Music · Education · Technology

A conversation about music, creativity and their place in everyday life is featured on Radio Technis, with musicologist and musician Giota Eftaxia. The introductory text is by Lambros Mitropoulos. Composition, research, teaching and the design of digital music applications are explored in relation to musical and educational practice. The conversation also turns to the ways digital tools can make music more accessible to all children and young people, encourage participation and personal expression, and support the teacher’s important role in the learning process.

The one-act play “The Last Flickering Light” is published by Bookstars – Free Publishing and is available from 30 September 2026. This new theatrical publication is a stage composition about light, persistence, memory and responsibility. On a night without a response, a Lighthouse Keeper tries to keep the Lighthouse’s beam alive. The Sea, the Fog, the Wind and the Echoes move between the real and the inner world, while an old notebook preserves traces of what came before and a Child gradually approaches the weight of a responsibility that calls for staying.

SoundRoutes will be presented as an oral presentation at the 18th Interdepartmental Musicological Conference of the Hellenic Musicological Society. The conference, themed “Contemporary Music Creation, Tradition and Renewal”, will take place in Arta from 30 October to 1 November 2026. The contribution is scheduled for 31 October.

The chapter Implementing STREAM music scenarios in early childhood education through Music Education 4.0: Design principles for post-digital transformation is published in the international edited volume Early Childhood Education as a European Knowledge Ecosystem: Arts, Digital Transformation, and Social Futures by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. The publication situates Music Education 4.0 within early-childhood education and focuses on the design of STREAM music scenarios for post-digital learning environments.

The study Using Songwriting Practices in Primary Music Education: Music Teachers’ Perceptions, Practices, and Challenges in Greece, co-authored with D. Michail, was published in Volume C of the Proceedings of the 11th International Conference “Education and Culture in the 21st Century” by EKEDISY. The paper examines songwriting as a creative and collaborative practice through the professional experience of music teachers working in Greece.

Hybrid Horizons – Festival & Conference takes place at Megaron – Athens Concert Hall from 16 to 18 October 2026, bringing contemporary music creation, technology, and artistic research into dialogue. The programme includes concerts, presentations, and research activities exploring new approaches to composition, performance, and interaction with sound.

The study Music Teachers’ Attitudes and Perceptions of the Pedagogical Value and Implementation of STEAM Practices in Music Teaching and Learning, co-authored with F. Mouratidou, was published in Volume C of the Proceedings of the 11th International Conference “Education and Culture in the 21st Century” by EKEDISY. STEAM is examined through music teachers’ perceptions, familiarity and actual working conditions.

The paper Pierce XRLab: Designing and developing an innovative two-year XR curriculum for immersive learning in middle school was published in the Practitioner Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN 2026). It presents the design of a two-year extended-reality (XR) curriculum for Grades 8–9, developed for real school conditions, short lesson periods and shared devices.

The paper Designing and applying educational scenarios reflecting the Music Education 4.0 perspective for primary music school education was published in the proceedings of the WAAE Global Arts Education Summit Athens 2024, issued by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Press. The study moves Music Education 4.0 from a theoretical framework into the design and implementation of concrete educational scenarios for primary school music.

The article Pierce XRLab: A two-year spiral curriculum for extended reality in middle school was published in the Global Academic and Scientific Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (GASJMS). The paper presents the structure of Pierce XRLab as a two-year spiral extended-reality (XR) curriculum for Grades 8–9, organised into 16 units.

The article Rethinking early childhood music education in the post-digital era: A Music Education 4.0 perspective was published in the GAS Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences. The publication reconsiders early-childhood music education through Music Education 4.0 and proposes a post-digital framework in which sound, bodies, materials, technology and social interaction are treated as interconnected elements of musical experience.

The 12th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN2026) focuses on the educational use of extended and virtual reality and on the design of immersive learning experiences. Within the iLEAD strand, discussion addresses not only the capabilities of immersive technologies but also questions of representation, participation, critical literacy, and responsible use.

A new study on Synth4Kids, co-authored with Christina Charalambidou, was published in Intellect’s International Journal of Music in Early Childhood, a scholarly journal focused on music and learning in the early years. The article Integrating current technologies into pre-school music teaching–learning: A practical intervention utilizing the educational music software Synth4kids with children aged 4–6 examines the software through its actual pedagogical implementation.

The international BIP Athens 2026 is jointly organised by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the University of Granada, and the University of Oldenburg, connecting contemporary directions in music education with research, technology, and experiential musical practice. The programme includes three activities ranging from theoretical discussion of Music Education 4.0 to environmental listening and collaborative music creation.

The 11th International Conference “Education and Culture in the 21st Century” takes place in Piraeus on 25–26 April 2026 and includes research and educational applications addressing contemporary approaches to learning, culture, and interdisciplinarity. Two studies in the programme examine creative and interdisciplinary practices in music education through the experiences and perceptions of music teachers.