During my GO2 experience in an elementary school, I saw a photo that made me reflect on my views of inclusive education. What I noticed first from this picture was the lack of diversity. All the children seem to be ethnically and culturally the same - European descent and able-bodied. There is one visible minority, a girl on the very far left in front of the treble clef. is of a different ethnicity. It is clear from the design of this poster and the outdated fashion choices that this was likely made in the 80’s-90’s. I wonder if the company making this poster was implicitly sending a message of what the ideal music class looks like. Even though diversity if much more apparent today than it was back in the 80’s-90’s, I don’t believe that this image is an accurate portrayal of a classroom. It surprised me that the teacher kept this image by their front door. To me, it not only doesn’t make me understand what “the joys of music” look like, but it sends a poor message of who should and should not participate in music. The lack of racial and cultural representation was laughable to be honest, because that is not what music classes or any class looked like in my schools growing up. However, the one shocking realization I came to was the inclusion of ability in the music classroom. It is extremely unacceptable and unheard of to deny students to be in a music class because of their race or culture. However, in public schools I have experienced the opposite when it came to students of different abilities. Many of the Western music education beliefs and methods do not leave room for those with differences. I have heard music teachers complain to administrators, counsellors, and even students like myself that the students with special needs in their classroom were too disruptive and bringing the quality of the band down. These comments back in high school made sense to me, and perhaps I agreed with my teachers because I too wanted a “good quality” band and choir. After all, we had to go to festivals and competitions to get medals and trophies to prove to the administration and community that music is important and worth investing in. . I now realize that a reputation of excellence came at the cost of exclusion.

I reflected more on past experiences in music education that had included cognitively and physically diverse students. My general elementary music classes sometimes were inclusive, but sometime the students with EA’s would be out in the halls doing different work. I don’t remember a lot from this age and I am not sure if this was a problematic situation or not. However, in my extra-curricular choir I recall my conductor being inclusive to all her singers. One girl in particular who had a physical disability had trouble sitting cross-legged during our games, so my director took it upon herself to have this girl sit in her lap with her legs in a comfortable position so that she wouldn’t feel left out or embarrassed. I really look up to my choir director as a mentor in music, teaching, and in life. She would always make every singer feel welcome no matter one’s physical, cognitive, or singing ability. She would always say “If you can talk, you can sing.” She would never exclude any child from her choir for any reason, even if they were completely off key, she would work with them and never silence anyone’s voice or spirit.

When I would envision what my future music classroom might look like, I realize I was not holding a space for those with differences in ability. I have primarily been in ensembles that followed a certain mold of music performance. In my third reflection I came to the realization that “perhaps my biggest fear, and something I have thought about a great deal, is that I underestimate the talents and abilities of students with exceptionalities . . . Music should be accessible for everyone regardless of one’s ability and I need to further evaluate how I can make that vision possible for the students I teach in the future.” I took it upon myself after this reflection to do more research, and I found a chapter in a book that I already owned that helped me a great deal.

This reading covered the same topics we did in EDUC 400 about the history of ability and inclusion, language and representation, but what we did not discuss was disability as culture. I found this part of the chapter very interesting as I had never thought of disability being a culture before. Darrow suggests that educators can include ability when thinking about multiculturalism in school just like they would for race, SOGIE, religion, etc. This can be achieved through music content and practices. Darrow also asks that music educators create equal opportunities for students of all ability and promote a positive outlook on ability through content and language. Teachers could also discuss ability through positive role models like Beethoven, Stevie Wonder, Thomas Quasthoff, or Canadian violinist Adrian Anantawan. In the video below, Adrian speaks to not wanting to prove himself to the audience, but share his gift like any other musician. He also mentioned that there is no limit to what humans can achieve if they truly desire something. I thought about the children with differences who are not encouraged to pursue music because of their differences. How many musicians exist in another reality because they were not limited by people telling them they can’t do something rather than they can if they try.

This personal research expanded my understanding of ability and helped me reflect on my past beliefs. I used to look at people with disabilities in a patronizing way that limited their success in my mind, but now after my experiences and further reading and research I seek to make the music classroom a more equitable place for students of all abilities. I want to have more supports and adaptations in place in my classroom so that all students are welcome. This may also require me to challenge what a music class at the secondary level looks like. Elementary music is typically for fun and socialization with little emphasis on performance whereas high schoolers are expected to reach a certain level of performance and be proficient on their instrument. I believe that we are moving away from this classical model of music education in the public school to a freer and more inclusive model. I am making it my goal to create a class that is exploratory and self and peer guided. If I could create this type of class, it would include all students - any race, religion, ability, class, etc. Classical music has a history of being for elite able-bodied White folk and it has shown how inaccessible it can be for anyone who does not fall in those categories. Perhaps I could create a space where classical music is accessible, but I would rather my students bring in their own interests and passions - whether that’s creating a music video to an original song, making beats, composing a quartet, setting a poem to music, writing raps - anything is accepted as long as they are learning and improving through music. The bottom line is that I am willing to combat ableism within myself and my classroom. I will model inclusive practices that honour human diversity by providing a space for safe expression and having higher expectations of students with differences.

References

Darrow, A. A. (2015). Ableism and Social Justice: Rethinking Disability in Music Education. In Benedict, C., Schmidt, P. K., Spruce, G., & Woodford, P. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of social justice in music education. (204-220). New York: Oxford University Press.