The Importance of Multiculturalism in Elementary Music Education

In Teaching General Music, Abril and Gault use an iceberg as a metaphor for culture.
Only the top of an iceberg, above the surface of the water, is visible to the naked eye. In reality,
there is an entire body of ice below the surface that no one is able to fully see unless they have
the right equipment for it. This iceberg is an example of culture. The top is the certain aspect of
culture that is visible, like clothing, while the bottom, larger and more dense, has to do with
values, attitudes, beliefs and thought patterns (Abril and Gault, 2016). Seeing the tip of the
iceberg is an aspect that is untaught, while the invisible part is unknown until a person is
educated. Because music is a shared art among many cultures (Campbell), it can be used as a
medium towards learning an array of cultures. This is important because it helps to raise a more
culturally aware society. There are ways to teach multiculturalism in music while still maintaining
music concepts. The following research provides examples and solutions to the importance of
multiculturalism in the music classroom as well as how to teach it in an effective way.
In order to find the importance of multiculturalism in music, there must first be some
research on the history of it. In Music Education in a Time of Cultural Transformation, Patricia
Shehan Campbell discusses the history of Multiculturalism: from 1920s RCA Victrolas playing
recordings of folk songs and dances in classes to the Tanglewood Symposium of 1967
organized by MENC discussing polycultural curriculums. It was also heavily impacted by the
Civil Rights Movement and desegregation in the school system. Campbell writes multicultural
education is a reflection of a society whose history is marred by periods of class consciousness,
cultural insensitivities, and racial bias. She brings light to certain flaws of the multicultural
movement in the classroom by discussing how teachers are making connections to music from
all around the world for their students, but focus less on the cultural diversity of the students
and the community from which they come. The representation of the students in the actual
classroom is missing, which is how the students are able to find their connection with the music.
Throughout describing multiculturalism in music education, Campbell finds the ultimate goal to
develop in all young people the skills and knowledge of some of the expression the resound in
a cultural democracy like our own (30).
In order for the students to be able to compare their own music to other cultures of
music, they must be given the opportunity to delve deep into the music of their own individual
cultures. Multiculturalism in music is important because throughout time it has been used as a
medium to bring the cultures of the United States together. The information in this article shows
the development of multiculturalism in music and how it has been used to help bring the
communities together, but also show some of the faults that can occur depending on how it is
taught. In the past it has helped give different communities their identities. This is important to
be taught through the music education because music is an art and has meaning. It not only has
music concepts but also sociocultural context. The United States was born off a democracy and
in order to have a full one, it must trickle down even into the education system, creating a
cultural democracy for all students as well.
In Equity and Access in Music Education, Butler, Lind and McKoy make a model
explaining the effects of multiculturalism in the classroom environment. It consists of five
categories: teacher, student, content, instruction, and context. The teachers attitudes, beliefs,
values and expectations are mediating factors. Sometimes teachers of different cultures than
their students can be thrown into a teaching situation that they havent been educated on the
topic in their teacher training programs. This can have an impact on their efficiency in the
classroom. Students musical experiences are mediated by culture and its important for
teachers to utilize this so the student can learn up to their highest potential. Teachers must
understand how race and culture affect their learning. Content has the ability to serve either as
a barrier or support for music learning of diverse populations. Instruction is how the music is
presented: using a pedagogy that is in line with culturally responsive teaching. Teachers must
always be in context of their students in order to produce a positive learning environment. This
model demonstrates a clear and concise formula for teaching multiculturalism with students.
In Rationales for Teaching World Music by Fung, there are three major rationales that
go behind teaching world music in the US education system. These three rationales are social,
global and musical. The social rationale is divided into three sections: ethnic, national and
global. Ethnic is how one self-identifies, national is within the nation and global is internationally.
Fung states as a child grows, there is a gradual change of focus from ones self to others.
Multiculturalism in music will help students to explore the rich culture of the U.S. and help
ensure the freedom of musical expression of diverse tradition. Since the United States claims
to be democratic and free society that seeks to achieve incorporative freedom- freedom that
involves individual rights and the rights for others. The Global Rationale recognizes that music
is existent amongst all cultures in some kind of form. Knowledge of different music can broaden
ones views at the global level. The last rationale is musical. Fung writes that the study of one
musical tradition may not reveal the full spectrum of musical possibilities available globally. He
even gives an example of how the western art music puts a strong emphasis on notation while
other musical traditions rely on oral transmission. Fungs findings are that at the end of the
