RUNNING HEAD: Curriculum Writing: Article Review

Curriculum Writing: Article Review

Decolonizing Music Education: Moving Beyond Tokenism
By: Juliet Hess
Chlo Plamondon
Northern State University

Curriculum Writing: Article Review

Curriculum Writing: Article Review
Decolonizing Music Education: Moving Beyond Tokenism
By: Juliet Hess
The article in review, Decolonizing Music Education, Moving beyond Tokenism, by
Juliet Hess of Syracuse University, USA sets out to share an idea about how to approach

Canadian music education curricula to authentically include all types of world music equally in
music classrooms. This article was published in the International Journal of Music Education
in 2015. The author compares music education to Chandra Talpade Mohantys studies in
feminism and draws on two different types of engagement in education: learners as tourists and
learners as explorers. Learners as tourists is when students experience a brief demonstration
of different types of world music as a break to their real studies of notation and other
Western classical music ideals thus trivializing these types of music. The model of learners as
explorers provides a slightly more diverse spectrum of learning about music from around the
world, but eliminates the home-base of western classical music and moves all around the
world, without connecting one type of music to another, thus tokenizing world music. She
argues that learning in this way is inauthentic and does not provide an accurate picture of how
music functions in the world.
Hess references Deleuze and Guattaris idea of Rhizomatic Learning as a positive
alternative to Mohantys tourists and explorer learning models. Rhizomatic learning is the idea
that curriculum is designed as a result of a connected community experience. The learning in
this context is not designed around content, but is instead a social process in which we learn
with and from each other. According to the author, this model of curriculum would
authenticate all types of music in relation to each other. We would not be working to include

Curriculum Writing: Article Review

other music in western music, nor would western music be normalized apart from this
other music. Instead, all music is equal and is studied in relation to all other music, based on
the interests and backgrounds of students in the classroom.
The other category is referring to all music that is not Western classical in style. It is a
general category that includes music learned formally and informally, and music that may be
fused with other music or aspects very specific to a certain culture. What brings these types of
music into one category is that they are marked other to Western classical music by virtue of
their place in the hierarchy of civilizations always already inferior to the West, and as a
result, also inferior to Western classical music. School music curriculum regularly places
Western classical music at the core of the document from kindergarten through to Grade 12. This
marginalizes all other musics, effectively arranging them around the Western classical center
in such a way that asserts racial hierarchies.
The theoretical framework of this research article is that the author takes Chandra
Talpade Mohantys study of how other subject material is engaged in the curriculum with
regard to womens studies and applies this same theory to how we address the other in music
education. Hess rightfully states that music education curricula across Canada are
predominantly based on Western Classical Music values. She questions how other music
can be an authentic part of our curriculum while avoiding trivializing musics of other
cultures i.e.: an African Drumming unit during Black History Month or tokenism i.e.:
superficially learning about many different types of music in isolation, and not making any
social or personal connection to the music.
One central concept of this article is that music education curriculum documents in
Canada are largely based on the ideals of Western classical music and this is a problem

Curriculum Writing: Article Review

because of the world we live in. Music teachers in general include a variety of music genres
and cultures into their classrooms, but typically, and naively, do so either in a trivial fashion,
or as tokenism in their program. Western music is still at the core of the curriculum. Hess
connects Chandra Talpade Mohantys Womens Studies in Education Theory to Music
Education in a really impressive and meaningful way.
The author argues that ideas of tokenism and trivializing other music have many
racist undertones. Most popular musics have roots in Africa, and the dismissal of this music
from our music education curriculum dismisses the value of these people in relation to us. We
shy away from including the informality of popular music and other musics of the world in our
curriculum, likely because we are following a prescribed legal document to the best of our
educated abilities. Hess believes that there is a problem in the privileging of Western classical
music in school curricula across Canada. She describes Western classical music as colonizing
our school music curricula while other musics are tangential.
Canada deems itself (under the 1970 official policy of multiculturalism) a tolerant
country, but our tolerance only goes so far in action. She says that the way we act in tolerance
towards other cultures is a caricature of the actual culture. We imitate their steel drum music
into our western ways, which is a superficial way of engaging in this culture of the world. AngloCanadian culture is the ethnic core culture of our schools, while we tolerate and hierarchically
arrange others around it as multi-culture. Music education curricula reflect this policy of
multiculturalism exactly Western Classical music is the ethnic core music and other music
is arranged around its periphery.
Another problem with having western classical music at the core of our school
curriculum is that it does not address the individuality of students in the classroom. Often

