This paper recommends storytelling and fiction as tools for navigating the practical complexities of inclusivity efforts in music education. Critical music pedagogy asserts that prioritizing the standardized expectations of any single musical system often results in the exclusion of diverse forms of musicking and the neglect of children’s varied wants and needs. Inclusivity, however, is paradoxical, for musical systems are defined by boundaries—and boundaries imply exclusion. Inclusivity has become an umbrella term encompassing diverse learners, pedagogies, and— increasingly—diverse musics. The challenge for educators often lies not in a lack of tools but in their coherent, ethical, and systematic integration. The absence of contextual frameworks through which this myriad of tools can be meaningfully presented may hinder engagement and deep understanding—or, as Bradley (2012) notes, result in cultural misrepresentation or appropriation. I propose that fiction and storytelling can provide a flexible matrix for integrating multiple teaching strategies, functioning as tools for constructing simple musical systems tailored to learners’ needs, curiosities, and abilities, and embedding them within fictional contexts that support diverse pedagogical goals while fostering coherence, engagement, and wholeness. This paper presents a conceptual analysis of how the contexts of musical systems interweave with storytelling frameworks. Drawing on insights from neurocognitive science to guide its reductionist approach, it examines the foundational elements of both music and story and outlines a process through which educators can deconstruct diverse existing musical systems, analyze their internal logic to identify essential building blocks, and, according to pedagogical goals, reorganize those elements to build new, tailored systems. The paper explores the practical possibilities of this approach through hypothetical teaching scenarios—introducing Inuit throat singing in a non-Inuit ecology and transforming painting into the foundation of a musical system inspired by neurodiverse pupils. The reach of such a tool may bridge diverse musical cultures and pedagogical traditions, offering inclusive and engaging possibilities across varied contexts. The paper concludes by suggesting that fiction can liberate us from the constraints of pre-constructed systems and, through an exercise of contrast, deepen our understanding of existing, non-fictional ones. This approach can restore agency to both educator and learner, facilitating the acquisition of diverse musical languages while laying the groundwork for those learner’s who wish to engage more deeply with any single “real-world” musical system.