Teaching Multiculturalism in Music Education

Jennifer Rodriguez

EDFO420

11/17/2016
 In todays public education music programs, it is clear that there is not a specific set of

standards, with standards differing across state lines. Specifically impacting our education

programs socially and internationally is this lack of consistency and knowledge pertaining to

multicultural education in public schools. In regard to music, students are given a variety of

perspectives of what it means to experience multiculturalism or to have a multicultural

education. An analysis of multicultural music incorporated into the music classroom displays

how multiculturalism does not currently have a set definition in music education. Further, an

analysis of positive music programs demonstrates ways in which multicultural music education

can productively be facilitated within a school system, creating an inclusive and informative

environment for all students involved. The following addresses the current multitude of

definitions for multiculturalism in music education, how multiculturalism is being

misrepresented in current music programs, how other programs are making a positive change in

the implementation of multiculturalism in public education, and how public schools overall can

adapt to a limited definition of multiculturalism to create more homogenous music education

experiences.

First, it is pertinent to discuss the vast amount of definitions public education currently

holds for multiculturalism. In the current public school system structure, it is a national

requirement among music curricula that multicultural education be implemented into the regular

study of music for programs such as band, orchestra, choir, or general music. Listed in the 9th

National Standard for Music Education, the standard reads that students should be able to

understand music in relationship to history and culture. However, what the standards do not

specifically state is how the implementation of history and culture may be added to certain

classroom situations. To exemplify the vast definitions of multicultural education, we must know
that in truth, multicultural education more recently since 1991 embodies women, gays, lesbians,

and handicapped along with the general inclusion of a variety of world cultures to be studied

and applied (Norman, 40). To break this definition down into even smaller increments of

opinion, some educators believe multicultural education solely includes a study of world

cultures, whereas other perspectives believe multicultural education is a study of world cultures

specifically focused on cultures experienced in the United States (Norman, 39-40). From this

data, it seems definitions of what multicultural education embodies currently depends upon the

general background knowledge and cultural awareness an educator possesses, and how they

particularly choose to implement that knowledge into their musical curricula. A final perspective

multicultural education includes the coexistence of unlike groups in a common social system

(Elliott, 151). The vast amount of definitions of multiculturalism leads to an overall

misinterpretation of what it means to cohesively and respectfully incorporate multicultural

education into a music program to best educate the students and broaden world views.

Due to the multitude of definitions that currently leave public schools with an unsettled

explanation of multicultural education, school systems are frequently left with a misguided

teaching of multiculturalism. With general miscommunications such as those in the musical

standards and curricula, one may wonder what comes of music programs when they implement

their interpretation of multicultural education. One good example of an attempt to implement

multiculturalism in school systems is the addition of a mariachi band to schools that have a high

Mexican population in the local community. To the general education populace, this can seem

like a very positive move for an area that hopes to increase musical enrollment for a variety of

ethnicities, or increase community involvement through a peak in Mexican parental interest.

However, what educators need to understand is that Mariachi stands as a symbol of Mexican
heritage largely within the United States, and only represents one form of music from Mexican

tradition and culture (Abril, 80). The growing popularity of Mariachi bands in public education

from the 1960s to today characterizes an attempt to include multiculturalism, but holds two

faults: school systems have not set these courses as standard across the nation, which in turn has

led for these programs and cultures to become generalized primarily into Mariachi bands and not

the culture itself. What this leaves the students with is one understanding of a piece of culture,

and minimal understanding of the culture itself through its music.

Further, when working in a public school setting, some challenges for incorporating

elements into a curriculum may consist of positively utilizing the classroom setting, following

the guidelines of specific state and classroom standards on a regular basis, and understanding the

students that one teaches on an educational and personal level. In particular understanding

individual students can play a great role in creating a curriculum that students will focus on

within a classroom setting, and strengthen their cultural understanding of the world. Though

students come from an array of cultures, it is commonly encountered that musical classrooms

around the world focus their musical studies on Western classical music. This element of music

education is crucial in order for students to learn the history that their instruments developed

from, whether in orchestra or band, considering that orchestras prominently developed in

Western Europe. With this fact aside though, one cannot ignore the fact of other musical styles

developed outside of Western Europe that are equally important for study. To alleviate this

concern, teachers tend to take a stance of trying to incorporate the students personal culture into

their curriculum to create diversity. Sidsel Karlsen, professor of music education at Kemark

University College in Norway, discusses this approach to multiculturalism through a survey and
interview of students in Helsinki, Finland, in which the students discuss their personal

experiences in private lessons and personal appreciation of music.

