Equity in Music Education: New book brings practical ideas to the fore
When music educators graduate with their university degree and enter the workforce, it is inevitable – even desirable – that they customize their teaching to their students, their environment, and what they learn about themselves as teachers over their first few years on the job. A new book aims to enhance their preparation for that moment and may ultimately prove significant in their professional development.
Toward Equity in School Music: Ideas for Practice in Music Teacher Education (Oxford Press, 2026) shares innovative thoughts, ideas, and practical applications that leading music educators in collegiate programs are using to impress upon their students the need and possible means to effectively bring equity into music programs in schools.
Michigan State University College of Music faculty in the Music Education Area contributed significantly to the publication that takes real-life practices related to equity in school music and shares them with peer educators. Associate Professor of Music Education Karen Salvador co-edited the book, contributed two chapters, and co-authored the book’s introduction. Associate Professor of Music Education and Chair of the Music Education Area Ryan Shaw teamed with Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education Stuart Chapman Hill for a book chapter as well.
The concept for the book began with a COVID-19-era panel on Zoom during which panelists realized they had a variety of strong ideas and practices that could be helpful to a broader audience. Most of the panelists became contributors to the book.
The need to incorporate inclusion practices in school music programs, they concluded, stems from current realities of music education in the United States. These include a traditional focus on performing predominantly Western classical and folk music and a population of music educators who are roughly 90% White teaching student populations who are less than half White.
MSU Music Education faculty members contributing to this new publication include Associate Professor of Music Education Karen Salvador, Associate Professor of Music Education and Chair of the Music Education Area Ryan Shaw, and Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education Stuart Chapman Hill.
“Students of color, students with Individualized Education Programs, students from lower income groups, students for whom English is a second or third language are all underrepresented in secondary music classes when music typically becomes elective. At the same time, elementary schools with high proportions of students of color and with high concentrations of poverty are less likely to offer music classes,” Salvador explained.
“There’s clear evidence that music educators as a group and music education as a field has some work to do in becoming more accessible, ability-responsive, and culturally sustaining for students.”
In all, twenty-six faculty members representing sixteen universities and colleges contributed to the book, and Salvador refers to Music Education faculty at MSU as a “powerhouse in this area.” She noted that in addition to herself, Shaw, and Hill being widely published in several aspects of music teacher education, Professor Juliet Hess has published books on various aspects of social justice in music education.
“We are committed to cultivating future music educators who understand how to design educational experiences that meet students’ needs, which includes responding to ability and culture while working with students toward shared musical goals,” Salvador said.
Ultimately, the aim of the book is to provide music educators in collegiate programs with innovative ideas that will shape their preparation of music teachers. Music teachers will then develop new skills and leave their programs prepared to honor the needs of different learners in pre-kindergarten through secondary school systems.
“It’s our hope that describing these promising practices and their theoretical underpinnings will encourage other music teacher educators to try out similar ideas that resonate for their settings,” Salvador said.