University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Spring 2020 The Cultural Relevance of Music Education as it relates to African American Students in South Carolina Felicia Denise Denise Myers Bulgozdy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Recommended Citation Bulgozdy, F. D.(2020). The Cultural Relevance of Music Education as it relates to African American Students in South Carolina. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/ 5849 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Cultural Relevance of Music Education as it relates to African American Students in South Carolina by Felicia Denise Myers Bulgozdy Bachelor of Music University of South Carolina, 2007 Master of Education Columbia College, 2010 _______________________________________ Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction College of Education University of South Carolina 2020 Accepted by: Rhonda Jeffries, Major Professor James Kirylo, Committee Member Terrance McAdoo, Committee Member Peter Duffy, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Felicia Denise Myers Bulgozdy, 2020 All Rights Reserved. ii Dedication For my parents, William and Mary, and my husband Rob. I love and appreciate you more than you will ever know. “Every good thing I have done, Everything that I've become, Everything that's turned out right, Is because you're in my life. And if I ever teach a child the way, Ever learn myself to change, Ever become who I want to be, It's not the I but the You in me.” -Anointed, 1995 iii Abstract In this study, Critical Race Theory is used to examine the current curriculum that preservice music teachers are taught, and are consequently teaching K-12 students, in an effort to illustrate the need for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Documents such as the S.C. All-State Choral rubric, as well as a list of required courses for future music educators at a local university, are studied to show the overwhelming European influence on the curriculum that is being taught in music classes daily across the state, and demonstrate the lack of cultural relevance to the African American students in those classes. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is presented as a way to engage the African American students in these classes and bridge the opportunity gap that the current curriculum fosters. iv Table of Contents Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv List of tables ....................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1: The Colorless Curriculum ..................................................................................1 Chapter 2: I Don’t See Color .............................................................................................18 Chapter 3: Searching for the Rainbow ...............................................................................61 Chapter 4: Essential Colors on the Palette .........................................................................72 Chapter 5: Broadening the Spectrum ...............................................................................118 References ........................................................................................................................124 Appendix A: Original Documents ...................................................................................133 v List of Tables Table 4.1 Choral Major Map .............................................................................................73 Table 4.2 The History of Western Music 1 MUSC 353 ....................................................92 Table 4.3 The History of Western Music 2 MUSC 354 ....................................................93 Table 4.4 The History of Western Music 3 MUSC 455 ....................................................94 Table 4.5 Diction MUSC 278 ............................................................................................98 Table 4.6 Vocal Pedagogy MUSC 577 ..............................................................................98 Table 4.7 Choral Literature Lab MUSC 335L ...................................................................99 Table 4.8 Choral Materials and Methods MUED 467 .....................................................102 Table 4.9 General Music in Elementary Schools MUED 465 .........................................105 Table 4.10 Music for Young Children MUED 454 .........................................................106 Table 4.11 Learners and the Diversity of Learning EDPY 401 .......................................108 vi Chapter 1 The Colorless Curriculum As a music educator, I know that there are opportunity gaps throughout the educational system. Interestingly enough, students with similar socioeconomic statuses and ethnicities share a lot of these opportunity gaps (Sampson & Garrison-Wade, 2011). I often see studies that are focused on the problem of bridging the opportunity gap between young African American students and White and Asian students in core subject areas such as math and science, but rarely do I come across studies that discuss in detail the subject of the opportunity gap in the arts. Being a music educator, I have come to terms with the fact that attrition is inevitable in elective courses, especially when those courses are performance-based. You expect to lose a few students every year to disinterest, poor performance, or residential relocation. I noticed, however, that students of color at the local arts magnet middle school where I taught for 10 years seemed to spend a lot less time participating and excelling in the arts than White students once they all left our middle school. While the expense of playing a musical instrument can be considered a deterrent if students were of low socioeconomic status, I wondered if there is not a deeper issue. After being told that I was to be the band and choral director instead of just the band director for the middle school, I had to become more acquainted with the South Carolina Music Education Standards for Choral Music that have been based on the National Music Education Standards for Choral Music. In studying the history of this 7 document, I began to see that this phenomenon of minority attrition may also be attributed to the idea that students are disinterested in the literature provided for them to study in chorus classes. The musical literature that future music educators are asked to study in colleges and then use in their classrooms are usually based in traditional Western European styles of music (classical), while in depth study of African and Hispanic styles of music are often not required to receive the degree (Burton, 2011). Because of this, music that directly relates to non-White students is not adequately represented in our colleges and consequently, in our K-12 classrooms. Racial minorities are being underrepresented in our arts curriculum standards, and consequently music educators sometimes openly discredit their traditions in art because there has not been value placed on their contributions by the standards (Gustafson, 2009). In fact, the roots of some state standards are directly planted in racism . Background of the Problem Recent studies regarding the history of music education in this country claim that the United States’ preference of whiteness in its curriculum is largely to blame for the high attrition rate of African American students in school music programs (Gustafson, 2008). Our current curriculum, operating within the constraints of whiteness, frequently ignores music that is not aligned with mainstream White, middle-class values. This attitude is prevalent today amidst the constant evolution of popular musical styles, and is very present in the music that is selected for our students to study (Burton, 2011). Expansion of the music education curriculum in this country to incorporate more urban contemporary entertainment, such as rap, could be used in order to help combat the alienation of students of color (Burton, 2011; Gaztambide-Fernandez, 2011). Since the 8 conception of this country, education (music education included) has been used to teach morals, respect, compassion, and basically transfer the values of the dominant culture to their children (Abeles,1995; Spring, 2005; Groulx, 2013). Early Americans used it to teach right from wrong. Using education in this way, however, eliminates the voice of all those that are not in the dominant group. Expansion of the curriculum would ultimately mean that the voices of those historically silenced could now be heard. Most of the musical concepts and traditions taught in American music education can be traced back to Greek and Roman times. The Greek and Roman educational value for music progressed all the way through the middle ages when the Christian church was given charge over the musical education of the congregation and common notation was emerging. Soon