Multidimensionality as a Springboard for Connections

Abstract

Abstract Musical works have long held as centerpieces of curriculum development, an assumption that has come under scrutiny through music education’s recent critique of the prominence of Western European Art Music that privileges Whiteness while silencing persons of color and other forms of expression. This chapter discusses these practices involving repertoires and their selection before suggesting that musical works can serve touchstones, catalysts, cases, or prompts for examining the histories and traditions that surround these works. A multidimensional exploration of a work, guided by the metaphor “a work of art is like a gem with many facets,” organizes this chapter. While describing the dimensions, or “facets,” of the model, this chapter illustrates its curricular potential through describing the origins, path of reception, elements, structure, texts, expressive qualities, and interpretive stances that attend an iconic anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and its passage through Black cultural traditions and society at large.