Titles & Descriptions |
New Workshop! Trauma and Resilience in Music Education
This workshop explores the prevalence of trauma in society. I introduce ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and PCEs (Positive Childhood Experiences) and discuss their relevance to teaching. We will explore how Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may show up in students and teachers and consider the role of the teacher in supporting students who have experienced trauma. We will then apply trauma-informed strategies to music education and consider potential mindfulness practices that may be useful to supporting trauma. Collectively, we will consider what it means to create a classroom space where challenging emotions are welcome. We will conclude by troubling the notion of “best practices” in relation to trauma and instead identifying some contextual practices that may be helpful.
Confronting Race and Racism in Music Education: Learning to be Explicit with our Language
In this presentation, I advocate for the use of explicit language for discussions of race and call for music education to move toward a heightened consciousness of political issues and racial oppressions. I employ critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework to examine race-related silences and argue for the importance of using direct language to identify structural and systemic racism. I offer practical suggestions for initiating “race talk” in school music, in postsecondary music education, and in music education scholarship.
Community Cultural Wealth: Cultivating Strengths and Ecshewing Deficit Thinking
Deficit perspectives often frame the public’s images of youth—particularly youth of color in urban areas. I draw on Yosso’s (2005) concept of “community cultural wealth” to consider ways that a strengths-based approach to pedagogy recognizes the assets that all youth bring to the classroom. I discuss a youth songwriting project in which Detroit youth wrote back to the deficit narratives that plagued them through their music and point to some practical ways that teachers can cultivate a strengths-based pedagogy.
Privilege and Music Education: What can a Music Educator Do?
This hands-on workshop will give music educators an opportunity to think about privilege across multiple identity sites including gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and disability. We will consider how privilege and lack of privilege affects students in our classrooms and we will collectively discuss how privilege can intersect with music education. The final component of this workshop invites participants to create ways to address issues of privilege in the music classroom at all levels.
Building a Pedagogy of Community: Fostering Connection through Music Education
This workshop draws upon the work of activist-musicians to look at three approaches to connection in music education. Participants will explore ways to foster connection in the classroom and develop strategies for building community. We will then consider ways to connect musics to their histories through contextualization with an emphasis on music-making as a human practice. Ultimately, participants will strategize ways to help students connect to groups of people who engage in the musical practices they study. Thinking about connection in these three ways—locally in the classroom, historically and presently in relation to musics studied, and in relation to individuals who practice all musics studied—allows for participants to foster a pedagogy of community in their classrooms.
A Pedagogy of Expression: Expressing Yourself Musically in the Classroom
This workshop draws upon the work of activist-musicians to conceptualize a pedagogy of expression in music education that encourages youth to express their experiences through making music. To encourage such expression, teachers must first practice culturally responsive teaching to honor youth’s experiences. Participants will then explore ways to foster expression and develop strategies including songwriting that encourage youth to make music that reflects their realities.
A Pedagogy of Noticing: Thinking Critically in Music Education
Leaning on the work of 20 activist-musicians, I put forward a pedagogy of noticing for music education rooted in Giroux & Giroux’s (2004) “culture of questioning.” This workshop explores ways to encourage students to think critically about the world around them and address what they identify. In a climate of misinformation, children and youth need the skills to be able to analyze what they encounter. Through music making, this workshop engages participants in thinking about creative ways to help young musicians think critically about both their lives and the world around them.
“Is this song okay to perform?” Navigating Choral World Music
Thinking about performing world music with your choir can be difficult to navigate. This workshop will explore some of the elements to look for in selecting repertoire, focusing specifically on text, transmission practices, context, arrangement/composition, programming and audience. We will look at a broad range of repertoire in order to consider ethical issues in selecting multicultural choral music. Participants will leave the workshop with tools to evaluate choral repertoire.
Music Education for Social Change: Constructing an Activist Music Education
This workshop examines the philosophies of 20 activist-musicians and considers their ideas about PK-12 school music education. Participants will explore the tenets of a tri-faceted pedagogy for music education. The first facet, a Pedagogy of Community, emphasizes building community locally, connecting musics to their sociohistorical contexts, and connecting with others through music. The second facet, a Pedagogy of Expression, focuses on honoring students’ realities through culturally responsive teaching and subsequently inviting them to share their experiences through songwriting. The third facet, a Pedagogy of Noticing, centers critical thinking in music education and encourages a “culture of questioning” (Giroux & Giroux, 2004). Together, we will consider what this tri-faceted pedagogy might mean for music education.
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