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Madness and Distress in Music Education offers an in-depth exploration of mental health and emotional distress in the context of music education, offering new ways of thinking about these experiences and constructing ways to support distress through affirming pedagogy, practices, and policies in music education. Centering the lived experiences of 15 people in a range of roles across music education who self-identify an issue with their mental health, the volume addresses impacts on both students and educators. The author draws on Mad Studies and disability studies to present new paradigms for thinking about Madness and distress in the music context. An essential resource for music educators, music education researchers, and preservice students seeking to understand the complexities of mental health in the music classroom, this book considers how people conceptualize their mental health, how distress impacts participation in music education, how music education may support or exacerbate distress, and what supports for distress can be implemented in music education.
List of contents
Introduction: Madness and Distress in Music Education: Toward a Mad-Affirming Approach
Ch. 1 - Just What Is Mad Studies and What Is It Doing in a "Nice" Field Like Music Education?
Ch. 2 - Applying Models from Disability Studies to Experiences of Madness and Distress
Ch. 3 - Conceptualizing and Discussing Mental Health Differences
Ch. 4 - Benefits of Neurodivergence
Ch. 5 - A Question of Visibility: Being "Out" in Music Education
Ch. 6 - How Music (Education) Might Harm
Ch. 7 - How Music (Education) Might Help
Ch. 8 - Abolition and Distress
Conclusion: A Mad-Affirming Music Education
Afterword
Appendix 1 - A Note on Methods
Appendix 2 - A Call for Activism
About the author
Juliet Hess is Associate Professor of Music Education at Michigan State University. She is the author of Music Education for Social Change and co-editor of Trauma and Resilience in Music Education.
Summary
Madness and Distress in Music Education offers an in-depth exploration of mental health and emotional distress in the context of music education, offering new ways of thinking about these experiences and constructing ways to support distress through affirming pedagogy and practices in music education.
