Teacher Education Chair
The Face of Rural Music Education in Wyoming
Dr. Crystal Sieger W
hat does rural music education look like in the state of Wyoming? In this article, I hope to provide a picture of this “face,” based on the experiences of our
music teachers across the state and to communicate UW Music Teacher Education’s endeavors to better prepare pre-service music teachers for rural music teaching.
Teacher Education Chair
My Lens I arrived in Wyoming four summers ago, eager to learn about a state often overlooked in other regions of the country. In this transition, I brought with me perceptions of rural that had been developed throughout my life but were grounded in my childhood, growing up in rural Northeast Ohio. For me, rural was defined by rolling hills, cornfields, red barns, and Amish buggies. Communities were tiny and separated by only a few miles. As one drove along the state routes, those towns grew into suburbs, and then into large metropolitan areas, often without distinction to the change in scenery.
One of my earliest memories of my arrival in Wyoming is a conversation with the UW Summer Masters cohort at that time, where the concept of “rural schools” was presented. I was intrigued by the term — rural school — and what was meant by it. I would learn the answer throughout the year as I traveled across the state to meet music teachers and observe student teachers. My travels often took me directly into the heart of some of the rural communities to which the cohort had been referring, and I began to develop a new perception of rural.
Defining Rural United Stated Census Bureau provides a standard, operational definition of rural. According to the Bureau, “‘rural encompasses all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area” (Ratcliffe, Burd, Holder, & Fields,
socially constructed state of mind (Brown & Schafft, 2011).
Researchers have also reported on aspects of rural teaching for which teachers in Wyoming — through sharing their experiences — have provided further evidence of support. For example, geographical isolation requires music teachers to develop a diverse skillset to meet the needs of the wide student age-range and many forms of music they must teach (Bates, 2011; Isbell, 2005). In some cases, theses teachers struggle to develop a professional identity in these communities because they grew up in a different kind of environment (Azano & Stewart, 2015; Corbett, 2010; Hunt, 2009; Isbell, 2005; Spring, 2013). The students residing in rural communities may not have opportunities to experience a variety of musical creativity, and thus they rely on
2016). The Bureau defines “urban” in two ways: an area of 50,000 or more people, or clusters of at least 2,500, but less than 50,000 people. Researchers have also described the concept of rural in several important ways, including theories focused on place or on social constructivist views. These approaches have been contrasted, as some define rural using socio-geographic attributes while others consider it a
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their teachers to bring in guest artists and provide unique and interesting experiences (Azano & Stewart, 2015; Epply, Shannon, & Gilbert, 2011). Finally, music teachers in rural locales may find it difficult to find meaningful professional development (Burkett, 2011). Readers who teach rurally can undoubtedly relate to any or all of these commonalities.
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