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XII Colloquium: October 11 - 13, 2002: Hampton Inn and Suites, Columbus, OH
"Music Curriculum Challenges in Post-Secondary Education"

What's Diversity Got to Do With It?
Curriculum Development for College Music Education
Dr Terese Volk
Assistant Professor of Music Education
Wayne State University

Introduction

Many university music programs, and especially music education programs (with the exception of traditionally Black institutions), are acutely aware that their enrollment is made up primarily of white middle class students, many of whom will be working in a nearly non-white environment. This dichotomy is especially obvious in urban colleges and universities that draw students from the suburbs, yet exist in a multicultural/multi-racial city. As a result, many institutions of higher education list "preparing music students to live, work, and get along with people from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds" as part of their mission statement.

Colleges are also aware that funding is critical, community support is necessary, and that the exclusivity of the old "ivory tower" of academe (if it ever was) will not work in an increasingly practical world. Partnerships between the community's schools (public, private, and parochial) and the university are now seen as not just necessary, but de rigeur. This is most visible between medical schools and school/public health units, and the arts and public education. For the arts, representatives from the visual arts, theater, and dance, as well as music, participate in these collaborations, often in some form of artists-in-residence.

Today in music education, community collaboration goes far beyond the days when the music ed students provided the music teaching for some small grade school near the college as a laboratory setting. Mentor teachers from the public schools coordinate with music ed faculty and work directly with music ed students in their own classrooms. There then follows more guided experiences in the methods classroom. Art/music combinations have been proposed where art ed and music ed students work together to assist general ed students as they incorporate the arts into the K-6 classroom setting during student teaching. In spite of these advances, the question remains: how do we educate our music ed students to teach diverse populations, and how can the university's music curriculum best help bring this to fruition?

There have been suggestions for years about incorporating multicultural perspectives in theory and history classes, in repertoire classes, performing ensemble rehearsals, applied lessons, and in music education methods classes (Anderson, 1992; Volk, 1998, pp. 162-163). Some music programs have begun to incorporate this kind of approach; others have covered the topic of musical multiculturalism by scheduling a "World Musics" class as part of the general education offerings, but not necessarily focusing it toward musicians or future music teachers. Other universities rely on ethnomusicology courses to supply the diversity component for the music department (Miralis, 2002, pp.90-98). Still other universities require a course in diversity (multicultural education) for each of its future teachers, usually offered through the College of Education. Unfortunately, this course is not always required for Music Education students.

Even if all of the above were implemented, this is still simply not enough to enable our music education students to comprehend the complexity of the diverse society in which we live. The current curriculum is not enough even to help our students understand the underlying issues of diversity. Few places give them hands-on experience dealing with the complexity of the musical diversity they must teach, or the diversity their own future students will bring to school. In general, little is done to assist music ed students in learning how to teach either music or students from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Global and Community Connections

Historically, Fulbright scholars have been one of the global connections fostered through universities. Over the years, these connections have expanded to include overseas branches of US institutions, and working partnerships with student and teacher exchanges on a school-to-school basis. Today there are global initiatives in some form or another at nearly all colleges and universities.

At the same time, universities are trying to make themselves a viable presence that can work within the community. For example, in metro Detroit, with its high Arabic population, Wayne State University (WSU) has held meetings between the university president, the campus Community Affairs Office, and leaders of the Arabic community. These meetings resulted in a new awareness between the WSU community and the Arabic community, and a possible campus/community partnership in the future.

Rarely do these type of activities involve music students or teachers. Departments of music frequently sponsor lecture and concert series, and advertise them to the community. This activity involves all music students, and thus presents at least a limited possibility to interface with the local community. More contact comes from recruiting concerts at local high schools. Except for this, however, music education students are usually not connected with the community schools except for student teaching. Beyond their classmates, the student teaching experience may be the first extended contact our students have with any kind of diversity.

Although this may be the norm, there are universities that have already implemented school/community outreach programs through music education. The Eastman School of Music shares a string education program with the inner city schools of Rochester, NY. West Chester University (WCU) of Pennsylvania has a long-standing music education partnership with the Rosetree-Media Schools. This partnership incorporates world music projects from a wide variety of ethic and cultural backgrounds. The WCU students who participated in these projects have gone on to create similar community-based activities with their own schools.

