In this study, I uncover the coded meanings of "urban" within the music education profession through an exploration and analysis of the discourse present in two prominent music education journals, Music Educators Journal (MEJ) and The Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME). Using critical discourse analysis (CDA), I investigate how the term "urban" is used in statements within a twenty-year time span (1991-2010), and how the words "inner-city," "at-risk," "race," and "diversity" are used in similar ways throughout the corpus. An in-depth examination of these five terms across twenty years of two major publications of the profession reveals attitudes and biases within the music education structure, uncovering pejorative themes in the urban music education discourse. The phrase "urban music education" is rarely defined or explained in the corpus examined in this study. Rather, the word "urban" is at times a euphemism. Based on a CDA conducted in this study, I suggest that "urban" is code for poor, minority, and unable to succeed. Relying on the philosophical ideas of Michel Foucault, I uncover ways in which the profession labels urban music programs, students, and teachers and how the "urban music education" discourse privileges the White, suburban, middle class ideal of music education. I call for an evaluation of the perceptions of "success" in the field, and advocate for a paradigm shift, or different methods of knowing, in order to provide a more just teaching and learning space for all music education actors.

The purpose of this study was to examine selected characteristics of the editorial committee of the Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME) during the publication's first 40 years (1953-1992). Findings include:

1. The appointment of women to the committee increased significantly by decade but lagged behind female researcher productively in music education.
2. Committee members received their doctorates from and were affiliated with a relatively large number of colleges and universities.
3. Generally, geographical distribution of the doctoral-degree-granting and affiliated institutions was proportionate to regional populations.
4. Committee members' rate of publication in the JRME before appointment increased significantly by decade.
5. Female members published significantly more JRME article than did male members during one decade, but there was no significant publication difference between male and female members for the four decades combined.

The authors noted a possible trend toward dominance among doctoral-degree-granting institutions, but applauded the demographic representativeness of the committee over the four decades and continuing improvements toward the same.