As a music teacher, the past 2 years have certainly been eye-opening as to the content I have teaching within my arts program. It has been eye-opening to see that some of the songs I am learning to be educated about in terms of racial insensitivities were ones that have been listed in music songbooks and sung around campfires for years. However, I am naturally committed to insuring the elimination of curriculum violence in all of the subjects I teach. So, how does one go about this long overdue and necessary task?
I started by examining the content I had included for years. Were there other examples that could be presented from a variety of perspectives? I now include teaching the Nutcracker unit with the inclusion of Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite to show students how jazz and classical music can come together. This gives an opportunity for students to have a critical thinking opportunity to see how musicians can infuse a piece of music to give a more inclusive representation of ideas while maintaining the original creation. I also looked at examples of the ballet that included Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) dancers to demonstrate that the arts are continuing to change to allow opportunities for performers of multicultural backgrounds to achieve their dreams and showcase their talents.
Next was looking at the examples I included in my arts presentations. Students attended a virtual concert from Indigenous duo, Twin Flames in Canada and examined some of Notorious Cree’s Tik Tok dances. They were able to connect the infusion of the past and present with examining real world examples of why we say the land acknowledgement every day as well as learning to appreciate the similarities and differences in the arts from a variety of cultures.
Finally, I continue to look at resources in my spare time such as documentary specials or books that highlight a variety of people challenging the stereotypes of what it means to be a member of a community, such as basketball superfan Nav Bhatia or the first coder Ada Lovelace. As libraries both public or in schools re-examine the content that students have access to, it is imperative that we as educators work together in looking at our pre-conceived notions we bring to our teachings.
