Several states in the US, including Georgia, recently enacted legislation (Divisive Concepts Laws) limiting teacher discretion in the classroom. Teachers have faced disciplinary action for discussing “divisive concepts,” such as gender, sexuality, race, and equity. The National Core Arts Standards prescribe that students should understand music in relation to history and culture. In states where DCL prohibits discussion of race, how does one teach an African American Spiritual without discussing enslavement? Can DCL prohibit music teachers from programming repertoire by LGBT composers? Even non-curricular decisions, such as choosing performance attire or assigning singers’ voice parts may now violate Georgia laws.

Previous research on the effects of DCL on education include Rand Corporation’s 2023 survey of 1,439 K-12 teachers, which found that teachers limited their classroom discussions of political and social issues even if they were not in states with DCL. The study’s authors call this phenomenon “Spill Over,” hypothesizing that local restrictions and/or fear of repercussions caused teachers to censor themselves. Salvador (2022) surveyed 315 members of the National Association for Music Education in 45 states about the impacts of DCL. While some teachers supported DCL, others found that DCL limited their content, pedagogy, and/or relationship-building with students. Some respondents indicated unfamiliarity with DCL.

In the authors’ current study of Georgia Music Educators (n=229), many respondents reported they were unaware of DCL passed in Georgia, had not received professional development on the topic, and were concerned they might unknowingly be out of compliance with the law. The current study of Georgia Music Educators is a microcosm of DCL’s effects on American Music Education. The findings can inform educator preparation programs for pre-service teachers and professional development for in-service teachers. The firing of an elementary teacher for unknowingly violating Georgia’s DCL in 2023 emphasizes the timeliness of the current research.

Starting with the idea that it is urgently necessary to invest even more development work in the networking of schools and arts institutions it seems important to develop new concepts and formats for school concerts, which do not only focus on musical works, but rather on how pupils can be reached, activated and motivated for further cultural experiences and cultural participation.

Based on the theory of the capability approach (Vogt 2013, Lehmann-Wermser et. al. 2014; Krupp-Schleußner 2018) and studies in the field of concert pedagogy (Bernhofer et al 2022 & 2016) fundamental considerations on the necessary transformation from traditional concert visits to new concepts of cultural experiences with pupils, which include also a strong focus on the preparation and reflection phase, will be presented in this paper: How can concert formats be designed? What kind of school concerts are able to convey positive cultural experiences? What possibilities and spaces of experiences become visible? What kinds of preparation and follow-up is useful? These and more research questions had been raised in four (unpublished) quantitative and qualitative studies in the context of different new concepts of school concerts:

Two studies investigated the effects of special music theatre projects for primary school children (n=650) and for 14- to 19-year-old pupils (n=156) through questionnaires before and after the cultural experience. Another interview-study evaluates the teachers` perspectives on a certain pupil concert and finally a big qualitative study (n=635) impressively demonstrates the positive results of an innovative online concert format for 8- to 12-year-old pupils. The results motivate to new approaches with dialogic concert formats that are designed across interfaces and focus on the subject's concert experience both for pupils in schools and for students at the university in their dual role as artists and educators.

The presentation indicates the position of musical art in the system of primary and secondary education in Montenegro. With the aim of highlighting problems and challenges that music pedagogues have been facing for many years, a survey was conducted, which included 85 music pedagogues employed in primary general education schools. The results showed that a large number of primary schools do not have an equipped cabinet for music teaching. Russell-Bowie (2004) also notices the lack of basic teaching aids and the lack of resources. Teaching in the first and second cycle is often carried out by classroom teachers who do not have an adequate musical education. Some researches highlighted the situation of non-specialist elementary teacher education students as having little confidence in their own musical ability and their ability to teach children music (Kim 2001; Jeanneret 1997). In Montenegro, music pedagogues take over teaching in the sixth grade. They find the knowledge and skills that students acquired in previous grades to be unsatisfactory. The teachers point out that the number of scheduled lessons is small - only one lesson per week in each grade of primary school. The results of the research conducted by Kilic (2012) point to similar problems in Turkey.

Analyzing the situation in the high school education system, we conclude that knowledge in the field of musical art is acquired only by students of grammar school, as well as secondary vocational schools: art and music schools, while the Musical Art course has been abolished in all other secondary vocational schools. The purpose of the presentation is to encourage finding systemic solutions to the observed problems, and to lead the competent institutions to consider the opinion of the profession, which could improve the position of musical art in the system of primary and secondary education in Montenegro.