Getting unstuck: the One World Youth Arts Project, the music education paradigm, and youth without advantage

摘要

The purpose of this paper is to discuss, utilising Miller's theoretical framework for social justice, findings of a research study examining the dramatic musical and educational results of an alternative music education programme in Toronto, Canada. What is particularly striking about the findings are the ways in which the participants (youth without advantage) claimed their subjectivity through highly personal music making - 'authoring' themselves in ways not dependent on a priori cultural capital. By emphasising diversity, individuality, collaboration, and non-traditional views of 'musical literacy', the 'One World Youth Arts Project' fostered in students a sense of dignity, self-worth, and empowerment that they employed in order to succeed both in and out of school.