A recent presentation I gave at the MENC Biennial Research Conference in Anaheim has clearly struck a nerve with music teacher educators. I talked about the rigidity of the field’s definition of who a music teacher can be, how a music teacher can be trained, and what kind of experience a music teacher must have. I used a small research project – interviews of alumni from our program who have what would be considered “non-traditional” backgrounds (they play music other than Western classical music and/or play instruments that are not considered part of the traditional band, orchestra, choir ensemble setting) – to demonstrate the importance of the perspectives of these individuals and the meaningful contributions that they can make to music education, as well as the narrow -mindedness of the field.
Not only did the presentation go very well, the discussion after the presentation was very stimulating and filled with energy and interest. I was walking on air afterwards.
And then the emails started. I have received a great deal of email correspondence since this presentation, with everything from ideas/questions/thoughts about the topic to calls for papers for other presentation opportunities for this material to expressions of gratitude for bringing this topic to people’s attention.
As someone whose background is non-traditional, I am heartened by the response to my presentation. And I’m working on figuring out what the next steps are. Clearly there are more presentations to give. And probably at least one publication. And some expansion on the study. And some more literature review. Plenty to do – but I am excited to get started because I know that I have hit on something very important and powerful.
