“Navigating Is Challenging the System”: Transformative Resistance and the Experience of Latiné Classical Musicians in Community Music Programs

Abstract

Classical music is recognized as an elite and exclusive form of music making that centers on the music of Western Europe. The established repertorial canon represents music composed by predominantly white males, marginalizing BIPOC music learners. Copious research on music education have proclaimed representation to be the solution to this marginalization, resulting in a surge of community music programs aimed at removing the access barriers to low-socioeconomic and predominantly BIPOC communities. This qualitative study aims to explore the multifaceted experiences of Latiné classical musicians who have studied classical music in El Sistema USA style programs as well as other community music programs during their K-12 schooling. Using LatCrit and Chicana Feminist epistemologies, this study focuses on how Latiné musicians navigate through white institutions to find a space for themselves and their identity(ies).