Dennis Frayne Arts, Music, & Education

 CHAPTER 7: PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR MUSIC EDUCATION

Introduction

Because “academia’s heart is intellectual, not activist” (Fox, et al., 2009, p. 15), most of our work as academic researchers involves documenting inequality, not eliminating it (Ford & Airhihenbuwa, 2010); creating “knowledge for knowledge’s sake” (P. Collins, 2019, p. 118); or disseminating our findings exclusively to other academics. Nevertheless, [research] is a vital step to inform[ing] social justice activism and intervention. (Bowleg, 2021, pp. 237-238)

It is my hope that my documentation of injustice will lead to more people, including myself, doing something about it. In this chapter I present a list of specific recommendations for music teachers, administrators, policymakers, and others related to the field of music education who are seeking to engage in social justice related content and work, to enact the general recommendations discussed as “actionable themes” in the previous chapters of this dissertation. Note that it may be appropriate for administrators and policymakers to implement schoolwide, districtwide, statewide, and even national policy-level versions of the specific recommendations made to teachers, and conversely it may be appropriate for teachers to get involved in efforts to influence policy at various levels, as applicable and appropriate, based on the specific recommendations made to administrators, policymakers, and others. For example, in Appendix E, I offer a sample letter I wrote to the Music Teachers Association of California to ask and encourage them to expand their music syllabus for their Certificate of Merit™ exams to include more repertoire selections by women and BIPOC. To organize the contents of this chapter, I leverage the actionable themes as topic headings.

Specific Recommendations

Embrace New Thinking (Let Go of the Old)

For Teachers

Reduce the focus and reliance on music by white, male, Western European and North American composers in both teaching content and performance. Include much more music by women, BIPOC, and composers from other cultures and geographic locations. Include in this reduction Christian themed and United States themed sacred, holiday, and patriotic music and texts, and include other religions and nationalities. Avoid approaching this newer, perhaps less familiar music as “add-ons,” “tokens,” “caricaturizations,” “exoticizations,” or appropriations, but find respectful ways to make it an authentic and meaningful part of the standard curriculum, and to expand the notion of the “canon” to include these works and contributions and their composers as standard repertoire. Strongly resist and expunge language, including body language, that describes or portrays any popular music style or language as “dirty,” “dangerous,” “decadent,” or “deficit.” Recognize that barriers to participation in music programs include what is internal – the classroom content, teaching strategies, and pedagogical choices. Curriculum as well as repertoire and all media must be challenged and investigated for its misrepresentations, false representations, harmful representations, and exclusion of women and BIPOC.

Teach songs in languages relevant to students’ lives, and in so doing, learn the meaning of the words (not just sounding out the syllables) as well as the historical, cultural, and political contexts of the text, music, composer(s), and language. Avoid teaching text settings that have been “translated” into English – they center English, sideline the original language, and often are inaccurate and/or substantively change the intended content and meaning. Find ways to center the music’s (composer’s) language rather than anglicize it and explore the nuances of how the text was set to music – there are gems that will be lost in translation. The original language is an asset with deep meaning to be respected and honored, not a deficit to be remedied or puzzle to be solved and then set aside. When appropriate, invite students to help other students with translations and pronunciations.

Reduce the focus on the traditional ensembles of band, choir, and orchestra. Learn about the cultures and interests of the students in your school community and offer ensembles that reflect these cultures and interests. Examples include more current genres and styles, popular music, contemporary commercial music (CCM), jazz, rock band, rap and hip hop, mariachi, steel drum and other percussion, guitar, folk music, electronic music, show choir, musical theater, and dance. Demand that “all music styles are equally deserving of the same level of respect” (Bob).

Expand curriculum to include a broader definition of music content and learning that includes on one hand music technology, sound design, recording, multimedia, lighting design, and concert staging and production, and on the other hand music composition, improvisation, songwriting, arranging, and film, video, and video game scoring and editing.

To avoid or solve the potential problem of insufficient enrollment to justify offering a particular course, consider combining many of these kinds of studies into one (or fewer) project-based class(es). For example, the goal of a class might be to produce a music video, and students could participate in many individual ways: the music composers/arrangers/editors, the rock band to perform/record the music, the dancers/performers, the choreographers, the videographers and production crew, the producers and directors, the sound designers, technicians, and stage managers, and more. Rather than canceling a guitar class, a vocal performance class, and a songwriting class that only attracted five students each, a teacher could offer a project-based production class that attracts, say, thirty students, including the guitar, vocal, and songwriting students, plus other now-interested students, all studying and doing these and other music-related things together in a more student-directed learning environment. To address situations with very low budgets and/or with younger students, these types of production, project-based classes can be scaled appropriately, even without any sound equipment or technology. As another example, the goal of a class might be to produce a staged talent show, and many students could participate in individual ways that included performers who study and rehearse playing a specific musical instrument, singing, rapping, or dancing, and non-performers who design, direct, and implement all the other elements that go into preparing and producing the show, such as staging and costumes, even in modest fashion.

