Music and Social Justice
A Guide for Elementary Educators
Cathy Benedict
Reviews and Awards
"Benedict thoughtfully includes potential lessons and questioning strategies to engage students critically. She outlines the opportunities for student voices to be heard and notes the potential pitfalls along the way ... Overall, this book is effective in questioning existing practices and pointing to some directions forward for music education, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels." -- B. Haskett, CHOICE
"In Music and Social Justice, Cathy Benedict carefully challenges our commonly held assumptions about enacting child-centered, inclusive, and socially just practices in the music classroom. This book is more than a guide, it is a philosophical meditation in action written by an inspired music educator who makes visible the thinking that informs action and the action that informs thinking. Benedict inspires us to think differently, to observe closely, and act more mindfully." -- Carlos R. Abril, Professor of Music Education, University of Miami
"Cathy Benedict's book comes at a most needed time in our educational and political history. She provides resources for opening up topics of race, gender, socioeconomics, bullying and religion in music and across school classrooms. Benedict's book offers many practical strategies for teaching social justice in K-8 music and beyond. This book might make teachers uncomfortable, but in a very welcoming way." -- Maud Hickey, author of Music Outside the Lines: Ideas for Composing in K-12 Music Classrooms