Cultural Diversity: Beyond “Songs from Every Land”

Abstract

This article sketches a global perspective of the development of cultural diversity in music education—also frequently referred to across educational settings as multicultural music education, intercultural music education, world music education, or global music education. It documents some of the key ideas and practices that have shaped current thinking on the topic, identifies recurring pitfalls and challenges, and presents a model which can aid in both understanding and developing practices across a wide range of contexts, ambitions, and specific local situations. In doing so, the article aims to transcend the positive but naïve idea that the complexities of music across the world can be represented by simply including (Western) notation and transcriptions of songs from various cultures into music curricula.