Running Head: LACK OF PARTICIPATION IN MUSIC ENSEMBLES 1

Lack of Participation in Urban High School Music Ensembles

and How to Rectify It

Daniel Whitworth

Eastern Kentucky University

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Students that live in urban, moreover poor, neighborhoods have been subjected

to crime and violence As a result, many have been subjected to signs of PTSD (Edmin, 2017).

Most urban areas are predominantly Black (or of Latin descent) and come from areas with

low support from family in regards to extracurricular activities outside of sports (Edmin, 2017).

Schools in urban areas have a reputation for being at-risk, disadvantaged, and

poverty-stricken. Students are assumed to behave a certain way while it may be taught

differently, or not at all, at home. Nonetheless, school is a place where a student is to

feel safe (Campbell, 2006). Urban schools have had difficulty adding in cultural aspects that

did not reflect the geographical area. These different cultural aspects that were introduced to the

schools were presented as information to know, but not to be understood or be challenged

(Ginsberg 2014). Factors contributing to a lack of participation in music programs for urban high

school students include a sense of not belonging, inadequate resources, and few role models.

Coming from an urban community that was full of poverty, crime and had more teachers that

weren’t from the same type of background, I personally have had a first-hand view of what it is

like deal with such problems. Music programs were getting cut because the administration don’t

see them as important compared to standardized test prep classes. Students had very few outlets.

Even the recreational center down the street stopped doing everything except boxing and

basketball for a long period of time.

Contributing Factors to Lack of Music Participation

Lack of belonging

An internal factor that has high school students reluctant to participate in a musical

ensemble is the lack of a sense of belonging. This beginning point is multi-faceted,

stemming from small things such as stage-fright, to more concerning issues such as
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intimidation from peers and displacement in extracurricular activities from teachers.

Fear of inadequacy is relevant when connecting students’ ideas to lack of participation.

This is particularly true for those just beginning to start their instrument. Barefield (2012)

relates a beginner student’s habits when surrounded by more developed voices in a

vocal ensemble, such as developing false vibratos to mimic the more developed voices

around them. Another factor would be the level of competition and criticism a student is

up against in regards to their peers and teachers. With singing being a highly

competitive field, it is easy for students to feel lost or downtrodden when they feel that

their peers are seen as the enemy or that they themselves are not developed enough to

take the constructive criticism that their teacher gives them, resulting in a feeling of

displacement amongst the group. The same can be said when playing an instrument. If a

beginning student sees that their peer knows all the fingerings or slide positions, can make the

tone that the instructor wants, sight-reads better, or has more range than them, they can easily be

discouraged and may not want to continue playing. This goes for the more advanced players too.

Challenging a musician or being challenged for a spot—such as being on the 50 yard line in a

marching band show of for the first chair spot in concert band—and losing will have a detrimental

effect on a student’s self-esteem.

Inadequate resources

A wise person once said “It takes a village to raise a child,” so naturally how the

community acts and operates can have a detrimental effect on how students of the

community learn and participate. Urban communities have their diverse complications:

more nontraditional versus traditional family homes, differences in educational as well as

religious values, and of course, cultural norms. Hinkley (1995) cited a 1993 New York Times
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article about a couple of the poorest greater Miami area schools and communities. The

students constructed their own lyrics to “Twelve Days of Christmas,” in which they used

items in their own homes and communities such as mouse traps, roaches, and food

stamps and adding their own beat. That however, is not the significant part. What

mattered was that the students were engaged and reflected on their community as

positively as they could. Communities have had a diverse response to engagement just

as diverse as their backgrounds. Some communities, like those of Latin descent

support the arts despite being in communities that have disbanded or stopped funding

music and arts programs. Dell (2014) conducts a study to examine influences on music in the

family home. Results had shown that music in the home had direct effects on musical and

academic outcomes. Naturally, these students are more engaged with music when

they are able to learn music of their community and have the its support.

Students with disabilities and those with differences in race, education level and

sexual orientation from the general populace tend to find themselves out of place in

music ensembles. While inclusion of disabled students has gotten better over the

decades with Education Acts, urban schools may not necessarily have that full support

due to low funding and resources. Take a blind or deaf student for example, what would

a student like that be able to do if the school itself cannot provide adequate resources of

educators? A disabled student would be discouraged simply from not having the

materials to participate. Imagine an underfunded school attempting to obtain braille

sheet music or a private instructor for one impaired student (Gilbert, 2018).

Gender and Sexual Orientation

Gender and race are more underlying issues in the musical ensemble. While it is
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uncommon for the teacher to be openly discriminatory, it is not for students to be as

such. Common phrases in the urban area are “you can’t ‘cause you’re a girl!” “You

should play flute or clarinet!” Many female students quit or never join the percussion

ensemble because of prejudice from their classmates. A lack of respect for the female’s

abilities and skills and underrepresentation of female bandsmen in a still male

prominent area discourages females from joining in certain ensembles. Adding material

and having guest conductors that are in the minority of the geographical area, by

gender and race, have the ability to impact how the students react and thus how many

students participate in the ensemble effectively (Peters, 2016).

