Exploring Social Justice: How Music Education Might Matter

Research to Practice

Lee Bartel

Announcing...

In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of CMEA/ACME

Exploring Social Justice: How Music Education Might Matter is the fourth volume in Research to Practice: A Biennial Series published by the Canadian Music Educators' Association. This book, to be released in the summer of 2009, features 25 chapters by authors from across Canada and from the USA, Brazil, Norway, Finland, and South Africa.

Table of Contents

Section One:

Theoretical Frameworks

1. Vaugeois, Lise. Music as a Practice of Social Justice

In this chapter, I explicate three interlocking elements in the theory and practice of social justice. Each element addresses a pedagogical approach intended to help students develop critical awareness of issues in social justice and explore different possibilities for living and working together with others in and through music education. In part One, I suggest strategies for learning about conditions that produce injustice through the study of what I call "musical life histories." In Part Two, I consider the importance of post-colonial and critical race theories to social justice and argue for a practice of thinking through and beyond taken-for-granted ideas about contemporary social relations. In Part Three, I explore approaches to music making that create spaces for the ideas, interests, skills, and needs each student brings to the classroom through creation, improvisation, and collaborative music-making projects.

2. Countryman, June. Stumbling Towards Clarity: Practical Issues in Teaching Global Musics

Music educators continue to face challenges in privileging various global musics in their teaching. I explore some of these challenges through an honest examination of my own attempts to broaden the musical repertoire in my secondary school choral music classes. I begin with a brief consideration of impediments to change in music education practice, and of issues with inadequate professional development. I continue with an exploration of issues of othering, musical ownership, authenticity, hybridization, and Eurocentric music analysis. I suggest that continually naming the tensions involved in sharing various global music practices and resisting the urge to make naïve assumptions about the effects of this work are important pedagogical moves.

3. Beynon, Carol. (Re) constructing and (Re)Mediating Societal Norms in Masculinity: Reconciling Songs of War

In spite of research in feminist and gender studies, current Western society would have us believe that real men aspire to be dominant and virile. Popular media and current events portray the warrior as the epitome of male behaviour who is almost always constituted in music, literature, and movies as proud and powerful, a cunning and brave killer, anxious to die to prove his courage and manliness. In this chapter, I examine one aspect of hegemonic identity through song, specifically examining a varied collection of war songs which give contradictory messages explicitly and implicitly about male behaviour and expectations in violent situations of war. Deconstructing and making explicit behavioural learning that evolves through performing and hearing this repertoire and delineating a number of tensions that arise when trying to reconcile the texts, I describe ways to engage communities in work toward social awareness, critique, and action related to enduring hegemonic views of masculinity.

4. Willingham, Lee. Educating for the Greater Good: Music's Flame of Hope

I make the claim at the very outset of this chapter, that the study of music (and the other arts) is deeply connected with the larger educational agenda of teaching for the public greater good. Rarely a day goes by that the efficacy of the profession that chose me more than thirty years ago is not challenged by my own doubts and internal ethical debates. The advocates who claim that music makes you smarter or that playing or singing in an ensemble builds character ring hollow when the front pages scream of violence, poverty, and malevolence. What does teaching music have to do with all of this? Is it possible for music to do more than rehearse the slogans of change? Is there hope among the hopeless? The need to connect our discipline to educational solutions for social injustices of our time is at the heart of my discussion.

5. O'Neill, Susan. Revisioning Musical Understandings through a Cultural Diversity Theory of Difference

This chapter explores a theoretical framework that encourages music educators to "revision" curriculum and pedagogy and embrace opportunities for social justice education. A cultural diversity theory of difference is aimed at recognizing and scrutinizing our current (and possible) musical practices through a critical lens involving four key concepts (marginality, essentialism, translation, and love). These concepts are actualized through the musical/cultural practices that give them particular meaning. To illustrate these concepts as a form of self and culture in action, I refer to an example involving Canadian Aboriginal people. My discussion emphasizes the need to foster learners' musical understandings in ways that will help them negotiate the complex web of cultural diversity that exists in the world today.

