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socio-cultural Issues

Flipping the misogynist script: Gender, agency, Hip Hop, and music education

Tobias, E. S. (2014). Flipping the misogynist script: Gender, agency, Hip Hop, and music education. Action, Criticism and Theory for Music Education, 13(2), 49-84. In my article Flipping the misogynist script: Gender, agency, Hip Hop, and music education I make a case for including Hip Hop in music programs through a critical media literacy framework and providing students diverse opportunities to address socio-cultural and musical issues through related musical engagement. In particular I address issues of gender and agency as… Read More »Flipping the misogynist script: Gender, agency, Hip Hop, and music education

From STEM to STEAM!

In a particularly savvy move the National Association for Music Education is organizing a major effort to broaden the narrow and exclusionary (science, technology, engineering, and Math (STEM) discourse to the inclusive and more holistic STEAM (A = arts) discourse through the get STEAMed initiative. We have been through this before with the Sputnik era and Back to Basics movements among other initiatives that focused on science, technology, engineering, and math while excluding other aspects of education and ways of… Read More »From STEM to STEAM!

Journalism and the perpetuation of the “declining Music Education” trope

A recent article by Zachary Woolfe in the New York Times, Tested Out Upstate: Classical’s Future: Orchestras in Albany, Rochester and Buffalo Stay Nimble, is not about music education but perpetuates the myth that music education is on the decline or is “decimated.” This trope has a long tradition in a range of journalism even though it is rarely backed up by evidence or the voices of certified music educators. The article Apparently, We Disappeared by Lauren Kapalka Richerme traces… Read More »Journalism and the perpetuation of the “declining Music Education” trope

Jazz, Democracy, & Education: Dr. Wesley Watkins and the Jazz and Democracy Project

Thanks to NPR’s The New & The Next I recently found out about Dr. Wesley Watkins’s work on the Jazz and Democracy project.  According to the project’s website: The Jazz & Democracy Project® (J&D) uses jazz as a metaphor to bring American democracy to life, enrich the study of U.S. History in elementary, middle, and high school, and inspire youth to become active, positive contributors to their community.  Students explore the importance of Listening, Critical Thinking, Voice, Choice, Preparation, Participation,… Read More »Jazz, Democracy, & Education: Dr. Wesley Watkins and the Jazz and Democracy Project

Music, Expression, Responding to Current Events, Trayvon Martin, & National Music Standards

Music plays numerous important functions in society and as part of the human experience. Merriam (1964), for instance, outlines 10 functions of music. Several functions of music apply to the role that music can play in responding to current events, such as the death of Trayvon Martin, recent acquittal of George Zimmerman and related issues. The following four functions of music hold particular relevance in this context: Emotional expression (including the opportunity to provide people with a variety of emotional… Read More »Music, Expression, Responding to Current Events, Trayvon Martin, & National Music Standards