About

Christopher Cayari is an associate professor of music education at Purdue University, with a courtesy appointment in Curriculum & Instruction at the College of Education and an affiliation with the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies. He holds a Ph.D. and M.M.E. in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor's degree in music education from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, IL. His research focuses on mediated musical performance, YouTube, informal music learning, virtual communities, video games, and online identity. Additionally, he addresses marginalized voices in music education, specifically LGBTQIA+ individuals and Asian Americans. His work has been recognized with the Outstanding Dissertation Award 2015 from the Council of Research in Music Education and has been published in various academic journals and handbooks. Cayari has presented his research internationally and across the United States. He teaches Music for the Elementary Classroom at Purdue and has developed partnerships with local elementary schools to enhance musical education environments. He has also collaborated with the Tippecanoe Arts Federation to teach ukulele to local youth. An avid YouTube content creator, Cayari regularly publishes performances, tutorials, and vlogs, often involving his students in collaborative projects with musical performers from across the US and abroad. He serves as the vocal coach for the American Music Repertory Ensemble, a Purdue Jazz Band. As an activist, Cayari uses music and education as platforms for social change, notably through his autoethnography 'Who Am I? I Am What I Am!', a musical theater review challenging the misrepresentation of LGBTQIA+ voices in educational institutions, which has been performed internationally. His activism earned him the 2018 Outstanding Ally Award from Purdue University’s LGBTQ Center. He is also a faculty fellow and learning community staff member for the gender-inclusive community at Purdue.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• World Wide Web
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Multimedia
• Human–computer interaction
• Mathematics education
• Visual arts
• Social psychology
• Media studies
• Pedagogy

Selected publications

• Being a Trans Music Educator

  2026-03-16

  book-chapter

  Abstract Emergent research has investigated teacher and school readiness to teach trans and gender-expansive (TGE) music students; however, the lived experiences of TGE music educators remain markedly underrepresented in music education literature. This chapter, coauthored by five gender-expansive music educators, engages a dialogical and reflexive process to center the voices of TGE teachers themselves. Drawing from their personal and professional narratives, the authors explore how their identities shape their pedagogical practice and professional lives. While increased visibility and acceptance of TGE individuals exist in some educational contexts, the authors highlight persistent challenges—including cisnormative school cultures, tokenizing forms of “inclusion,” and structural barriers that marginalize TGE educators. Their reflections offer critical insight into the urgent need for more expansive, affirming, and equity-driven frameworks in music teacher education and school policy.

  PublisherDOI

• Collective Music Making, Crowdsourcing, and Do-It-For-Others (DIFO) Projects

  2025-07-17

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• Making Music with Others on the Internet

  2025-07-17

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• Three Online Learning Arenas

  2025-07-17

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• YouTube Musicians Connecting through Online Communities

  2025-07-17

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Introduction: Painting Wondrous Tunes with Stories by People of Color

  Intellect eBooks · 2025-11-03

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• Becoming a YouTube Musician

  2025-07-17

  book1st authorCorresponding

  As the most-visited social media site on the internet, the video-sharing platform YouTube has become a highly influential space for musicmaking and learning. Becoming a YouTube Musician: How People Learn, Create, and Connect Online explores how YouTube creators and viewers are using digital video to create and consume music, develop online communities, and engage in formal, informal, and experimental music learning. Drawing on 26 case studies, the author challenges music educators to incorporate the learning, creative, and social practices of online musicians into their classrooms by helping students learn to participate in an online music system like YouTube. While this book serves as an in-depth analysis of a specific platform, the concepts within are more universal. Becoming a YouTube Musician encourages readers to consider how technology, media, and the internet can be used to innovate teaching by incorporating popular practices that exist on social media. The author shows educators how to apply lessons from the practices of YouTube musicians in their classrooms, facilitating student creativity and engagement in new ways.

  PublisherDOI

• Learning strategies of video game music makers: Informal and school-based learning for online publication

  International Journal of Music Education · 2022-02-16

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Music is an integral part of video games and the cultures that surround them, and the sound of video games enhances the user’s immersive game-play experience. Video game music (VGM) inspires performance and the creation of derivative music in both online and offline contexts. This study was conducted to explore how musicians perceived how helpful various learning strategies were for gaining the skills to publish VGM online. A cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire was conducted at Super Music and Gaming Festival™ (Super MAGFest), an annual convention held near Washington DC, to capture data from respondents ( n = 137) who were adult musicians who published VGM online. The questionnaire captured the perceived helpfulness of learning strategies at school, other educational institutions, and informal approaches. Descriptive and inferential statistics analyses were made. Respondents found music theory courses in school and informal music learning strategies were among the most helpful learning approaches for attaining the skills they needed to publish VGM online. This article provides a starting point for the further exploration of VGM and informal music learning in the age of the Internet.

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• Becoming a ‘Trans Synth Queen’: YouTube, electronic music composition, and coming out

  Music Education Research · 2022-11-11 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Educators can develop musical learning experiences that help trans students explore, develop, and celebrate their genders and identities through music. This case study explored how a well-established YouTube musician, Amie Waters, used social media platforms and her music to express herself as she came out as a trans non-binary femme person to her audiences online. Amie found trans resources and role models on online platforms, which helped her develop her identity as a non-binary person. Through observation of Amie's YouTube videos and the comments left on her channel, conducting semi-structured interviews, and analyzing digital artifacts such as text blogs and screen captures, I found that she used online media, particularly YouTube, to present her self-image while interacting parasocially with others who provided her with emotional, creative, and financial support. Amie's online content creation helped her understand her gender and emotions through music and text. This study might help musicians who are transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary as well as their teachers to see how social media and online content creation can lead to developing a support system as they express their genders and emotions through music.

  PublisherDOI

• Pursuing Popular Music Shapes Me as a Scholar, Musician and Human

  Intellect Books · 2022-11-11

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Places and Purposes of Popular Music Education - Perspectives from the Field; Edited collection including contributions from scholars and popular music educators in response to the question “what are the place and purpose of popular music education?” The book aims to broaden and diversify the conversation and community around popular music education globally. 7 b&w illus.

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Frequent coauthors

• Felix Graham

  1 shared

• Heather L. Fox

  1 shared

• Jared O’Leary

  Foundation for Professional Development

  1 shared

• Cara Faith Bernard

  University of Connecticut

  1 shared

• Emma Joy Jampole

  1 shared

Education

• PhD, Music Education

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  2016

• Masters of Music Education, Music Education

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  2009

Awards & honors

• Outstanding Dissertation Award 2015 from the Council of Rese…
• 2018 Outstanding Ally Award, Purdue University LGBTQ Center