Start Date

16-3-2018 9:51 AM

End Date

16-3-2018 10:03 AM

Abstract Text

Grounded in the goal of troubling the silence that often pervades spaces of inequality in schools, this action research pilot study examined the role soundscapes might play as a catalyst to open spaces for dialogue that recognizes and interrogates the injustices and oppressive structures present in many schools and communities (Gutstein, 2006). Soundscapes have become more common in music classrooms as a way to encourage students to compose without the restraints of standard notation. Originally intended to help “young children to listen to and use the sounds of their own lives and environments as the basis of what were called ‘sound compositions’” (Regelski, 2011, p. 30), soundscapes can also be used to help students to read their world and grapple with what stories were told.

This project explored the representation of students’ lived experience through soundscapes. Student compositional processes emerged from journaling, interviews with community members, and student discussions. This presentation will explore both student dialogue and discussion, as well as educator reaction and responses to the dialogue prompted by the soundscapes. The project indicates that soundscape compositions afforded particular spaces for students to develop dialogue, allowing for shared experience and giving the opportunity to peer into each other’s world.

This work engages in interdisciplinarity by drawing together fields of music and acoustic ecology with the politically charged nature of school classrooms and systemic sociocultural oppression.

Keywords: Soundscape, Inequality, Dialogue, Lived Experience, Silencing

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Mar 16th, 9:51 AM Mar 16th, 10:03 AM

Creative Subversion: Challenging Sociocultural Silencing in Schools

Grounded in the goal of troubling the silence that often pervades spaces of inequality in schools, this action research pilot study examined the role soundscapes might play as a catalyst to open spaces for dialogue that recognizes and interrogates the injustices and oppressive structures present in many schools and communities (Gutstein, 2006). Soundscapes have become more common in music classrooms as a way to encourage students to compose without the restraints of standard notation. Originally intended to help “young children to listen to and use the sounds of their own lives and environments as the basis of what were called ‘sound compositions’” (Regelski, 2011, p. 30), soundscapes can also be used to help students to read their world and grapple with what stories were told.

This project explored the representation of students’ lived experience through soundscapes. Student compositional processes emerged from journaling, interviews with community members, and student discussions. This presentation will explore both student dialogue and discussion, as well as educator reaction and responses to the dialogue prompted by the soundscapes. The project indicates that soundscape compositions afforded particular spaces for students to develop dialogue, allowing for shared experience and giving the opportunity to peer into each other’s world.

This work engages in interdisciplinarity by drawing together fields of music and acoustic ecology with the politically charged nature of school classrooms and systemic sociocultural oppression.

Keywords: Soundscape, Inequality, Dialogue, Lived Experience, Silencing