Welcome to the second issue of Bay Section’s Tempo! I am grateful to be a member of the Board in this capacity because the study of the world’s music as a part of the music curriculum is an important topic to me, especially in a world that is increasingly getting smaller and smaller. California schools are among the most diverse in the United States. Our curriculums in music should reflect this diversity in a meaningful way.

I am sitting in a hotel room in Atlanta while attending a training workshop for teaching International Baccalaureate Music. The mission of the International Baccalaureate program is ‘to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. The IB program includes music as part of the sixth category (the arts) in a curriculum of science, math, a second language, economics. In fact the curriculum makes a point to include ‘world music’ as a basis for comparison of Western music: students will ‘explore and value the diversity of arts across time, place and cultures’. Interestingly, the IB Music design aligns very nicely with the National Standards of Music as well. There is composition, music theory, music history, the study of music in relation to society and culture as well as a mandatory requirement of membership in a vocal or instrumental ensemble. The IB Music exam requires each student to analyze two distinct musics in a component called ‘musical investigations, allowing for the IB Music student to listen to and describe music as well as to understand music’s place in a social and historical context. The students are both internally assessed (by the teacher) and externally assessed by an evaluator of international standing.

The reason I include the tenets of the IB program in this article is to underline the ease with which a more multicultural approach can be included in your lesson planning. In programming any non-Western music, take some time to investigate its historical and cultural context. Is there a group locally who can visit your classroom to give a concert of the particular music? Do you have students who might act as a resource? I have had students who either played in a community group or who had relatives who played in a community or professional group.

The 2008 CMEA Bay Section Winter Conference will highlight several Multicultural sessions including an Eastern European women’s vocal ensemble, a steel drum band and a son jarocho ensemble. Look to the next issue for more details!