The few existing curricular offerings that encourage listening to, learning about, and finally teaching a variety of musics from around the world are not sufficient to empower our future music educators. This paper explores ways that may address this problem.


CURRICULUM: PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALS

Problems: Terminology. Multiculturalism and diversity are loaded terms. There are no agreed upon definitions. Presently, definitions vary from simply "many cultures" to "inclusions of race, culture, ethnicity, religion, handicapping conditions, sexual persuasion, sexism, and ageism." Too often, these definitions are driven by political rather than educational agendas. If we don't know what we are talking about, we have a hard time justifying it in education. Music education is equally remiss, and seems to have settled on the "musics of any culture or ethnicity" as its basic definition, but there is no real consensus across the profession.

Time Limitations. Many educators feel they barely have time to teach the traditional Western canon, and adding anything else will water down the current curriculum too much. Music educators often feel this time constraint with the limited contact hours their schedules allow. The fear is that too much emphasis on music outside the classical Western tradition will undermine the musical heritage we try to transmit in our classes.

Thinking. Critical thinking is often linked with multicultural issues. There are those who feel critical thinking is required for a multicultural perspective, in music education as much as in general education. Discussions of equality, justice, and social empowerment are basic in the fight against discrimination and racism. Attitudes of political correctness or favoritism are real concerns and also need to be addressed. In a "critical thinking" approach, the viewpoints of all the peoples affected by a topic need to be examined.

Context is essential when teaching about another culture, and it is through discussions based on a critical thinking approach that context, and the musical expressions of a culture, can best be studied. For example, songs of protest, South African freedom songs, and labor songs can be doors that open such discussions. "We Shall Overcome" is one song with this kind of potential. It has been sung world-wide, beginning from its roots in the African-American culture, to its use on labor picket lines, to its acceptance in the Civil Rights movement, and its final extension to South Africa, China, and South America through various freedom movements. Husa's "Music for Prague" and Camphouse's "Watchman Tell Us of the Night" offer different ways to open a band rehearsal to discussions of oppression - whether it is a city's or a woman's. Researching the context for class presentation is time-consuming, and for some, daunting. Resources to help are not as scarce as they were, but having access to them is often difficult for music educators.

Andre De Quadros (2002) states that cultural diversity and multiculturalism, integral to music education, are contemporary goals driven by the consciousness of racial and immigration issues and that music educators should seek a path to socially responsible pedagogy. For some, the only way to correct what they see as inequality in education, the only way to a "socially responsible pedagogy," is a reconstructionist approach.


Potentials:

Self-Validation

Lucy Greene has warned that school music culture may be at odds with the student's "real life" music (Greene, 1988). If music "affirms the self" (Greene, p.17), then ignoring the musics of our students is a negation of their being. By acknowledging our students' "out of school" music experiences and learnings, we help create students who are more open to different musics and different teaching styles. Carrying this further, if university/public school music programs can form a working partnership, this "legitimization" of all musics will eventually create students more willing to accept the music and culture of others.

Bi-musicality

Questions of who determines if one is bi-musical or not cloud this potential. Short of functioning musically within a second music culture, there is no real indication of how bi-musicality may be achieved or assessed in the classroom. Often cited as one of the rationales for multicultural music education, bi-musicality may just be another word for musical creativity. Perhaps in reality, learning a second music culture, or a third, or more, is best seen in the light of developing a student's personal musical expression. And if music is truly "thinking in sound," having more to think with is a definite advantage.

National and State Standards

In a way, the National Standards for the Arts (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, 1994), and the various state and local standards and mandates have helped incorporate multicultural musics in the curriculum more than any other thing. Issues of repertoire and implementation have had to be addressed quickly, and educators have had access to publications to workshops on many different music cultures. New possibilities include culture-bearers in the classroom, student/teacher interactions as teachers learn from their students, and performing ensembles that expand the traditional roles of band, orchestra and chorus in the curriculum.

