For approximately 50 years, music education scholars have purported the need for more diversity training among preservice music teachers. This call has become increasingly urgent as contemporary preservice music teachers encounter the most ethnically and culturally diverse classrooms in public school history. Although preservice music teachers may enter the profession with adequate skills to teach music content and concepts, a majority of preservice music teachers are not equipped with the skills and teaching dispositions required to navigate the social and cultural facets they will encounter in their music classrooms. This narrative details a three-part diversity training series designed specifically to develop some degree of critical consciousness for diversity and equity among preservice music teachers.

This study was designed to investigate preservice music teachers’ ( N = 187) perceptions of employment preferences when considering future teaching positions. Adaptive Conjoint Analysis, a business market–based research tool, was used to determine preferences for personal factors (e.g., salary, commute), school environmental factors (e.g., administrative support, school type, student race-ethnicity, student socioeconomic status [SES]), and music teaching factors (e.g., resources, facilities, program sustainability, parental and community support). Results indicated that preservice music teachers perceived administrative support, parental and community support, and program sustainability as most important factors and student SES and student race-ethnicity composition as least important factors when considering future employment.

This study was an investigation of middle and high school students’ preferences for various music learning conditions and secondary music course offerings. The stratified random sample included students who were and were not enrolled in school music classes ( N = 827). Participants represented secondary school music students ( n = 369), students who only participate in music outside of school ( n = 254), and nonparticipants in music ( n = 204). The research questions for this study concerned students’ preferences for teacher role, group size, and repertoire in the music classroom as well as interest in six different secondary music courses. Findings showed out-of-school music participants and nonparticipants had a stronger preference for small group learning environments and repertoire choice when compared to school music participants. In-school and out-of-school music participants expressed similar levels of interest in four music course offerings and ranked them as follows: (1) piano/guitar class, (2) music composition with technology class, (3) popular music groups, and (4) music history/theory class. In-school and out-of-school music participants differed on only two course offerings: large ensembles and world music groups. In-school music participants expressed high interest in large ensembles, whereas out-of-school music participants conveyed a lower interest in large ensembles.

Forty students ( N = 40) enrolled in the world drumming classes at two midsize urban high schools, School A ( n = 18) and School B ( n = 22), responded to a survey in which they freely responded to questions about their music preference, cultural background, school environment, their involvement in music in their schools and community, and how they believe their music choices express their identities. Results revealed that students in School A, where teachers and administrators seemed to have adopted culturally relevant pedagogies, articulated their perceptions of music, culture, and identity in a more meaningful way.

eaching at-risk students can be one of the "most stressful, complex and difficult challenges facing public education today and perhaps one of our greatest failures." 1 What further complicates this challenge is that there is no commonly accepted definition of the term at risk, and it is difficult to determine which students this label should identify. Generally, the term has negative implications, leading many educators and school officials to inappropriately discount these troubling students.For the purpose of this article, seven master teachers were interviewed to identify personal qualities and teaching strategies that may contribute to their success in handling at-risk students in the music classroom. These master teachers, leaders in the music education profession from urban and suburban schools, maintain excellent reputations among colleagues and have established award-winning quality ensembles and programs in extremely difficult school environments with challenging students. These interviews provide insight into the teachers' definitions of the term at risk, effective teaching strategies, and ideas about the benefits of music participation for at-risk students. In order to elicit detailed responses, master teachers were assured anonymity. For profiles of The music classroom is a place where at-risk students can experience success.