ACCESS, BELONGING, AND JUSTICE: LESSONS FROM THE WHEEL-HARMONY ORCHESTRA IN SOUTH KOREA FOR INCLUSIVE MUSIC PEDAGOGY

Abstract

Inclusive music education is often assessed with developmental, therapeutic, or access-based metrics, yet these frameworks frequently overlook deeper questions of power, recognition, and cultural legitimacy. This article examines how inclusive ensemble practice can serve as a site of epistemic justice rather than mere accommodation, drawing on a qualitative case study of the Wheel-Harmony Orchestra, a community-based ensemble for children with disabilities in South Korea. Through analysis of student and parent narratives, the study shows that the most consequential outcomes of participation were not technical gains but shifts in belonging, authorship, and social visibility. Situating these findings within disability studies, community music, and critical pedagogy, the article identifies embodied pedagogy, digital mediation, and sonic diversity as structural conditions that determine whether inclusion remains symbolic or becomes transformative. The article argues that inclusive music education must be reconceptualized as a practice of cultural authorship, in which marginalized learners actively reshape what music education recognizes as legitimate knowledge, participation, and excellence.