Same Story, New Study. What will we do about it?

Miller examined longitudinal data, following music students’ high school careers in the state of Maryland from 2015 - 2019 (pre-Covid). He was interested particularly in factors which may determine representation in both student and teacher populations, music course offerings, and post-secondary outcomes for music students when compared to non-music students.

The presented data are not surprising, but continue to shine a light on things we probably already know. The VERY broad and sweeping generalizations of student enrollments are the following: Band students are predominantly white males, Choir students are white and female, Orchestra students tend to be Asian and female, students enrolled in guitar are white or Hispanic males, and piano enrollments are significantly more Black and female.

Students residing in urban areas tend to have less access to music course offerings, as do schools with smaller student populations. In other words, a student’s zip code may very much determine their access to course offerings and/or more seasoned teachers.

High school music teachers tend to be more White, with males typically teaching band and orchestra, and females teaching choir. High school music teachers in Maryland tend to have less post-secondary (graduate) degrees when compared to their non-music counterparts.

For instrumental programs, participation in middle school band or orchestra was a significant factor in student’s enrollment in an instrumental music class in high school. In other words, instrumental music tends to start before high school.

Finally, students who participate in ensemble music courses were more likely to continue on to post-secondary education.

While it was not surprising, it is important to note that we need to be more actively pursuing opportunities for students of color in all of our music education courses, especially in instrumental music. Costs associated with playing an instrument will certainly be a barrier to be overcome when it comes to equity and access. Non-instrumental ensemble course enrollments such as choir, guitar, and piano tend to be more representative of a school’s general demographic make-up.

Another factor that Miller discussed was the equity issues surrounding English Language Learners (ELLs) and students classified as Special Education. When we discuss inclusion and equity, we cannot forget these populations!

We, as a community of music educators, should always be mindful of these inequities, especially for those of us that work with students who are lower SES, attend schools in urban areas, or teach in smaller school settings. We need to be involved in the master schedule conversations!

While I had a lot of the same “here we go again” thoughts while reading this article, this time was a little different in that I felt inspired to examine my own teaching situations (past and present) and what I might be able to do within my sphere of influence to flip this script a little.

I teach in an area with a high population of non-white students, and a very wide array of SES. Knowing what I know now about master schedule development, I think that can really help us! How can we get more ELLs and SPED students access to music? I think you’d be surprised how many barriers the master schedule can create with regard to access.

As a band director, I feel a more pressing need not only to recruit and help to build instrumental programs at the feeder middle schools, but to work with those schools (and THIER master scheduling) to increase access for students of color as well as ELLs and SPED students to create a more clear pathway fro them at the high school level.

These are just a few tangible things we can all get involved with locally to increase equity and access for all.