So how can university demands for diversity be incorporated in curricula and activities? How can university/community partnerships be designed to fulfill the needs of university and public school students? And how can music education students best be prepared to enter a world of people and music that is wider than they ever imagined it to be?

The following are suggestions.

Model Courses

MED 6520: Elementary Music Education Workshop
Wayne State University, Detroit MI

The graduate bulleitn description (WSU, 2000-2002) of this class reads:

Group participation in the study of class materials and teaching procedures for elementary music teachers (p187).

This is a summer graduate offering. The advantage of this generic description is that it allows the subject material of this workshop to change every time it is offered. In its recent past it was presented as a course for teaching world musics covering four culture-areas (African, Arabic, Chinese, and Thai). This coming summer, it will focus on Arabic musics, and include performances by local musicians. This workshop will be part of the university/community incentive described above. It will be run specifically to encourage the attendance of teachers from the Detroit and Dearborn school districts. A night concert for the course will be advertised and open to the public. If successful, it may lead to a partnership between the WSU music Department and these school districts.

This course is designed around a combination of ethnomusicology and education. The community musicians will provide background on Arabic music and the students will learn how to incorporate this information into music lessons appropriate for their classes. Along the way, there will be discussions of issues such as the relationship between religion and music in Arabic life, the place of women, and the role of musicians.

Although this is a graduate course, issues of diversity are part of class discussions in WSU's undergraduate music methods classes as well. Students must seek out multicultural repertoire that is age and ability appropriate for both repertoire assignments and class presentations. They must be able to identify the probable authenticity of this repertoire on a 4-point scale of "inauthentic" to "very authentic." They also come to understand the complexity of issues such as religious music in the schools, the inclusion of composers from various cultural backgrounds, and fair and equitable treatment of women and persons with disabilities.

The following course exemplifies how another University deals with the issue of diversity at the undergraduate level.

MED 332: Music Methods II
West Chester University, West Chester PA

The course catalog description (WCU, 2002) for this class reads:

The study of music and the learning process with primary emphasis on the secondary level: cultural and social diversity in education, the listening program, related arts and integrated curriculum, music technology, the middle and high school general music program, basis of administration, classroom management strategies, assessment in music instruction, curriculum design, and the National and State Standards for Music (p117).

It is the first unit that is of interest here: Cultural and social diversity in education. As designed, this course begins with a five week unit focusing on diversity in music education and introducing issues of ethnicity, race, gender, religion, and disability through lessons on world musics and cultures with a particular focus upon those groups historically marginalized in the US after immigration from their homelands. The musical examples chosen provide opportunities for examination of these issues. The culture areas focused on in this unit are African, Native American, Pacific Islander, Asian, European, and Latin American. These cultures are examined both in their geographical origin, and as components of American society. Comparisons of traditional and adapted cultural practices, musically and socio-politically, are intended to draw the student into reflective discussions of the universal nature of diverse community issues.

These diversity strands are further explored in the units on related arts/integrated curriculum and music technology. This course is taught through an integrated method of instruction. Issues of diversity are intertwined with study of the music of diverse world cultures, music methodology, curricular design, and school/community relationships.

The authors and composer of many of the supplemental world music resources used in this course are themselves immigrants who have endured oppression and discrimination in their homelands and as residents of the US. Their stories, struggles and triumphs are part of each resource, and are examined as an essential element of the cultural context so necessary for complete understanding of each culture's musical traditions, and to effectively and equitably teach these traditions in the music classroom.

Students will learn methods of developing instructional materials that are bias-free, allow full participation in learning of all peoples, and promote a just, equitable society. Some topics covered are the use of religious and sacred music in the schools, copyright laws, applications of multicultural musics in the music education curriculum, roles of music as protest and identity. Wherever and whenever possible, culture bearers from ethnic groups represented in the surrounding communities are brought into the class to share their music and culture with the students as well as provide personal insights into issues of oppression and discrimination and how music has served to preserve their culture identities. Often, these guests provide the most powerful lessons of the course.