Through her ethnographic study of students within select music classrooms, Karlsen saw

a variety of positions students took on sharing their personal heritage within the classroom. Her

study partially analyzed how students felt about the personal study of music in their culture in

school. One student of Korean descent was highly interested in sharing her cultural music with

the class, whereas another student from China wanted to present on Scottish music, seeing as he

was frequently asked to present on music from his homeland. In complete contrast, one student

of Pakistani descent found her music very personal and found herself in situations of bullying

when she shared her music with the classroom (Karlsen, 137). Interestingly, each student had

personal and cultural music that they appreciated but with this came opinions, social situations,

and cultural assumptions that could cause for a spotlight of personal heritage to be less

successful than a general focus of multicultural enlightenment. If the musical classrooms had in

turn allowed students to select a culture they wanted to present on, students would have a choice

of analyzing and sharing a new cultures musical background, or sharing their own if it is

something they personally enjoy sharing with others. The best solution then, it seems, would be

to focus music classrooms in the western practice that students instruments were founded in, but

create projects and musical experiences for students to analyze and share new findings of

multicultural music as a class.

Though there is a great effort to increase student interest and enrollment in music

programs through increased multiculturalism, the misguidance of multicultural practice limit this

acceptance and can ultimately be expanded into four categories (Gonzo, 2-3). The first category

of individuals is referred to as assimilationists, which are individuals who believe cultures should
assimilate to an Americanized way of life, limiting their personal culture and taking on more

Anglo lifestyles. This approach to teaching typically shuts out the idea of multiculturalism in

order to preserve an Anglo style setting. The second category of individuals is referred to as

Cultural Pluralists, being people who see all cultures as being viable for education within the

multicultural curricula. A common argument that people put towards Cultural Pluralists includes

that there is no set theory of culture and it is always changing which may make it difficult to

study through a multicultural unit. Anti-racist Education, the third category, focuses on the

removal of stereotypes, freeing observations, interactions, and grading of biases towards race.

Worries that some have towards this perspective on multiculturalism is that it can lead to

tokenizing races or incorporating multicultural music as a veiled means of highlighting a

community minority. Finally, the fourth category of individuals are the Globalists. Globalists see

multiculturalism as a means of relating personal, national, and international relationships. In

order to be a globalist one must have a current understanding of modern diversity, ethnicities,

and world views to name a few elements. Similar to Cultural Pluralists, people still have

judgmental views of the validity and consistency of multiculturalism in a school curriculum.

From each of these perspectives, it is clear to see that many people have contrasting views on

multiculturalism, and someone always has a reason for why each perspective poses an issue.

Personally, the globalist perspectives take on world understanding through personal, national,

and international relationships seems most effective with little backlash from supporters of

multiculturalism. For those who may disagree with multiculturalism within the schooling system,

one can look at the following implementations of successful multiculturalism within music

education.
 Understanding the differing interpretations of multicultural education, and seeing the

generalized approaches that have formed from applying multicultural curriculum attempts in the

past, it is clear that working within general knowledge of cultures have only gotten educators so

far in certain multicultural teaching. In contrasting situations however, multicultural education

has been applied very successfully, broadening a local perspective of vast cultural understanding.

In 2012 a recurring musical event titled Space for Peace was formed, becoming an annual

event which takes place at Winchester Cathedral on Holocaust Memorial Day in January. The

founder, June Boyce-Tillman, created this event as a way for choirs to come together to enjoy

differences along with similarities between cultures and musical styles. The variety of musicians

and vocalist at the annual event range greatly in age, from ages such as 7-85 years, and

musicians come in great variety: I assemble together local choral groups from a variety of

sourcescommunity choirs, school choirs from church and state schools, the university, the

cathedral choristers, a rabbi, a Jewish cantor, a Muslim imam, a singer in the Hindu/Sikh

tradition, a Bahi singer, and Buddhist chanters. There were some solo singers and a

saxophonist and flautist who wandered around freely improvising on some Hildegard chants

(Boyce-Tillman, 33). Through this event, local musicians experience music and its creation

through a shared experience involving some musicians working from read music, and other

creating music by what they hear or improvise. The musical process as a whole is a combined

effort to take aspects of each culture and musical style, forming it into one felt experience. This

is one current demonstration of live mixed cultural experiences that allow students to understand

other cultures through music and see the connection that each interpretation has to the overall

impact music has universally on lives. Another good example of a well implemented

multicultural experience includes a two day workshop of Finnish and South African choirs being
brought together to learn a mixture of Finnish and African dance choreography. The two choirs

had to work together to learn the movements and dance together in this experience. Similar to

Space for Peace, this experience allowed for cultures to be brought together to create a shared

experience while learning aspects of one anothers culture. In this experience, not only did both

groups have to correlate dancing, but they also needed to work on singing in the language of the

group they were paired with, which created another effort of collaboration and effort on a

cognitive level (Himberg, 318).

Both of the previously listed situations positively portraying multicultural education have

some key elements in common. First, the events are immersive; because students are interacting

with others who come from different cultures and share an understanding and study of music,

there is a greater imprint of new multicultural knowledge on the individuals involved. Further,

culture is being shared in a real life context, in which cultural education is not being forced, but

simply experienced through high knowledge of diverse culture within the community and

students. Whether these cultures were utilized within the students own community, or an outside

community, educators and facilitators reached out to members of communities who had a strong

grasp of how to share that culture with their student and event members. A final important

commonality that both previous examples share is that neither of them takes place in a public

school classroom, which leads to the ultimate question: How can multiculturalism be

productively facilitated within a school system, creating an inclusive and informative

environment for all students involved?

