Introduction

Ken Elpus examined the demographics of music education by analyzing data from test takers of the Praxis exams. Researchers in music education have found that marginalized populations encounter barriers in gaining admittance to pre-service music university programs. Researchers have also found that when marginalized populations do successfully matriculate and gain access to the workforce, they often face feelings of isolation and powerlessness. Cultural bias influences the characteristics that constitute who we consider to be qualified to teach music and who we feel should become music teachers. Music teaching and learning practices for all students—ones that "build a continuum of music interest and expertise from amateur to professional, from monocultural to transcultural, and enrich communities on a broad and sustainable scale"—could significantly alter our culture, our communities, and our world. Education has its roots in a patriarchal, Eurocentric society, complicit with multiple forms of oppression of women, sometimes men, children, minorities, and Indigenous peoples.