This document discusses issues of equity and purpose in music instruction for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. It addresses 3 main themes: 1) The benefits of music instruction based on research, though some findings are contested. 2) The Eurocentric bias in most music programs and marginalization of other music. 3) The importance of addressing social justice in music education to empower all students and improve equality of opportunity, regardless of background. It calls for further research and discussion on these themes.

1. Running head: MUSIC INSTRUCTION QUESTIONS 1
Music instruction: Questions of equity and purpose
Kathleen Tesar
University of Southern California
Dr. Sylvia Rousseau
EDUC 523
April 21, 2016

2. MUSIC INSTRUCTION QUESTIONS 2
Music instruction: Questions of equity and purpose
This paper addresses the problem of music education particularly for children of
low socio-economic status, its purpose, and some of its assumptions. Music instruction
in childhood can have many positive effects (Catterall, Dumais, Hampden-Thompson,
2012; Fiske, ed., n.d.; Hallam, 2010). However, confusion over the purpose of such
instruction results in inconsistent policies and the elimination of some programs, with a
disproportionate effect on children from low socio-economic statuses (Jorgensen, 2007).
Additionally, a lack of understanding of the underlying Eurocentric bias of most music
programs may lead to inappropriate teaching and the loss of opportunities to engage and
educate children (Mantie, 2008). This problem deserves further study because omitting
music instruction can be a form of social injustice, and one that falls disproportionately
on students in poorer neighborhoods.
Music instruction during childhood has been shown to have a number of benefits.
Research has demonstrated that music instruction improves language skills (Kraus,
Hornickel, Strait, Slater, & Thompson, 2014), reading levels (Slater, Strait, Skoe,
O’Connell, Thompson, & Kraus, 2014; Tsang & Conrad, 2011), and math skills (Vaughn,
2000). Music instruction positively impacts IQ (Schellenberg, 2004) and executive
function (Degé, Kubicek, & Schwarzer, 2011). Verbal recall is improved by both hands-
on music instruction and also music listening (Jakobson, Cuddy, & Kilgour, 2003).
These are benefits that will be discussed further below, but they have not clarified the
role of music within education.
Literature does exist that examines the role of music within education. This paper
focuses in particular on writings related to social justice and music education. These

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writings call up questions about equity, as well as culture and hegemony. Allsup (2003)
pointed out that the inclusion of music study as “high art” (p. 8) can be seen as either an
impulse toward transformative experience or toward cultural control. Vanada (2010) tied
unequal access to narrow definitions of intelligence that focus on an “industrial-type
education” (p. 36), one that includes heavy emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics) abilities. The arts curriculum is curtailed or eliminated in
favor of remedial work in STEM areas, Vanada (2010) stated, which widens the
achievement gap between high-poverty students and their more affluent counterparts.
The problem of access to music instruction is important to address because music
instruction can give students in low-income neighborhoods the same advantages that
wealthier students have, not just in terms of musical knowledge but also in terms of
creativity and higher-level cognitive skills (Vanada, 2010). At the same time, the
purpose of such instruction also needs to be addressed, so that those giving the instruction
do so consciously, and with an understanding of the cultural assumptions underlying their
teaching.
Benefits of Music Instruction
Music instruction has been shown to positively benefit intelligence and cognitive
development. Hallam (2010) used current research on the brain to explain how the
cerebral cortex organizes itself based on stimuli. She noted that early and frequent
engagement with music can actually change the hard wiring of the brain, while at the
same time stating that further research is needed to determine what type of musical
participation affects what type of intellectual development. Hallam (2014) referred to
Schellenberg’s 2004 study on music and IQ as a “seminal study” (p. 276). That

