Higher music institutions and the gatekeeping of Eurocentrism: dissecting the cycle of coloniality in music education

This study aims to reveal how music education continues to be conditioned by a cycle of coloniality that emerged during European expansion and the foundation of higher music education institutions (HMEIs). Through a critical literature review, this study analyses how institutions demand adherence to Western values from prospective music teachers, which conditions educators’ practice and access to degrees. The first adherence occurs at admission, for which higher music education institutions require competency at different levels in Western European art music (WEAM). Adherence then continues with curricular demands for acquiring a degree, as skills germane to WEAM are seen as fundamental to music educators’ required skills. The study highlights the effects of the cycle by exposing how music education literature emphasises shortcomings in or the need to develop skills foreign to WEAM in relation to their praxis.