Cultural Anecdotes from a Music Teacher #7: Intercultural Understanding Resources for the Performing Arts Classroom

This is part of a fortnightly series of articles to be shared on Linked In – expect the next one on 9 June

I have recently, after decades as a classroom music teacher, had a career change to working at Cultural Infusion, a place where knowledge and resources are gathered with the aim of building harmony and wellbeing. (I particularly like the harmony part!).?This article describes some ways to find resources for performing arts classrooms.

Willingness to Change the Performing Arts Curriculum

When planning classes, how many music teachers think about using songs and pieces from a variety of different countries? Many find this approach challenging and prefer to use tried and true repertoire. What are the challenges when seeking to change these behaviours? How can music teachers find the resources and teaching methods they need when it comes to learning new content?

Music educators tend to quickly develop preferred repertoires of songs, games and pieces and then expand this library as needed. Teachers who do diversify their curriculum often show a preference for music from a couple of countries at best. Some even argue that they cover the ‘diversity’ part of the curriculum by listing composers from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods of the Western music tradition, and the variety of different countries these (usually) men are from. This is due largely to the way in which they learned their instruments, from teachers grounded in the Western canon of composers. Alongside limiting the cultures that students are learning about, such an approach creates a gender imbalance in the?study material.

Developing Intercultural Resources

Finding diverse repertoire can be done through searching for print music, arranging and listening to music from streaming platforms, searching for videos online, reaching out to students and their families, finding local Indigenous and other cultural communities, or searching the internet for educational resources. Additionally, using music software and tapping into online teacher groups for support can provide ways to enhance curriculum planning and delivery to embrace a blended learning approach.

Teaching Style

Increasingly classrooms feature student voice as a way to design curriculum with, rather than for, students. The idea of the teacher as the holder of knowledge to be imparted is slowly diminishing. Although many music teachers are adaptable, directing and conducting set them up to operate that way in the classroom also as it is a familiar mode of teaching. It is important to be sensitive to the way in which students from different backgrounds are responding, and to be adaptable with material and approach when it comes to cultural diversity in the classroom. My teaching approach in schools is to work towards skills bases at each year level and constantly refresh the musical content.

Culturally Diverse Incursions

Developing a regular calendar of incursions and/or excursions for students to see and hear performances by people from diverse backgrounds ensures that they will have authentic cultural experiences. These experiences should be planned as part of an in-depth unit of work rather than being standalone as this increases the likelihood that students will develop empathy with other cultures rather than simply being spectators.

Connecting with the School Community

School communities consist of people from diverse backgrounds. Teachers can dedicate some class time to finding out the accessible stories, music and cultural knowledge to be shared. Sensitivity and open mindedness is required when doing this, as well as the awareness that we all have our personal biases.

Playlists

An easy but potentially useful music classroom strategy is to include mindful listening to music of various cultures in classes. With the plethora of ways to source recordings now, it’s easy to compile playlists featuring music from disparate times and cultures. Beginning with short excerpts, students can be directed to listen for particular aspects to be shared once the music stops. Gradually their ability to focus will increase and longer pieces or songs can be shared.

?Social Media Teacher Groups

Social media groups of teachers are a great resource. Reading responses to colleagues’ questions as well as posing one’s own is informative and a fast way to gather information on many different topics. Playlists, arrangements, videos, professional development, games, repertoire, and reviews of resources are all shared in these groups, and some have memberships of thousands of teachers.

Blended Learning

When planning for classes featuring computer technology, actively engaging students to create activities is better than giving them research-based assignments as that way they are still developing practical skills that will help them as young musicians. For these purposes, asking them to create music utilising instruments from non-Western cultures using GarageBand or Sound Infusion works well. Play-along videos designed for students to move or use body percussion to visual and audio cues from various styles and countries are also useful and easily found on YouTube. Learning clapping patterns and games from different cultures in live remote lessons can reinforce these practical activities alongside sharing videos, pictures and information that provide context.

With an adaptable teaching style, a willingness to research repertoire, and a willingness to include people from the cultures being studied, performing arts teachers can provide rich experiences for their students. This not only addresses the Intercultural Understanding component of the curriculum and creates a more truly inclusive classroom, but also helps everyone to become global citizens in an ever-changing world.

Have you found some great intercultural understanding resources for music teachers? Please comment and share your ideas.