Essentially, a student’s sexual orientation or education level can be met with the

same resistance and combativeness as one’s gender. Typically, high school is the most

difficult time in terms of social activeness amongst peers and Southerland (2018) expresses

how LGBTQ students have a hard time fitting in because of their inability to express

themselves in regards to their own relationships as well as negative behavior from their

classmates. In an Urban area, this is especially prominent due to the historic lack of

support from the community through negative connotations for same-sex orientation. It is

up to the teacher to make the musical ensemble a welcoming place as music is a

universal language and truly the greatest of the arts. Recognizing and stopping

inappropriate language as soon it starts and opening dialogue about negative language

will help to make the classroom more welcoming. Not only having the open dialogue,

but allowing students to choose whether or not to wear certain attire for performances

helps. Some female students are uncomfortable wearing dresses and would prefer to

wear slacks or a tuxedo instead of the traditional black dress. Acknowledging notable

composers and performers who are in the LGBTQ community is also a progressive way

to keep students engaged in the music ensembles. The music ensemble can choose to
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do their own rendition of a popular song– before informing the class that the person fits

the LGBTQ criteria – then inform them that they do so that class is more accepting to

those individuals. As camaraderie is usually formed when students compose and perform

music together, it creates transferrable skills and empathy to their social status outside

of the classroom as well. (Southerland, 2018)

Addressing Inequities Within the Music Classroom

Excellence in Teachers

Inclusive programs and ensembles will only suffer if there aren’t knowledgeable

and adequate educators in place to assist the students on a consistent basis as well as

adequate resources or alternatives for students with other situations. An urban high

school student in the musical ensemble can easily be disengaged if the teacher isn’t

knowledgeable on every instrument family and/or is unable to evaluate students and the

curriculum properly. Already being in an underfunded and possibly overcrowded “arts”

class along with the atmosphere of the urban community, students are not likely to

enjoy a class they can’t learn in. An institutional evaluation is detrimental to making sure

that teachers have the best learning situations and that all levels of the school, from

teachers to administrators, have input and show support for the students’ learning.

Teachers must also be able to have both group and solo learning opportunities while

setting goals and testing students. While every educator doesn’t have the same cultural

background, those with the urban education experience will have the upper edge when

connecting with students (Colwell, 1971). Colwell states that “The education profession can teach

future music teachers how children learn, and how their learning is affected by pollution,

an empty stomach, and a lack of recognizable outcomes, but they should leave test
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construction to be taught in a musical context” Ideally, teachers must be able to engage, adapt,

and evaluate students if they wish for participation in programs to improve. Criss (2011) uses

motivation as a giant factor in being a knowledgeable educator. The art of balancing Intrinsic

rewards versus Extrinsic rewards in an urban community can be challenging when the normal

atmosphere is not one of a supportive nature. Expecting the students to behave a certain way,

setting challenging but reachable goals, and appealing to the student’s emotions, culture, and

intellect are necessary tools that belong in the knowledgeable educator’s arsenal. Anderson and

Denson present several different recommendations for educators to properly prepare

themselves to better serve the students. Having courses taught by individuals who have

already experienced teaching in urban areas and have successful results will greatly

improve results of teachers who don’t have the previous experience. Equipping the

teachers with information on the current trends and happenings in the urban area that

they are to teach in will help the them connect with their students and make music

ensembles more appealing to others. Understanding where the students come from,

how to communicate with them and knowing diverse genres of music to help connect

with the students is key to a successful program. There is hardly a time where the music

department will obtain all of the materials that they ask for, so educators must be able to make do

with what materials they do have. Educators must be able to capture attention with relative

cultural materials suitable for the high school level (Hinkley, 1995). Allowing students to choose

some of the material that they will perform will attract participation, especially if it is something

they can create on their own. Wall (2018) suggests adopting a different band model other than the

traditional “director in charge” model. Having a more “student-driven” ensemble would

help keep students engaged and give them experiences to share with others to attract

attention to the music ensembles.

Parental Involvement and Outside Support

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The final and most integral part of influencing participation of high school

students in music ensembles is having supportive role models in all aspects of their

lives. In the urban community, sports like basketball and football are seen as the ‘golden

ticket’ to leaving the community and making something of themselves. Sometimes,

these goals will outweigh even academics and students will not engage in anything

except those sports. Parental involvement for any school-based situation is ideal.

