Rethinking Religion in Music Education

Abstract

A great deal of discussion of religious music in schools has been generated in our field. As we become increasingly sensitive to the diverse interests of the multiple stakeholders in public schools, issues of political correctness and pedagogical goals are raised. The author poses questions about religion and music education. To generate a different dialogue on this topic, four vignettes and alternate interpretations of the situations as well as possible unintended consequences are examined. The author describes alternative approaches to music-learning contexts and offers questions to wrestle with while keeping in mind the goal of music for all.

Music Teacher Educator Perspectives on Social Justice

“…Focusing on a more cultural aspect of access, Butler, Lind, and McKoy (2007) argued that the existence of a music program in a school does not necessarily mean that all students in the school have equitable access to instruction. Studies of the experiences and perspectives of music students (e.g., Carlow, 2006;Carter, 2013) support this assertion, as does A. R. Hoffman's (2011) practitioner-focused article on religion in music instruction. Salvador (2010) investigated how undergraduate programs prepared music teacher candidates to work with exceptional populations in music settings.…”

“…Elpus and Abril (2011) found that students who participated in traditional high school music ensembles (i.e., band, orchestra, and choir) were statistically more likely to be from White, middle-to upper middle-class families regardless of school location. Studies also indicate significantly lower rates of participation in secondary performing ensembles among students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) than among the general high school population (E. C. Hoffman, 2011;Linsenmeier, 2004).…”

“…Given the shifting demographics in American public education, the rising likelihood of students with special needs being taught in inclusive classrooms and the increasing openness with which students are challenging gender and sex norms, social justice in PK-12 classrooms and teacher education programs has become a prevalent research topic in music education. Researchers have described promising practices (e.g., Abril, 2009;A. R. Hoffman, 2011;Kelly-McHale, 2013;Shaw, 2012), related historical precedents (e.g., Gustafson, 2009), discussed philosophical arguments (e.g., Bowman, 2007;Kindall-Smith, McCoy, & Mills, 2011;Koza, 2008), and revealed demographic trends with regard to music education and race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, country of origin, and socioeconomic status (e.g., Elpus & Abril, 2011; E. C. Hoffman, 2011;Salvador & Allegood, 2014).…”

“…Researchers have described promising practices (e.g., Abril, 2009;A. R. Hoffman, 2011;Kelly-McHale, 2013;Shaw, 2012), related historical precedents (e.g., Gustafson, 2009), discussed philosophical arguments (e.g., Bowman, 2007;Kindall-Smith, McCoy, & Mills, 2011;Koza, 2008), and revealed demographic trends with regard to music education and race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, country of origin, and socioeconomic status (e.g., Elpus & Abril, 2011; E. C. Hoffman, 2011;Salvador & Allegood, 2014). However, in music teacher education (as in general education), researchers have not attempted to ascertain the prevalence or nature of social justice education in music teacher preparation or the extent to which social justice is valued or understood by teacher educators.…”

Discourses of diversity in music education: The curriculum framework of the Norwegian Schools of Music and Performing Arts as a case

“…Although multiculturalism and musical plurality have been the main entrances to an understanding of diversity within music education research, they have not been the only ones. Other conceptions have been related to diversity expressed as differences, for example in geographic or ethnic origin (Karlsen, 2013; Marsh, 2012; Sæther, 2008, 2010), race (Bradley, 2007; Hess, 2015), social class (Bates, 2012; Dyndahl, Karlsen, Nielsen, & Skårberg, 2014), religion (Hoffman, 2011; Jorgensen, 2011), (dis)ability (Laes & Westerlund, 2018), gender (Björck, 2011; Lamb, 2014), age (Laes, 2015) and sexuality (Abramo, 2011; Gould, 2012). As such, many of the above perspectives have been discussed by employing the perspective of social justice in music education (see, e.g.…”