Radical musicking: towards a pedagogy of social change

Abstract

This research examines the work of four elementary music educators who strive to challenge the dominant paradigm of music education. I employed the methodology of a multiple case study to consider the discourses, practices and philosophies of these four educators. I observed in each school for an eight-week period for two full days each week, conducting semi-structured interviews at the beginning, middle and end of each observation process. At each school, I followed an observation protocol, in addition to completing three interviews and keeping a journal. In this work, I mobilise a tri-faceted lens that combines the theoretical frameworks of anti-colonialism, anti-racism and anti-racist feminism towards counterhegemonic goals. The teachers' diverse practices include critically engaging with issues of social justice, studying a broad range of musics, introducing multiple musical epistemologies, contextualising musics, considering differential privilege and subverting hegemonic practices. In many ways, these four individuals interrupt the traditional Eurocentric focus on Western classical music to explore different possibilities with their students. I argue that a truly radical music education involves shifting from a liberal to a critical paradigm. Drawing on the work of French philosophers Deleuze and Guattari, Russian literary theorist Bakhtin and music education philosopher Elizabeth Gould, I work to reread the findings of this study radically, and ultimately put forward tenets of a radical music education.