day, when it comes to teaching World Music in the classroom, teachers must first accept that
absolute authenticity is not achievable. Teachers must help students learn the different cultures
by always showing them the who, what, where and how. Even though they are unable to reach
absolute authenticity, they should always try to be remain at the highest level of authenticity that
is achievable for being second hand to the culture they are teaching.
In From Glockenspiel to Mbira: An Ethnography of Multicultural Practice of Music
Education, Rita Klinger shows the struggles of being authentic in the world of music education.
An elementary music teacher by the name of Angela does a music production called The Africa
Experience. For this topic, she has her students learn a mix of music with an African root that
she found in her seminars. There was very limited information about the specific countries the
music came from. Some teachers did express their concerns to her about the African
experience because there are different countries in Africa, of which are all different. In order to
rectify this, students partook in subcategories of different places in Africa. During this, they were
able to be more specific in the different cultures that lie in Africa. As the music teacher, Angela
was unable to share the bottom of the iceberg in culture for her specific songs.
An effective multicultural music experience is when the teacher and the students are
aware of the values and attitudes that underlying a song that they are performing. At the end of
the article, Klinger explained that the next unit after The Africa Experience, was a unit on
African Americans and slavery. The students were very moved by their new information of
slavery and the people that they had previously studied. This was the articles proof that The
Africa Experience was effective. My argument for this is that the students might have been
more moved because of the outside time they took to learn about the individual cultures in their
own classrooms. Within the music dynamic, the students were unable to learn about the
cultures that the specific music was rooted from. This is an essential part of the students to
become more culturally aware. Fortunately they were able to learn about other cultures through
their classrooms.
In Multicultural Music Instruction in the Elementary School: What Can Be Achieved?
Edwards does a test on 4th graders learning American Indian Music that shows the importance
of being as authentic as possible in the teaching setting. The groups are split up into four. Group
A is a large group instructed with authentic instruments and directed by the teacher. Group B is
the same thing except with an Native American guest artist. Group C is a small-group
student-directed with authentic instruments. Group D is the same as C, except is doesnt have
authentic instruments. Lastly, there was a control group that was taught with traditional
American music. The result of this study was that the students who were impacted the most as
being socially conscious were the ones being taught by the person who was Native American.
This shows that the closer to authentic they were to the culture, the more impact the culture had
on them.
According to Charlene Morton, in Boom Diddy Boom Boom: Critical Multiculturalism and
Music Education, there are five different types of Multiculturalism. These five types are
monoculturalism, liberal multiculturalism, plural multiculturalism, left essentialist multiculturalism,
and critical multiculturalism. The first one stated, monoculturalism is when the dominant culture
sees itself as superior. The liberal multiculturalism is when the values and ideologies in the
dominant culture are seen as in the grand scheme of things, similar enough to other cultures at
the end of the day; they share the same overlapping values. Plural multiculturalism encourages
explanation of new cultures as long as the dominant culture is enriched. The type of
multiculturalism that has a unified image of itself that they share through common experiences
is left essentialist multiculturalism. The last one mentioned, critical multiculturalism, concerns
itself with issues of justice and social change and their relation to pedagogy. This way of
teaching shows a commitment to develop pro-active education and questions how peoples
cultures shape the communities in which we live. When teaching critical multiculturalism,
educators must take into consideration identity, self-knowledge, misrepresentation, authenticity
and exclusion/inclusion of certain aspects. The most important part of multiculturalism is making
sure as educators that they maintain a clear moral vision.
In An Instrumental Approach to Culture Study in General Music, Michael Carolin
discusses how cultural studies and multiculturalism are different. Multiculturalists have a
different point of view from an outside perspective looking in. In this study, one teacher finds a
way to show different cultures using music as a medium to do so. Instruments of a specific
culture are used to have discussions about different places all over the world. It incorporates life
concerns that will expand the parameter of music lessons.
This article is a very interesting take on how to teach different cultures using music. The
students truly are being taught the culture of a place using music. An important concept to
remember in a general music class is to make sure that this has a healthy balance with music
concepts (Abril).
The main topic of conversation in Multiculturalism and Music Re-Attached to Music
Education, by Robert Walker is about observers interpreting the observed. The people on the
outside of a culture will only ever have an extrinsic point of view while the people on the inside
of the culture will always have an intrinsic point of view. One of his most important cases in this
paper is that music and music education have close bonds with the society in which they occur,
