Opening the Doors to Diverse Traditions of Music Making: Multicultural Music Education at the University Level

Of the seven course objectives presented, the first six related to standard topics usually included in a class of this type. However, when hearing that the seventh objective was to examine diverse traditions of music making, explore techniques for presenting world music to middle and high school classes, and become proficient on an instrument from a culture other than their own, the students responded with slightly raised eyebrows, realizing that this semester's course was headed in an unexpected direction. I explained that I had recently reviewed the recommendations for multicultural education in the 1967 Tanglewood Symposium and the 1994 National Standards for Arts Education.' I had also read numerous articles describing the lack of multicultural perspectives in U.S. music teacher training institutions. The writings of Carol Scott-Kassner and Kathy Robinson particularly interested me.2 Both criticized con