Community Partnerships for Music Education in Rural Eastern New Mexico and West Texas

Despite the availability of music education courses in rural America’s secondary school setting, the quality and quantity of music education offerings may be in a state of decline due to student retention, lack of collaborations between extra/co-curricular activities and their instructors, scheduling conflicts, or lack of community involvement. Music education opportunities allow students to engage in art forms that further life-long learning and music advocacy. This study will investigate the perspective of music educators in rural Eastern New Mexico and West Texas as they continue to create high-quality music-band programs. The qualitative phenomenological research study highlights perspectives of rural American music educators that have not previously been explored nor documented; concerns for the following research include student involvement, retention, and attrition rates, collaborative efforts within the community and music programs, and the effects of music education that create music advocates as an adult in rural America. This study will aid the development of high-quality music education programs in rural America by offering data and insight into the sustainability of music programs, collaborative efforts, and community involvement. Deficiency in data collected among rural American music educators limits the study of issues and restricts the quality of music education. Additionally, the study will assist in underscoring music education limitations.