middle School Choir, directed by Ross Davison: May 30, 2024, Nepean, Canada.
- Commissioned ($4000) by the SSHRC-funded University of Ottawa based Viva Voce project.
Bolden, B. (2023). Have You Ever Seen?, for young voices and piano.
- Premiere performance by the Benjamin Franklin International School Choir, directed by Anastasia Mousouli: Dec. 17, 2023, Barcelona, Spain.
Bolden, B. (2022). Snow, for unaccompanied SATB choir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSwlYQdSuZQ
https://cypresschoral.com/composers/benjamin-bolden/snow/
- Winner of the Da Capo Chamber Choir NewWorks competition (2022).
- Premiered by the Da Capo Chamber Choir, directed by Leonard Enns: Nov. 11, 2023, Waterloo, Canada.
Bolden, B. (2017). Lord Franklin, for SATB choir. https://cypresschoral.com/composers/benjamin-bolden/lord-franklin/
- Commissioned by Mark Sirett and Cantabile Choirs of Kingston,
- Premiered at Sydenham St. United Church, May 27, 2017.
- Published by Cypress Choral Music Publishers: Vancouver.
Bolden, B. (2016). Tread Softly, for SATB choir. https://cypresschoral.com/composers/benjamin-bolden/tread-softly/
- Winner of the 2016 Diane Loomer Choral Canada Competition for Choral Writing.
- Premiered by the National Youth Choir of Canada, Edmonton, AB, May, 2016.
- Broadcast on CBC Radio 2, July 3 & September 4, 2016.
- Published by Cypress Choral Music Publishers: Vancouver.