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quantitative research demonstrated that music lessons caused increases in IQ which were
small, but which were not present in comparable nonmusical activities (Schellenberg,
2004). Yang (2015) used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel in his study,
concluding similarly to Hallam that the earlier music instruction is started, the stronger an
effect it has on educational attainment.
In addition to its effect on intelligence and cognitive development, music has been
shown to affect specific academic areas. Vaughn’s (2000) meta-analysis showed a
“modest positive association” (p. 154) between music study and mathematical
achievement. A longitudinal study by Slater, Strait, Skoe, O’Connell, Thompson, and
Kraus (2014), performed in concert with the Harmony Project in Los Angeles, showed
that the auditory enrichment of the music training helped keep the students’ reading
levels consistent over time with age-normed levels. Chin and Rickard (2010) conducted
a study on verbal recall and demonstrated that listening to music, or non-performance
music engagement, had a strong association with verbal memory. Resnicow, Salovey,
and Repp (2004) showed in a small study that recognition of emotion in music is related
to emotional intelligence in everyday situations.
These results of research into the various benefits of music instruction have been
used to argue the need for keeping music programs in public schools, and for creating and
sustaining programs of outreach into underserved communities. However, findings
related to the benefits of music study are not without question. In a 2009 commentary,
Schellenberg looked at two studies that examined the effect of music studies on non-
musical cognitive abilities. He stated that the data “point to a very general link between
music training and intellectual functioning… [that] remains poorly understood” (p. 141).

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In a later paper, Schellenberg (2011) labeled the study by Resnicow et al. (op. cit.) as “far
from conclusive” (p. 186). Research by Elpus (2013) into the relationship of the SAT
scores of music students versus non-music students led him to conclude that the favorable
results often used in defense of music instruction were “perhaps untrustworthy because of
omitted-variables bias” (p. 188). He suggested that the more salient argument is that
students who are likely to do well academically are more attracted to music study, and
suggests that an examination of why this is would be an area for future research (p. 191).
Beyond the discussion of the benefits of music instruction, there is a different and
arguably deeper discussion going on that is reviewed in the next section.
Music Instruction and Social Justice
Jorgensen (2007) wrote that “the critic’s suggestion that music education should
be about music rather than justice among other things slips too easily into the proposition
that music is divorced from the rest of life” (p. 173). Allsup and Shieh (2012) stated that
music is not neutral, and accepting that premise leads to moral engagement and a public
pedagogy. They equated public pedagogy with public performance, writing that public
performance as a response to community takes on a larger purpose (p. 50). The idea of
morality was cited by Vanada (2010) in discussing students’ rights to quality education
that includes the arts. Kraehe, Acuff, and Travis (2016) characterized equal opportunities
to develop fully as human beings as fundamental to social equality. All of these authors
showed evidence of the commitment to social justice that can be found among music
educators. Kraehe et al.’s (2016) literature review in particular gave a multidimensional
view of the state of arts education and arts education policies, but large issues still exist,
including in the area of the Eurocentric hegemony of classical music.

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Nkomo and Ariss (2014) traced the origin of whiteness to European global
expansion. Bradley (2011) noted how European and North American classical
composers are prioritized in the world of music teacher training. She used the lens of
critical race theory to examine how assessment guidelines “valorize a white supremacist
status quo” (p. 80). One aspect of this Eurocentric viewpoint is the polarization of music
into Western music and Other (Bradley, 2011). As Johnson (2006) explained, “Other”
refers to anyone who is not in the privileged group (p. 96). Walcott (2005) suggested that
“Europe and Euro-North America makes music, and all the ‘others’ make cultural
gestures on the route to making music” (p. 3).
Bradley (2006) looked at the construct of The Other as it is found in music
education. She described it as the “influence of lingering colonialism” (p. 2), and the
belief in moral superiority which is part of that influence. Bradley specifically cited the
use of terms such as “multiculturalism” and “ethnicity” as a way to avoid talking about
race, and she labeled multicultural music education a “racial project” (p. 10). Butler,
Lind, and McKoy (2007), while not using the same terms as Bradley (2006), noted that
much multicultural music education is superficial, lacking cultural context and an
understanding of the values that inform a particular musical tradition.
If multicultural music education is superficial, if colonialism lingers in band
rooms, if the touted academic benefits of music instruction aren’t really all they are said
to be, then why continue to offer music instruction? Bowman (2001) used Aristotelean
ethics as the basis for his argument that training has clear end goals, but education is
“concerned with…who people become, through and as a result of musical instruction and
experiences” (p. 16). He contrasted education that develops character with the

