Culturally Responsive Instrumental Music Instruction: Efforts by Middle Level Music Educators to Connect their Ensemble Programs to the Local Community.

Culturally responsive pedagogy encourages teachers to connect the curriculum to students' cultural identities and foster their development of critical consciousness . However, there is limited empirical research into the culturally responsive practices of instrumental music educators in the United States, and the conventional repertoire of United States band and orchestra programs may hamper music teachers' efforts in this arena . In this study, we sought to understand how and in what ways middle level (5th--8th grade) instrumental music teachers have attempted to connect their band and orchestra programs to the musics of the local community . Using emergent qualitative content analysis of an openended survey question, we examined the responses of 727 music teachers from across the United States who taught band and/or orchestra during 2020--2021 . We found that over half of the respondents were attempting to connect their programs to the local community, but that many of their efforts were not fully aligned with the tenets of culturally responsive pedagogy and were limited by numerous barriers . From these results, we suggest areas of improvement within the field of music education, particularly concerning repertoire access and preservice and inservice professional development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contributions to Music Education is the property of Ohio Music Education Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)