Abstract
Music teachers are increasingly interested in opening their classrooms and rehearsal rooms to music that originates from outside the Western European art tradition. This interest shows up in the pages of MENC journals, in the programming for MENC conferences, and in the National Standards, which refer to study of music “representing diverse genres and cultures.”
The interest stems, in part, from mandates imposed on teachers by school districts, principals, and parents, as well as by the perceived needs of the communities or neighborhoods in which they are located. But the interest brings with it a series of questions: How does one maintain musical integrity when so many new musical traditions are begging for representation? What is the authentic repertoire of a given musical culture? What should be the context in which one teaches the music of a culture? In what ways can teachers come into the music of a given tradition? Are there resources that are more valid than others for use in the classroom?
Ethnomusicology—the study of music in culture, or music as culture—can help teachers come to grips with these questions. Through this series of articles, some of the foremost scholars in that field offer their insights into the challenges of teaching world musics in the multicultural classrooms of today.
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