Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3959-3511

Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MM

College

College of Creative Arts

Department

School of Music

Committee Chair

Jason Gossett

Committee Member

Sandra Schwartz

Committee Member

Michael Vercelli

Abstract

Culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) (Paris, 2012) is an educational framework that nurtures and sustains students’ cultural competencies and identities. Scholars have recognized the need for practices that sustain and nurture cultural identities and ways of knowing music in the music classroom (Abril, 2009; Bond, 2014; Good Perkins, 2018; Salvador & Culp, 2022; Shaw, 2016). Culturally sustaining teachers reimagine curriculum entirely and place students' cultural assets at the center “as targets of learning to be sustained” (Lee, 2017, p. 262), explored, honored, extended, and critically problematized (Lee, 2017; Paris, 2012; Samy Alim et al., 2020). In choral classrooms, this often involves selecting repertoire representative of students’ cultural identities and interests (Bond, 2014; McKoy & Lind, 2016) and seeing students as experts (Good Perkins, 2018; Shaw, 2016).

Choral teachers have recognized numerous barriers to teaching in a culturally sustaining way, such as difficulty finding and programming “authentic” and high-quality repertoire (Bennett Walling, 2016), low availability of professional development on non-Western music (Cash, 2012), and lack of experience (Damm, 2012). Similarly, teachers feel their agency is constrained by external structures, such as community response (Damm, 2012), budget issues (Figgers, 2003), and lack of time (Marsh Chase, 2002). While repertoire selection has received significant scholarly attention (Bond, 2017), other aspects, such as honoring students’ ways of knowing music, fostering student autonomy, and dismantling oppressive structures of CSP implementation, remain less explored.

Understanding how choral music educators implement CSP can inform practitioners and music teacher educators about best practices and potential obstacles (Banks, 2004; Forbes, 2001; Marsh Chase, 2002). The purpose of this study is to examine the structure and agency of choral music educators in implementing culturally sustaining teaching practices. The following research questions guide the study: 1. In what ways do choir teachers implement culturally sustaining teaching practices in the classroom? 2. What structures enable or constrain how choir teachers implement CSP? 3. In what ways do these choir teachers accept, create, modify, or reject structures?

I used Strong Structuration Theory (SST) (Stones, 2005) as the framework for this multisite instrumental case study (Stake, 1995). SST was used to outline the relationship between structure and agency through four interconnected elements: external structures, internal structures, agentic action, and outcomes. The participants for this study were bound by their implementation of CSP. They were selected because they were secondary choral teachers who taught in a culturally sustaining manner. Data consisted of classroom observations, semi-structured teacher interviews, and class handouts. Data analysis occurred in two cycles. The first cycle analysis will be a priori coding using the four elements of SST. The second cycle of analysis will consist of pattern coding to determine themes. Data collection and analysis were completed before March 1.

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