How Do Students Describe a Meaningful Music Classroom?

This chapter provides empirical evidence of the ways in which normalized music teaching practices manifest in today’s music classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative case study research was to ascertain the ways in which adolescent music students from diverse, socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds perceive the music teaching in their general music classroom. The primary data collection methods consisted of semi-structured, open-ended interviews with students and teachers and field note observations of their music classrooms. In this chapter, the findings related to students’ descriptions of a “meaningful music classroom” are discussed as a means of shedding light on the ways in which music teaching can be culturally sustaining and affirming.