Curriculum Writing: Article Review

western classical music is so irrelevant to the diverse student population among us. Their
personal music is so much different than what we present to them in class, and we do not make
connections between their music and the music we are teaching. Hess calls this a lack of
consideration for the individual.
The Tourist Model of education is a way to superficially broaden the curriculum to
include music other than Western classical. The author refers to this as the add world music and
stir approach. Other music is addressed in isolation, out of context to normal (Western
classical) music learning. African drumming units seen in a lot of elementary classrooms are
presented as a marginalized fun activity and taste of exoticism. In reality, this music would
never actually be performed or practicing in the manner in which it is taught in these classrooms,
and thats a problem. No attempt is made to connect this learning into the rest of the curriculum,
but is a check mark on the other music unit in the school year. Students are subconsciously
learning that music other than Western classical is not as valuable and/or essential to the
important learning that takes place outside of these fun activities. These experiences reinforce
the dominant self of Anglo-Canadians.
The Explorer Model is a step up from the tourist model. This type of model excludes
home from the program so there is no main type of music but it still only addresses the
very basic elements (the spice and frills) of different cultures music. Western classical music
does not exist in this type of a curriculum, but instead we might see an African drumming unit,
followed by a Rock and Roll unit, the Blues, Afro Cuban, Japanese Taiko Drumming, etc. We
are still working within the realm of this music being from exotic elsewheres instead of
connected to our students individual relationships with their own musical worlds. No
connections are drawn between the different types of exotic musics and students are only

Curriculum Writing: Article Review

presented with superficial basic experiences of what the music is. This does not teach students to
understand music as a social practice, or a way of learning how connected our world is. We are
doing students a disservice and miss-educating them by incorporating other music into our
classrooms the way that we do.
Hess says that we need to consider a third, more comparative and relational way of
valuing all music of the world into our curriculum. She calls this the Comparative Musics
Model or Comparative teaching. This model of teaching emphasizes the interconnected
between music and contexts of the music. Comparative teaching allows different musical
traditions to inform each other. Understanding musics relationally allows students and teachers
to come to know themselves relationally, as thinking in this manner facilitates the analysis of all
relationships. For example, how can the study of Ghanaian music inform the study of hip-hop
and how can the study of hip-hop inform the study of Western classical music and so on? This
puts Western classical music on an equal playing field as all music in the world. There is no set
standard to which we have to teach music to our students, but instead content decisions can be
based on whom we are teaching and what prior experiences in music they have.
Hess refers to rhizomatic learning as the model and mindset in which to adopt in order to
change how we approach teaching music to our students. Rhizomatic learning is a way of
thinking about learning based on ideas by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. A rhizome is a
stem of a plant that sends out roots and shoots horizontally as it spreads throughout the earth.
Roots of many plants are connected horizontally. The author argues that, employing a
rhizomatic approach to learning allows us to think relationally instead of in a binary manner and
also allows the potential movement away from the automatic reinscription of Western classical
music as normative, (Hess, 2015, pg 342. ).

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A rhizomatic approach is the opposite of a hierarchy approach. Western classical music

is still included in the curriculum and is a part of the student learning experience, but other
musics are included equally and studied in relation to each other and in terms of how they are all
connected, Western classical included. This approach facilitates meaningful interactions for
students across different types of music in the world.
One final concept the author addresses is that when looking at student subjectivities, two
types of musics surface the music that students choose to listen to and the musics that emerge
from their cultural backgrounds. Both musics are often marked other and they may or may not
be the same for individual students. Canadian music curriculum documents generally exclude
both types of music or include them in the explorer or tourist type model of curriculum. It is
important to include the students music, both popular and cultural, in the curriculum, following
a rhizomatic approach. Students are encultured in their music; it functions as a large part of their
lives and deserves classroom recognition. In a rhizomatic curriculum, we can explore Western
music as one music among many and its use of notation and Western constructs such as
dynamics and tempi as one way of learning music.
I really enjoyed and value the content and presentation of this article. The ideas are
part of an essential discussion that music teachers must have regularly in order to provide the
most relevant and meaningful education for our students. I really felt the impact of the hidden
curriculum in these situations, that there can be racist undertones to the way we choose to
present our curriculum. I also appreciate that the author gave a clear example of how we can
do a better job of teaching to the equality of all mankind. This article provides an extremely
interesting, thought provoking, and necessary discussion to be had regularly as music
educators. The authors language is a perfect balance of clear, poignant, professional and

Curriculum Writing: Article Review

academic. I enjoy how she thoroughly describes the problem, but then offer suggestions
leading towards a conclusion. Too often we read articles that only talk about the problem and
then leave us in a state of now what? I feel like this article leaves the reader in a state of
hope for the future and ideas with which to move forward.
We can use our curriculum that we must legally abide by and develop a more
meaningful education for our students. The author states at one point that the obligatory end of
year concert trivializes music and should be eliminated from our methods of delivering
curriculum. This might be the one part of the article that makes me feel uneasy, simply
because concerts are important to me as a music educator, and I value the experience for my
students. This statement does force me to think deeper about how we present concerts to our
audiences and how I can use them as an opportunity make deeper connections to the many
worlds of music in our concert presentations.

Curriculum Writing: Article Review

References
Hess, J. (2015). Decolonizing music education: Moving beyond tokenism. International
Journal of Music Education, 33(3). 336-347. Retrieved from:
http://ijm.sagepub.com/content/33/3/336.full