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“hegemony of technical rationality” (p. 20), making his case for the ethical nature of
music and music education. Bowman (2001) thus provides an answer to the question of
why, by placing music education as a means for developing character and the ability to
take ethical action.
A Look at Policy
While a deep investigation of arts education policy is beyond the scope of this
paper, there is a different aspect of justice that must be included in a discussion of music
instruction, and that is the effect that mandated testing has on music education in public
schools, and in particular on schools in low socioeconomic neighborhoods. Vanada
(2010) noted that mandated testing results in a focus on those subjects that are tested.
Because those subjects may require remedial work for some children, programs in the
arts are reduced or eliminated from the curriculum in favor of that remedial work. This
occurs especially in schools with populations of high-risk students; thus the students that
would benefit the most from a balanced curriculum that includes the arts are least likely
to have access to arts education (Vanada, 2010). Doyle (2014) attributed the narrowed
curriculum in urban schools to a lack of resources, and echoed Vanada (2010) in saying
that the students who could most benefit from the social and artistic aspects of music
participation are most disadvantaged when programs are reduced or eliminated in favor
of subjects that are tested.
Gaztambide-Fernández (2016) asked a particularly salient question: “[T]he
question is not whether the arts are valued in education, but in whose education the value
of the arts is always assumed and taken for granted” (p. 30). In her article on school
choice, Holme (2002) gave one answer when she noted that parents chose not to send

8. MUSIC INSTRUCTION QUESTIONS 8
their children to schools in low-income neighborhoods because of a belief that their
children were gifted and needed a different type of education. These parents had
resources of time and money that parents in low socioeconomic neighborhoods did not
have, and from which the schools in higher socioeconomic neighborhoods benefited (p.
202).
One source of information about educational policies is ArtScan, a searchable
database housed on the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) website. In 2014, the AEP
published a research and policy brief focusing on K-12 arts education, presenting
information on 14 combined policy areas (p. 2). An interesting point related to the
discussion here is what the brief called a “policy paradox” (p. 9). This is the paradox of
states having standards for arts education versus data that show that millions of students
have no arts instruction. The snapshot succinctly summarized the critical elements
needed for arts education as “strong policies at the state level, adequate resources and
support to implement them at the local level, and mechanisms in place to hold all parties
accountable for compliance” (2014, p. 9).
Recommendations
Exploring the literature cited in this paper has helped clarify several themes. The
first theme is that of the effects and benefits of music instruction. There is a substantial
body of research documenting the cognitive, physical, and emotional changes brought
about by music study. The results are sometimes contested, or shown to be less impactful
than originally thought, yet the claims are not completely disproven. Further research
into specific areas has been recommended by the authors. For example, Elpus (2013)
suggested examining why students who are higher achievers are more likely to enroll in

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music classes. Jaschke, Eggermont, Honing, and Scherder (2013) recommended
longitudinal studies to obtain more reliable results for research into music and cognition.
The second theme is that of the hegemony of European-based music, and the
marginalization of music that is “other.” Bradley (2011) suggested that state and national
standards should be examined through the lens of antiracism to see whose knowledge is
being legitimized. Other authors have noted the need to bring discussions on this theme
into the open. Walcott (2005) maintained that not overtly addressing this hegemony
perpetuates the status quo; therefore one recommendation is to have honest conversations
about hegemony and marginalization. Mantie (2008) put the question to be discussed
very clearly: “Should music education serve as a form of induction, through large
ensemble performance, into the canon of Western art music, or should it serve as a
vehicle through which students create music as part of a process of identity
construction?” (p. 478).
The third theme is that of social justice in music education. The eloquent writings
of Bowman (2001), Bradley (2006), Gaztambide-Fernández (2016), Mantie (2008) and
Walcott (2005), to name a few, provoke deeper thought on this theme, and provide
inspiration to move forward. Because these authors so passionately speak to this theme,
the final words of this paper go to one of them:
Music education may not be the most effective tool to deal with inequities in
material distribution or political power. It can, however, help improve social
equality to the degree that students are empowered with the belief that they can be
musical, and that through their musical creations they are privy to similar insights

10. MUSIC INSTRUCTION QUESTIONS 10
into the human condition, regardless of socio-economic status. (Mantie, 2008, p.
481)

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