Overall, it seems that we find some of the best integration of multicultural education in

situations where the teacher both understands the students personal feelings about their culture,

and has a broad grasp of multicultural education in general. Karlsen better describes this balance
of cultural study and student identity by addressing that, the findings of the present study

show that just implementing without taking into consideration the students complex negotiations

of identity in relation to [so-called homeland] music is perhaps not a good solution. Rather,

what immigrant students may need are music teachers who are aware of their students efforts of

negotiating themselves in relation to a multiplicity of cultural systems (Hall 1992; Olneck 2004),

and who can handle this with tact and sensitivity (Karlsen, 144). This is a similar assessment to

the previous data listed from the integration of Mariachi Bands. Though students may relate

specifically to a certain culture, they must be seen as embodying more than that culture itself,

and rather as a facilitator of their culture and others that they learn within music education.

In order to make integrative programs work, educators not only need to accept their

personal knowledge and expand upon their understanding of multicultural education, but must

also be a catalyst for change, as Abril phrases it, for the students, community, and

administration to see the benefit of multicultural musics implementation in the classroom. As

referred to before, a common issue of incorporating anything other than Western music into the

music curriculum is that people have a hard time adapting to the educational validity of anything

that is not typical western music. Ways in which this validity can be addressed is shown in

Abrils analysis of Nancys approach to Mariachi bands within her music program. Not only did

Nancy, the teacher within Abrils article, advocate for multiculturalism within her classroom, but

she immersed herself in the programs she wished to lead, joining a Mariachi class in the Old

Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois, and enrolling further in a graduate program in

which she took a multicultural course where she was able to design a Mariachi curriculum.

Nancy was not only wanting to make a change in her program, but she was facilitating all of the
proper materials and knowledge she would need to make administrators and community

members see the ease and benefit of implementing a multicultural curriculum.

Along with being a catalyst for change, multicultural education in music can not only be

adjusted by teachers efforts alone. The definitions of multiculturalism must be reanalyzed and

understood by the general populace. Rather than being addressed simply as a word in one of the

national music education standards, multiculturalism must be understood in 5 categories, with a

general understanding of the term multiculturalism (Morton, 33). As stated previously, it must

be noted that multiculturalism does not simply refer to race or ethnicity, but rather a broader

spectrum of traits such as class, sex, sexuality, age, abilities, geography, and other forms of

location. With this understanding, multiculturalism can be perceived as the understanding of

individuals in society that relate to a certain culture which is composed of fluid and changing

boundaries. Once understood, this definition of multiculturalism can be broken into the 5

previously discussed categories, being monoculturalism, liberal multiculturalism, pluralist

multiculturalism, left-essentialist multiculturalism, and critical multiculturalism.

Monoculturalism, the first category of multiculturalism, is also termed as the

conservative multiculturalism. This form of multiculturalism promotes having a specific culture

act as the primary or superior culture. What this form of multiculturalism typically leads to is a

force of assimilation in cultures outside of the primary culture, which falls outside of the type of

multiculturalism we are hoping to emulate when discussing multiculturalism in public music

education programs. Continuing, liberal multiculturalism is represented as considering all

humans as one human race, promoting the notion of color-blindness. Though seeing the

similarities between humans in general, this approach to multiculturalism completely avoids the

essence of difference that comes with viewing a variety of cultures. On the other hand, the third
category, plural multiculturalism, believes all people should celebrate their differences while still

choosing to avoid topics of oppression. From all three of these aspects of multiculturalism, it

seems that different cultures cannot truly be respected and learned, since the sheer essence of

difference is avoided in education.

Moving forward, the 2nd to last category of multiculturalism is left-essentialist

multiculturalism. This category works to fight systemic oppression by finding shared experiences

between cultures in a culturally diverse setting. Though a connection is made through this effort,

it ultimately avoids the broader issues that may lie in experiences of different cultures,

encouraging the suppression of certain aspects of cultures. Avoiding this issue would have to

consist of a conscious effort to think beyond the characteristics of western culture. The final

category, Critical Multiculturalism, encompasses a teaching philosophy that not only addresses

the similarities between cultures, but also emphasizes having students challenge and analyze

their beliefs, culture, media, and other aspects of life to continually shape their beliefs and

understandings of the world, embrace their identity, and grow in their musical education.

(Morton, 34-36).

The vast amount of definitions of multiculturalism, differing perspectives towards

accepting multiculturalism and its validity, and successful approaches to multiculturalism in

music education are all demonstrated within the previous reading. What all of these elements

lead to is the understanding that multiculturalism is a morphing aspect of society that when

taught through personal understanding, immersion, and diversity, helps better educate students

on a personal, national, and international level. Therefore, in order to alleviate the current issues

that lie within public education and multiculturalism in music education, we must take on the
perspectives of critical multiculturalism and aim to enlighten students through views beyond

western culture, and through acting as catalysts for change in our own multicultural studies.
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