Abstract
Employing a critical race theoretical framework, this chapter argues that classroom practices in US music education often relegate participants with non-Eurocentric musical experiences to periphractic space or the margins of school music. This chapter explores validating specific Western musical practices—still physical comportment in listening and performing music, the use of Western standard notation and musical constructs, and the limited use of aurality—as periphractic practices in music education. After exploring practices that often circumscribe students of color to periphractic space, I suggest possible ways music educators can interrupt the Eurocentric ensemble paradigm to recognize students’ own musical enculturation. I draw examples from a multiple case study of four elementary music teachers in Toronto committed to challenging dominant paradigms of music education.
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Notes
- 1.
A more extensive version of Harris’ chapter in this collection originally appeared in the Harvard Law Review (Harris, 1993).
- 2.
Consistent with the APA Style manual (American Psychological Association, 2010), I capitalize “White” and “Black” throughout this chapter, except when the words are within a quotation from an external source. Section 3.14 of the APA Manual “Racial and Ethnic Identity” says: “Racial and ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and are capitalized. Therefore, use Black and White instead of black and white (the use of colors to refer to other human groups currently is considered pejorative and should not be used). Unparallel designations (e.g., African Americans and Whites; Asian Americans and Black) should be avoided because one group is described by color, while the other group is described by cultural heritage. For modifiers, do not use hyphens in multiword names, even if the names act as unit modifiers (e.g., Asian American participants)” (p. 75).
- 3.
I note here Mills’ (1997) distinction between Whiteness as a political commitment to sustaining White supremacy and Whiteness as phenotype-genealogy.
- 4.
I elaborate upon these ideas later in this chapter.
- 5.
See Chap. 6 for detail on this pedagogical shift.
- 6.
- 7.
The dictionary entry continues: “Some examples [of performance practice] would include the technique of using vibrato in some forms of jazz. Although not always notated, certain styles of jazz expect the use of vibrato. Ornamentation has changed throughout the years and the interpretation of most of the common ornaments need to be performed in the style appropriate to the era” (Cole & Schwartz, 2016a).
- 8.
See Booth (1986) to further explore the practices of oral tradition in music.
- 9.
See http://www.yrdsb.ca/AboutUs/DirectorsAnnualReport/Pages/Performance-Plus.aspx for more information on this designation.
- 10.
See, for example, the Sturm und Drang movement in music that literally communicated “storm and stress” before release (Cole & Schwartz, 2016b).
- 11.
See http://www.riverfronttimes.com/musicblog/2012/01/30/the-six-best-key-changes-in-pop-music for a popular culture exploration of this phenomenon in six songs.
- 12.
As I learned to improvise in Ewe music, I knew the expectation was to improvise at certain times. At the beginning, I played improvisations I felt fit into the music. When I did so, I received surprised and disapproving looks from the Ghanaian master drummer with whom I worked. As I continued to study, I came to understand that improvisations, while improvised, occur in the music within set parameters. Once I understood the parameters, I learned to improvise in a way that made sense within the context of the music.
- 13.
My experience of learning Ghanaian music aligns with Lave and Wenger’s (1991) notion of “legitimate peripheral participation”—a process through which “newcomers become part of a community of practice” (p. 29), becoming full participants in a sociocultural practice.
- 14.
The top three hits in a Google search on how to teach a song by rote all returned a similar strategy. While the Unitarian Universalist Association (http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/resources/music/chapter5/129364.shtml) suggests extensive context work, the steps on this site and on other sites (http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/resources/music/chapter5/129364.shtml, and http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.nipissingu.ca%2Fcaroler%2FResources%2FTeaching%2520a%2520Song%2520by%2520Rote%252006.doc&ei=qfuWVcqNHcXm-QGL0p3wBQ&usg=AFQjCNGrI8kfbkLZ9XPRWdbl4ZjGgkCoJQ&sig2=D4ehMiEa7fd3VWFVt73oWw&bvm=bv.96952980,d.cWw) are teacher-centered and provide little opportunity for agency.
- 15.
See https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/ for an explanation of Bloom’s original and revised taxonomy.
- 16.
- 17.
See Chap. 8.
- 18.
- 19.
A bordun is an open fifth and is fundamental to the Orff approach (Steen, 1993).
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Hess, J. (2018). Musicking Marginalization: Periphractic Practices in Music Education. In: Kraehe, A., Gaztambide-Fernández, R., Carpenter II, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65256-6_19
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