Ethnomusicological Perspectives in Music Education: Fostering culturally diverse and inclusive teaching practices

Prof. Dr. Nepomuk Riva, Deputy professor, Department for Ethnomusicology, University of Würzburg

Principal Observer:

Prof. Dr. Raimund Vogels, Professor für Musikethnologie, Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover / Center for World Music, Universität Hildesheim

 

Recent highly-mediatised socio-political movements have reshaped public consciousness on diversity and representation in society in general, and education systems in particular: Black Lives Matter has shown light on the problematic approaches of decolonial history in curricula, the MeToo movement has highlighted the lack of female representation in all aspects of social and cultural lives, LGBTQ+ organisations increasingly advocate for further representation in the public sphere. As ethnomusicologist perceive their work as “the study of music in culture [...] the study of the world’s musics from a comparative and relativistic perspective [and] the study of all of the musical manifestations of a society” (Nettl, 2005, p. 12-13), they are particularly concerned with the representation of diverse musical cultures. Yet, in Germany as in most of Western Europe, despite a number of recent small-scale initiatives, music education remains focussed on western classical music perpetuating the historically narrow boundaries of musicology.

 

The recent developments and expansion of ethnomusicology as a discipline has resulted in the creation of many specialised course programme, notably at Master level, and within optional pathways broadening the scope of module in Bachelor course. Nonetheless, little has been discussed on the accessibility of ethnomusicological studies and techniques at lower levels within education systems, to which extent it may enrich current primary and secondary curricula, and in what way they could impact informal teaching and learning contexts.