The Origin Story

May 6, 2020 I had a Cerebellar Stroke and spent the next month in the hospital in treatment and recovery. The intracranial pressure caused an intense amount of pain. I made a few attempts to engage with friends and family on social media. During the early stages of the pandemic patients weren’t allowed to have visitors. I was lonely, scared, and in pain.

Social media was my only connection to the outside world. When I felt up to it I watched short videos, laughed at memes, and reacted to posts. But then news of Breonna Taylor’s murder investigation started to gain traction on social media and then news and video of George Floyd’s murder flooded my timeline. These deaths were particularly hard on me. I was hurt, sad, disgusted, and outraged, but I was in too much physical pain to respond/engage on social media or to let out my grief. I thought about Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Botham Jean, and the many others who were taken from us for the crime of being Black in America.

When I was released from the hospital I was anxious to put the stroke behind me and heal. I was happy to be home, but I was unsettled, still angry, and anxious. I needed to engage with others. Many virtual conversations on anti-racism, virtual music learning, took place during Summer 2020. I listened in to hear what my colleagues and music leaders were saying and to learn how my home state was preparing to incorporate anti-racist teaching in music. I did not believe racism and DEI were adequately addressed during these virtual conversations and seminars. Many music practitioners and leaders used “culturally responsive” or “culturally relevant” pedagogy as buzz words. When direct questions were asked about the teaching methods, the answers were either surface level or avoided entirely. 

To me culturally relevant or responsive pedagogy is both obvious and elusive.  Some teachers enact CRP with innate knowledge or unconscious competence, while other teachers don’t know where or how to begin CRP. I learned from social media postings and virtual music conversations/seminars there were music teachers who wanted to change their teaching and become a culturally responsive and relevant music educator. Music teachers need a resource and guide to assist them on their journey to becoming culturally responsive and relevant.

I reached out to my friends with the idea of forming a research group. Our goal would be to  create a framework for culturally relevant and responsive music teaching. I reached out to friends who I believe are exceptional K-16 music educators, have a passion for social justice, and who want to make changes in the music education profession. Our first meeting was in July 2020. Our team is comprised of 5 people from 5 different states and 3 time zones. The pandemic gave each one of us access to video conferencing technology that made meeting possible. In all honesty we did not know how to begin this project, how we would demonstrate our findings, or what the conclusion of this project might be. But cultural studies don’t ever really conclude.  Research has shown when CRP is not fully understood by educators and community stakeholders, not implemented with fidelity, or is applied in very surface ways (e.g., cultural celebrations) students show marginal gains in academic success. We knew the work we were doing was not only important but necessary. We knew we were on the right track.