Can culturally relevant music help students learn

By Barbara Gutierrez [email protected] 04-23-2026

Ashleigh Berentsen is a junior studying music at the Frost School of Music as well as psychology and education.

This year she was chosen as one of three Library Research Scholars, along with Messiah Majid and Aditto Showkat, and Berentsen decided to combine two of her passions-music and education-to come up with a project.

The Library Research Scholars Program offers University of Miami undergraduate students a unique, librarian faculty-mentored learning experience involving a deep and active engagement with the University Libraries research collections and service programs. Selected students participate in a research program through the academic year that culminates with an annotated bibliography and an intellectual product.

For her project, Berentsen decided to test how a class of fourth graders at Kendale Lakes Elementary School reacted when they were taught a traditional music class as compared to a music class using songs from the Caribbean. Most of the students were the children of immigrants from Caribbean countries.

"Traditional music curricula often center on Western musical practices, which can limit students' sense of belonging and cultural validation in the classroom because they will feel what they learn in school does not correspond with what they do at home," she said.

Berentsen observed that the fourth graders were dancing and clapping as she was teaching them about the Puerto Rican bomba, a music and dance that originated from Afro-Puerto Ricans in 17th-century sugar plantations.

The students had been given "claves," or rhythm sticks, which they used to keep the beat. She also incorporated the history of the music."The music was relevant to them," she said.

But when the class turned into a the more traditional classical training, with music of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and other classical composers, the students did an "180-degree shift," she said. "They looked bored and less interested in learning."

Over the semester, Berentsen and a colleague collected data to measure musical learning, engagement, and enjoyment. The result was that "culturally responsive music pedagogy helped students learn new musical concepts and increased engagement and enjoyment in class compared to traditional Western teachings," she said.

Berentsen hopes that her project will encourage music educators to design curricula that reflect the background and culture of their students. This should be taught in addition to the classical models. Her project also includes several lesson plans that show how to teach culturally relevant courses.

Sara Manus, director of the Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library and Technology Center, was Berentsen's mentor for the project.

"I really love the Libraries Research Scholars Program because it is kind of unique," she said. "There are not many institutions that give the opportunity to undergraduates to undertake something similar to a fellowship program in the libraries."

Manus also praised the program because it allows the students the freedom to explore whatever topic they want.

In addition to the Library Research Scholars, Ella Johnson and Lauren Lassiter were selected as Adobe Scholars through the Adobe Scholars Program, launched in 2018, which builds on the success of the original Library Research Scholars Program.

Adobe Scholars participate actively in the Library Research Scholars Program, receive specialized training from experts associated with the Creative Studio, create an audiovisual and/or multimedia intellectual project, and serve as creative consultants to help other University students maximize the potential of Adobe Creative Cloud and other related tools and software.

For a list of all the Library and Adobe fellows, please use this link: https://www.library.miami.edu/research/library-research-scholars.html