and that the musical and the sociocultural are linked (38). He wants children to be taught music
from the complexity of the society to which they were born into. He explains the importance of
maintaining Western music but also learning about the influences that have seeped into
Western music and how different cultures intertwine with each other. To Walker, music and
socio-culture are linked.
In Learning outcomes of two approaches to multicultural music education, C. Abril
seeks to examine the effect of multicultural music instruction on classroom learning outcomes
(Abril). The two approaches to multicultural music education he is comparing are music concept
and sociocultural context. Abril randomly selects 170 students in 5th grade. About half of them
are taught multicultural music through music concepts while the other half is taught through
sociocultural context. He measured the results through affect, skill, and knowledge and
understanding. Affect is the students attitudes towards the multiculturalism. Skill is the students
level change based off of culturally authentic or traditional school instruments. Knowledge and
Understanding is based off of specific facts that the students acquired. His findings in the area
of student affect were the the students in the sociocultural group described moreso their
awareness, sensitivity and valuing of other people and cultures. There was no significant
difference in the skill level between the two groups. Lastly, there was an immense difference
between the groups under the results of knowledge and understanding. The students who were
taught through music concepts spoke more of their musical knowledge. The students who were
taught under sociocultural context exuberated more sociocultural knowledge. This brings to light
the importance that instructional objectives and foci that are delivered through teacher-
facilitated discussions have a significant effect on the type of knowledge students acquire (39).
Abrils overall findings is that teachers should not exclusively teach one or the other but
find a balance between both music concepts and sociocultural context. Although multicultural
knowledge is important, it should not come at the expense of musical knowledge. This is why a
balance is extremely important. In the sociocultural context, students sociocultural knowledge
was extremely high. Their affect leaned towards being more sensitive to other cultures. The
important aspect of this article towards proving the importance of multiculturalism in the music
education classroom is this result. Making sure that teachers instructional objectives of music
concept and sociocultural context flow equally side by side will help teachers create a healthy
balance.
In this experience, Abril selected 209 students in 12 classes randomly and assigned
them to three categories: concept-based multicultural, sociocultural based multicultural, and
concept based with no multicultural center. The students were presented with different pop
songs in english, spanish and chinese. They were presented the songs through their own
randomly assigned category. The overall results were that english was the most preferred.
Sociocultural helped the students understand and have better attitudes towards the foreign
language. The learning experience from this was that teachers must help the students ease
their way into foreign languages: start the students out with more familiar phonetic sounds. They
must be cautious that unfamiliar language does not become a barrier for the students to
recognize the musical style of the piece. In other words, some of the students could not get past
the language of the song and listen to the actual quality of the music. This proves that
multiculturalism is important to help students become more aware. This is especially effective
when taught through a sociocultural approach.
At the end of the day, multiculturalism is important because it helps to foster a better
understanding of the people around us. No everyone is the same and neither is music. Because
it is so expressive, when taught in the right way, it can be used for more than simply creating a
sound. A common theme in the success of teaching multiculturalism is making sure that the
music remains held to the highest level of authenticity. Remaining completely authentic to a
culture that is not ones is inaccessible. An important way of making up for this is making sure to
do as much research about the values of the culture certain music comes from. When executed
through a sociocultural consciousness and with music concepts in mind, multiculturalism in the
elementary music classroom has the power to make an effective impact.

Bibliography

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Retrieved December 11, 2017.

Abril, C. R. (2005). Multicultural Dimensions and Their Effect on Children's Responses to Pop
Songs Performed in Various Languages. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music
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Butler, A., Lind, V. L., & McKoy, C. L. (n.d.). Equity and access in music education:
conceptualizing culture as barriers to and supports for music learning. Music Education
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Campbell, P. S. (2002). Music Education in a Time of Cultural Transformation. Retrieved

December 10, 2017.

Carolin, M. (2006). An Instrumental Approach to Culture Study in General Music. Music

Educators Journal. Retrieved December 12, 2017.

Edwards, K. L. (1998). Multicultural Music Instruction in the Elementary School: What Can Be
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Retrieved December 12, 2017.
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Retrieved December 10, 2017.

Morton, C. (2001). Boom Diddy Boom Boom: Critical Multiculturalism and Music Education.
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Walker, R. (2000). Multiculturalism and Music Re-Attached to Music Education. Philosophy of

Music Education Review, 8(1), 31-39. Retrieved December 10, 2017.