Diversity in a Music Classroom

Diversity: the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and  ethnic backgrounds, etc.; the state of variety. Diversity, especially in a music classroom, is important because it emphasizes the learning of all music with no boundaries, and can create a safe space for all learners! In an article written by DeeAnn Gray, she states that "teaching culturally diverse music in a music class resulted in knowledge about welcoming the challenges posed by diversity to the benefit of both students and educators." The article talks about how Dee Ann teaches a middle school choir class in Hawaii, and came up with the acronym EMBRACE, and that each letter represents a strategy for encouraging and creating diversity in your classroom. The acronym stands for encouraging interaction, making listening a priority, being aware of cultural differences, respecting all students, addressing problems when they arise, creating community, and enjoying all your students! 

Diverse students singing in school program

In my personal opinion, diversity redefines music.

When children sing, dance, or listen to diverse or multicultural music; they gain knowledge, and find it fun and engaging. Personally, in a music class, I would strive for diversity in music. It makes children accept others, strengthens their listening skills, and promotes multimodal learning throughout the music. I never really had diverse music when I was in grades K-12. It was only in college that I truly started to listen to, and started to promote diverse music. Because of this, I have started listening to more genres of music, and teaching my friends and family more about them too! If the music is diverse, there aren't any limits. Music is one of the biggest forms of communication. Just look around in your classes, restaurants, etc. and you will most likely see someone listening to music. Diverse music is important because when words fail, music speaks- to everyone.