‘Wayfarers: Confronting the past through traditional music in schools’

This paper discusses an inquiry-based school-university partnership project conducted by history and music education specialists in Scotland. The project was music-led with history underpinning it, namely the musical migration of Scots and Irish to the Eastern United States. From the 18th century onwards thousands of Scots and Irish moved to Appalachia – ‘the wayfarers’ in our title. Their heritage now features in the Scottish school curriculum. However, the wayfarers encountered a range of challenging factors, including forced migration and segregation, which are not yet fully considered in schools. To address this need we co-developed resources with a specialist school to enhance secondary school practices surrounding music education and pupil engagement with challenging histories. This paper critically considers the project stages, supported by secondary and primary sources, including group interviews. In the conclusions we make suggestions for future policy, research and practice, such as to frame traditional songs in schools in their historical context. © The Author(s) 2023.