Be an Anti-racist Music Teacher

The current challenges of our society are forcing us, in a good way, to reflect on our teaching philosophy and practices.

We are asked to revise our curriculum and our own intercultural competence in order to foster a more culturally responsive classroom.

Here is an essential question:
How do I become an Anti-Racist teacher?

Here is a great definition:
Anti-Racist Pedagogy:
1.“It is a pedagogy that is grounded in deep self-interrogation of your role in upholding White Supremacy and internalizations that come from being socialized in a racist society. It evaluates areas of racist thought that result in behaviors that cause students to have to navigate, suppress, and ignore moments or environments where racism is apparent.
2.It is a pedagogy that is undergirded by efforts outside of the classroom that focuses on antiracist engagement. It focuses on changing “policy instead of groups of people.” A Pedagogy for Living by Jason A Dungee. Choral Journal Volume 61 Number 4, 2020

Being more inclusive with the language you use with your students and including more diversity in your curriculum are the first steps toward progress, but those are not enough. I get very excited when I read that some of my colleagues commit themselves to decolonize their curriculum, abolitionist teaching, and centering the voices of the marginalized communities.

All of these are great big goals but how do we do that?

Here are some steps I have found beneficial in my journey:

• Revising the curriculum. Is your curriculum inclusive and diverse? Is it representative of the humans in your classroom? Does it represent the diversity that exists in our country? Which communities are being centered?

• Do the work of confronting your own biases. A recent study showed that 77% of the educators sampled exhibited implicit bias, in comparison to 77.1% of white people. Afterward, the researchers discovered that 30.3% of teachers have explicit bias vs. 30.4% of professionals who are not educators. We all have biases.

• Recognize the system of oppression that is ingrained in our society and educational system. To be anti-racist is to engage in antiracist practices inside and outside our classroom. We must advocate for policy changes that dismantle the systems of oppression. Use your voice to speak up when others are not able to, amplify the voices that are screaming to be heard, and center the critical race issues.

• Allow your students to communicate freely how they are feeling and to use their voice to advocate as well.

• Have those hard conversations about Racism, White Supremacy, and White Privilege. Part of our work is to confront racism in our close circle and in our communities.

• Align your values with your power. Remember the phrase “put your money where your mouth is”?

To be an Anti-racist teacher you have to start by looking at what your students need. If you are serving a diverse community, you have to provide your students with meaningful representation.

If you are serving a more homogeneous population you must show them the diversity that exists out there and how to engage respectfully. They need to know that they matter, especially because of their differences.

As I engage in this work of finding ways to be respectful in how I share new cultures with my students, I continue by finding a definition of Cultural Appropriation and this particular definition by Ryan Cho helped me find clarity.

Cultural Appropriation happens when, "People from a more powerful culture adopt the art, symbols, or elements of a less powerful culture without understanding or respecting the context or history of that material.” Cultural Appropriation and Choral Music by Ryan Cho. Choral Journal volume 55, number 10, 2015

After sharing this definition with some colleagues, the language in it was scrutinized. One particular word that was discussed was the use of “powerful” in this context. Someone might object to the use of this word as it could imply one group being more capable than another. But one can argue that White Supremacy’s goal has always been about maintaining power at any cost, and the price paid by some communities has indeed been very high. So, in my opinion, what we should be trying to do is to tilt the balance of power.

Music is not a Universal Language but music is something that most cultures around the world have in common. Each culture has its own music and ways to interact with it as a way to communicate and preserve elements of their identity.

Music is a common thread across many cultures but the way that cultures notate, use, perform and interact with music makes it particular to such culture hence not accessible to everyone without prior knowledge about that particular musical experience.

The role that music plays in culture varies from one group of people to another group of people. So we can’t understand what is communicating all the time.

Teaching cultural competency is a vital role in our profession and a step in the right direction towards social justice.

For our students to take ownership of their education and be motivated students they need to know and feel that their identity is honored, valued, respected, and part of the educational process.

So, as you travel your journey to better understand the issue, be more empathetic towards your BBIA students, and better advocate for social justice. Here are some resources for your consideration:

Music-specific anti-racism resources Document compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein in May 2020. Music Resources compiled by Christian Folk, May 2020.

Additional Resources: "If I can't teach this song, what should I teach?" compiled by Kelsey Gamza and yours truly.