All music educators must be prepared to construct learning environments that are equitable and socially just. Much of that preparation begins in our university-based music teacher education programs, where a critical foundation is laid. Built on the assumption that this work is essential for teachers of any subject area, this talk will consider how three domains of the music curriculum—content, context, and pedagogy—can be approached through a lens of equity and justice. Research and personal reflections will inform a discussion of the imaginative potential and problematic practices of this work in today’s sociopolitical climate.

Carlos Abril is Professor of Music and Associate Dean at the University of Miami Frost School of Music and Chair of the Society for Research in Music Education. His body of research seeks to document visible and invisible barriers to the study of music in schools, as well as to illuminate ways to make the study of music more relevant and accessible. His work is published in numerous research and professional journals, as well as in books. He co-edited the books Teaching General Music: Approaches, Issues, and Viewpoints (Oxford University Press) and Musical Experiences in Our Lives: Lessons We Learn and Meanings We Make (Rowan & Littlefield) and has published music and instructional materials for World Music Press and Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. His latest book, General Music: Dimensions of Practice (with Dr. Brent Gault), is currently in press with Oxford. Abril has served on the Research Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts and is the recipient of the Phillip Frost Award for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship.