A Culture of Critique and Competition: Positioning School Music and Music Teacher Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Identity in Music Education

Abstract

In order to explore the presence, or absence, of critical anti-oppressive education in the field of music education, it is necessary to first examine the culture that music teacher education promotes. Primary research questions included: What is the current “culture” of music teacher education, and how do pre-service teachers conceive of and reproduce that culture? In the bulk of the literature on music educator identity - a portion of culture - researchers focus on the divergence between musician and performer identity (Bernard, 2009; Isbell, 2008; Roberts, 1991). Analysis centers on what Spradley (1980) describes as fundamental aspects of ethnographic study: cultural artifacts, cultural behavior, and cultural knowledge.Findings include a discussion of the role of critique in the field of music education.

Author

• Alison LaGarry, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill