Social Class and School Music

Abstract

This article takes a practical look at social class in school music by exploring the manifestations and impact of three of its dimensions: financial resources, cultural practices, and social networks. Three suggestions are discussed: provide a free and equal music education for all students, understand and respect each student’s cultural background, recognize the social forces that perpetuate poverty.

Music Educated and Uprooted: My Story of Rurality, Whiteness, Musicing, and Teaching

“…Bates 2011;de Vries 2007;Gouzouasis et al 2014;Kruse 2012;Lamb 2014;Shevock 2015a). Gouzouasis et al (2014) recommend "a 21st century ethos of music education research-an ethical, spiritual, and heartful future that embraces music making, and storied writing about music making, in all its uncontrolled, rebellious, and gloriously perfect imperfection" (18).…”

“…2 As a way of inquiry and an "orientation to … the living of life" (Ellis and Adams 2014, 270), autoethnography may be particularly well-suited for The MayDay Group, with its ideal of addressing "social issues surrounding equality and privilege that stem from identity constructions such as socioeconomic status, ability, race, sexual orientation, age, gender, sex, ethnicity, and religion." 3 In fact, autoethnographic techniques have been used in Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 4 (ACT) (e.g., Bates 2011;Lamb 2014;Shevock 2015a Adams suggest a reason autoethnography has become important is because of "the heightened attention to identity politics" (259; emphasis added) in academia. Autoethnographies emphasize personal experience, use existing research, critique cultural experiences, use insider knowledge, add nuance, help people heal from painful experiences, and use accessible prose (Ellis and Adams 2014).…”

“…(Illich 1992, 117), institutionalized music. Bates (2011) suggests there is a "hierarchy of musical engagements-school over outside-of-school, formal over informal, presentational over participatory, highbrow over lowbrow-as it is perpetuated in school music" (109). I feel this hierarchy was also present in my school music experiences, which played a role in my decision to reject popular musicing and to value school music.…”

“…12 For an analysis of how these values connect to rurality, see Bates's (2011) rural ideals, especially around his discussion of country music, the "hierarchy of musical engagements" (109), and sustainability. 13 African Americans and Latin Americans predominantly vacationed in Wildwood, while White vacationers seemed to have preferred North Wildwood.…”

The admissions criteria of secondary Free Schools

“…Using musical aptitude criteria could potentially be seen as disadvantaging those from poorer backgrounds due to the fact that those who are skilled musicians are more likely to be from middle-class backgrounds where music lessons and the purchase of instruments has been possible during the primary school years (Bates, 2012;Phillips, 2013). If, however, a significant proportion of other places are allocated to less advantaged children, this could be viewed as a way of trying to obtain a more comprehensive mix of abilities within the school.…”