I’ve been wanting to start a music education blog for a long time now. I just couldn’t decide what I wanted to say. There are many excellent options out there, where teachers can find really great ideas to infuse their music teaching practices. So my hope for this space is to start a conversation about culturally responsive practices in the music classroom and to share music lessons and children choir repertoire ideas that are culturally inclusive.
I would like to start with a little background into what brought me here. Perhaps the foreign sentiment that I carry with me, as I navigate my welcoming host country, heightens my senses to all the diversity around me; or maybe I have always been drawn to learn about different cultures. One of my favorite things to experience is to walk through a highly populated, diverse city and listen to all of the different languages spoken around me all at once. All of these and my passion for music education has led me to believe that music is one of the most effective ways to explore cultural diversity.
We live in a world with an abundance of information. The way we access information nowadays is allowing us to reach every corner of the globe almost instantly, as long as our audience has access to the internet.
This easy access to information allows everyone around the world the opportunity to be unified by what is trending, but this also can cause someone to neglect their uniqueness. We can find fans all around the world waiting for the latest single from their favorite artist and all of them can join in the experience almost instantly with the help of the internet. That is a unifying experience. But are we also putting the same energy to promote what makes us belong to our own community, what makes us unique?
As we keep transitioning to a globalized world, mainstream music fills every corner of our daily routines, which in many cases prevents the current generations from defining and maintaining their identity as part of a particular cultural group.
As an elementary teacher I notice my students are united in their love for the latest pop hit but rarely can they express themselves properly about the music particular to their cultural group or particular to their family unit. I often wonder if their quest to belong to their immediate group is too strong and doesn't allow them space to experience the diversity that makes them unique. Learning how to make, enjoy, and interact with music is a skill that we take with us as we go on living.
During my first year as a full-time elementary music teacher in the education system of this vastly-diverse country, I was teaching at a bilingual-biliterate school where the highest percentage of my students were Mexican immigrants or descendants. My first year at this school was also the first year of the school, I was able to start the music program from zero. By acknowledging the background of my students I decided that for our first concert we were going to sing something, to me, very Mexican. To reach my goal I picked the 3-part arrangement of Cielito Lindo by Juan-Tony Guzman, “Tio Tony” to us.
My hope was to connect with my students through their music. What I found is that they didn’t know very much about their music either.
As we studied the music, style, origins, text, orchestration, and so forth, we began to recognize cultural clues that they started to relate to. Soon, I noticed their side conversations with their friends. I heard how they were having conversations with their parents and grandparents. Their families started to share stories about growing up in their country of origin and how this song was part of the soundtrack of their childhood memories. Connections were beginning to emerge.
The process that began as a way for me to connect with my students as their new music teacher became a process of different generations passing on traditions, further establishing their identity as members of their family circles and communities, but most importantly as individuals.
As music educators, we have the power to open the way to diverse cultures through music. That is why it is very important to build a music program that is culturally responsive.
Music carries cultural information specific to a country, a period in history, community, family circle, or group association, but also carries elements such as languages, sound, rhythm, dance, and instrumentation, among others. These elements help individuals to relate, learn, be aware, accept, and even understand aspects of cultures.
In order to create cultural competency, it is necessary to create awareness for all of the cultures that make up our classrooms. Then, continue the journey by exploring those cultures that are most often underrepresented. Furthermore, such awareness should contribute to define and develop a personal cultural identity.
The sense of validation and identity that a person feels when their own traditions are recognized is priceless. It is a very reassuring moment that could stimulate a sense of acceptance and belonging among your students. The power of music is transformative.
It is not necessary to travel too far to experience diversity. There is a great number of cultures that coexist within the borders of this country. Enjoy and embrace diversity, but most of all, keep on making music!
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