Student voice and choice in modern band curriculum development

Abstract

The perspectives and experiences of students should be considered first in the process of any significant curriculum reform. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to music education, and educators have a responsibility to design experiences that meet the needs of learners in their classroom. After hearing the individual voices of students in one New York State school district in the United States, the music faculty and authors developed modern band electives designed to increase access to school music and attract a greater diversity of students by race, ethnicity and musical preference. District-level enrolment data demonstrate how these courses impacted the demographic profile of secondary school music by increasing participation rates among racialized student populations. These modern band music classes counterbalanced the disproportionately white and higher SES enrolment in the traditional band, orchestra and chorus, resulting in a school music programme that was more representative of the overall school population.

Modern Band: A Review of Literature

“…Researchers have also studied the impact of modern band programs on K–12 school music participation. Clauhs and Cremata (2020) explored modern band programs in one New York State School District, examining district-level enrollment data for high school music ensembles both before and after the implementation of modern band classes. Their findings indicated that modern band classes greatly diversified the demographic profile of school music groups.…”

“…The introduction of modern bands has been shown to grow the overall participation in school music across all ensembles without detracting from enrollment in the traditional band, choir and orchestra programs (Clauhs & Cremata, 2020). This finding was consonant with those reported by Powell (2019b), who examined the impact of middle and high school modern band programs on school music participation.…”

“…A review of the literature on modern band provides several implications for music educators. Modern bands can increase the participation of students not enrolled in traditional school music ensembles (bands, choirs, and orchestras) and the student demographics in modern bands are often more diverse than in traditional music ensembles (Clauhs & Cremata, 2020). This is an important finding since a common worry from music educators is that the introduction of modern band into school music programs will cause students to drop out of the traditional ensembles so that they can join the modern band class instead.…”

“…This is an important finding since a common worry from music educators is that the introduction of modern band into school music programs will cause students to drop out of the traditional ensembles so that they can join the modern band class instead. Not only does modern band not negatively affect traditional music ensembles, it has been shown to grow the overall participation in school music (Clauhs & Cremata, 2020, Powell, 2019b).…”

“…Although modern band programs can be described as popular music programs and vice-versa (students in both ensembles use popular music instruments and play popular music), the use of the term “modern band” has a specific connotation as a more recent movement to expand access to culturally relevant music education in the United States. Unlike some popular music programs in schools that have a commercial music and artist development focus, modern band most often focuses on addressing aspects of diversity, inclusion, and access to relevant music making for all students (Clauhs & Cremata, 2020). For this review, I included research findings about modern band and popular music education.…”