XVI Colloquium: July 12 - 19, 2005:
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
"Discourses and Practices of Hegemony, Power, and Exclusion in Music Education"

Reconsidering "Multiculturalisms" in Music Education:
The Attractive Challenges of a "Radically Relativist" Curriculum
Scott Goble
University of British Columbia

Writings of the past five decades on so-called "multicultural music education" manifest a spectrum of approaches to including the musical traditions of culturally differing communities in the educational forum. These approaches range from the naïve inclusion of highly simplified, Westernized versions of "the music of other cultures" in classroom activities to concerns with historically and culturally "authentic" performance practices, to considerations of "MUSIC" as a "diverse human practice." Curricular recommendations and requirements of well-established organizations in music education tend to lie toward the center of this spectrum, while the recent writings of philosophers in music education have tended toward the "diverse human practice" end. All of these approaches are well-intended, but each has significant limitations when considered by those who take another approach.

One position notably lacking from the writings of music education scholars is that of the "radical relativist," one who does not seek to identify as a basis for curriculum any universally shared attributes or common "goods" in all of the myriad human practices commonly grouped together as "musical" in Western societies. Such a position might be adopted as a basis for framing curricular approaches different from those previously considered, helping students to understand different social practices involving sound on the terms of those with whom they originated, aiding students in considering the personal and social effects of those practices, and giving students tools to make critically informed decisions about what they hear.