Essay
Establishing Identity: LGBT Studies & Music Education—Select Conference Proceedings
Published in No. 188, Spring 2011
Abstract
The Establishing Identity conference was held at the University of Illinois on May 23–26, 2010. As noted by the conference organizers from the University of Illinois and the University of Maryland:
Queer and LGBT studies have become an active line of inquiry in sociology, education, musicology, and women and gender studies since the 1960s. During approximately the same time frame, musicologists examined the complex ways queer identities influenced the people and processes of music making and cultural life. Although numerous disciplines have examined influences of the LGBT community, conventional music education has yet to consider as fully as colleagues in education and musicology relevant research, theory, and practice from a LGBT perspective. Furthermore, within music education, LGBT issues are not visible via special research groups, journals, meetings, or research. So, like many LGBT music educators and students, sexual orientation is hidden from most music education’s professional consciousness—without identity.
The primary purpose of this symposium is to encourage, promote, and disseminate discourse regarding the intersection of LGBT issues and music education. The symposium seeks to provide energy to the discussion of how LGBT issues operate within music education in terms of research, curriculum, teacher preparation, and the musical lives and careers of LGBT music students and teachers.
