Engaging the world: music education and the big ideas

Abstract

In this paper I address the distance between our practices as music educators and the democratic issues of equity, social justice and social consciousness. I first explore issues of elitism, identity politics, and our natural aversion to change. I then propose several approaches that we as university faculty may take through our curricula and classroom practices to bridge the gap between our democratic claims and our actual practices. These include macro-level, university-wide efforts, such as using the arts as a way to engage local communities in sustained reciprocal partnerships focused on societal issues, as well as micro-level approaches to democratizing classroom interactions by teaching students to examine their thinking using Paul and Elder's template for critical thinking.

Notes

1. See also, Christopher Small. (1998). Musicking: the meanings of performing and listening. Hanover: University Press of New England