Music for Inclusion and Healing in Schools and Beyond (PDF)

Contemporary popular musics such as hip hop, techno, grime, EDM, drill, house and so on are among the most listened to in the world and yet, typically, they are barely covered in the music classroom if at all. This needs to be better reflected in educational, cultural, and social terms. In wider society, these musics are often treated as if they are the causative for the social dysfunction that, in fact, they merely reflect. At the same time, projects, programmes and practices of such contemporary popular musics can and have supported wellness and healing. Editors Pete Dale, Pamela Burnard, and Raphael Travis Jr. argue that there is huge potential here for enhanced inclusion.

Music for Inclusion and Healing in Schools and Beyond explains that when this music is included in the school curriculum or utilised in therapeutic contexts, huge leaps in healing and wellness can be achieved, as well as educational attainment and enjoyment in school contexts. This unique book seeks to account for those positive impacts, theorise them and help to extend and advance their impact. Contributing authors invite readers to re-think the possibilities and potentials for contemporary popular musics to gain the prestige that their actual popularity would suggest they should already command.

The various contributors of this book are from diverse ethnic, social and academic backgrounds, and this title includes several chapters from practitioners who have not written about the work they do before now. Readers will learn not only about the impact of projects that utilize such music but also ideas about how that impact can best be measured.