| This study is an inquiry within the music discipline, primarily about the delivery of elementary level instrumental music education. It is designed with the value of multiple voices and multiple perspectives as knowledge and wisdom. Public schools are constantly in the news, as evidenced by traditional and contemporary media, including print, television, Twitter, and the like. Efforts to equalize education opportunities for all students have been a promoted focus for over a decade, with federal legislation through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Revision of 2001: No Child Left Behind; federal initiatives, including Race to the Top; and state regulations, evident in the California Department of Education Content Standards, Common Core Standards, and Curriculum Frameworks.;The Golden Poppy Unified School District eliminated elementary instrumental music education in 2010. This action directly affected opportunities for over 5,000 students at the nearly 30 elementary schools within the district. It caused the "reduction in force" (layoffs) of teachers. The action also meant that otherwise working instruments and music were shuttered to storage. As a believer that music education can continue even when the school ends the inclusion of instrumental music education during the school day, I ventured on this quest to identify the music assets within our broader school community in hopes of developing a district wide solution. What emerged, however, was a study that exposed efforts, collaborations, attitudes, and perceptions of various stakeholders within the school district community. In various feeder patterns, attempts were made to offer students opportunities to learn an instrument outside of the school day. Although this did not happen in every feeder pattern, there were examples of music instruction happening, organized by current music teachers, individually and through city recreation departments, and independent efforts. What came from this study is insight into the viewpoints and opinions of the collective team and how they both matched and opposed mine as an individual. |
