Biography
Susan McCormick is a lecturer and researcher in music education at the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin. Susan leads the Bachelor in Music Education programme and the music strands on the Master in Education and Professional Masters in Education programmes. Susan is also the TCD coordinator for Music Making, the Arts and Society, an elective run in conjunction with the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Susan's doctoral research was carried out under the supervision of Prof Yo Tomita in Queen's University Belfast, and has been described as 'the philological foundation of German Choralbuch research' (Remeš, 2021, p. 274). Susan is former treasurer of the Society for Music Education in Ireland, and is a regular contributor to national press and radio. Her research explores how people become musicians and educators, and how those pathways can be made more inclusive, reflective and accessible. She investigates how pedagogical identities and teaching practices are shaped across historical and contemporary contexts - from overlooked improvisatory traditions of 18th-century music, to the beliefs and motivations of today's student teachers. A recurring thread across her research projects is the question of whose knowledge and experience are legitimised in music education, and how inherited models of teacher (whether historical or contemporary) shape who feels able to participate, to teach, or to belong. Her future research aims to challenge narrow narratives of musical success and amplify voices that exist outside formal systems. Through scholarly and public-facing work, Susan contributes to more inclusive, critically engaged models of music education and teacher development, that is rooted in lived experience and responsive to the diverse realities of learners and teachers today.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Susan McCormick, The LearnEd Second-level Music Teacher, UK, Peter Lang, 2027
Joanne Banks, Aibhin Bray, Ann Devitt, Susan McCormick, Margaret Flood, Universal Design for Learning: Multidisciplinary Examples from the Secondary Classroom, UK, Routledge, 2026
UDL in the Music Classroom in, Universal Design for Learning: Multidisciplinary Examples from the Secondary Classroom, UK, Routledge, 2026, [Susan McCormick and Helen Doyle]
Integrated Arts Education in, editor(s)O'Sullivan, C., Clotworthy, E., Nugent, M., Colleary, S., Keane, E., Piazzoli, E., Gubbins, E., Krakaur, L., Kerin, M., McCormick, S., & Heeran Flynn, L. , Curriculum Integration in Primary Classrooms, Routledge, 2026, [Susan McCormick]
Susan McCormick, The Lost Art of Harmonic Variation in Eighteenth-Century Hymn Accompaniment in the German Lutheran Church, Journal of Musicology, 42, (3), 2025, p321 - 349
Susan McCormick, Congregational chorales in the eighteenth-century: returning to source, Biennial International Baroque Conference, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, July 2025, 2025
Susan McCormick, Beyond Bach's Shadow: Reclaiming the Legacy of Johann Christian Kittel, BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, 56, (2), 2025, p195 - 220
Susan McCormick, `Hold the congregation together and keep them on pitch!": Completing the Picture of Eighteenth-Century Chorale Accompaniment, Society for Musicology in Ireland, University of Galway, June 2024, 2024
Susan McCormick, Rediscovering eighteenth-century pedagogical methods: multiple bass chorales and partimento as tools for musical mastery, Society for Music Education in Ireland, University College Cork, November 2024, 2024
O'Sullivan, C., Clotworthy, E., Nugent, M., Colleary, S., Keane, E., Piazzoli, E., Gubbins, E., Krakaur, L., Kerin, M., McCormick, S., & Heeran Flynn, L., Arts Alive: A literature review to support curriculum specification development for the area of Arts Education, March, 2023
O'Sullivan, C., Clotworthy, E., Nugent, M., Colleary, S., Keane, E., Piazzoli, E., Gubbins, E., Krakaur, L., Kerin, M., McCormick, S., & Heeran Flynn, L., Arts Alive: A literature review to support curriculum specification development for the area of Arts Education, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, October, 2023, p1 - 245
Putting the A into STEAM in, editor(s)Murchan, Damian & Johnson, Keith , Media/ting educational reform: Junior Cycle reform in the media in, editor(s)Keith Johnston Damian Murchan , Curriculum Change within Policy and Practice: Reforming Second-Level Education in Ireland, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, [Susan McCormick], Book Chapter, IN_PRESS, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, [Susan McCormick & Marita Kerin]
Susan McCormick, The Significance of the Newly Rediscovered Kittel Choralbuch, Understanding Bach, 8, 2013
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Susan McCormick, Johann Christian Kittel and the long overlooked multiple bass chorale tradition, Queen's University Belfast, 2015
Recognition
Representations
Bach Network Council Member
21st Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music Conference and Programme Committee Member, sub-committee member for Bach Network
The Expansive Canvas, Large-Scale Form in the Music of 19th-Century Women Composers International Conference and Collaborative Symposium
Awards and Honours
Enacting Education for Sustainable Development Certificate
TRiSS Fellowship Award
Digital Badge in Universal Design for Learning
Trinity Research Doctorate Award
Nominated for a Trinity Excellence in Teaching Award
Nominated for a Research Excellence Award: 'Foster and Growing Research Talent and Leadership'
DAAD prize
DEL Research
Memberships
Founding member of the School of Education's Teacher Education and Development Research Group
Association for Teacher Education in Europe
Society for Musicology in Ireland
Society for Music Education in Ireland
Member of the School of Education Arts in Education Research Group
Post Primary Music Teachers Association