Community Engagement in Music Education: Preservice Music Teachers’ Perceptions of an Urban Service-Learning Initiative

Abstract

To facilitate cultural competency among preservice music teachers, music teacher educators must create ongoing opportunities for discourse and situated learning. The purpose of this collective case study was to examine four preservice music teachers’ experiences in the Arranger-in-Residence Program (AIRP)—a community engagement project emphasizing service-learning and placed within a socioeconomically diverse urban school district. Research questions included (1) How did the participants describe their experiences in the AIRP? and (2) What challenges, if any, did the participants experience during the service-learning initiative. The AIRP involved music education students enrolled in an undergraduate-level orchestration course. Overwhelmingly, the participants’ experiences with the AIRP were considered positive and signaled unique opportunities for personal growth as novice teachers. Each of the participants described moments where they acknowledged and confronted their implicit biases.