Gently and gracefully expand the broader world of music for students while exploring (together) music that is relevant to their own lives.

For Administrators and Policymakers

Support teachers in efforts to design and implement “non-traditional” or CCM ensembles, project-based learning environments, and more culturally-responsive music-related course offerings designed to attract and include a broader spectrum of students from more diverse backgrounds and cultures. Teachers in some cases will need and benefit from expanded and/or remodeled facilities (such as sound-proof rehearsal and recording spaces, staging arrangements, and perhaps more electrical outlets and/or power sources), additional equipment and technology (microphones, amps, speakers, and mixers, sound recording, video recording, editing hardware and software, and lighting), scheduling flexibility, opportunities to survey students, and mechanisms to promote new course offerings to students. Project-based courses, student-led productions, and simultaneous small group activities can be loud and feel chaotic; teachers need the freedom and support to operate more as coaches and mentors in less structured, less controlled, “messier” (more democratic, less authoritarian) learning environments.

Consider co-teaching arrangements and on-the-job learning for teachers. Music teachers may or may not have all the expertise required to implement new or unfamiliar music ensembles or project-based, student-led music productions. Many music teachers were trained and prepared at university specifically in one primary field of expertise – to be a band director, a choir director, or a piano teacher, for example. Especially in the “band world,” directors with large and complex ensembles such as marching bands and drumlines employ teaching assistants, coaches, choreographers (e.g., color guard), and others to help with everything, and in addition, often have booster organizations and parent volunteers very active in helping the band director run the music program, plus event planning, travel, fundraising, and more. These supports and options should be provided also to teachers and directors of CCM and other types of music programs, ensembles, and productions.

Encourage teachers to open spaces for more collaborative, democratic, team-based, creative, student-led learning, as opposed to only the traditional teacher-centric, teacher-directed, tightly controlled and compliant, authoritarian, even military-style environments. Many ensemble directors “have fantastic leadership abilities, they can get all of their little soldiers to do all of the right things on all of the right music… all the ducks are in a row. But not one thing has anything to do with composing, improvising, creating… ‘No, we don’t do that.’” (Bob). Encourage teachers to at least sometimes allow students to make more decisions, have choices, and even to challenge the status quo: what instruments to play, what repertoire to select, what kinds of shows to produce, what kinds of venues to perform in, whether to perform at all or strive toward other goals, and how to assess progress toward goals.

For Curriculum Developers, Authors, Publishers, and Associations

Develop and publish curriculum, anthologies, histories, method books, songbooks, collections, repertoire, syllabi, and exam/competition requirements and selections that include much more music by women, BIPOC, and composers from other cultures and geographic locations. Avoid approaching this newer, perhaps less familiar music as “add-ons,” “tokens,” “caricaturizations,” “exoticizations,” or appropriations, but find respectful ways to make it an authentic and meaningful part of the standard curriculum, and to expand the notion of the “canon” to include these works and contributions and their composers as standard repertoire. In children’s books and anthologies of every kind, highlight “the good stuff” (Bowleg, 2021, p. 241) rather than always the sorrow, pain, and tragedy of women and BIPOC, and especially shun the stereotypes and tropes. In addition, hire and include more women, BIPOC, and other sidelined peoples on your staffs and committees who select repertoire for and define the works that comprise the “canon.”

Aggressively seek out and invite women and BIPOC music educators, performers, and scholars to attend, speak at, and teach at conferences, seminars, and workshops, and to contribute texts and other material to newsletters, journals, and online forums. Ask them to address topics and to perform music of interest to them, including interests that may extend “outside” of and/or do not “conform” to traditional or canonical (everyone’s white, dead white guys) comforts and boundaries (women and BIPOC are the experts on the things that concern and interest women and BIPOC – do not push them to self-censure), and then pay for their services. On one hand, intentionally include those who are and have been marginalized and excluded and do not fall back on excuses such as, “‘We did not know who to ask.’ That is the same evasion of responsibility, the same cop-out, that keeps Black women’s art out of women’s exhibitions” (Lorde, 2018, p. 20). On the other hand, avoid placing the burden – time, energy, financial – of anti-racist (everyone’s white), anti-sexist, anti-oppressive education onto women and BIPOC. In Lorde’s (2018) words, “Women [and BIPOC] of today are still being called upon to stretch across the gap of (white) male ignorance and to educate (white) men as to our existence and our needs” (p. 20). Leaning into Bowleg’s (2021) framework and ensuring that “women and BIPOC” here represent all oppressed and minoritized peoples, prioritize their needs, support them as they “serve [their] vision” (p. 238), and as they “tell it like it is” (pp. 239-240).

Grant financial assistance to (waive membership, conference, audition submission, and competition entry fees for) anyone who asks, and set up a process that makes it easy to ask for and receive these fee waivers. There is no possibility of including everyone – which we should be striving to do – if some people cannot participate due to financial constraints. Make it much easier for less wealthy music educators and “communities to participate in beneficial trainings and workshops” (Bowleg, 2021, p. 241). Music education industry conferences, seminars, and workshops should not be “merely another case of the academy discussing life within the closed circuits of the academy” (Lorde, 2018, p. 25), but opportunities to bring everyone together.

