World Musics in the General Music Classroom

Abstract

As you read this October issue of General Music Today (GMT) you have said goodbye to summer and embarked on another school year journey. Just as the trees are making the transition from summer to fall, so too are music teachers throughout the world. The trees are basking in the glory of leaves full of color and branches ripe with abundant fruit ready to harvest and gather in baskets, while music teachers—after attending concerts, completing professional development activities, creating new lessons, and learning new songs—are ready to harvest those new activities and take their “musical baskets” into classrooms with enthusiastic learners. This issue of GMT is designed to promote and refocus our thoughts and teaching strategies regarding world musics. “The term ‘world musics’ is a broad umbrella covering all musical genres and practices from all cultures” (Burton, 2002, p. 164). Addressing world musics or “multicultural learning” is not a new concept for music educators or for this journal. Keith Thompson, past GMT editor, expressed his belief that “music can capture the essence of a culture” (Thompson, 1992, p. 2). He noted that teachers were moving beyond the idea of multicultural music as merely involving stereotypical costumes and singing a melody in a foreign language, but rather encompassed becoming multicultural in their thinking. Why should we promote world music in our classrooms? Bennett Reimer (1994) provides the following rationale: