Denilson O.

Cisneros Vallejo:

-Research Interests:
• Music Education
• Marginalized students in the classroom, specifically Chicano/a, Mexican, &
undocumented students
• Constructing new music pedagogies pertaining to students of color ^
• Rascuachismo in music
-My research will be focused primarily on marginalized students of color within public music education.
The opportunities marginalized students face in academia is something that is now widely
acknowledged. As a result, many if not most of the students in higher education who do peruse music
are not people of color. In order to pursue a career in music, it requires a lot of time and resources. One
of these resources is commonly private lessons/instructions. The musical knowledge that is shared
through public schools oftentimes (but now always) not enough to push a musician through the hurdles
that are college music auditions to get into music school. There are many opportunities outside of the
public education system to help young musicians explore the world of orchestral and band ensembles.
Currently APS has begun to reach out to music education students at UNM to begin a lesson’s programs
at APS schools with music departments. This allows students who are in middle and high school to work
with current music ed students to facilitate their access to lessons. However, not every music
department sees UNM students.

-With that, I want to focus my research questions on what or how are public education systems
promoting an all around inclusive musical environment? What resources do public schools offer for
students to continue to pursue music? How do current musical pedagogies benefit students who do not
have access to instruments or music support at home? What are ways in which we as educators can use
varying teaching paradigms to adapt to our student’s specific needs? How does culture influence the
efficiency of musical pedagogies? And lastly, how are pedagogies constructed to foster student’s creative
musical outlets and how can we create ones for children of marginalized cultural backgrounds?

- I have a lot of different approaches I could take and I still need to work on narrowing down my research
questions and interests. Hopefully this is enough to get some feedback that could help me cross some
things off the list and get more specific!