Schools worldwide have become increasingly diverse. Yet, the approach to education is often modeled on passive-receptive Eurocentric models that don't reflect this diversity. Many educators are at a loss of how to "relate" to students whose cultural backgrounds differ from their own. Therefore, students from varying backgrounds have difficulties and struggle both academically and behaviorally (Russell, 2024). The purpose of this session is to demonstrate how understanding musical concepts of cultures can help inform educators about these cultural variations and how to implement these ideas. The target audience for this session includes educators in all fields, as well as administrators. Using African music, this session will explore how concepts such as call and response, polyrhythm, and storytelling are not only musical ideas, but also relate to general education (Weinstein, 2004). Although this session will use African music, it will be shown how learning musical elements of any culture can inform educators how to teach and interact with students. The session will also show how European innovations (i.e. classical music and educational philosophy) originate outside of Europe. Attendees will learn how to not overhaul their educational approach, but instead how to add these musical ideas to their current teaching style. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will 1) understand the relevance of musical concepts in general education, 2) be able to appropriately implement musical concepts into their lesson planning and general instruction, 3) develop classroom management structures that support students of all backgrounds.

Authors:
Vincent Sneed, Gwinnett County School District, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Vincent Sneed is currently a music educator in the Gwinnett County School District in the United States. He teaches instrumental and choral music and serves as an international mentor for educators on creating equitable schools and classrooms.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-sneed-ed-s-034754139

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

Bookmark