May is Asian Heritage Month in North America. The US lawmakers first passed a bill in 1990; two years later, in 1992, May officially became Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the US (Liberty of Congress, 2013). Similarly, the government of Canada officially declared May as Asian Heritage Month in 2002, validating diverse Asian ethnicities and their voices in Canada (Government of Canada, 2023). However, due to the deeply rooted binary concept of Black-and-White in racial discourse (Kim, 1999; Lee, 2015; Museus, 2014), Asian Heritage Month does not seem to have been well regarded. Similarly, in music education, Asians are often excluded from diversity and social justice conversations. Most diversity-related music education research has its focus on African or Hispanic students. In this blog post, I discuss four East Asian immigrant music students’ learning experiences and perceptions of Canadian school music content and context.
I conducted this informal research study for a research method course in my graduate school. I collected data from semi-structured interviews and observations. I analyzed the data through a three-step coding process: deductive and inductive data analysis approach, line-by-line method of analyzing data, and multiple reviews and revisions of the data (Azungah, 2018; Gibbs, 2007). For trustworthiness and reliability, I did a member check, peer review, and external data audit. Please click this link for more details on the data collection and analysis process. For confidentiality, pseudonyms were used for all names in this study. Four themes emerged from the data.
Western Music-Centered Canadian Music Education
All four East Asian immigrant students in this study mentioned feeling connected with Western classical music-centered learning in Canadian schools. They all had learned Western classical music with the piano and violin since they were six or seven in their home countries. Some interviewees were heavily involved in string orchestras or wind ensembles before immigrating to Canada. George, a twelfth-grade student at the interview, mentioned that although school music education in South Korea embraced diverse musical genres, including traditional Korean music, popular music, and technology-integrated music, South Korean school music education was more centered on Western classical music. Further, due to the extensive music learning in Western classical music in their home countries, some interviewees did not find Canadian school music learning quite challenging. They wanted more advanced Western music learning materials to stay motivated.
Afterschool Music Program vs. In-School Music Program
Although music learning materials in Canadian school music were less challenging to some interviewees, they greatly appreciated music being offered as a regular subject in Canadian public schools. The respondents disclosed that due to heavy emphasis on literacy and numeracy, music and art classes were often excluded from schools they attended in their home countries; afterschool music programs were more pervasive in their former schools. Those who wished to learn and make music had to take private music lessons or enroll in orchestras and other musical ensembles arranged after school. Further, attending afterschool music programs required a registration fee; therefore, students with some financial hardships could not join the programs. On the other hand, however, the interviewees addressed two main challenging music learning issues in their current Canadian schools. First, two interviewees mentioned that some unpleasant behaviors regularly performed by some kids in their class led to the impediment of building a conducive music learning environment. Second, all four respondents noticed a wide learning gap between some learners. The respondents attributed these problems to a lack of learning interest in Western classical music among some students.
Racial Microaggressions
All the participants in the present study reported that they regularly experienced subtle racism, often referred to as “racial microaggressions,” in school (Sue et al., 2009, p. 88). Simon, a fifth-grade student at the time of the interview, said:
I was often rejected by White kids in my school. There was another guy who was new to school just like me. He was White. But people played and got along with the new White guy pretty well. I felt a bit ignored and rejected…I am not sure if that was racism or not. But I felt something unfair…honestly…it was terrible feeling… like…that…it’s terrible [light tears on his eyes].
While observing Matthew’s and Tim’s band classes, I noticed a similar social rejection by the culturally dominant kids. No one interacted with Matthew and Tim during their band class. The class was quite loud due to students’ active social interactions, yet Matthew and Tim sat quietly.
George, the oldest participant in this study, mentioned that it was almost impossible to interact and become friends with culturally dominant students in school because they had grown up together since elementary school. However, most Asian students were immigrants and might be strangers to White kids. George further shared his unpleasant experience of hard work in music class being poorly recognized. He had never won a single music award during his enrollment in secondary music class for five years. He said, “…it is hard for immigrant or international students to win those music awards…I think the band director was favoring certain students in class.” George is now attending Mannes School of Music in New York City as a freshman with a scholarship. He was also admitted to other prestigious music colleges, including the Manhattan School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, and Michigan State University with partial scholarships. He further shared his unpleasant experiences of racial slurs and verbal remarks on his racial identity committed by some culturally dominant students in school. George felt terrible and disempowered by racial discrimination targeting Asian students.
Need for More Music Teacher Support and Care
All the interviewees emphasized the need for more teacher support and care for their music learning progress. Matthew and Tim said they often felt invisible and uncared in their music class. As mentioned, I observed no one interacting with them during their band class. Although they were sitting right in front of the band director, I noticed the band director did not communicate much with them both verbally and non-verbally during class. In the interview, Matthew said,
I am not expecting or asking for favoritism, but I wanna be more cared in class. It would be great if teachers [could] pay more attention to us for what we are doing in class…I mean just a bit more attention.
