Dr. Danielle Sirek, PhD

Assistant Professor - Curriculum Studies and Studies in Applied Linguistics

PhD (Royal Northern College of Music, UK), MMus (University of Toronto, Canada), BMus (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada)

Dr. Danielle Sirek, PhD

Assistant Professor - Curriculum Studies and Studies in Applied Linguistics

PhD (Royal Northern College of Music, UK), MMus (University of Toronto, Canada), BMus (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada)

Danielle Sirek is an Assistant Professor of Arts Education in the Faculty of Education. Her program of research is primarily focused on arts teacher education; sociology of music education; and intersections between music education and ethnomusicology. Her research is published in journals such as the International Journal for Music Education, the International Journal of Education & the Arts, and Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education; and has been presented at conferences in a variety of disciplines including the International Society for Music Education (ISME), the International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education (ISSME), the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA), and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Prior to her appointment at Western, Dr. Sirek was an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Windsor, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the Faculty of Education and School of Creative Arts.

In addition to her scholarly work, Dr. Sirek sings professionally with the JUNO-nominated Canadian Chamber Choir and with local ensembles. She is also Associate Artistic Director for the Windsor Choral Festival, a local festival in which approximately 350 participants work with choral clinicians and engage in music education workshops annually.

Recent Publications

Sefton, T. G. & Sirek, D. (in press). Identity, memory, and performance in the time of pandemic: A duoethnography. Visions of Research in Music Education.

Sirek, D. (2022). Singing the revo: Memories of music-in-revolution and music-as-revolution in Grenada, West Indies. In C. Frierson-Campbell, C. Hall, S. Powell, & G. Rosabal-Coto (Eds.), Sociological Thinking in Music Education: International Intersections (pp. 57-71). Indiana University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sociological-thinking-in-music-education-9780197600962?cc=ca&lang=en&

Sirek, D. (2021). Jump up, wine, and wave: Soca music, social identity, and symbolic boundaries in Grenada, West Indies. In R. Wright, G. Johansen, P. Kanellopoulos, P. Schmidt (Eds.), Handbook to Sociology of Music Education (pp. 153-163). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-to-Sociology-of-Music-Education/Wright-Johansen-Kanellopoulos-Schmidt/p/book/9781138586369

Sirek, D. (2021). At the panyard, in the calypso tent, on the soca stage: Exploring ‘ideal’ identity in community music activities across generations in Grenada, West Indies. In L. Willingham (Ed.), Walking the Boundaries, Bridging the Gaps (pp. 445-460). Wilfrid Laurier University Press. https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/C/Community-Music-at-the-Boundaries

Sefton, T. G., Sirek, D. (2020). Musical self-portraits and representations of non/conformity: In the music classroom with preservice generalist teachers. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 21(32). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea21n32

Sirek, D. (2018). “Until I die, I will sing my calypso song”: Calypso, soca, and music education across a generational divide. Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 12-29. http://doi.org/10.22176/act17.3.12

Sirek, D. & Sefton, T. (2018). Control, constraint, convergence: Examining our role as generalist teacher music educators. Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 35-56. http://doi.org/10.22176/act17.2.50

Sirek, D. (2018). Our culture is who we are! “Rescuing” Grenadian identity through musicking and music education. International Journal of Music Education. 36(1), 47-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761417703783

Sirek, D. (2016). Providing contexts for understanding musical narratives of power in the classroom: Music, politics, and power in Grenada, West Indies. Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 15(3), 151-172. http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Sirek15_3.pdf

Teaching and Supervision

Courses Taught at Western:

  • EDUC 5237: Curriculum & Pedagogy in Vocal Music for the Senior Grades 
  • EDUC 5137: Curriculum & Pedagogy in Vocal & Instrumental Music for the Intermediate Grades
  • EDUC 5175Q: Curriculum & Pedagogy in Elementary Music
  • EDUC 5179Q: Curriculum & Pedagogy in Elementary Drama & Dance

Please contact for supervision availability.