Erin Dixon

MUED 380

Rationale:

Culture and the diversity of the students should definitely play a large, if not a prioritizing
role, in how we approach our educational philosophies. Abril and Kelly-McHale remind
us that culture is both visible and invisible in our classrooms and because of this, should
be used as a tool to guide our pedagogy, curriculum, and when setting educational
goals. Specifically, they suggest that “our preoccupation with selecting repertoire and
choosing great materials might need to take a back seat to meeting the diverse needs
of students” ​(Abril & McHale, 2016, p. 255). This method encourages cultural
responsiveness from both the student and the teacher and seems to place cultural
competency at a high importance. However, the problem here is that educator’s may
confuse music based off of the diversity of the classroom with world music. The term
world music itself poses many challenges when considering the diversity of our
students. “World music pedagogy…offers an alternative view of culture in the music
classroom” (Abril & McHale, 2016, p. 254). This at first glance does seem rather
inviting, however; the “alternative view” usually only pertains to specific regions of the
world. For example, World Music Drumming, an approach to music pedagogy
developed by Will and Ann Schmid in the spring of 1996, only includes drumming from a
few regions in Africa and Latin-American culture. This choice to focus on music from
specific cultures does not always encourage a classroom that is presently culturally
responsive. “Cultural responsivity requires that the teacher and the students work to
“make connections between their musical cultures and those beyond their experiences,
helping all students deepen their musical skills and understanding” (Abril, 2013, p. 4)”
(Abril & McHale, 2016, p. 258). That being said, how can we ensure that we are
actually providing a variety of sources that encourage cultural responsivity when we
constantly have to fight the Americanization of music education? The Americanization
of music curriculums could potentially begin with the overwhelming emphasis placed on
folk music. Most of ​our​ folk music, however; is actually congruent of western heritage or
begins after the colonization. This universalist approach essentially “plac[es] Western
European music as the [most] superior musical art form in the world” (Reyes, 2018).
But, what happened to the music of those who were here before us and how does the
lack of Native American music in the general music classroom impact how we view
culture? What happened to the music of African Americans, those who were just as
active in shaping American culture? You could easily say that fixing this problem would
simply entail implementing more of this music into the system. It’s crucial, though, to
consider how dependent this would be on the school itself. For example, what if you’re
choosing to do a Native American piece at a school in which said population is less than
1 percent? This now potentially opens up doors questioning both social justice and
cultural appropriation. When considering pedagogy to emphasize the importance of
Erin Dixon
MUED 380

cultural responsiveness, we must also consider where we draw the line between
appropriation and embracing the diversity of our students.

Question:

What does the “world music” view of cultural music say about the Americanization of
music education systems and how do we, as music educators, balance our curriculum
on embracing the diversity of our students amongst Native and African American music
without crossing boundaries of cultural appropriation?

Sources:

Abril, C. R. & Kelly-McHale, J. (2016). Thinking about and responding to culture in

general music. In C. R. Abril & B. M. Gault (Eds.), ​Teaching General Music:
Approaches, Issues, and Viewpoints ​(pp. 241-263). New York: Oxford University Press.

Reyes, F.L. (2018). Multicultural Music Education in North America: Achievements and
Obstacles, ​The Canadian Music Educator, 59(2)​, pp 10-17.