ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores what it means to teach music in urban schools. It provides additional first-hand knowledge, from five urban music teachers in New Jersey public schools to keep journals during the 2015-2016 academic year. Urban schools, however, are not all alike. Some public schools actually benefit from their urban status in terms of additional monies allocated by the state. Where the arts are highly valued, especially in schools designated as arts-intensive, arts programs often reflect high-quality human and material resources. Adapting to constant change may be the teacher’s greatest challenge. For instance, a new teacher hired to teach general music at the middle school may find that his/her/their job has been changed to elementary general music to fill the gap for a music teacher who suddenly left at the end of August.