Prioritize Access, Inclusion, and Interests: Serve the Needs, Desires, and Interests of Each and Every Student; Respect and Honor Students

For Teachers

Resist any urge to silence student voices, including, for example, to present a “more polished performance” or to achieve a “better sound.” Push back against the notion that the more skilled and more talented students benefit from a seeming better-sounding ensemble and would not receive the best education or experience or “lose out” if the less skilled and less talented students were permitted to “bring down” the overall sound quality of the ensemble by participating fully. Consider that students will benefit from participation in a music ensemble or production in myriad ways, and in fact may benefit richly from an inclusive, holistic, and honest representation of their work as a community of musicians and performers at varying skill levels and abilities collaborating and striving together.

Reconsider a reliance on compliance in the classroom. Try to differentiate between what is necessary to run a successful classroom versus “just being upset because they’re not doing exactly what we want them to do” (Sophie). Realizing that children “are their own functioning human beings, should we be so concerned they are not sitting still on their spot or that they’re whispering to their neighbor” (Sophie)? Perhaps marching band requires military-style leadership and technical precision, but is this the best teaching style for all music education? When thinking about goals, priorities, and strategies for music learning, including music performance, keep challenging assumptions and asking the uncomfortable question: Who benefits?

Move away from auditions as they are held today and the entrenched notion that the “best” performers should always get the leading roles. The “best” performer is subjective (a matter of taste, and often contested) to begin with, and “best” often is code word for wealthiest, most attractive, most popular, and most connected. Regardless, roles can be shared among much larger numbers of students, by implementing rotations (taking turns), double and triple casting, and producing enough shows so that every student who wants an opportunity and makes a commitment gets one. “It should be about increasing participation, and enjoyment” (Bob) – and learning. Teachers enacting social justice pedagogies should move away from hegemonic constructs such as the notion that only the “best” musicians and artists should perform and present, and that audiences should expect to watch only the “best” performers and the most “perfect” performances and presentations. “Kids will automatically judge because that’s what they hear us do. We need to reframe how we’re going to do this, so that people come away feeling positive about their contributions in music making” (Eden).

Reduce competitions. My recommendation here is not that we should eliminate competitions, but simply that we generally have too many, that too much importance is often placed on them, that they are over-prioritized, and we should reduce them. Consider whether we do things, like compete, for reasons that have not been completely thought out. “‘Oh, but it’s for the kids.’ [But] they talk about it in their free time; they’re like, ‘Oh, I want to show up these other band directors.’ It’s like they’re competing with other adults” (Sophie). If we question, and think through goals and priorities, we may come to realize that some competitions do not benefit students (they may contribute to the attainment of some other goal) and may even harm some students. A harmful example may be the band program that requires frequent weekend trips to competitions that demand a level of commitment and resources from students and families that many do not have and are therefore excluded from participating in band. If band is being offered as a class during the regular school day, but students are unable to participate in band class because they cannot commit to regular weekend competitions, this becomes problematic. Reflect and be certain we are not “so concerned with the reputation and ranking of our school that we put [competitions and festival scores] ahead of students, inquiry, and learning” (Shields, 2018, p. 133).

Eliminate fees. Fees are a barrier to participation in music and should be eliminated in all their forms, including for instruments (rentals should be provided at no cost to any/all students), uniforms, gear, field trips, travel, fundraising “minimums,” and any other. In addition, there should be no “brown line” (Fields, 2018, p. 55) wherein the students receiving financial assistance are identified and segregated from those who “pay their own way.” Rather, provide the funds to each and every student, collect no fees from any student, and offer a mechanism for anonymous donations.

Avoid situations where money and availability of time and resources outside a student’s control can impact grades or access to classes. For example, allowing private lessons to influence grades positively or negatively (“extra points for private lessons”), giving a failing grade on an assignment to students who are unable to attend, to find transportation, or to purchase proper attire, gear, or tickets for any event, or making any grade (or any school service or benefit) contingent on fundraising or volunteer efforts or participation. When requiring homework and home practice, take into consideration that some students do not have adequate spaces or equipment at home conducive to practicing an instrument, singing, recording, or uploading media content. Consider also that challenges students find difficult to acknowledge or express, are embarrassing, or trauma-inducing, may be expressed as “I hate music.” Rather than say, “then they shouldn’t be in band” or shame them in front of their peers, find ways to learn more about them, and to accommodate and offer alternative solutions and possibilities for learning.

