<aside> đź•’
Approx. 80 hours of learning materials including:
– 20+ hours of video and audio
– 50+ hours of reading
– 10 hours of contextual texts, and reflective activities
</aside>
Diversity, equity, and inclusion in music education and research contexts have gained currency in the last decade, motivated by compelling theoretical and qualitative reflections within the fields of classical, jazz, contemporary, traditional and popular music. Further impetus for improving the inclusion and representation dynamics within music was provided by recent quantitative studies such as the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which highlights the lack of representation in various roles within the music industry. Other critical contributions include projects prioritizing practice-based, participatory, and artistic research initiatives such as those contained within the Berklee Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice initiated in 2018, a program which combines curricula, performance models, and creative practices grounded in feminist and intersectional values and action oriented approaches to DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion). These professional, artistic, personal, scholarly, and academic perspectives all aim to encourage greater participation and leadership by under-represented groups within academic and professional musical worlds.
The aim of this DLR is to offer introductions to some of the key foundational approaches towards diversity and inclusion within music spheres since the emergence of these approaches in the 1980s. Our materials offer a combination of theory and praxis with cases drawn from a variety of genres, periods, and geographical regions. The scope of these resources encompasses more traditional musicological frameworks as well as more recent approaches, such as ethics based-listening, or participatory, digitally informed, and practice-based models.
The designers of this project espouse a commitment to the principles of intersectionality, diversity, and inclusion in their own teaching, artistic practice, and critical research projects. Yet we acknowledge our privileged positions within the academy as white, middle-class scholars, and salaried professionals with prior access to higher education, housing, and employment opportunities. Yet each of us, in our own contexts, have experienced forms of exclusion, bias, or prejudice based upon our gender, sexual orientation, health, geographical home, disciplinary training, or performance practice.
In relation to Music4Change, this digital resource draws expertise from two of the Music4Change international research schools: 1. Breaking the Sound Barrier? Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Musical Life Research School taking place in Bergen at the Grieg Academy in 2023 and 2. Rethinking Interdisciplinarity and Innovation in Music Research held at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in September 2025. These two schools offered considerable inspiration and innovation with regards music education and collaboration models which stimulate greater DEI.
The following modules are organized with foundational and historical models first, followed by unique and relevant recent cases and approaches. Core approaches are covered in the materials entitled Feminist and Queer (auto)Ethnography, Participatory Action Research, Arts Based Research, and Critical Pedagogy, with extended models provided from the fields of music theory and audiovisual arts and media studies. Finally, the resources offer materials on critical listening practices and the ethics of inclusion followed by relevant case studies from the fields of jazz, music composition, vocal improvisation, postcolonial approaches, and intersectional models within audiovisual arts platforms.
Taken together, these approaches vie for a grounded and foundational approach towards research which, regardless of the topic, necessarily integrates models which foreground diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI is not a corrective or afterthought in education, research and practice, but rather remains integral to forging sustainable music cultures and practices. We believe this resource combines current and past insights for greater inclusion and equity within the higher education and professional music worlds.