Matthew and Tim mentioned that they would like to build social relationships with their teacher and other students in class. They often felt relatively isolated and socially disconnected from others in class. Matthew suggested that having a small group-based or project-based music learning opportunity might lead to him interacting more with other students in class. George similarly emphasized a need for more support and care for Asian students. He often felt socially isolated and left alone in his secondary music ensembles.
Discussion & Implications
In this post, I discussed four East Asian immigrant students’ music learning experiences in Canadian schools. First, the participants in this study felt musically connected with Western classical music learning content facilitated in their Canadian schools. This finding is quite irrelevant to most diversity-related music education literature that racial minority students may not be well engaged in Western-focused school music education due to cultural and musical misalignment. Yet, although the students in this study accepted Western classical music well, it may still be debatable how Western art music-centered education could lead to East Asian students developing their racial, cultural, and linguistic identities. Some education scholars argue that schoolteachers are responsible for developing their students’ unique cultural identities (Paris & Alim, 2014). Thus, in addition to Western classical music learning content, school music educators may consider seeking ways to include some other music learning materials reflecting Asian students’ racial, cultural, and linguistic identities. Researchers suggest school music educators engage in a conversation with their Asian students and parents inside and outside school regularly, sharing one another’s thoughts and ideas for accommodating appropriate music learning contents and contexts for the enhancement of diverse Asian identities and cultural diversity (Kelly-McHale, 2019; Shaw, 2018).
Second, while the participants greatly appreciated music being offered as a regular school subject in Canadian schools, they articulated several challenges in music class: unpleasant behaviors regularly performed by some kids and a broad learning gap among some students due to the lack of student learning interest in Western art music. Music educators may consider developing classroom management skills and implementing more diverse musical genres and instructional strategies in class. This teacher’s effort to meet the diverse music learning needs of their students may contribute to creating a more conducive music learning environment.
Third, all the participants in this informal research unfolded their experiences of subtle Asian racism in Canadian schools. This report is relevant to previous research studies. Social rejection, exclusion, and invalidation in school are the most common racial microaggressions experienced by Asians (Sue et al., 2009). Researchers further warn that students experiencing racial microaggressions develop severe mental distress and mistrust towards their communities because subtle racism is often committed by community members such as neighbors, school teachers, and classmates, not by strangers, thus impeding the construction of a healthy school community (Sue et al., 2009). Music educators should, therefore, increase their critical awareness of racial microaggressions and other forms of Asian racism and seek ways to better support and care for Asian students’ psychological and educational well-being. In addition, all the interviewees in the present study addressed a need for additional support and care for their music learning progress and building social relationships with teachers and students in school. School music teachers, administrators, and counselors may consider seeking potential ways to help Asian students build social connections with various school community members.
I acknowledge several caveats in this informal research. First, this qualitative inquiry was not IRB approved. I conducted this study for one of the research method classes in my graduate school. However, the participants, their parents, school administrators, and music teachers were fully informed of the purpose and procedure of the study. The participants and their parents signed the consent form for the interviews and observations prior to the study. Their participation was voluntary; no financial incentives or other forms of reward were provided. Second, Asia is a big continent with diverse racial and ethnic groups; however, the participants in this study were limited to East Asian students. This restricted Asian ethnic group may be due to the high representation of East Asian immigrants in Vancouver, Canada, 24% of the total city population (Statistics Canada, 2017). Researchers may wish to include more Asian ethnic groups and learn diverse Asian voices and school music learning experiences.
Conclusions
May is Asian Heritage Month in North America. However, while Black History Month in February is widely known and promoted, Asian Heritage Month in May is often overlooked. Asian voices and perspectives are rarely reflected in school music education. Further, due to the model minority myth of Asians being consistently successful in academic achievement, Asian students’ learning challenges are often disregarded (Lee, 2015; Museus, 2014). Although this research was informally conducted, I hope its reports would help school music educators, administrators, and counselors gain critical insights into the present realities of Asian music students.
Jonathan Lee is a doctoral student majoring in music education at Boston University. His research interests include cultural diversity, popular music education, and music education in special education. He has served as a K-12 school music teacher in Canada and the US for the past 16 years. As a musician with focus on pop, rock, and jazz, he has performed at various venues in Canada, USA, Argentina, and his motherland South Korea. He has previously released two records as a band leader.
Jonathan Sang-Joon Lee https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3059-2007
Email: jslee20@bu.edu
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