Dave Camlin

Dr. Dave Camlin is a Professor of Music Education at the Royal College of Music (RCM) and part of the Academic Programmes faculty. He holds dual roles as a Doctoral Supervisor and researcher, focusing on the intersection of music, community, and societal well-being. His work emphasizes music's role in fostering kinship and sustainable futures through participatory practices.

Camlin’s research spans group singing, music health, and Community Music (CM), with a pioneering use of Sensemaker® distributed ethnography. He leads community choirs in the Natural Voice tradition and was awarded the National Trust’s Outstanding Achievement Award (2019) for his AHRC-funded project, The Fellowship of Hill and Wind and Sunshine. He is a board member of Sound Sense and resides in Cumbria, UK, actively organizing outdoor music events and festivals like Solfest and Cumberlandia.

His academic contributions include editing the International Journal of Community Music and co-authoring works on civic conservatoires and participatory music pedagogy. Camlin’s research explores music as a ‘civic imagination’ tool, bridging aesthetic and participatory traditions to address broader social and environmental challenges.

Camlin supervises doctoral students such as Florence Brady and has published extensively on topics like music’s role in public health, intercultural singing, and holistic educational philosophies. His work is rooted in dialogic and situational pedagogical frameworks, advocating for adaptive teaching practices in diverse community music contexts.