6. Mantie, Roger. Take Two Aspirins and Don't Call Me in the Morning: Why Easy Prescriptions Won't Work for Social Justice

In this chapter, I problematize social justice based on the work of Chantal Mouffe and David Miller. I argue that social justice is more effectively conceptualized in terms of "complex equality," where the lines between various spheres of activity are recognized and accounted for in arriving at whatever it is we call "justice." My objective is to demonstrate that justice should not be reduced to universale or transcendent qualities. I contend that social justice needs to be conceptualized within the context of daily relationships as well as democratic theory.

7. Bradley, Deborah. Global Song, Global Citizens? The World Constructed in World Music Choral Publications

This chapter wrestles with the personal, professional, and cultural tensions I experience as a teacher committed to multicultural education within the choral music setting. With a focus on repertoire choices categorized as global song, the chapter critiques governmental discourse, industry behavior, and my own thinking and practice from an anti-racist perspective. I interrogate such world choral music publications as both barrier to and opportunity for a more socially just music education practice, one with potential to change the way we think about ourselves in relation to others.

Section Two: Research Initiatives

8. Ilari, Beatriz. Music Learning and the Invisible: Cultural Appropriation, Equity and Identity of Underprivileged Brazilian Children and Adolescents

This chapter describes musical practices of underprivileged Brazilian children and adolescents attending previously undocumented social-musical programs in NGOs located in two culturally distinct areas of Brazil: São Luis do Maranhão and Nova Olinda. This study used collective case study methodology presented in the form of narratives to understand the role that music plays in the lives of these children, adolescents and their adult counterparts, including in the shaping (or reshaping) of their self and group identities, and in the establishment of social justice in Brazil.

9. Carlisle, Katie. Making School Music Relevant: Meeting Adolescents' Need for Social Justice within a Complex and Interdependent World

Written from a North American perspective, this chapter explores how the intersection of the interdependence inherent in our lives and the persistence of institutions impacts school music students' immediate and future experience. Students are not functions of the institutions in their lives, but rather these institutions must become a function of the children they serve. I explore this intersection within the context of Young's (1990) conception of social justice, self-development, and self-determination and ask: How can we create interdependent school music learning environments that encourage self-development and self-determination in students? Music teachers who recognize the need to prepare adolescents for resilience and responsibility in a challenging and interdependent world, while meeting adolescents' need for self-development and desire for self-determination, create opportunity for social justice for all students.

10. Peterson, Alvin. A Question of You Taking the Bread and Giving me the Crust? Post-1994 Music Education in the Republic of South Africa as a Human Rights Issue

This chapter examines the state of South African music education in the years preceding the 1994 democratic elections up to the time of writing, with a particular focus on the impact (if any) that human rights and social justice have made within this discipline. The bread and crust of the title provides a metaphor for the challenges that still face South African music education, 14 years after South Africa's first democratic elections.

11. Snell, Karen. Democracy and Popular Music in Music Education

Although popular music has been introduced more into public school music curricula and practice over the past several years, the ways it is taught continue to reflect many, often out-dated, educational practices steeped in the Western art music tradition. Unfortunately, this has forced a good number of young and talented popular musicians to learn their music outside of traditional institutional music education contexts, struggling on their own to develop musicianship. In this chapter I argue that democratic ideals, when coupled with many of the informal learning practices of popular musicians, have the potential to provide contemporary music education with a much needed path for growth and development.

12. McKay, Robbie. Teacher, Teacher, Can You Reach Me? What We Can Learn about Teaching Music from Canadian Female Pop Musicians

In 2005 I conducted a study designed to bring out the mostly silenced voices of professional female Canadian popular musicians. Across cultures, time, and genres, men and women have had dramatically different musical experiences, with women's place in music being prescribed and greatly limited by social constructs. My study offers new perspectives on the trials and successes of this underreported and undervalued group in Canadian popular culture, perspectives that should give music educators new insights into ways of helping young Canadian women express themselves with pop music.

