Teaching Music for Social Justice - Frank Abrahams

Frank Abrahams Associate Dean and Professor or Music Education Westminster Choir College of Rider University Lawrenceville, New Jersey

The Dean at my University always begins his greetings to new students with “Everyone has a story.” He then tells his story and encourages the participants to share their autobiographies. I often begin my account during the 1960s. I attended high school and college when the country was in an unpopular war, when there were sit-ins and other protests throughout the country. This period of history was when songs of protest such as Bob Dylan's “Blowin' in the Wind” and Peter Paul, and Mary's “If I Had a Hammer” filled the airwaves, LP collections, and school choral folders. Pete Seeger wrote “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and “This Land is Your Land” during this time. These were songs everyone knew and sang; they have since become standards and part of our American folk music history. Now, times are not so different. Like Americans in the 1960s, people are again in the streets of cities across America. They are again protesting injustice, though this time in more focused ways. Today, we champion the Black Lives Matter movement, abhor police violence, and bring into focus the fact that Black people’s ability to walk the streets is compromised for fear police will kill them.

Music Education and Social Justice

How should music education respond to such issues of social justice? While we have an ethical responsibility to address social justice issues, social justice is not a unit in the music curriculum or a stand-alone assignment for a single class. Music education for social justice is a philosophical perspective that should permeate the entire program in classroom lessons, ensemble concerts, and class assignments. Might students in our music classes be writing protest songs? What musics should we include for listening lessons? Some of the popular songs that children listen to outside of school address issues of social justice. What idiomatic and non-idiomatic musics by Black composers might we include?

There are many definitions of social justice. While various definitions address unique aspects of the work of social justice, one that I like is from the literature on relational justice. Pompeu Casanovas and Marta Problet (2008) define relational justice as "the justice produced through cooperative behavior, agreement, negotiation, or dialogue among actors in a post-conflict situation" (abstract, para. 1). The authors embrace identity, diversity, justice, and action. These descriptors are cornerstones of good teaching and consistent with 21st-century cooperation, critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills (Battelle for kids, 2019). Such acts of “negotiation” also nurture the cognitive processes of musical imagination, musical intellect, musical creativity, and music-making through performance (Abrahams & John, 2017), which is consistent with the anchor standards and domains addressed in tolerance.org materials.

Nonetheless, we need to ensure that music teaching and learning remain the core of how we engage with social justice issues within our music classrooms. After all, we are music teachers and have a responsibility to teach music. Our lessons still need to be grounded in musicspecific objectives and rich in engagements with music. Our task, then, is to uncover the abundant opportunities our subject matter offers to engage with concepts of identity, diversity, justice, and action.

How does one teach with a social justice philosophy? Parker Palmer (2017) writes that we teach who we are. To train for social justice, teachers must come to terms with their own understandings of racism, equity, diversity, inclusivity, and democracy. What are their strengths? What are their biases? How can they assure students that their preferences will not disadvantage them? By whose authority can teachers decide what the goals of socially

just music education should be? The imperative work teachers must do to fill the gaps in their own education, research the history and context of the materials they are presenting, find their “blind spots,” and emotionally prepare for the times when their blind spots may be called out. They need to build a respect and rapport with their students so that students feel comfortable voicing when something lands wrong.

Next, teachers need to know who they are teaching. To do that, I ask my students to make a 5-7 minute, “Who Am I?” video. While some record the video in their rooms, others take me on a virtual tour of their neighborhood. I meet their cat, grandma, and see their elementary school, church, and more. It allows me to place them into a context and draw some themes about who they are, where they come from, and the journey that brought them to my class. Some grew up in diverse neighborhoods, while others did not. Some students don’t have access to technology or a dedicated place to study, practice, and work. I like to design lessons that address various learning preferences and styles and account for who has access to technology, their socio-economic status, and more. The video gives me the chance to plan more sensitively and appropriately. Sometimes, I ask them to remake the video a year later to see how they have changed. That is often eye-opening and provides a terrific assessment.

Next, teachers must consider social justice goals for the students. How might the experiences students have in my music class impact their future growth? Teachers don’t have a crystal ball, but they can hope that their class helps their students be socially conscious, committed to ethical practice, and strong advocates for racial equality. They can support the rights of all people and show empathy and compassion for those of under-represented populations. I want my students to recognize and accept their responsibility to stand up to exclusion, prejudice, and injustice and to speak up courageously and respectfully when they see that someone else has been a victim of bias. I am hoping students will be agents of change that ensure equity and ethical behavior. In short, I argue for humane and civil dispositions. However, these are my values and may not be consistent with my students' religious teachings, family values, or personal perspectives. Furthermore, like teachers in every subject, I don’t have the autonomy to decide curricula. Teachers must consider external political structures that mandate parameters and traditions that may not represent the teaching population.

Embedded in the discussions I have with students as part of the music lesson, includes dialogue that helps students recognize and counteract stereotypes and relate to each other as individuals rather than groups’ representatives. I hope that they use their musical gifts to denounce and combat racism at all levels, poverty, homelessness, and issues of access. I do that by providing students with musical experiences that model ethical behavior and a commitment to repair the world. I want all students to rebel against hegemonic structures that delimit actions and attitudes contrary to their conceptions of the humane, ethical, and just. Together, I want us to choose, share, and embrace music representing all students.

The COVID19 pandemic has caused us to interact with each other in different ways. Still, what follows is a sample lesson for middle school students that embeds relational justice issues into the pedagogy.

Social Justice in Action

General Music Lesson Plan (for face-to-face instruction in the classroom or remote instruction online)

Title of Lesson: A Music Encounter for Today. Grade Level: Middle School

Learning Goals: What Learners will

Be able to do (behavioral): Students will name 3 Black composers with a success rate of 80%.

