The term culturally relevant pedagogy seems to be gaining a lot of traction these days in education scholarship and practice. Tyrone Howard (2003) writes:
Culturally relevant pedagogy has been described by a number of researchers as an effective means of meeting the academic and social needs of culturally diverse students (Gay, 2000; Howard, 2001; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Shade, Kelly, & Oberg, 1997). Gay (2000) asserts that culturally relevant pedagogy uses “the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning more relevant to and effective [for students]…. It teaches to and through strengths of these students. It is culturally validating and affirming” (p. 29). An additional, and some would argue the most important, goal of culturally relevant pedagogy is to increase the academic achievement of culturally diverse students. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NQM/is_3_42/ai_108442646/)
This is all well and good, and I will state here that I basically agree with the description above; it covers the main elements. However, such definitions leave considerable room for variation in pedagogical approach – so the question I would like to ask readers: what does the term culturally relevant pedagogy mean to you as it relates to music teaching at various levels?
Deb
In my school in rural Missouri, there doesn’t seem to be a truck load of of obvious cultural diversity. The students all pretty much come from the same cultural background (there are definate variations in socio-economic backgrounds, however). There is a pretty solid musical foundation based on country, rock and roll, and gospel music, so I’ll teach country music history in Music Appreciation, write some rock and roll songs, learn country music in Guitar Class, etc. This relevance to the music they know seems to make learning about music more acceptable in the eyes of the students. Once we establish that acceptance and interest, students seem more willing to learn and experience other, less familiar styles of music.
I agree that this is a good starting place for developing a culturally relevant pedagogy for music education, and I applaud your efforts to go against the mainstream grain in your courses. Your are right that even where there is little obvious diversity, there is usually considerable diversity that isn’t readily until one gets to know their students – but this less-than-obvious diversity provides the platform for developing a curriculum outside the typical school music curriculum box. The longer term goal, of course, is to grow from this entry point of the familiar to begin exploring not only the musical characteristics of other genres of music, but also the cultural characteristics expressed in the music and which the music in turn creates. It is from these kinds of musical explorations that we can begin to gain a richer cultural understanding.