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Students’ Perceptions And Experiences: African American Students In Band And Orchestra Programs, Sharese Pearson-Bush

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore how African American students in a South Carolina metropolitan area perceived their experiences in band and orchestra at their middle school. Fifty-one sixth through eighth grade students responded to an inventory that measured students’ predisposition to music, pedagogical preferences, and cultural awareness. Furthermore, seven of the fifty-one students engaged in individual, semistructured interviews that measured students’ personal connection to musical experiences within their culture and communities. This study examined the minimal rate at which African American students participated in music programs through the conceptual lens of African-Centered Pedagogy and Culturally Responsive …