Compassionate Care in Elementary General Music Teaching and Learning as a Way to Respond to the World: A Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

In this narrative inquiry, where stories were the data, three experienced music teachers from one public school district in the southwestern United States shared stories about their experiences as elementary general music teachers. The stories were told through the lens of compassionate care, a perspective that implies a shared experience between teacher and learners (Hendricks, 2018, 2023). The stories, and my interpretation of them, revealed an understanding of elementary general music, a multimodal, fun, school subject, as a vehicle for teaching children how to be kind and respectful humans. Threads that emerged from the stories linked connections between compassionate care, relationality, and musicking. This inquiry provided perspectives about the relational, human work of elementary general music, and its potential to help teachers and learners notice, acknowledge, and respond to our complicated world.