Troubling Whiteness: Music education and the “messiness” of equity work

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Hess
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Elementary Music ◽  
Elementary Level ◽  
White Female ◽  
Elementary Music Educators ◽  
Diverse Schools

At the elementary level, White, female music teachers largely populate music education. In the diverse schools of Toronto in Canada, teachers navigate their White subjectivities in a range of ways. My research examines the discourses, philosophies, and practices of four White, female elementary music educators who have striven to challenge dominant paradigms of music education. Their practices include critically engaging issues of social justice, studying a broad range of musics, and emphasizing contextualization. In many ways, these teachers interrupt the Eurocentric paradigm of music education to explore other possibilities with students. However, equity work is messy, and there were also moments that unsettled these teachers’ active equity agendas. This article describes both the subversions and the reinscriptions in a way that might be instructive to music education.

Music and Social Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Benedict
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Elementary Students ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Elementary Music ◽  
Elementary Student ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Elementary Music Education ◽  
The Way

This book challenges and reframes traditional ways of addressing many of the topics we have come to think of as social justice. Offering practical suggestions for helping both teachers and students think philosophically (and thus critically) about the world around them, each chapter engages with important themes through music making and learning as it presents scenarios, examples of dialogue with students, unit ideas, and lesson plans geared toward elementary students (ages 6–14). Taken-for-granted subjects often considered sacrosanct or beyond the understanding of elementary students, such as friendship, racism, poverty, religion, and class, are addressed and interrogated in a way that honors the voice and critical thinking of the elementary student. Suggestions are given that help both teachers and students to pause, reflect, and redirect dialogue with questions that uncover bias, misinformation, and misunderstandings that too often stand in the way of coming to know and embracing difference. Guiding questions, which anchor many curricular mandates, are used throughout in order to scaffold critical and reflective thinking beginning in the earliest grades of elementary music education. Where does social justice reside? Whose voice is being heard, and whose is being silenced? How do we come to think of and construct poverty? How is it that musics become used the way they are used? What happens to songs initially intended for socially driven purposes when their significance is undermined? These questions and more are explored, encouraging music teachers to embrace a path toward socially just engagements at the elementary level.

Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy M. Burns
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Veteran Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Elementary Music ◽  
Orff Schulwerk ◽  
Music Classroom ◽  
Integrated Technology ◽  
Integrating Technology ◽  
Elementary Music Educators

Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches is a comprehensive guide to how to integrate technology into the popular elementary music approaches of Dr. Feierabend’s First Steps, Kodály, and Orff Schulwerk. It also includes ideas of integrating technology with project-based learning (PBL). It is written for elementary music educators who want to utilize technology in their classrooms, or possibly fear using technology but are looking for ways to try. It can be used by new teachers, veteran teachers, teachers with very limited technology, teachers with 1:1 devices in their music classroom, and undergraduate and graduate students. Edited and authored by Amy M. Burns, this book contains ideas, lessons, a supplemental website for resources, and examples that are field-tested and utilized in her own elementary music classroom. Burns has successfully integrated technology into her elementary music classroom for over two decades. She is a sought-after presenter and keynote speaker for integrating technology into the elementary music classroom and has written three additional books and numerous articles on the subject. She has also won four music education awards at state and national levels. In addition, the summary of each approach was written by four excellent elementary music educators and experts in the approaches: Dr. Missy Strong (Feierabend), Glennis Patterson (Kodály), Ardith Collins (Orff Schulwerk), and Cherie Herring (project-based learning (PBL) with music technology).

scholarly journals Successful urban elementary music educators : a phenomenological investigation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
G. Preston Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Elementary Music ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Music Educator ◽  
Music Classroom ◽  
Urban Music ◽  
Pedagogical Decisions ◽  
Elementary Music Educators

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics and experiences of teachers who have been successful in urban elementary music classrooms. I aimed to garner an authentic picture and capture the essence of what it means to be a successful urban elementary music educator. This hermeneutic phenomenology was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the lived experiences of urban music educators who have been successful in teaching music at the elementary level? (2) What are the pedagogical approaches used by elementary music educators in urban contexts? The related sub-questions were as follows: (1) What characterizes success in the urban elementary music classroom? (2) What are characteristics of these educators (e.g., personal, educational, interpersonal)? Data collection included approximately 60-minute semi-structured interviews from eight participants. A constant comparative method was utilized to examine the coded transcripts. Trustworthiness was established through data triangulation, participant checking, and peer checking. Through the three-part analysis, six themes emerged: (a) relationships are key; (b) understanding how music functions for students; (c) willingness to perform unofficial job duties; (d) concerns about urban teacher preparation; (e) curricular and pedagogical decisions; and (f) urban music teacher characteristics. The findings of this study, as well as that of other scholars in music education, suggest that being a successful urban elementary music educator is the result of a composite set of skills. The teachers who participated in this study use creativity when making curricular and pedagogical decisions, possess a complex knowledge and understanding of their students, their students' families, and their students' community, and have a deep affection for what they do and whom they serve. Successful urban elementary music educators can serve as valuable resources to provide understanding and offer suggestions for improving urban music education, including ways to nurture and develop the next wave of music educators.

