Education

Courses

• Foundations of Worship (MUS-131)
• Worship Band Instrumental Skills (MUS-211)
• World Musics (MUS-326)
• Music in Culture (MUS-322)
• Worship Music Leadership (MUS-332)

About

Laura Benjamins is an Assistant Professor of Music and Program Lead of Music at Redeemer University. Laura holds a PhD and M.Mus. from Western University, an A.R.C.T. in Piano Performance through the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and has a BA in Music and a B.Ed. from Redeemer University. Her research explores the interdisciplinary connections between church music and music education. Laura’s experiences as an elementary music educator and active church musician continue to shape her teaching and research interests. Laura teaches courses in Foundations of Worship, Worship Band Instrumental Skills, World Musics, and Music in Culture.

Research Interests

• Contemporary Worship Music, liturgical theology, church worship, congregational participation
• Music education; formal, informal, non-formal music learning; popular music education
• Experiential learning & reflective practice

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Benjamins, L. (2025). Habitus formation through Contemporary Worship Music in two church cases: Implications for intergenerational worship. Religions, 16(2), 237. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16020237

Benjamins, L., & Loepp Thiessen, A. (2025). Fun, trendy, upbeat: Musical tastes, social conditioning, and contemporary worship music for kids. Religions, 16(4), 472. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040472

Hodgson, A., & Benjamins, L. (2025). ‘A teacher by day and performer by night’: Performer-educator identity tensions in a graduate community of practice course. Music Education Research, 27(3), 332-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2025.2509963

Benjamins, L. (2022). An analysis of researcher positionality in religious worship contexts. Transform: New Voices in Community Music, 1(4) 78-91. http://79.170.44.82/transformiccm.co.uk/?page_id=880

Benjamins, L. (2021). Musicking as liturgical speech acts: An examination of contemporary worship music practices. Studia Liturgica. https://doi.org/10.1177/00393207211033993

Benjamins, L., Roland, S. L., & Bylica, K. (2021). The complexities of meaningful experiential learning: Developing a model of reflective practice in music performance education. International Journal of Music Education, 40(2), 163-176. https://doi.org/10.1177/02557614211043224

Bylica, K., Roland, S. L., & Benjamins, L. (2021). Brokering reflective spaces in experiential learning: Interdisciplinary engagements in a summer opera program. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/14740222211007403

Benjamins, L. (2019). Learning through praise: How Christian worship band musicians learn. Journal of Popular Music Education, 3(3), 417-433. https://doi.org/10.1386/jpme_00004_1

Book Chapters

Benjamins, L. (accepted). The why and how of contemporary worship music leadership: Connections to popular music education pedagogy. In S. Giddings & D. Hamilton (Eds.), The why and how of popular music education: A Canadian perspective. Steve’s Music Room Publishing.

Benjamins, L. (2023). Caring through dialogical relations in community music settings. In K. Hendricks (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of care in music education (pp. 103-114). Oxford University Press.

Benjamins, L. (2021). Facilitating relational spaces of musicking: A music educator’s practice of care. In K. Hendricks & J. Boyce-Tillman (Eds.), Authentic Connection: Music, Spirituality, and Wellbeing. Peter Lang.

Practitioner/Trade Journal Publications

Benjamins, L. (2023). Refocusing one’s practices: Extending community music principles into formal education contexts. Massachusetts Music Educators Journal, 71(3), 43-44.

Benjamins, L. (2018). Immigrant families, music education, and social mobility in Canada. Canadian Music Educator, 59(3), 5-10.

Research Funding

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Explore Grant for Summer Undergraduate Research Support, Redeemer University (2025)
• Internal Research Grant, Redeemer University (2025)
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship (2020 – 2023 )
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) (2019 – 2021)
• Collaborative Grant Funded Research through Western University Teaching Fellows Program (for Dr. Sophie Roland)