This paper reports on a study examining preservice teachers' level of comfort in working with students and colleagues of a different race, and exploring the effects of special training and field experience on their level of comfort with multicultural situations. The study involved 55 predominantly white preservice teachers enrolled in 2 different sections of an undergraduate music and related arts methods course at a large southeastern university. Subjects in both sections received special training in multicultural music education. All subjects also participated in a 6-week laboratory teaching experience, Section A in a small rural elementary school with predominately minority (African American) students from low income families, and Section B in a similar school with predominately white students from middle income families. Analysis of the data revealed that while participants felt that special training increased their comfort with some situations, they had substantial difficulty applying what they had learned during their field experiences. Students placed in the predominantly African American school worried about offending students in their classes, expressed frustration over difficulties in understanding the children's dialect, and acknowledged that it was their first experience in being in the minority. Appendices include questionnaire data presented in tables. (Contains 15 references.) (ND)