The Possibilities of Critical Literacy

There are multiple literacies one can develop, and a purpose-driven compositional pedagogy can also highlight critical literacy. Critical literacy is “the development of human capacity to use texts to analyze social fields and their systems of exchange—with an eye to transforming social relations and material conditions” (Luke, 2012, p. 9). They expand upon functional understandings in order to “approach knowledge critically and skeptically, see relationships between ideas, look for underlying explanations of phenomena, and question whose interests are served and who benefits” (Gutstein, 2006, p. 5). Within music curricula, then, critical literacies require an inquisitive approach to contexts, norms, and “everyday (musical) world[s],” particularly those that may be “taken-for- granted” in everyday experience (Gould, 2009, p. 48).

As Allan Luke (2012) noted, critical literacy, practically applied, “melds social, political, and cultural debate and discussion with the analysis of how texts and discourses work, where, with what consequences, and in whose interests” (p. 5). Texts, in this case, are understood in the postmodern sense as being cultural forms upon and through which meaning is constructed, such as student compositions. Here, compositions might be thought of not as objects or closed forms, but as the development of something musical that did not exist previously.

Through critical literacy, there is an invitation to consider what is included in such texts as well as what is absent, negotiating various viewpoints and developing multiple counter and hybridized discourses that encourage students and educators alike to recognize the inherent partiality of individual understandings. Composition is unique in that it is the learners themselves who develop these very texts. Rather than consider the work of others, they are invited to view their own work, not only as a theoretical exercise, but as a key move in cultivating a disposition through which creative artistic practice is a means to engage critically with their worlds.

Critical literacy is not, however, solely about “unpacking myths and distortions” about individual learner experiences but about “building new ways of knowing and acting upon the world” (Luke, 2012, p. 5). Within the music classroom, this might mean redefining the why behind curricular musical endeavors. Composition might be framed as an opportunity to question norms and draw connections to the lived realities of everyday experience within and beyond the music classroom. Such experiences not only invite students to develop musical skills, but also to engage in dissensus, dialogue, and problem-posing, helping them cultivate multiliterate dispositions as they musically articulate their own experiences, ideas, and positionings. These shifts in educational purpose might then support the development of critical literacy over time through “everyday imagined and enacted praxis” (Martin & Brown, 2013, p. 387).

Critical literacy through composition is not a new idea. Musical endeavors that connect creative practice and social consciousness have been explored in various creative contexts (Bylica, 2020; Gaztambide-Fernandez, 2011; Kaschub, 2009; Mantie, 2008). For example, Michele Kaschub’s (2009) “Critical Pedagogy for Creative Artists” offered a model of a secondary general music unit that involved “establishing a framework for using tools of critical inquiry to gain a thorough understanding of complex social, political, and cultural issues” (p. 280). Together with Kaschub as researcher/educator, students spent a term listening to and composing socially conscious music about child abuse, immigration, violence, and war. Through the process, they grappled with both social and musical challenges as they sought to create artistic responses to multifaceted realities. In this example, the act of creating music was itself a social response. Composition helped students build connections between learning practice and in-the- world experience and “make an artistic statement in sound” (p. 281).

Educators may find it challenging to engage in pedagogical practice with the intention of cultivating critical literacies. Though music educators often fully recognize that children enter the classroom with their own musical experiences and understanding about the world, Kaschub (2009) noted that “trying something new, or even something familiar in a new way, is not an easy commitment within the confines of the educational enterprise” (p. 274). This is especially true when one considers structural forces, administrative priorities, and community expectations that may be perceived as being misaligned with criticality. Further, an educational climate that prioritizes “data-driven instruction, scripted lessons, and top-down decision making” as well as “increased surveillance and de-professionalization, corporatization and standardization and the fragmentation of knowledge and skills” can make criticality feel secondary (Tobias et al., 2015, p. 40).

As educators know, however, the moments of uncertainty and disruption caused by critical musical endeavors can create opportunities for students to musically grapple with the complex worlds in which they live. In recent years, there have been a number of exemplars that can help music educators reimagine what is possible within composition-based music education (e.g., Finney et al., 2021; Kaschub, 2009; Kaschub & Smith, 2009 and 2013). In these examples, music educators offer doorways-in to critical compositional practices, providing models that deliberately outline both small and large-scale projects that can be implemented in a variety of settings. Choosing to pursue projects that encourage students to work with community members (see Vignette 3) or align with larger school goals and vision (see Vignette 1) can also help alleviate potential tension between administrative and community expectations and critically driven compositional projects.

Scholars including Patrick Schmidt (2020), Cara Bernard and Joseph Abramo (2019), and Eric Shieh (2020) offer practical steps to help music educators work with administrators to reimagine the possibilities for music education to encourage educator and student autonomy. These include building one’s policy knowhow and envisioning possibility-oriented futures (Schmidt, 2020), engaging in productive dialogue with administrators (Bernard & Abramo, 2019), and building bridges to policies that support critical work (Shieh, 2020). Through such practices, music educators can work with school and community members to navigate the complex tensions lived daily in educational environments.