Dismantling sounds and silences of heritage curriculum and traditional pedagogies in music education

As the role of education is challenged and redefined by changes in society, this Chapter focuses on issues of sounds and silences in the Music Education curriculum. Working in initial teacher education programs at a metropolitan University in Melbourne, Australia I write from a non-white tertiary music educator’s autoethnographic standpoint. The Music Education curriculum carries remnants of a phantom of settler colonialism. It is incumbent that we respectfully recognise and include diverse pedagogies, music, and approaches across the curriculum in this discipline of study. As tertiary educators, we owe it to our students to make education relevant and meaningful, meeting the challenges they face in the 21st century. This Chapter explores the dismantling ‘sounds and silences’ of a heritage curriculum shrouded in traditional pedagogies in Music Education. It aims to reshape what and how we teach in preparing pre-service teachers, to be culturally aware and culturally responsive. The Chapter includes interview data from sessional teachers and students’ comments to highlight pedagogies that are inclusive and celebrate the difference that disrupts the relationship between power and knowledge to better prepare pre-service teachers. In the process, this Chapter encourages educators to embrace a sustainable, affordable, and inclusive curriculum that is transformational.