Ashley Meyers

Ed 302/303
3/28/16
Professional Literature
The first article that I read, The Skin We That We Sing: Culturally Responsive Choral
Music Education, discussed how to include music from different cultures in the music
classroom. Since the article was in the music educators journal, it was geared toward music
teachers. The author advocated giving students a wide variety of music from many different
cultures. Typically, Western Art Music is vastly over-represented in most music classrooms. This
not only robs students of rich musical learning but may make it more difficult for some students
to connect with the curriculum especially if mainstream, White Western culture is not their
primary background.
The author of the article mentioned how singing music of different cultures and in their
original languages can be a method of inclusion and a way to build empathy. Each piece of music
that is chosen can be a way to validate some students life experiences and a way to expand the
understanding of other students who may be less familiar with the music. If done well, music can
be used as a platform for deep, meaningful cross-cultural exchanges. However, they should be
well-researched, as close to the original context as possible, (ideally) taught how it would be
taught originally, and include perspectives of multiple people from the target culture. The author
also cautioned instructors from lumping students into large categories. For example, one should
not assume that all Hispanic students would identify with a Mexican folksong, since this may not
be familiar to a student who was Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian, or Argentinean. When in
doubt, it is important to ask the students for clarification whether for clarification on a detail of
a piece from a students home culture or whether a student identifies with that cultural at all. It is

important to listen to ones students and make them feel like their voices are able to contribute to
the larger discussion of choir.

The article that I read related to my content area was entitled Common Law, Mountain
Music, and the Construction of Community Identity. Since it was published in the journal of
Social and Legal Studies, I would expect that the author wrote this mostly to an audience of
researchers and academics. Accordingly, the tone of the article is somewhat elevated, though I
would argue that it is not so formal that it is inaccessible.
The first part of the article discusses how a significant percentage of the immigrants to
the Appalachian region were of Scots-Irish origin. This added a certain cultural dynamic to the
community and also had a huge influence over the musical culture. Of course not everyone was
Scots-Irish, but the familiarity of many folksongs, such as Pretty Saro, created a sense of group
memory and identity.
The author also noted how music reflected the issues of the community, for example
Harlan County talks about problems of violence, exploitation, and whether or not individuals
will join unions. Another popular way that music was used was to reinforce lifestyles that the
community valued. For instance, many ballads served as cautionary tales against harmful
behavior such as excessive drinking, unfaithfulness to a spouse, or violence. Social messages
were conveyed both retroactively through previously existent folksongs and through music
composed in Appalachia at the time.
As an interesting side note, many of these cautionary tale-type ballads tend to read like a
personal anecdote. Yet, as one moves farther and farther away from the time that the song was
written, factual events and folklore begin to merge. This makes it difficult distinguish actual
event from legend, but many of these songs probably had some loose basis on actual people and
event. However, these songs with social messages could also have a dark side (literally) as many
Appalachian folksongs displayed negative or racist ideas towards people of color. Thus, for

better or worse, it seems that many Appalachian folksongs represented the values of the
communities where they were sung.

Sources
Jenkins, D. (2010, September). Common Law, Mountain Music, and the Construction of
Community Identity. Social and Legal Studies, 19(3), 351-369. Retrieved from
http://sls.sagepub.com.lib-proxy.calvin.edu/content/19/3/351.full.pdf+html
Shaw, Julia. (2012). The Skin that We Sing: Culturally Responsive Choral Music
Education. Music Educators Journal, 98(4), 7581. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41692642