Carlos Abril, Frost School of Music’s professor and director of undergraduate music education and Bachelor of Music alumni of the class of 1992 was one of the select thought-leaders participating in critical discussions and brainstorming on equity at Yale’s sixth Symposium on Music in Schools. The resulting document published focuses on how to ensure that every child in every city in America has access to an active music life.
Among the participants were public school and university teachers and administrators, foundation leaders, music-education scholars, and public-policy experts.
“We’ve been having the conversation about the value of music education for decades,” Carlos stated, and offering that the declaration that’s crafted needs to have an impact that previous efforts have not.
“I think we need to send a strong message speaking to the importance of training, mentoring, and showing that it’s more than just lip service, more than just a pet project.” Those working in music education, he said, need to be “committed to social justice in our work. I hope it will have a major mark in the field of music and music education, at large.”
About Carlos Abril
Dr. Carlos Abril is an internationally recognized music education scholar and educator. He teaches courses in philosophy of music education, music in childhood, culture and music education, and qualitative research methods. Dr. Abril has conducted extensive research focusing on sociocultural issues in the areas of music education, music education policy, and music perception. His writing contributions encompasses the equivalent of 14 chapters that can be found in several books, and 30 articles that have appeared in numerous professional journals. He co-edited the books Teaching General Music: Approaches, Issues, and Viewpoints (Oxford) and Musical Experience in Our Lives: Things We Learn and Meanings We Make (Rowman & Littlefield). In addition, Dr. Abril has served on over ten editorial boards in North America, South America, and Europe, including Journal of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, and Revista Complutense Investigación en Educación Musical.