Allow students to bring their full selves into the classroom and learning environment; do not ask students to leave a part of themselves outside the classroom door. Aspects of a student’s self includes everything about their home culture, language, religion or spirituality, family structure, gender identity and expression (themselves and/or their parents and family members), interests and abilities, history, and lived experiences, including traumas (Dutro, 2019) and “difficult knowledge” (Rodríguez & Salinas, 2019). We cannot teach each and every student fully or appropriately if we do not recognize and value the whole child, the whole person. No student should come to school and feel ashamed of who they are or be dehumanized in the classroom by being asked to pretend, to hide, to lie, or to not express themselves. “Build on rather than tear down what students bring to school” (J. Banks, 2014, p. 121). Turn “deficits” into assets. Do not subscribe to the belief that you must “fix” a child before you can teach them. Learn from them instead; allow them to teach you. Do not legitimate some while denying the value of others.

Invite students who confront seeming insurmountable obstacles into music programs. This may go against instincts as well as established norms and expectations. For example, we may naturally want to recruit students who come from wealthy families who can afford good quality instruments, can pay fees, and can donate to fundraisers, who volunteer to help and provide transportation, who take private lessons, who are gifted and/or have strong “work ethic,” who have no behavior challenges, and who get good grades, to join our program, and to avoid those students who do not have the clean track record, who do not learn as fast, have different abilities, or disabilities, or other challenges, and whose families perhaps do not have money, time to volunteer, transportation, etc. We might even seek and find ways to “kick them out” of the music program if they managed to find their way in. But the latter students are precisely the ones we should make extra effort to recruit, determine their needs, and develop music programs for.

Do not make the music ensemble all-important, all-engrossing, all-time-consuming, and insist that committed and involved students are not allowed to participate in any other activities. This is an exclusionary tactic (which I called “strangling” in chapter 1) that prevents some students from participating in music because they have other commitments as well. Students should be able to participate in music to the level and extent they wish to do so, within reasonable guidelines or constraints.

Do not offer courses that all students cannot take, for any reason including prior knowledge, ability, or prerequisites, that the school does not prepare students for. For example, do not offer an advanced ensemble if you do not have a way for beginners to work their way up. Alternatively, include beginners in the advanced ensemble by providing beginner parts. (A mixed level ensemble can easily be accommodated by providing sufficient parts, perhaps individually or custom arranged, at the requisite levels.) As another example, do not offer an AP Music Theory course if the only way students can join is after having years of private lessons – lessons not available at the school. Doing so perpetuates and reinforces a learning environment and structure where the wealthy are privileged, and the less wealthy are excluded from educational opportunities. If an AP Music Theory course is offered to upper grades, offer preparatory courses to interested students so that they can be ready for the AP class when they reach the appropriate grade level. If this cannot be done, offer an alternative course that all students can take.

Allow students to speak up and speak out. It is sometimes difficult for us to hear what students have to say (McLaren, 1986/1999), but we must listen. Do not shut them down, do not silence their voices, and do not teach children early in their lives that “thinking is dangerous” (hooks, 2010, p. 8). Help students discover and examine inequities in society, especially those that are directly influencing their own chances in life (e.g., Sleeter & Grant, 2009).

For Administrators and Policymakers

Resist any urge (or ongoing tradition) to judge the quality of a music program and its teachers based on the perceived quality of performances and received accolades. Rewarding teachers whose ensembles earn awards at festivals and win competitions and punishing those whose ensembles do not do as well may serve to motivate teachers to exclude students with less talent, skill, and ability from their programs and focus primarily on their star students. Consider ways to recognize the learning that takes place among individual students as well as the growth of the ensemble. Students may be at widely different stages in musical and artistic development; one student might be striving to learn advanced repertoire while another student’s success revolves around being better able to keep a steady beat. All accomplishments and growth should be valued and celebrated, and the teachers responsible should be recognized accordingly.

Reconsider the benefits of standardization in relation to other potential benefits (and harms) to students. For example, a district policy that insists that every elementary music classroom teaches the exact same curriculum within specified timetables so that (in theory) if a child moved from one school to another in the district, they would enter their new classroom with all the requisite knowledge and skill and be ready to move on with the rest of the class, raises concerns. First, it is well known that students even in the same classroom do not learn or retain learning at the same rates and levels. More importantly, even if this were a reasonable goal considered in isolation, how does this goal, which might positively impact a relatively few students, compare with other more important goals related to individualized instruction or culturally-responsive curriculum that might impact hundreds or thousands of students? What are the costs, including potential harms or other consequences? What are the tradeoffs? Goals for education and for students should be thought through and their benefits prioritized.

For Foundations and Associations

Reconsider the way grants and other types of philanthropic funding are awarded to schools. Foundations that provide rewards including prestige and large sums of money often end up giving to the schools most able to follow the complex, costly, and time-consuming application submission procedures but least in need of the funding. The thriving music programs receive more money, and the struggling music programs receive nothing (who likely have no resources to even apply, if they are aware of the foundation’s or program’s existence to begin with). In addition, reconsider the awarding of trophies and honors to individuals (teachers, students, or others), that single out some, promote competition rather than collaboration, and reinforce hegemonic (and false) constructs related to narrow perceptions of success and achievement (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). We might consider questioning and reprioritizing how money is spent in education, including the use of non-public funds for these types of competitions which single out few and exclude many, and provide kudos, titles, and rituals including expensive travel, ceremonies, and entertainment to a select group of “superstars” but leave out millions of others. (Who benefits?)

