Musical creativity is an essential component of a robust music education. There are many ways to invite and develop the creative capacities of K–12 music students. In this article, we propose the idea that recomposing within and around repertoire can be a creative starting point for student composition in an ensemble music classroom. We share examples of potential recomposition projects, questions to prompt student reflection, and other pedagogical considerations as a springboard for compositional projects with students. We hope that the open-ended nature of this mindset will encourage more creative musical spaces.
Intersections in Music Education: Implications of Universal Design for Learning, Culturally Responsive Education, and Trauma-Informed Education for P–12 Praxis
To increase equity in music education, teachers can strive to know each student as a whole child, proactively remove barriers to learning, and seek to honor students’ multifaceted and intersectional identities. In this article, we first define intersectionality and examine demographics in music education. Then, we summarize three asset-based pedagogical approaches (Universal Design for Learning, Culturally Responsive Education, and Trauma-Informed Education) and synthesize their similarities. Finally, we present implications in the form of generative ideas for music educator praxis, or values-guided action. We hope our suggestions help music educators create music experiences where students (and families) feel seen, safe, welcomed, and valued as musicians and people. We also hope our suggestions can contribute to music teacher collegiality and collaboration by providing educators with tools to develop positive relationships with colleagues who are different from themselves.
Student-Centered Music Education - #ImaginingPossibilities
Many music educators speak about student-centered or learner-centered music programs, but what do these terms mean? What is a student-centered ensemble or a learner-centered music class? These resources will support you in fostering and facilitating learner-centered music programs! (Some of the resources below are affiliate links – see the affiliate policy language here if you […]
“I Made Myself Fit In”: Johny’s Story
The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to re-story the experiences of a first-year music teacher with regard to race and class. Johny was a first-year high school guitar teacher in the southwestern United States who identified as Hispanic and was raised in a family with a lower income. He was also a first-generation college student whose path to university study was atypical because of his major instrument, musical background, little high school music class participation, and entrance to postsecondary music study at a community college. Johny’s story is a work of critical storytelling and is interpreted through an intersectional framework. His story compels us to thoughtfully attend to curriculum, musical knowledge, equity, and how music educators can serve an increasingly diverse student population in schools of music. Issues for consideration include (a) increased support of nontraditional students, including those from marginalized populations, such as students with lower incomes, first-generation students, and community college transfer students, and (b) promoting meaningful and collaborative change across multiple areas in schools of music.
The Concept of Cultural Humility as It Relates to Instructional Practices in the General Music Classroom
A framework of cultural humility includes three main tenets: (a) commitment to lifelong, critical self-reflection; (b) recognition and mitigation of power imbalances; and (c) accountability to individuals and institutions. In this article, I aim at applying the concept of cultural humility to frame my analysis of musical diversity in music education. Through a cultural humility lens, music teachers may acknowledge their own beliefs, values, biases, and prejudices in relation to diverse musics. A commitment to lifelong introspection through self-reflection and critique may help teachers continue to investigate new ways to redress power imbalances inherent in music education, as well as build their relationships with students and communities bidirectionally.
Composing Music With Recurrent Neural Networks
Writeup for my first major machine learning project.
Global mindset and music education: a comparison of curriculum documents in the United States and Spain
Over the past several decades, educational policymakers around the world have made changes based on three competencies they believe students will need to be successful in an increasingly globalized...
Toward an Anti-Racist Music Education: A Critical Pedagogy of Popular Music Teacher Education
In this article, we propose a framework for a critical pedagogy of popular music for teacher education to better prepare music teachers to enact anti-racist praxis within their classrooms. Although a growing body of literature in music education addresses issues of racism within the field, fewer scholars have studied this within teacher education. Drawing from critical pedagogy, our framework centers popular music as a means for music teacher educators to interrogate issues of identity and power and (re)contextualize pedagogy, considering the socio-political contexts and communities from which music practices originate. These processes facilitate reflection on how racisms shape taken-for-granted practices within music education by centering the socio-political contexts of popular music. Through our framework, music teacher educators could prompt pre-service music educators to consider the multiple racialized epistemologies of musical value students and teachers bring to the classroom, working toward the possibility of enacting a multicentric approach to music education.
Music educators’ perceptions of divisive concepts laws
Since the inception of widespread public schooling in the United States, state legislatures have mandated curricular content and instructional practices to advance various social projects and visio...
Music educators’ perceptions of divisive concepts laws
Since the inception of widespread public schooling in the United States, state legislatures have mandated curricular content and instructional practices to advance various social projects and visio...
Music Theory that isn't boring - Lightnote
Interactive lessons for learning Music Theory.
Creative Computing in Education Course Showcase
This event will showcase creative computing final projects from a College of Staten Island course that explores how P-12 in-service teachers can use code for artistic expression. These projects will […]
Artificial Intelligence in Music Classrooms: PK-12 Educators’ Practices, Concerns, and Confidence
Abstract In this descriptive survey study, we explore PK-12 music educators’ perceptions of AI, their current practices, confidence, concerns, and the types of support they need to utilize AI within their music programs. Fifty-four music educators from elementary, middle, and high school settings in Indiana completed an online survey. Quantitative survey responses such as demographic […]
After Prompt. Arts Education and (the Politics of) AI
Department Kunst Musik – Kunst & Kunsttheorie, Universität zu Kölnin Kooperation mit der Pädagogischen Hochschule Karlsruhe
Everyone Plays the Same Song
A community music project where participants cover the same song in their own unique style
Combinatorial Creativity
Combinatorial creativity recombines existing ideas to spark novel, valuable innovations in cognition, AI, and design.
REIMAGINING INCLUSIVE MUSIC EDUCATION: REFLECTIONS FROM A BLACK MUSIC EDUCATOR - ProQuest
Explore millions of resources from scholarly journals, books, newspapers, videos and more, on the ProQuest Platform.