Design Thinking in Music Education: A Conceptual Reframing of Creative Pedagogy and Curriculum Innovation

Design thinking has gained increasing prominence as an innovation-oriented pedagogical approach across educational contexts; however, its application in music education remains under-theorised and often relies on uncritical transfer from design and engineering domains. This conceptual paper argues that such direct adoption risks epistemological misalignment with music education, where learning is grounded in embodied, affective, and practice-based forms of knowing. Adopting a conceptual synthesis approach, this study draws on interdisciplinary literature spanning design thinking, music education, creativity studies, curriculum theory, and educational research methodologies to critically examine points of convergence and tension between design thinking and music education. The analysis reveals that generic, stage-based design thinking models inadequately account for the iterative, reflective, and artistic processes central to musical learning. In response, the paper reframes design thinking as a pedagogical orientation rather than a prescriptive method, aligning its core principles with music-specific practices such as listening, improvisation, rehearsal, composition, and reflective refinement. The paper further discusses the methodological implications of this reframing, positioning design-based research and arts-based research as epistemologically compatible approaches for future inquiry in music education contexts. By offering a discipline-sensitive conceptual synthesis, this article contributes a theoretically grounded lens for integrating design thinking into music education in ways that respect artistic practice, support creative pedagogy, and inform curriculum innovation.