Each assignment includes a component addressing diverse community issues as applied to music learning environments. The final written project for this course is a fully detailed, semester-long curriculum for general music at the Middle School level. Each unit and lesson contained in this curriculum must include guides for addressing diversity issues in planning and presenting instruction. The final teaching project is a 12-minute micro-teaching presentation based on a song, instrumental work, or movement activity drawn from world music cultures.

Other Considerations

The courses that were developed to present issues of diversity in music education already existed in the college catalogs. At Wayne State, there is no need to justify to the university whatever topics are put into the graduate workshops. To get "Diversity Requirement" standing for the course at West Chester, the instructor simply revised an existing syllabus to include more on the issues of multiculturalism, and presented it for approval. Both courses meet NCATE and NASM accreditation requirements to include more diversity in all aspects of the curriculum. In neither case was anything sacrificed in the curriculum, through there was some compression within the courses (e.g., number of songs, dances, cultures) to allow for discussion of the new material. Regular staff teach both these courses as part of their course load. There is no need to hire another instructor, although often guest culture-bearers receive an honorarium.

The high African-American and Arabic populations of the Detroit community have thus far determined the ethnicities chosen for study in the Wayne State grad class. Since many of the teachers attending our grad classes do not belong to these groups, and the students they teach do, the need was immediate. Besides class work, students must attend musical/cultural events out the community throughout the course. Student evaluations at the end of the course showed that for all of them, the course was useful, and gave them a greater understanding of the variety of musics and student diversity. However, the impact of this course comes after the fact for most graduates. An informal survey of one group of graduates a year after taking the course showed that they employed what they learned in class in their teaching. All still used at least part of what they had learned, and for some at least, diversity had became a regular component of their music instruction (Volk, 1997).

For the West Chester course, students answer a questionnaire at the end of the semester prior to taking Methods II identifying their ethnicities of the incoming class. These ethnicities, along with the MENC list of the major ethnic groups (Asian, African, Hispanic, and Native), become those to be studied in the new semester. The course content is fused with field experiences through written assignments and class reports. Students must indicate how the diversity of the students in their assigned field experience impacts their teaching, and if the course helps (or doesn't help) their ability to deal with students more effectively. While this course is still too new for much feedback, already there are requests from both new graduates on the job and the field experience co-operating teachers themselves for more materials to use in their classrooms dealing with the issues of diversity, equality, and fairness in the classroom. The course will be evaluated by the usual methods: department chair, faculty, and student evaluation, and a written report back to the university curriculum committee at the end of this year for assessment.

Summary

Curriculum design often takes years between inception and implementation. It helps if there is an existing course that can be "made to order." However, this only goes to show that issues of diversity can be discussed in one type of program - music educators' preparation. Diversity cannot be addressed in music education courses exclusively. It must also be addressed for all music students. It is not only in methods classes, or in workshops, that we help future music educators learn how to deal with diverse musics and diverse cultures within their classroom. It must also be a factor every professor is aware of, and teaches for, in his/her class. It DOES have to be included in history, theory, repertoire, and performance classes. It DOES imply that the faculty be representative of a variety of cultures, and it DOES insist that people learn to understand other people, and treat them fairly.

How much can we do within our methods classes? How much can we do to foster this level of awareness throughout the music department? Can we afford NOT TO?


REFERENCE LIST

Anderson, W.M. (1992). Rethinking teacher education: The Multicultural Imperative. Music Educators Journal 67(2), 52-54.

Consortium of National Arts Education Associations. (1994). National Standards for Arts Education. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference.

DeQuadros, A., Skyllstad, K., Kimari, W., Nzewi, M., Haussila, M. Who is the other? Panel discussion. International Society for Music Education 25th World Conference, Bergen, Norway, August 15, 2002.

Greene, L. (1988). Music on deaf ears. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.

Miralis, Y. (2002). "Multicultural-world music education and music teacher education at the Big Ten schools: Identified problems and suggestions." Unpublished dissertation. Michigan State University.

Volk, T.M. (1997). " Long Term effects of A Multicutlural Musc Education Course." Unpublished Survey.

Volk, T.M. (1998). Music, education, and multiculturalism. NY: Oxford University Press.

Wayne State University. (2000-2002). Graduate Bulletin.

West Chester University. (2002). Undergraduate Catalog.