13. Peters, Valerie. Youth Identity Construction through Music Education: Nurturing a Sense of Belonging in Multi-Ethnic Communities.

This chapter summarizes a study that investigated how a selected group of secondary students represented their understanding of a local Italian music culture, including concepts, beliefs, and values embedded in cultural practices, in Montreal, Canada. Students used the tools of inquiry of cultural ethnographers, interviewing members of a local community, transcribing their interviews, and documenting their representations and interpretations in a communal database. The chapter explores how curricula in music education may be constructed in order to encourage equitable social relations between teachers and students, a sense of belonging, and identity construction in the music classroom.

14. Wasiak, Edwin B. Countering Musical Tourism and Enacting Social Justice: Repositioning Music Education as a Cross-Cultural Meeting Place

In this chapter I present a case for cross-cultural collaboration as a means to reposition multicultural music education as a full contributor to education's mission to foster social justice. Giving particular attention to issues surrounding cultural knowledge, cultural content, and cultural representation, potential pitfalls are explored and the power of cross-cultural collaboration as a pathway into the world of another is demonstrated. Music educators are challenged to counter the superficiality of musical tourism and dilettantism with approaches that lead to deeper musical and cultural understanding and ultimately enact social justice.

15. Sotomeyer, Luisa, and Kim, Isabelle. Developing Outreach Programmes in a School of Music: Planning, Curricular and Pedagogical Considerations

In this chapter we analyze the development of a community outreach initiative developed within a large school of music in Toronto, Canada. This initiative was created to engage marginalized children, youth, and seniors in music making. In its attempt to do so, the school of music grapples with challenges of social justice, such as recognizing its place within the power relationships existent in music education; building horizontal partnerships with community-based organizations; designing culturally relevant programming with students; and generating safe spaces for students' identity explorations. The chapter uses a youth internship programme to illustrate some of its latest innovations in programming, curriculum, and pedagogy. Overall, we suggest some strategies to foster socially inclusive spaces for music making and discuss the challenges of bringing these into practice.

16. Karlsen, Sidsel. Access to the Learnable: Music Education and the Development of Strong Learners within Informal Arenas

Combining recent research data and sociological theory, this chapter shows how enhancing students' music-related agency is connected to increasing their access to what is learnable within informal arenas. It introduces a new challenge for enacting social justice in music education by revealing the significance of music educators' role in helping students overcome socio-economic challenges so they will seek informal and ongoing opportunities for their music education. Matters of agency and access are thoroughly discussed and guidelines to help teachers develop musical agency are also presented.

Section Three: Emerging Practices

17. Friesen, Doug. That Teacher Pedestal: How Alternative Methods Challenged My Concept of the Teacher Role

Music education classes are typically controlled by the teacher whether through conducting, deciding on what music to play, or just always being the one who knows best. This chapter depicts my account of how non-idiomatic improvisation pedagogy offered experiences that challenged traditional teacher-student roles as well as put into question what might be meaningful material for music education to include. Methods inspired by the work of R. Murray Schafer and John Zorn provided the opportunity for me to question always controlling the direction of each class. I describe a moment of vulnerability which contributed to a more democratic approach to music education where students' own experiences can affect the direction of the class. In this approach students also creatively observe, interpret, and react to the experience of each of their classmates. My account includes observations from a high school student and two teacher candidates who observed and/or participated in my secondary music classes.

