Squid Game vs Diversity

Global phenomenon k-drama Squid Game uses a version of Johann Strauss' An der schönen blauen Donau AKA The Blue Danube.

Brazilian pianist, accordionist, sound engineer, musician, aquarist, and YouTuber Lord Vinheteiro plays an arrangement of it here, along with two other classical pieces used in Squid Game.

Just like Squid Game, Music Education traditionally adores and focuses on the Western Art Music (WAM) a.k.a Classical Music Canon. Commonly found in schools whether you're in Australia, America, Europe, Asia. Despite the majority of the canon being composed by dead, European white men, who we all know are not the only people in the world!

You can't be what you can't see.

In Australia "The music we teach persuades only 5–10% of our students to study music right through high school"(Humberstone, 2017) and I wonder could this be in part because Australia is unceded land, where the colonisers' music is still held in higher regard than the music of the longest continuous culture on earth?

During a class discussion of Brent. C Talbot's Marginalized voices in music education (2017) I learned that the culture of music education in America often reflects the privileges inherent in the system, making it challenging for marginalized groups to become preservice music teachers. This lack of inclusivity continues into the workforce, where these teachers frequently experience feelings of isolation and powerlessness (Bergonzi, 2009; Fitzpatrick, Heninger & Taylor, 2014; Gardner, 2010; Pembrook & Craig, 2002; Talbot & Hendricks, 2016).

Here is an important researcher of this topic - Christopher Cayari, speaking at a Panel on Equity & Diversity at the Big Ten Academic Alliance, October 6, 2016, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.

Maintaining cultural diversity is something educators (and hiring managers) must actively be conscious of, be it primary, secondary, tertiary classrooms, ensembles, individual lessons or online tutorials.

It is far too easy to teach what you know and like, because that's how and what you were taught. Instead employ culturally responsive pedagogies by first knowing your students.

In knowing them you can then teach by harnessing and building on their diverse strengths and lived experiences, while validating and affirming their cultural backgrounds. Recognise your students as individuals and members of extended social circles, have high expectations of them and their learning capabilities. Teaching using multiple modes of communication and instructional strategies supports different learning styles. This will help make meaning of their learning, connecting home and school, lived sociocultural realities with academic abstractions.

"Culturally responsive teaching requires an intense connection with and understanding of students so that teachers can act in ways that further their learning and deepen their understanding of music and the world around them." (Abril, 2013)

Educators must learn why they should practice culturally responsive pedagogies. Educating themselves in how to be inclusive and equitable, whether through independent reading or attending workshops and conferences on implicit bias, micro-aggressions, cultural competency, inclusion, diversity and equity in music classrooms. Consulting with experts in the field, and experts in your learning community to find out how best to support your students is another good strategy. Make time to employ the 3 Rs - Reflect, Revise and Refine your teaching practice. Be open to feedback from colleagues, parents, students and experts.

Selecting multicultural music, resources and materials to teach is another important aspect of culturally responsive pedagogy, though it should be done with sensitivity and avoid tokenism! When teaching music of another culture, it is best to do so with the people first. Pay culture-bearers to teach, learn and employ practices that are based in approaches and methods from that culture. In Australia teachers can use the 8 Aboriginal ways of Learning

The repertoire should represent different styles, places and times in history. When teaching use inclusive language and visuals. Represent the local community, the students in the classroom and beyond. Be open and respectful to learning from your students, while you are teaching them. Allow students to collaborate, facilitate student-led projects into your teaching. Provide opportunities for composition in different forms.

In a culturally responsive music classroom, the validity of the cultural heritages of various social groups is recognised, as both influential legacies that shape students’ attitudes, behaviours and learning styles, and valuable content within the formal curriculum. It also encourages students to enjoy, embrace and share music that is important to them.

Here are the six Guiding Principles for teachers in NSW. By considering them upfront, and embedding them in their evaluations and everyday practice, teachers can support and enrich the educational journey for Aboriginal students and non-Aboriginal learners and students.

As a preservice music teacher I have a strong responsibility to decolonize music education through culturally responsive pedagogies and combat the prejudice that marginalized teachers face.

References

• Abril, C. (2013) Toward a More Culturally Responsive General Music Classroom. General Music Today, 27(1), 6-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371313478946

• Bergonzi, Louis. (2016). Gender and Sexual Diversity Challenges (for Socially Just) Music Education. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199356157.013.55

• Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. New York, NY: Teachers College.

• Hess, J (2015) Declonizing music education: Moving beyond tokenism. International Journal of Music Education, 33(3), 336-347. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761415581283

• Humberstone, J. (2017) 'A Pluralist Approach to Music Education', in S. Alex Ruthmann, and Roger Mantie (eds), (2017) The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education, Oxford Handbooks https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199372133.013.40

• Janowski. D (2024) "Interconnected Pathways on YouTube and Music Education: YouTubers and Their Stories" Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 10369. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/10369

• Kruse, A. J. (2016). Toward hip-hop pedagogies for music education. International Journal of Music Education, 34(2), 247-260. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761414550535

• Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic Inc.

• NSW Government (2024) Re-imagining evaluation: A culturally responsive evaluation framework. . https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/aec/re-imagining-evaluation-framework

• Safir, S., & Dugan, J. (2021). Street data: A next-generation model for equity, pedagogy, and school transformation. Corwin.

• Talbot, B. C. (Ed.). (2017). Marginalized voices in music education. Taylor & Francis Group.

• Webb, M., Bracknell, C. (2021). Educative Power and the Respectful Curricular Inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music. In: Kallio, A.A., Westerlund, H., Karlsen, S., Marsh, K., Sæther, E. (eds) The Politics of Diversity in Music Education. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 29. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65617-1_6