Revisit the concept of urban students not coming from traditional family homes; how are

they influenced to do better academically or to chase dreams? Many homes will see

one-parent family homes, grandparents, aunts and uncles becoming the guardians,

foster care, or in rare cases, homeless students. Music educators would have to invite

the parents and guardians to meetings and welcome them into the classroom to see the

importance of their music ensembles. While urban community parents have a history of

working multiple jobs to make ends meet and may see school as another form of

daycare, the educator must express the importance of parental involvement.

Briscoe suggests having parents build self-efficacy in regards to supporting their

children from the beginning stages. Once they start seeing positive results, they will be

able to say with more confidence that their child is doing great. Encouraging parents to

attend student recitals and some after school programs encourages students to

continue on with the musical ensemble. If a parent has any skill with instrumental music

– actual playing abilities, reading music, etc. – it would benefit the child if the parents

were able to place time and energy into helping the student practice, if able to. The

music educator must remind themselves of the cultural differences that the urban

community has. The parents may not have the best formal education, and therefore

may not apply encouragement on their child to excel to do better than they did. Some

high school students may not be able to participate in ensembles because of the lack of
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funds to do so. Parents may not have the funds to cover the instrument rental fee,

halting the participation entirely. It may go beyond the music educator to see about a

waiver for students that are in financial distress. Parents may also not be able to pick up

their students if the music ensemble rehearsal is after school hours. They may fear for

their child’s life if the urban area is not the safest to walk home at night or if they live too

far (Hanshumaker, 1989).

Having other role models with similar cultural backgrounds and those that are

understanding of those backgrounds will give urban students someone to relate to.

Building connections through past experiences and current struggles comes is effective

when motivating a student to pursue excellence (Clements, 2009). While there is nothing

wrong with having a White music educator teach students music, high school students

who differ by race and social status would feel more comfortable and relatable to

someone with a similar background to their own. Many students tend to be uneasy in a

classroom where their own cultural experiences reciprocated in a positive manner

(Emdin, 2017). Cultural Responsive Teaching’s research “is based on the assumption that

when academic knowledge and skills are situated within the lived experiences and

frames of references of students, they are more personally meaningful, have higher

interest appeal and are learned more easily and thoroughly (Gay, 2002).”

Personal Experience

There are some programs that shine like a beacon over an otherwise dark

community. Shaw High School of East Cleveland, Ohio has had a turnaround rate with

its music program over the decades. Once a predominantly white area in the early

1900s with an astounding school system, it has become a community of abandoned

buildings, illegal activity, and a place that is normally avoided. Around the early 2000s,

the band director and native of East Cleveland, DonShon Wilson, has taken a few
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students who were failing classes and getting into trouble daily and taught them how to

play different drums. From there, he made an ensemble and had them perform in the

neighborhood. Getting that buzz from the community attracted other students as well

until he had more students that percussion equipment. He was able to convince

students to try other instruments and slowly he made a band. At that point, he made it

mandatory for the parents to attend one meeting so that their child could participate in

the band and the parents would know who was working with their child for hours at a

day. His philosophy that he explained to the parents was that he would “rather them

spend 4 hours after school playing instruments than to be caught up in the streets doing

wrong.” The students would fundraise however they could to obtain funds to go on

seasonal trips to Universities like Alabama State and Jackson State, so they could see

where they could end up with their musical abilities. He also changed the academic

culture of the band from failing students to having Valedictorians from the band every

year. His motto to the students was “If you’ve got Fs and Ds, you can’t roll with me.” As

no one wanted to be left behind, students focused more in the classrooms and even

took it upon themselves to do weekly progress reports signed by their other teachers.

The program is still flourishing today, with a fully dedicated staff, a supportive band

booster club, and private music instructors that help throughout the community.

In conclusion, high school students in urban communities have many hurdles to

jump through to have a successful music program. These hurdles are steep enough to

discourage many students from joining or engaging in the ensembles effectively. Living

in a poor and crime ridden community, coming from nontraditional family homes, lack of

role models and family support, underfunded schools, and not having that sense of

belonging destroy not only music programs, but the academic experience overall. Music

educators can combat these issues by recruiting parental involvement as well as

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administrative support. Allowing students some creative control in the ensemble will

keep them engaged and creative. Having positive role models like Mr. Wilson who have

the cultural background and experiences that most students live helps ease tension in

terms to relatability. Opening lines of communication to different topics like sexual

orientation and offensive behavior and how to address them will help thwart those

feeling of not belonging and create a more inclusive environment. Educators must

continue to be understanding of the culture and trends of the students that they aim to

teach and must take steps to appreciate and recognize what will stay in terms of their

culture and what can be modified to make the musical classroom better, especially if the

funds are low and support is scarce. The urban community can produce many

diamonds in the rough, one just has to be willing to apply the correct pressure to

produce the beautiful gem.

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