What It Means to be White ~ Inclusive Programming Part II of II

What It Means to be White ~ Inclusive Programming Part II of II

It wasn’t until recently that I became fully aware of the scope of disparity in race and gender that encompasses the music composition world.
I’m now in my fifth year of teaching high school band and, up to this point, it was never really something I had considered. I would go online, to Everyone’s Favorite Music Distributor & Son, Inc.*, and peruse their lists – listening to recordings of titles that I found interesting (because, let’s be honest, we all judge a book by its cover when we’re limited on time). I used to think: “Wow, if I ever get into writing music, I should always title my piece ‘Aardvark Adventures’, or ‘Aaron’s Lofty Dreams’ so that I can make sure my titles are on the first page.” Adam Collins

The rhythm is gonna get ya!

The rhythm is gonna get ya!

Ah… Sweet, sweet 🎶 We play it, fill our ears with it, go to sleep and wake up to it, a cappella to it, whistle to it, hum to it, dance to it, do back flips on ice and mats to it, attend standing-room-only concerts to it, Alleluia and Amen to it, protest and march to it, doo wop to it, Motown to it, rap to it, lull babies to sleep to it, provide a lady’s/gentleman’s choice to it, snowball to it, hokey pokey to it, scream it out loud (off key) in the car to it, shower to it, horses and riders dance Freestyle to it.
Maybe one day we learn to harmonize with each other to it.