A Critical Analysis of Cultural Representation in Select Beginning Band Method Books

• In Event: Social Justice in Music Curriculum and Instruction

Abstract

Beginning band method books were analyzed for cultural representation and what contextual information about specific cultures is provided in each text. An inductive analysis revealed the following emergent themes: (i) philosophical positioning that supports diverse musical content; (ii) provenance labels as markers of cultural representation; (iii) content presented without context; (iv) context presented without criticality. Findings are discussed through a conceptual framework informed by multicultural music education (e.g., de Villiers, 2021; Kang, 2016) and the hidden curriculum (e.g., Knapp, 2022; Vallance, 1974, 1980). These discussions problematize broad provenance labels such as “American”, question publishers’ decisions to print diverse cultural content without accompanying critical context, and acknowledge how language can create a nonacademic but socially significant hidden curriculum (Vallance, 1974).

Author

• Daniel Taylor, Vanderbilt University