Stories and narratives as agencies of change in music education: Narrative mania or a resource for developing transformative music education professionalism?

Abstract

By synthetizing a compilation of theoretical lenses and exemplifying narration in one institution’s community building, this inquiry explores the idea of stories and narratives as important strategic agencies of change for music education professional communities. More specifically, it examines narrating as forward-looking and as a source for creating identities for academic communities and organizations, and how the meaning, related to narration, anticipates action. It also highlights the importance of identifying Future Narratives in nodal situations that present the potential for changing the course of action. Through theoretical exploration and practical illustrations, the inquiry aims to trace the connection between narration, meaning, action, and imagination in supporting the emergence of desirable scenarios as well as the significance of language and positive narration in developing a sense of transformative music education professionalism.