Understand (cognitive): Students will recognize the social injustices in society as exemplified by current events and analyze musical responses to the issues.

Encounter (experiential): Students will examine their own personal (and perhaps private) emotional responses to social justice issues that impact them.

Construct meaning (constructivist): Students will come to empathize with the issues of oppressed and under-represented people, as represented in music that addresses social justice issues.

Focusing Question

In what ways will students deepen their understanding of social justice issues in society and realize how music can bind people together in positive ways?

Online Learning Outcomes 1. To foster learner autonomy and independence. 2. To instill learner responsibility for knowledge acquisition and mastery. 3. To encourage creative and divergent thinking.

Materials

Resound: Black History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plS0Ejtj6gI&ab_ channel=OfficialResound

Ten Great Black Composers To Know https://www.king.org/ten-great-black-composers-toknow/

Margaret Bonds – Ballad of the Brown King https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQE-S3b4FA0

Freedom is Coming – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOZaXN5bKH8

Siyahamba – Mwamba Children's Choir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KZbMprW8U

For teacher reference: Social Justice Standards: The Teaching Tolerance Anti-Bias Framework https://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/2017-06/ TT_Social_Justice_Standards_0.pdf

Process

Partner: (Honor THEIR world by beginning with an experience students bring to the lesson. Include time for students to collaborate and respond through sharing and discussion.) The teacher poses the following prompt: “Think about a time when you or someone you know, may have felt oppressed, mistreated, bullied, or disadvantaged. As you are comfortable, share with the class in the classroom, or post your comments in an online discussion board.”

Present: (Sequence the lesson steps. Take the learning from THEIR world to the world of the classroom. Present or have students find the information and allow time for students to practice and respond. Engage critical thinking, problem posing, and problem-solving. The teacher monitors a discussion of the student experiences and connects them to current oppression today, guiding the conversation to racial injustices happening now. Together, they define social justice. As a class, with the teacher, or on their own at home, students read the article and watch the videos included in “Ten Great Black Composers to Know” as an example of these composers’ brilliance and excellence despite oppression in various societies, contexts, or eras. As they read and watch, ask students to think about why some consider these composers “great” and why we should know them. Share answers in a class discussion or small groups in a chat room or singly on a discussion board. What themes emerge from the debate? Do issues of social justice arise? What are they?

As a class in the classroom or online, watch “Black History” by Resound. As an extension, students listen to “Ballad of the Brown King” by Margaret Bonds or they learn to sing “Freedom is Coming” and “Siyahamba,” which are South African protest songs. There are multiple versions of each on YouTube.

What themes of social justice emerge from these musical examples? Share with the class in the classroom, in small groups in a breakout room, or singly on an online discussion board.

Personalize: (Make the learning personal to the students. Provide opportunities for students to create and be musicians. Encourage musical thinking and innovation. Students choose one (1) of the following or suggest an appropriate alternative: 1. Singly, in small groups in the classroom, or in breakout rooms online, students make a musical playlist of music by 10 contemporary Black composers or performers of any genre that they feel everyone should know. They make a video explaining why they chose the playlist's selections and how social justice themes are present. They post their video on an online Discussion Board. Remind students of the school-based context of the activity and ask them to find radio-edits for songs that may have language that is not appropriate for school. 2. Students compose an original song that expresses

their personal feelings connected to a social justice theme for today. They share with the class in the classroom, at a synchronous class meeting online, or as a video. 3. Students propose to their teacher an additional alternative to the list above for them to complete. If approved, they complete the project.

Perform: (Communicate and share the new learning as students perform through concert presentation, demonstration, or exhibition. Using ZOOM or other online platforms, invite parents and friends to an “open house” to share the work completed. For each presentation, students share (connect) how the lesson impacted their views of social justice.

After, students meet with the teacher, in the classroom or online, to share and process how this lesson impacts their commitment to social justice and set a social justice agenda for future music classes.

Assessment

Formative

The teacher monitors the quality and focus of student contributions to discussions either in the classroom or online.

Summative

Teachers assess the quality of each child's contribution to the final “performance.” Perhaps the teacher develops a rubric to quantify this assessment. As an exit ticket, students list 3 Black composers studied in the lesson.

Integrative

The teacher formally reflects on the following questions: - In what ways did the lesson meet the learning objectives? - In what ways did the lesson meet the online learning outcomes? - In what ways might the teacher strengthen the lesson the next time they teach it?

Conclusion

A school music program cannot solve all the world’s problems. However, teaching for social justice enables teachers to connect to Black Lives Matter. In addition, it can provide musical experiences that nourish students’ social and emotional needs in ways that are supportive and nurturing. As their teacher, I can try to model those behaviors in the musical experiences that we find meaningful and design together. The music class should be a safe place where students have opportunities to work collaboratively on projects that engage their musical imaginations, intellect, and creativity in pieces of music that teach them to work cooperatively together and blur socially-constructed boundaries that seek to keep us separated. It is a place where there is space for them to share and perform for each other.

References Abrahams, F., & John, R. (2020). Planning instruction in music online supplements. Chicago: GIA.

Abrahams, F., & John, R. (2017). Becoming musical.

Chicago: GIA Publications.

Battelle for Kids (2019). Framework for 21st century learning. http://static.battelleforkids.org/documents/ p21/P21_Framework _Brief.pdf

Casanovas, P. & Poblet, M. (2008). Concepts and Fields of Relational Justice. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-85569 9_21.

Social justice standards: The teaching tolerance anti-bias framework. https://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/ files/2017-06/TT_Social_Justice_Standards_0.pdf

McCarthy, B. (1980). The 4MAT system: Teaching to learning styles with right-left mode techniques (2nd ed.) Wauconda, IL: About Learning, Inc.

Palmer, P. J. (2017). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life (20th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.