Annotated Bibliographies

  McEvoy, C. A., & Salvador, K. (2020). Aligning culturally responsive and trauma-informed pedagogies in elementary general music. General Music Today, 34(1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371320909806

            The authors of this article examined peer-reviewed literature and proposed practical suggestions for implementing culturally responsive and trauma-informed strategies in general music classrooms. The authors use Gay's (2010) definition of culturally responsive teaching as “using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (p.31). The authors assert that culturally responsive teaching is primarily a mindset and not a methodology. Using examples of research regarding secondary instrumental music, the authors report that findings overall suggest that teachers should incorporate respectful cultural experiences through repertoire and learning environment. Exploring examples of research regarding secondary choral music, the authors found that a common thread throughout their findings was centered on Shaw’s (2012) theme of “allowing students to share the role of expert.” (p. 77). The authors explain that they could not locate peer-reviewed research on culturally responsive elementary classrooms. Before describing the intersectionality of culturally responsive and trauma-informed teaching, the authors define the main goals for a trauma-informed classroom: safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. To that end, they describe the implications for elementary music education and offer practical action items for teachers to utilize in their classrooms.

Mogro-Wilson, C., & Tredinnick, L. (2020). Influencing social and emotional awareness and empathy with a visual arts and music intervention for adolescents. Children & Schools, 42(2), 111–119. https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/cdaa008 

            In this study, the authors utilized a quasi-experimental design to explore the development and evaluation of incorporating art and music into social and emotional learning (SEL) programming. They evaluated the effectiveness of an SEL classroom-based program, Connect with Kids. This program was novel due to implementing SEL in a visual and music arts curriculum. The study included 304 mostly freshman high school students from an urban high school in the Northeast. The average participant was 14 years old, white, and female. Teachers completed four intensive two-hour training before implementing the Connect with Kids program. The authors reported that students who participated in the visual and music arts intervention group improved their social and emotional competencies compared to students in the comparison group. They also found that while girls started with higher levels of SEL and their SEL increased more than boys for social-emotional awareness and empathy, boys did make significant gains in the intervention group. The social-emotional competencies that saw the most growth were perspective-taking and empathetic concern.

Schatt, M. D. (2022). Passing the baton: Building student autonomy and democracy in the large ensemble setting. Applications of Research in Music Education, 40(3), 49–59. https://doi-org.libproxy.library.unt.edu/10.1177/87551233211041693

This study aimed to explore the occurrences that occur in a large democratic ensemble in a secondary public school setting. The author used an exploratory design to collect qualitative and quantitative data. The suburban school was selected to participate in 15 minutes, allowing the students to lead their own rehearsal for 10 periods. The author specifically picked an accessible piece of music with a moderate tempo, multiple online recordings, and a percussion entrance. Despite feeling hesitant and/or skeptical before the study, the students noted feelings of success and increased autonomous capabilities afterward.

Stevens, H. (2021). School counseling and social emotional learning programs. Journal of School Counseling, 19(19). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410613172-28

The author of this article explored the experiences that students had during the implementation of a Social and Emotional Learning program and how the program supported the students’ emotional needs. She laid out the findings of the literature regarding the positive academic success associated with fully implemented school counseling programs and the improvement of school climate. This study used a qualitative phenomenological design to understand the participants' experiences and the outcomes of the SEL program. This included eight students, an assistant principal, and a school counselor. The author found that three themes emerged: inconsistent experiences, disconnected perceptions about social-emotional needs, and the importance of using students as stakeholders. Students did not reflect on the use of the program but rather their identity in the school climate, depending on their social conditions. The people in charge of the implementation of the SEL program did not have matching impressions of the use of the program, which affected the student’s perceptions of the program. The impressions of the students involved in the study show the necessity of using students’ voices as stakeholders when implementing and evaluating programs.

Sciuchetti, M. B. (2017). Addressing inequity in special education: An integrated framework for culturally responsive social emotional practice. Psychology in the Schools, 54(10), 1245–1251. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22073

In this research article, Sciuchetti explores many facets of how students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CDL) backgrounds represent a disproportionately disproportionate number of students qualified for special education services. Sciuchetti breaks these factors into two large categories: school-based categories and teacher-based categories. She touches on inequitable practices that permeate school cultures, like referral policies and assessments that assume that all test-takers have a normative acculturation that affects student success. She also mentions how a teacher-based factor that affects student engagement is often a predominant culture of being a teacher, specifically white, middle-class, and female. This is not necessarily a cause for student disengagement, but a teacher who falls into these categories and lacks the desire to learn about the cultures represented in her classroom can lead to students feeling unseen and lacking value. As behavior is often a considering factor when deciding what students are considered for special education services, these school- and teacher-based categories could be considered part of the reason CDL students represent a disproportionate number of students receiving special education services.

Sciuchetti moves on to two crucial ways for individual educators to address disproportionality in their own classrooms: culturally responsive practices and Social and Emotional Learning techniques. However, Sciuchetti stresses that while SEL is a “process or approach designed to assist individuals with developing competencies that facilitate the accomplishment of essential life skills,” culturally responsive teaching must be incorporated, or the SEL approach will be superficial and ineffective.

McNickle, Colleen B., and Coty Raven Morris. “Social and Emotional Learning for Choirs.” Choral Journal, June 2022, pp. 8–19. 

In this article, McNickle and Raven Morris describe the five competencies of Social and Emotional Learning while interweaving methods that choral classrooms can incorporate to strengthen these competencies intentionally. They also discuss that the use of SEL in classrooms cannot be used without culturally responsive thought processes and internalization lest SEL become another way to police and assimilate marginalized students.

Methods are suggested to help strengthen students’ SEL competencies without taking time away from the content teaching in a choral classroom. Stress is placed on the intentionality behind SEL lessons and clearly communicating with students about their learning process. There are also times when the teacher is called to model behaviors for students in order to clearly display patterns of behavior.

Elpus, Kenneth, and Bruce Allen Carter. “Bullying victimization among music ensemble and theatre students in the United States.” Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 64, no. 3, 3 Aug. 2016, pp. 322–343, https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429416658642.

The purpose of this research was to analyze the prevalence of victimization through various forms of bullying among performing arts students in the United States. This is bullying that victimizes students who participate in choir, orchestra, band, or theatre classes, not bullying within these organizations. Data was analyzed from the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey from 2005-2013. Results showed that students involved in performing arts classes are significantly more likely to be the target of bullying, with a distinct line drawn in how the different sexes experienced bullying. Male-presenting students were more likely to experience physical victimization, while female-presenting students were more likely to experience social aggression. This social aggression also included bullying, such as cyberbullying.