For “Higher Education” and Teacher Preparation Programs

Incorporate and prioritize social justice pedagogies into [music] education curriculum and teaching strategies at the baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate levels, and in all degree, credentialing, and certification programs. As Sophie, Elise, and Kerrie recommended, teach social justice pedagogies and inquiry in teacher preparation programs, reduce or eliminate the “bland and boring textbooks” that discuss classroom management, “procedural,” and “factory-style” things, and go deeper into critical discussions about “the idea, and the pedagogy, and the thought behind education.”

Teachers in the study group frequently discussed poor teacher preparation, especially concerning social justice pedagogies and related concerns. “There’s so much I didn’t learn in school. I feel overwhelmed” (Sophie). “While my student teaching experience was good, it did not prepare me anything for what I ended up doing” (Elizabeth). These difficulties should be investigated, addressed, and improved. Perhaps, for example, instead of placing student teachers with just one wealthy and thriving cooperating school, have them spend time working within, learning about, giving to, sharing and collaborating with, a cooperating school in a lower SES environment, exposing them to and better preparing them for more diverse teaching and learning contexts, settings, and circumstances.

As a student myself, even in my (overall excellent) doctoral program, with its intentional emphasis on social justice, contradictions stood out: it was not uncommon for professors to deliver content and lectures using the frowned-upon empty vessel and banking methods (Freire), to proliferate corporatist and sensationalist language and ideals, for dominant, hegemonic, and authoritative constructs and ideals to be forefronted and opposing views to be subjugated or marginalized, and for students to sometimes produce tedious, “to-the-test,” and “busy” work product solely to please the professor and “get a grade” (hooks). Collaborative work between student and professor during the dissertation process was extensive and constructive, especially with my dissertation chair and committee; this model should be followed in more coursework if on a smaller scale.

Develop Positive and Meaningful Relationships with Students

For Teachers

Employ the strategies uncovered and employed by funds of knowledge studies (e.g., Moll et al., 1992) and strive to develop thick, multistranded, reciprocal, interdependent, and trusting relationships with students. Make the effort and take the time to come to know the whole child, to the extent possible within a teaching context. Consider making home visits and inviting families into the learning environment. Seek and find ways to allow students, their families, and the community to teach you; learn alongside your students. Use the time in class to form and nurture relationships with students by defining different learning objectives and employing different teaching strategies. Avoid the empty vessel, banking method of content delivery and take up more constructivist, project-based, student-led approaches to learning, where the teacher is learning, too, with students. Reject the notion that a teacher must always be the subject matter expert and know everything to be taught. “You can introduce these things and you can learn as you go” (Kerrie). Music students and teachers can explore and learn about instruments, technology, music video production, stagecraft and costume design, music history and cultures, and more, side by side. Students can teach teachers about their home cultures and languages and the music they listen to and love, and develop fruitful and long-lasting relationships in the process.

Investigate and employ teaching and learning strategies based on youth participatory action research (e.g., Cammarota & Fine, 2008; Mirra et al., 2016) and activist music education (e.g., Hess, 2019). Virtually any music education lesson, unit, or endeavor could be enhanced, amended, or converted into an action research project, and with guidance, teams of students could conduct the studies and present their findings. Example: How is the performance of a new piece of music affected by the performers having deeply studied the historical and cultural context and significance of the music and its composer prior to learning it? Activist projects may be more difficult but should be considered. Example: Students write songs and poetry, compose music, and/or select music, and choreograph movement and dance, for a “protest” performance produced by students with the intention of communicating dissatisfaction with long term unaddressed, unfixed, broken, and unusable playground equipment. Or ask, like Sarah, “If you could stand up for one thing, what would you stand up to fight for?” The goals here may be manifold, but important to this recommendation is the impact these kinds of school day projects can have on developing positive and meaningful teacher-student relationships. As Elliot (2007) suggested, “approach the classroom as an opportunity for doing political and social work with and for students, teachers, and the communities in which they live” (p. 8).

For Administrators and Policymakers

Reject and/or move away from the frantic, stressful, and anxiety-laden goals and directives related to the maximizing of “instructional minutes.” “We seem so stuck in our time frames, we have to get everything done in this amount of time, that we invariably overload, nothing can ever be done to any degree of merit, everything’s just kind of half-assed…” (Sophie). “You can’t do anything effectively if you haven’t had the time, right” (Eden)? Consider the cost (in terms of harm) versus benefit to many students of having seemingly random, unwanted content “shoved down their throat” (Bob) day in and day out at school, especially those kids who are “wanting to get up and down, run around, and do these things… Why are we asking a [child] to sit still for 6 hours” (Kerrie)? Increase rather than decrease recess, lunch, and free play times. Increase, rather than decrease, the time allocated to music and arts classes. Encourage and allow all teachers to allocate time away from strict instruction and toward freer exploration and discovery with students, including across classrooms (for example, perhaps co-curricular, co-teaching scenarios that involve music plus another subject). Relaxing these and other pressures might allow space and time for teachers and students to form the kinds of positive and meaningful relationships that can improve learning and lives.

