General Music Teachers’ Backgrounds and Multicultural Repertoire Selection

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how teachers’ backgrounds could contribute to their decisions to include music from diverse cultures. Analysis of interviews with three general music teachers indicated that their music training and experiences, ethnic backgrounds, and years of teaching experience may have influenced their familiarity with multicultural music. That familiarity, in turn, may have affected their multicultural repertoire selection. In addition, the findings revealed that participants included multicultural music in spite of their relatively homogeneous student populations, because they recognized the need to provide their students with global perspectives. However, the teachers primarily focused on teaching Western music concepts, employing music from different cultures mainly as a way to offer variety in their repertoire.