The Powers of Narrative: How Stories Demonstrate Creativity and Commitment to "Place" in Rural Education

• In Event: 63.084 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 63.084-14 - Living Research Narratives

Abstract

This study explores and reveals the creative and passionate processes that occur in music education praxes and the importance that ‘place’ portrays in the rural teaching and learning environment. Four music educators, representative of two rural Boards of Education in Ontario, Canada, participate in story writing that demonstrates how teaching and learning from a music education standpoint grounds students in their rural place. Their stories highlight creative musical processes that occur in the music classroom and through performances in their local communities and beyond. Since there is a lack of narrative stories that deal with music education in rural contexts, they call for studies that illuminate the special bonds that music establishes in rural locales.

Author

• Janet Spring, University of Toronto