Refuse to employ the competitive, corporatist, and militaristic language suggested by programs and policies such as Race to the Top, Head Start, No Child Left Behind, A Nation at Risk, and others, that induces panic and fear. Replace it with cooperative, collaborative, team-based language and strategy that cultivate community and partnership rather than winners and losers and isolation. Music education should not be viewed functionally as a means to an end (music makes you smarter, or more competitive for college admissions) or as a liability (spending time learning music takes away from time that could be spent learning math or English skills, or makes you less competitive for college admissions). The benefit of music education should stand on its own and be (publicly) recognized, in part for music’s value to humanity as art, as a creative and expressive outlet, as a worthwhile activity for children and youth – living their lives now, not in expectation of some future result (Dewey, 1897) – and as a space for cultivating community and developing positive and meaningful relationships with others, including teacher-student relationships.

Trust Teachers and the Teaching Profession; Respect and Honor Teachers

For Teachers

Trust each other; respect and honor each other. Privately and publicly. Consider the possibility that society follows the example of teachers: they trust, respect, and honor teachers only to the extent that teachers themselves trust, respect, and honor teachers (each other). Society mirrors teachers: solidarity is required. (I have written more about this and related recommendations below and in my theory of change for education in Chapter 8.)

For Administrators and Policymakers

Provide teachers the space and support to become, as Freire advocates, active participants in their own liberation. Support teachers in work they might do toward teacher inquiry, toward participating in teacher communities of inquiry, and toward developing the teaching profession into a scientific discipline – away from being mere recipients and disseminators of knowledge but producers, generators, creators, and constructors of knowledge. Advocate for teachers as professionals, rather than viewing, treating, and speaking of them as antagonists, technicians, or “the help” in a “management versus [union] employee” or staff-like relationship. Make this advocacy and professional relationship public so that parents and the community witness and personally experience the respect and honor you have and show for teachers and the teaching profession.

All Teachers Are Teachers; Involve Them in Everything

For Teachers

Include all teachers in your definition of who is a teacher. Do not classify, rank, sort, and segregate teachers. Do not belittle, devalue, exclude, marginalize, or silence any particular kind of teacher or any particular variety of teaching environment or school; rather, ensure every teacher has a seat at the profession’s table. This includes teachers who teach “core” subjects and teachers who teach electives, specials, and extracurriculars; it includes teachers who are called tutors, coaches, trainers, assistants, aides, paraprofessionals, and substitutes; it includes union and non-union members; it includes teachers who teach in public schools, private schools, charter schools, homeschools, “unschools,” preschools, after-school programs, extracurricular or sports programs, private studios, and workplaces; and it includes teachers with diverse values and perspectives – teachers who think differently. Work toward viewing and developing teaching as a trusted, respected, and honored profession and as a scientific discipline. This work is hindered (or prevented) when the teaching profession is disconnected and split into factions (e.g., Bowleg, 2021).

Get involved at your school outside of the music department. Ask for a position on the professional development committee or the equity committee or sign up for a research or development project for the school at large. Get involved with the music departments of other schools in your district (real PLC, not pretend). Plan cooperative events, activities, performances, and fundraisers. Assume some responsibility, collaboratively, for the wellbeing of all the music programs in your district or community, rather than just your own, especially if your school is the one with the thriving programs and the boatloads of money.

Share resources; don’t “shut the door” (Kerrie), don’t isolate, don’t be an island. Demonstrate the even greater positive impact music teachers have on their surroundings when they get more involved.

For Administrators and Policymakers

Examine and challenge the political and policymaking structures of education today, wherein (some) teachers belong to unions, whose leadership (in theory) collectively advocates on behalf of (some) teachers and other education-related causes by lobbying policymakers, who enact education policy and transmit it, along with funding and curriculum, down the line to states, districts, and schools, who govern teachers. Consider whether teachers – the people most involved in, most responsible for, most familiar with, and most expert in actual teaching – should be more involved in advocacy, policymaking, curriculum development, and governance. For this to happen, teachers need time and resources. At present, teachers are expected to teach for the entire duration of their workday, with perhaps a small amount of time allowed for planning and preparation. This is a structural mechanism, intentional or unintentional, that disarms, silences, and excludes teachers from substantial involvement in education policymaking and governance. A more flexible work/teaching schedule that allows interested teachers to teach a part of the day and work on other things the other part of the day is needed. This could be modeled from the work/teaching schedules of college and university professors. The other things that teachers work on during the day could include advocacy, policymaking, research/inquiry and scholarship, curriculum development, teacher-student relationships and learning, and governance.

Invite and allow teachers of all subjects, including music teachers and all others, to apply for and receive student loan forgiveness according to the same or equitable guidelines and requisites currently offered to some teachers.

For Labor Unions and Advocacy Groups

Work toward, and expand the definition of, inclusion of and advocacy for all teachers, including non-public-school teachers. For teachers as a profession to fully “inquire together,” collaborate, co-create, and co-construct knowledge relevant to teaching and learning, to develop teaching as a scientific discipline, and for society to fully trust teachers and the teaching profession and respect and honor teachers, teachers of every kind must see themselves as one group working in solidarity, and not as divided factions working at odds. Consider whether a national teacher’s union who advocates on behalf of only some of the nation’s teachers may be hampering or helping teachers’ and the teaching profession’s work toward these goals. Also consider the extent to which all teachers are or are not participating themselves in their own advocacy – participating in their own liberation (e.g., Freire). Has the work of the National Education Association (NEA), reportedly the nation's largest labor union, in operation for more than a century and a half, for example, sufficiently elevated teachers and the teaching profession within our society today? “Oh, teachers are greedy, teachers aren’t doing enough. Why don’t they do this, why don’t they do that” (Sophie)? “You know, I had a glimmer of hope there, for a minute, when schools ‘opened’ again, that we were going to be, like, respected and valued for this ‘valuable’ societal service that we provide, and it really felt like we just got right back into that same, ‘teachers are greedy,’ ‘you should be doing it for the kids,’ all that stuff, much too quickly” (Elise). Despite gains made, if language used by the NEA that (publicly and in many cases sensationally) denounces and advocates against non-public schools, non-public (and non-union) schoolteachers, and teachers who are not politically or ideologically aligned, a) contributes to society’s longstanding and problematic negative perceptions of and lack of trust in teachers and the teaching profession, b) thwarts attempts by teachers to form beneficial communities of inquiry across teacher and school “boundaries,” and c) delays or prevents the establishment of teaching as a scientific discipline, and if these things are (or would be) more valuable to teachers and the teaching profession than gains otherwise made, then in fact, the NEA may be causing net harm to teachers and the teaching profession. The NEA (and others, and teachers themselves) should include and advocate for all teachers and all students in all teaching contexts, and irrespective of ideology.

Invest in Teacher Growth and Development

For Teachers

Start and participate in study groups of the kind described in this dissertation, and other kinds. A study group does not need to be time-consuming, tedious, draining, stressful, or goal-oriented; a study group can be interesting, energizing, relaxing, stress-relieving, and exploratory. Study group participants expressed many positive features and outcomes of our time together, including a sense of community (with like-minded people), excitement (like being at a conference), useful learning (even transformation) and application by simply talking together, telling stories, and sharing, and many wanted it to continue, even over the summer months. Over time, study groups, or inquiry groups, or inquiry communities, may contribute positively to the re-professionalization of teachers and the development of teaching as a scientific discipline.

Talk with each other, observe each other, inquire together, and share knowledge with each other about teaching and the teaching profession in all its forms and varieties. Find ways to “do this more.” In addition to conferences, seminars, and workshops which are so valuable, consider other kinds of collaborative environments: online study groups with teachers in diverse locations, in-person study groups with local teachers, Rotary-style observations plus follow-up meetings with groups of teachers who take turns observing each other and then exchanging thoughts and reflections, book clubs and/or reading groups, and [community-based] participatory action research projects conducted with and by teachers and students.

For Administrators and Policymakers

Teachers are on a path or journey and have many questions about social justice pedagogies and related topics. These questions (from a social justice perspective) cover the full range of concerns and possibilities, from curriculum and teaching strategies to classroom management and discipline/reward systems, to music program design and implementation, to testing and assessment, to student fees and fundraising, to student and parent relationships, and to relationships with and oversight from (perhaps compliance with) administrators. Not only must teachers strive to learn about all these topics and more (from a social justice perspective), but they also must contend with uncertainty relative to what will be supported by administrators versus what might get them into trouble. The answers to these latter questions should be provided with a level of certainty and confidence to teachers, so they are traveling less in the dark, they are practicing less in fear of “upsetting someone,” and they are wondering less what might happen if an administrator suddenly walks by or enters their classroom at a given moment in time. Teachers should feel, and in fact be, supported in the performance of uncertain, “messy,” even mistake-prone, social justice work.

Rather than provide packaged professional development to teachers, consider providing resources and support, including funding and time off from teaching, for teachers to find and attend professional development of their own choosing and design. PD or learning of this kind is likely to be far more valuable than the other, to be intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated, to be an opportunity for and an experience of transformation, and to rise to the level of sustained growth or change (e.g., Upitis et al., 1999). Mandatory employee training of various kinds will of course be required from time to time, but these should be called what they are and not PD, which should be autonomous, self-directed, and emancipatory.

Recognize that teachers should not teach all day long every day and then be expected to participate in PD – the un-useful kind or the useful kind – on their own time in the evening or on weekends. Teachers should be compensated for all their time, including time spent learning, developing, and growing, and time spent researching, constructing knowledge, and otherwise working as professionals within the discipline of teaching for the ultimate benefit to all education and all of society.

Properly Fund Education for All

For Teachers, Administrators, and Policymakers

Consider the imbalances of funding and resources within one’s domain. For example, within a district or a military base setting, reduce the disparity between the more elite school (serving the “commanders’ kids”) and the less wealthy school (serving the “drill sergeants’ kids”). “We can clearly see the economic divide across our schools… It’s just mind boggling to me” (Sophie). Or “Our district is very segregated; it’s really disgusting actually. My school is co-housed with another school in the same building. My school is the ‘community school’ and the other school is the ‘gifted school.’ My kids are every color of the rainbow, and the gifted school is all white and Asian kids” (Elise). Consider pooling and sharing resources, centralizing the raising and distribution of funds, centralizing and anonymizing donation models and mechanisms, and targeting funds where they are needed, rather than necessarily where they are generated or “earned.” For example, within a school district, rather than school music programs raising money all for themselves, funds received from individual donors and foundations could be distributed equally or by some percentage allocation to all schools, or better still, distributed to the schools that need it most. This would require and/or result in more collaboration among schools, something that should be emphasized over competition. Challenge situations that result in having one “distinguished” school among several undistinguished schools, or one school with a magnificent performing arts building among several with none, or one school with an award-winning music program among several without music programs at all. Rather than one school taking advantage of available resources to work on applications to distinguish them even further from the others, those resources should be placed at the other schools in efforts to raise them up closer to the level of the one. Perhaps the district could invest in a performing arts complex that serves all the schools in the district – and build it in a location closest to those who struggle with transportation, where it could improve a less wealthy neighborhood, rather than in an already wealthy and prestigious area, to improve it even more and/or to provide convenience to those who already have much. Perhaps school music teachers and leaders could work together to launch campaigns and fundraisers that benefit all the schools in their district, collectively, rather than on a school by school basis. Money from the wealthiest neighborhoods could find its way into the less wealthy neighborhoods. Establish a spirit of collaboration and teamwork rather than one of competition, partition, and isolation.

Do the Right Thing; Demand the Right Thing Be Done

For Teachers

Examine and challenge personal and structural racism, classism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and inclusion versus exclusion within your teaching context. This includes program design and curriculum, repertoire, homework assignments, performance practices and attendance requirements, fee requirements, behavior and classroom management policies and procedures, testing and assessments, auditions and casting, recruiting, fundraising, event and field trip planning, competitions, and every other aspect of teaching, directing, and running a school music program. Self-reflection is an important tool in this work, as is listening to others. Strive to find opportunities for learning and spaces for transformation which often are facilitated by other people with experience, expertise, and wisdom. For me, on my journey, this has often meant “talking less and listening more.” On the other hand, when you see something wrong, speak up, speak out (Elise), and do something about it; get involved.

For Administrators and Policymakers, including Boards of Education

Do not “vote out” diversity, equity, and inclusion (Eden). Critical race theory should not be feared, and the work of many brilliant minds from historically oppressed and marginalized groups should not be reduced to buzzwords and negative propaganda designed to produce fear and hysteria and divide communities. The voices of students, teachers, researchers, and scholars should be listened to and not silenced. If you are on the side of justice and inclusion, get more involved and strive to become more influential; speak up, speak out, and take action. If you are opposed to justice and inclusion, read more (see the References section of this dissertation for many outstanding selections and potentially transforming material). All of us in privileged and dominant positions should talk less and listen more.

Create Environments Where Transformation Happens; Individual Transformation, Institutional Transformation

For Teachers, Administrators, and Policymakers

We can create spaces and provide opportunities for transformation to happen by providing autonomy, choice, self-direction, and support to teachers. Support includes time (both during and away from teaching) and money (for program / instructional costs including travel) for teacher-selected and/or teacher-designed professional development, for teacher participation in communities of inquiry, for the nurturing of teacher-teacher and teacher-student relationships and learning, for teacher research, and for the construction of knowledge and scholarship in the fields of music and music education (or the teacher’s chosen subject matter or content area).

Consider offering teachers the opportunity, perhaps in a mentor capacity, to prepare annual and perhaps multi-year professional goals, plus a plan, that could evolve and be refined over time, to strive toward the attainment of those goals. Examples might be professional certifications in music education curriculums and teaching strategies (such as Kodaly, Orff, and Somatic Voicework™), completion of a body of coursework (such as the RULER Approach offered by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence), a university degree program, or annual participation in music education professional association conferences such as APME, NAfME, NATS, and/or many others. The most important elements of transformational spaces seem to be a) autonomy and self-direction, b) involvement with other teachers in collaborative or constructivist settings, and c) learning from master teachers (Eden) and others with experience, expertise, and wisdom to share, through texts and reading, online media, and in-person (especially) offsite encounters. Transformation sometimes occurs when only some of these elements are present; autonomy and self-direction in almost all cases seems key, and in-person, offsite, multi-day encounters are clearly the most effective.