Call for Book Chapters: "Inclusive Music Education: Acknowledging diversity and emotional needs in music education"

Music is a powerful tool for society, a universal language used for many and various purposes, from leisure to education for peace. The present multi-author book project seeks to address two large issues in music education: interculturality and diversity and emotional education.

Intercultural education

Music is part of every cultural identity. Through harmonies and lyrics, different cultures tell listeners about their myths, beliefs, and traditions. Most times, music is directly linked with specific celebrations or rituals that bring people together.

Despite the richness embedded in traditional or folk music, in conservatories, music schools and music education in general, it is not usually part of the curriculum. Music education focuses on teaching academic music (mostly European music from the Renaissance, Classicism or Romanticism by men composers and sometimes also Jazz), dismissing the importance of creating a musically diverse repertoire. Thus, certain composers and music styles are being overlooked, treating their art as less valuable. This situation sends a message to diverse musicians: that academic music is not for them, and their cultural identity will not be appreciated. Understanding how diversity is treated in music, and finding ways to overcome prejudice through educative practices, could help diverse students to feel recognised and valuable.

On the other hand, music can be used as a resource for social integration. Thus, existing projects use music ensembles or choirs to stimulate socialisation in at-risk people, encouraging social inclusion. This book wants to collect good practices using music for social integration and including traditional and culturally diverse music in the classroom.

Emotional education

Emotion is an essential part of music. A musician's purpose, among others, is to engage the public emotionally during a performance; the performer needs to get in touch with the particular feeling they want to communicate. Emotional awareness seems to play a vital role at this stage; however, emotional development has been neglected in music education, using harsh teaching methods to encourage learning, which has not changed for centuries. The consequences of these severe educational practices manifest as an emotional struggle in various areas of one's life. Thus, this book seeks to raise awareness of the need to understand human emotion, self-esteem and self-concept in educational processes, particularly in the music learning process. 

This volume seeks innovative work from established and emerging scholars on topics including but not limited to:

• Inclusion and education for peace in musical ensembles
• Emotional needs
• Music and cultural identity
• Interculturality in music education
• Early years education music learning
• Music education in childhood
• Music education for teenagers
• Adult music education
• Professional music education

Submission Guidelines:

• Proposals should be between 300-500 words and clearly describe the author's thesis, and provide an overview of the proposed chapter's structure, including a short biographical note.
• Submissions are to be sent to Ana García Díaz (ana.garcia.d@unir.net) before the 29th of March. Authors will be notified of acceptance by the 2nd of April.
• Chapters must be the original product of research and not be previously published or being reviewed.
• Final chapter submissions: 15th of July. It must be prepared for blind peer-review.
• The acceptance of the final chapter is dependent on the quality of the final submission and the reviewers' feedback.