A Sound Education for All: Multicultural Issues in Music Education

Abstract

Establishing the legitimacy of the arts within the larger school curriculum is a defining issue in arts education. Within the context of this perennial challenge, this article examines two multicultural issues in music education: equal music education opportunity and the idiomatic hegemony of the Western classical tradition. Discussions of the essence of music, the current state of music education practice, competing demands within the field, and of the educational benefits associated with the study of music provide the context for this examination. No student, it is argued, should be denied access to the arts based on the property wealth of his or her district, household, or cultural background. If music is to remain a viable curricular option, music educators must adapt both curricula and methods to the cultural backgrounds and needs of a changing student population.