Biography
Sandra Fortuna is a Professor of Pedagogy and Psychology of Music at the Conservatory of Music S. Cecilia of Rome She holds a Ph.D in Systematic Musicology (Ghent University), MA degrees in Musicology (University of La Sapienza), Music Education, and Music Performance (Violin).
She is currently a full professor of Pedagogy and Psychology of Music at the Conservatory of Music of S. Cecilia.
-She was a professor of the same discipline at the Conservatory of Frosinone and Campobasso. -Professor of Psychology of Music in the Two-Year Course of Music Therapy organized at the Conservatory of L’Aquila;
-Professor of Theories of Musical Perception in the Department of Composition at the Conservatory of Campobasso
-Contract Professor at the University Federico II of Naples, where she held the course of Educational Programming and Curriculum at SICSI (Department of Music and Entertainment)
-She collaborated as a professor at the European Winter School on Research (Music Abilities) organized by ESCOM (European Society of Music Cognition) in collaboration with Italy, England, Poland and Finland
As a pedagogist, she has taught and coordinated training courses for musical education in nursery, primary and secondary schools organized by the Ministry of Education. She has collaborated on several international projects, among others, the “Improvisation join us” European project, which compares the improvisation practices of Italy, Sweden, and Poland.
She participated in various national and international projects in music education, children’s improvisation, and multisensory approach in instrument lessons.
Her research, grounded in the theoretical paradigm of Embodied Music Cognition, seeks to investigate the relationship between body movement, visualisation and expressiveness in listening and instrumental learning.
For her research activity, she is invited to give lectures in Italy and abroad, including the University of Bath (UK), Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (FL), University of Porto Alegre (Brazil), Catholica University of Porto (Portugal), University of Barcelona, Salamanca, (Spagna), Ghent, Bruxelles (Belgium), Belgrado (Serbia), Zagreb (Croatia), Tallinn (Estonia)
He has published in books and numerous national and international A-range journals.
Recent publications include:
Fortuna, S. (2024). Embodiment in violin learning: Two case studies. Zbornik radova Akademije umetnosti, (12), 27-45.
Fortuna, S. (2024). L’integrazione multimodale come strumento per un’educazione inclusiva. IUL Research, 5(10), 137-148.
Nijs, L., Grinspun, N., & Fortuna, S. (2024). Developing Musical Creativity Through Movement: Navigating the Musical Affordance Landscape. Creativity Research Journal, 1-25.
Fortuna, S. (2022). The influence of body movement on musical sense-making in primary school children: a multimodal approach in music education (Doctoral dissertation, Ghent University).
Fortuna, S. & Nijs, L. (2022). The influence of discrete versus continuous movements on children’s musical sense-making. British Journal of Music Education, 1-20.
Fortuna, S. (2021). Ascoltare con il corpo. Musica Domani, 184 (2): 53-63
Fortuna, S.& Nijs, L. (2020) Children’s Verbal Explanations of their Graphic Representation of the Music. International Journal of Music Education, 38 (4): 563-581
Fortuna, S.&Nijs, L. (2019). Children’s representational strategies based on verbal versus bodily interactions with music: an intervention-based study. Music Education Research, 22(1), 107-
Fortuna, S. (2017) Embodiment, sound and visualization: A multimodal perspective in music education. Zbornikradova Akademije umetnosti, (5), 120-131.
Fortuna, S. (2015) Integrated activities in the instrument lessons. CFMAE n.7/2, University of Tallinn
Fortuna, S. (2013) Consigli per gli acquisti: la musica negli spot. Musica Domani n.168 Siem-EDT, Turin
Fortuna, S. (2010) a cura di, Comporre oggi per voci bianche, Musica Domani, n. 54, Siem- EDT, Turin
Book, Chapters and
Fortuna, S. (2024). The Effect of the Quality of Body Movement on Musical Sense-Making. In I. Malmberg & M. Petrović (Eds.), European Perspectives on Music Education. Helbling
Fortuna, S. (2023). Aspetti pedagogici di un approccio compositivo analitico in (a cura di) Pappalardo, E. Composizione e analisi nella lezione di strumento. ETS. Pisa
Fortuna, S. (2020). Images to play: An Improvisation Model between Visual Arts and Music. In Konteksty KulturyI Edukacji Muzycznej; Parkita, E., Parkita, A., Sztejnbis-Zdyb, J., Eds, 109-118.
Buldini, Fortuna, Mazzotta (2019) Giocando con la musica per promuovere l’inclusione. Rugginenti Editore, Milano
Fortuna, S. & Camerlingo, I. (2021) Un approccio multimodale alle fonti storico musicali in Carugno, G. (2021). Dalla storia alla musica: percorsi di didattica musicale con le fonti storiche. Le Muse
Fortuna, S. (2012) Conservatori in Italia, ieri e oggi (a cura di A. Vaccarone) in Storia della musica, Zanichelli, Milano
Academic positions:
Member of the Doctoral College of the S. Cecilia Conservatory of Music;
Chair and Organiser of the II Meeting Escom Italy 2024;
Member of the Scientific Committee of Escom -Italy
Member of Local Organising Committee of Meryc Conference -Gent (Belgium) 2018
Member of Scientific Committee of SIEM Conference -University of Valencia (Spain) 2018
Member of Academic Conference Committee ‘Culture in Context and Music Education’ Kielce University (Poland)
Member of the Committee of Reviewers for Sysmus Conference (Ghent University) 2022
Member of the Scientific Committee 2023/24 (Frosinone Conservatory) of the National Project POLIMNIA
She has been admitted by Anvur to the group of National and International experts for the interdisciplinary GEV – knowledge enhancement.
Collaborates with the following international journals as a peer reviewer: Psychology of Music, Early Child Development and Care, and Journal of New Music Research.