Creating Virtual Ensembles: Common Approaches from Research and Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
Christopher Cayari
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Online Music ◽  
Education Courses

A virtual ensemble is a digital musical product that uses multiple recordings edited together to form a musical ensemble. Creating virtual ensembles can be a way for music educators to engage students through online music-making. This article presents eight steps for creating virtual ensembles in music education courses and classrooms. The steps are (1) identifying objectives and desired outcomes, (2) selecting repertoire, (3) developing learning resources, (4) creating an anchor for synchronizing, (5) choosing a recording method, (6) setting up a collection platform, (7) editing in postproduction, and (8) distributing the product. As online music production becomes more prevalent, projects like virtual ensembles can provide creative and exciting experiences for music teachers and students, whether produced in the classroom or through remote means on the Internet.

Professional Development for the Experienced Music Educator: A Review of Recent Literature

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Karen Koner ◽  
John Eros
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Initial Examination ◽  
Professional Development Needs ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
K 12

There is a rich body of literature on professional development in music education, including research that has examined the professional development needs of experienced music teachers specifically. In fact, music teachers’ professional development needs may be affected by their degree of experience in the profession. The purpose of this literature review is to examine scholarship during the period 2007 to 2017 about the professional development needs of experienced K–12 music educators. Initial examination of literature in this area shows two emerging themes, including changing needs throughout the career and informal interactions among music educators, being highly effective.

Technology Integration with the Kodály Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-138
Author(s):  
Amy M. Burns
Keyword(s):  
Higher Order Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Elementary Music ◽  
Zoltan Kodaly ◽  
Higher Order Thinking Skills ◽  
Music Classroom ◽  
Elementary Music Educators ◽  
Educational Paradigm ◽  
Paradigm Shifting

Amy M. Burns integrates technology into the approach developed by Zoltán Kodály. With the current educational paradigm shifting to include more distance learning, these lessons demonstrate how to create online manipulatives that can be used in a classroom setting as well as an online platform. With the addition of a supplemental website that includes downloadable manipulatives, elementary music educators can successfully teach the approach in a variety of settings and scenarios with novice to advanced technological skills. In addition, the lessons can also be used for assessments, cross-curricular connections, higher order thinking skills, and sharing music making outside of the music classroom.

Why Would We Use Technology in the Elementary Music Classroom?

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Amy M. Burns
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Elementary Music ◽  
Space Technology ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Music Classroom ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Elementary Music Educators

If the music classroom is meant to be a creative, safe, music-making space, how do educators balance technology in that space? Technology can be used in the simplest teacher-directed ways, as well as in a more student-centered “doing music” environment, depending on how the teacher wants to utilize it and how the students respond to it. Using approaches like Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition) model and Liz Kolb’s Triple E (Engage, Enhance, Extend) Framework can help elementary music educators realize how much technology they want to use and when it would be the best tool for the students’ learning styles.

scholarly journals Shaping Policy in Music Education: Music Teachers as Collaborative Change Agents

2020 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-48
Author(s):  
Carlos R. Abril ◽  
Brent M. Gault
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Programs ◽  
Learning Standards

Music educators have experience working in education environments governed by shifting policies and mandates. How can music educators become agents empowered to shape, interpret, and design mechanisms for putting policy into practice? This article describes ways to understand policy and options for responding and contributing to its development and implementation. We examine how music educators have responded to two policy areas that have had a significant impact on music programs and teachers in recent years: (1) learning standards and (2) evaluation of student learning as a component of teacher evaluation. Examples in this article are meant to serve as a case in point for how music educators can become more responsive and actively engaged in policy matters.

Exploring Access, Intersectionality, and Privilege in Undergraduate Music Education Courses

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-37
Author(s):  
Samuel Escalante
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Basic Qualitative Study ◽  
Education Courses

Music teacher educators often work to prepare preservice music teachers to be socially conscious and adopt dispositions toward teaching in socially just ways. Preservice teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and dispositions toward social justice issues may not be sufficiently challenged, however, unless coursework is appropriately conceived. I designed a three-part workshop to introduce and explore the concepts of access, intersectionality, and privilege, and then conducted a basic qualitative study to examine undergraduate music education students’ understandings of and attitudes toward sensitive social justice issues, as well as their experiences with the workshop. I found that exploring sociological concepts related to social justice through interactive activities and allowing students safe methods for expressing themselves, such as journaling, may facilitate the adoption of positive dispositions among preservice teachers toward toward social justice issues.

scholarly journals A pile of drums: Putting theory into practice in culturally diverse music education

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-92
Author(s):  
Jennifer Walden
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Concert Band ◽  
Music Programs ◽  
Global Awareness ◽  
Global Perspectives ◽  
Experience Teaching ◽  
Challenging Situation

This article provides music educators with practical ways to (a) build school community through culturally diverse music and informal performances and (b) inculcate global perspectives into music programs (including concert band and choir) through culturally diverse music. In an autoethnographic style, the article tells a story that spans 2 years in a challenging situation: an international school in a country wrought with political and economic instability. It examines community building and inculcating global awareness from four perspectives. The first perspective reviews engagement in cultural diversity in music education through the lens of recently completed PhD research. It looks what scholars are writing about culturally diverse music education and how these ideas subsequently look in practice. Second, 30 years of personal experience teaching culturally diverse music are tied in, including ideas for student engagement in music classes. The third perspective includes practical ideas: how culturally diverse music can be integrated to broaden a program and rejuvenate interest in music. Finally, the fourth reveals responses from students experiencing learning through culturally diverse music. Examples, transcriptions, and recommended resources are included, leaving music teachers with useful, sustainable approaches for culturally diverse inclusivity.

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