Presentation - How can music facilitate interaction and communication among children with

different cultural backgrounds?

Jenelle Magbutay

Before we can answer this question, we must first understand the concept of an all-

encompassing multicultural music education.

Multicultural music education is both the teaching of music from diverse cultures as well

as teaching students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Multicultural music education is

developed from three distinct, yet interconnected fields; music education, multicultural

education, and ethnomusicology (Herbert, 2010, pg. 7)

In music education today we focus heavily on the Western classical/traditional view of

music, as its history and concepts are what helped shaped both American classical and

contemporary music alike today. But what about the other countries of the world? Especially

considering one in four students under the age of eight in the US has an immigrant parent, we

must take diversity and cultural inclusiveness more seriously. Jacqueline McHale, a professor of

music education at DePaul University has found in her research that a purely Western-focused

music curriculum presented to a classroom where minority students made up most of the

classroom resulted in a bias against the minority cultures that were not being represented

properly and a sense of isolation for the students themselves. This was the result of the educator

creating an environment that did not support the integration of cultural, linguistic and popular

music experiences. In my own experience, this semester was the first time in my entire choral

career that I’ve ever sang anything in my mother tongue, and it moved me deeply as I could

hardly get through singing it without tearing up. I suppose because it was something I heard my

mother sing all the time growing up, and in the moment it made me feel very nostalgic. It’s this
ability to relate to a piece of music on a deeper level that musical diversity can bring to students

from immigrant families that we should be encouraging in our increasingly diverse classrooms.

There is currently a debate on whether or not young children should be exposed to multicultural

music, with skeptics arguing that they are simply far too young to comprehend and accept

multiple cultures. On the contrary, when at an early age children are remarkably receptive to

every kind of music, even to strange and unfamiliar ones, since they have not yet developed

stereotypical views about which music is considered “good” and which is not. This decreases as

they grow older.

A diverse music education in an equally diverse classroom will give students the

opportunity to sing, play, and listen to the music of other cultures, creating “an understanding

that transcends personal experience, and creates a more global perspective” (Papageorgiou,

Koutrouba). Music itself is always linked to “the sociocultural and historical conditions that

surround it, and is always a reflection of such conditions.” This can create a positive learning

environment for students, connecting both past and present as they will be encouraged to have

discussions about each other’s cultures and how they can relate to one another through similar

experiences of retaining their cultural identity while finding their identity as an American and

navigating between the two. Telling these stories behind the music sparks the students’ interests

and “helps them to better understand an unfamiliar musical style, to perceive its role in each

culture, and to connect emotionally with the individuals who create it. Moreover, a study of the

context enhances students' knowledge about other cultures and can contribute to the development

of intercultural relations within school society” (Papageorgiou, Koutrouba).

The bottom line is, the more children feel included and can relate to the material being

taught in the classroom, the more willing they will be to participate by sharing their own
personal experience, opening up discussion with peers who are interested in learning more from

their perspective. In conclusion, music indeed allows for an understanding from a global

perspective, and for a diverse classroom of young children it is vital to ensure that we help raise

the next generation to be open-minded, well-rounded and culturally accepting individuals that

can work together to help change the current state of our society into something that is more

accepting and beautiful.

Work Cited

Herbert, D.G. & Karlsen, S. (2010). Editorial introduction: Multiculturalism and music
education. The Finnish Journal of Music Education , 13(1), 6-11.

Papageorgiou, Panagiota, and Konstantina Koutrouba. "Teaching multicultural music in elementary

school: Issues about what, when, and how to teach." Hellenic Journal of Music, Education and
Culture 5.1 (2015).
Kelly-McHale, Jacqueline. “Why Music Education Needs to Incorporate More Diversity.” The
Conversation, The Conversation US, Inc., 5 Sept. 2018, theconversation.com/why-music-education-
needs-to-incorporate-more-diversity-53789.