Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies in Music Education

Book excerpt: This volume problematizes the historic dominance of Western classical music education and posits culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) as a framework through which music curricula can better serve increasingly diverse student populations. By detailing a qualitative study conducted in an urban high school in the United States, the volume illustrates how traditional approaches to music education can inhibit student engagement and learning. Moving beyond culturally responsive teaching, the volume goes on to demonstrate how enhancing teachers’ understanding of alternative musical epistemologies can support them in embracing CSP in the music classroom. This new theoretical and pedagogical framework reconceptualizes current practices to better sustain the musical cultures of the minoritized. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in music education, multicultural education, and urban education more broadly. Those specifically interested in ethnomusicology and classroom practice will also benefit from this book.