18. Miles, Janice. What does "Teaching for Social Justice" Mean in My Elementary Music Classroom?

How do we foster ways of thinking that question the world around us? I explore stories from my elementary music classroom that illustrate my attempts to privilege a global perspective in my teaching. I consider my teaching to be an on-going journey to help my students make connections between our musical explorations and life beyond our classrooms

19. Kashub, Michele. Critical Pedagogy for Creative Artists: Inviting Young Composers to Engage in Artistic Social Action

The Critical Pedagogy for Creative Artists course emerged as a possible answer to the question of how issues of social justice could be brought into the world of music education. Its goal was to empower students to recognize and exercise a socially conscious musical voice within their communities. Participants drew upon their knowledge of complex social, political, cultural, and societal issues as impetus for creation of works of art-compositions-to inform themselves and others.

20. Lashbrook, Steven, and Mantie, Roger. Valuing Subjugated Experience: The One World Youth Arts Project

The significance of the One World Youth Arts Project for social justice in music education lies not just in that students were enabled to create their own music, but that the program celebrated rather than disregarded the kinds of knowledge and experience they brought to the music room. This chapter documents aspects of the One World program, offering Afrocentricity as a possible lens through which to understand One World's effectiveness in engaging students, particularly Black youth, often not represented in traditional music education offerings.

21. Roy, Carole. Agency and Active Citizenship through Song Writing and Musical Performance: The Raging Grannies' Lessons for Music Education

In this chapter, Roy explains how community activists can play a strong role in music education for social justice. She examines how the Raging Grannies use music, humour, and irreverent performances to elevate music's educational capacity to nurture individual agency and to promote active citizenship. Combining informed exploration of social and political issues and creative song writing, the Grannies model active citizenship for social change, providing a creative and accessible style in the classroom that offers all audiences positive images of a preferred future and intergenerational motivation to sing for change.

22. Whyte, Brianne. The Heart of the Matter: A Pre-Service Teacher's Narrative on Coming to a Social Justice Oriented Vision for Music Education

Against the backdrop of our current world-in-crisis, traditional music education feels irrelevant and arbitrary. As a pre-service music educator, I often feel enraged by how we are taught and encouraged to have such a narrow and archaic vision for music education. I am troubled by this common vision for music education: seemingly concerned with efficacy and mere musical objectives. What about addressing the needs of our students, and of our world? We know that educators have immense social influence, and with that power comes the responsibility to contribute to the well being of not only our students, but also our world.

23. Abrahams, Frank. Hosanna, Hanukah, and Hegemony: Anti-Semitism in the Music Classroom

I contend that anti-Semitism is one of the overt forms of oppression present in school music classrooms. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the issue of anti-Semitism in the music classroom, particularly as it marginalizes and "others" Jewish students, perpetuates hegemonic practices, and reinforces stereotypes. I examine anti-Semitism through the five "faces" of oppression proposed by Iris Marion Young (1990): powerlessness, exploitation, marginalization, cultural imperialism, and violence. My discussion considers the presentation and impact of religion-based decisions music teachers make. While most literature discussing anti-Semitism focuses on studies of the Holocaust or the issue of sacred music in schools, this chapter suggests how critical pedagogy may provide a helpful model for choices in music education.

24. Zinck, Andrew M. Toward a Values-Driven Model of Course Design

An examination of one music professor's pedagogical transformation highlights strategies for fostering a classroom environment aligned with the values of social justice. By grounding the decisions of course design within a larger framework of fundamental values that encourage positive interdependence, one is better able to align course goals, assessments, and learning activities with the larger purpose of helping students to balance both their individual and social identities and responsibilities as caring citizens. The significant challenges faced by both myself and students in this endeavour reveal the importance of empathy in understanding how to traverse the gap between "being" and "becoming" that is the essence of personal change.

25. Campbell, Mark. Remixing the Social: Pursuing Social Inclusion through Music Education

As record labels and the culture industry struggle to make profitable the radical transformation in music consumption, an important opportunity is born out of this crisis. Remix culture has firmly established itself in popular culture, turning consumers into producers and establishing a more participatory industry. For music educators this moment provides an opportunity to rethink and redesign the ways in which social justice is pursued in the classroom. I offer a theoretical analysis of remixing as well as classroom strategies to facilitate inclusivity in music education and social studies classrooms.