If Western European colonialism shaped the world we inhabit, music education—emerging from that same modernity—cannot exist outside its structures and effects. During this keynote, we will explore how rethinking music education's purpose demands confronting colonial power, navigating contemporary politics, and drawing on performances like Bad Bunny’s recent Super Bowl halftime show to model decolonial practices across classrooms and communities.

Our current systems dictate what counts as ‘good’ music, whose histories dominate, and who even chooses to study it. Left unchecked, these Eurocentric structures relegate music education to the sidelines, evident in funding declines not from music's intrinsic worth, but from a lack of clarity and direction amid marginalised voices.

By unpacking how Western classical canons have long sidelined non-European musics, entrenched racial hierarchies, and rigidified pedagogy, we deconstruct to reconstruct a plurality of approaches that honour historical traumas, engage present struggles, and envision decolonial futures. Though these approaches can challenge us, it is only through bravery in broaching them can we curate transformative music educations for all, helping to revitalising funding, relevance, and equity to empower all.