Erin Emery-Dumas

If you have explored my page titled “Projects & Presentations,” you have probably seen the wide array of things I worked on in college at Western Michigan University, as well as a few things I created after graduating. I thought it would be fun to review papers that I have written now that I’ve had a couple years of teaching experience, rather than simply theorizing what I would do when I wasn’t in the classroom. The first of these reviews covers a paper that I was incredibly proud of titled “Racism in American Elementary Music Education.” I wrote this for a course called School & Society, which was honestly one of my favorite classes that I took at WMU. You can read the paper below.

The very first thing I notice is my statement that we used “outdated elementary music methods and songbooks.” I still stand by this, 100%. The books you can find in my classroom include Share the Music, published in 1995, Game Plan, published in 2006, and First Steps in Music, which was also published in 2006. I don’t usually use Share the Music because it is so outdated. I occasionally reach for Game Plan because the lessons are easy to follow, but some of the songs are offensive and hold people of various races in a negative light. I have gone through and written in more appropriate songs to use instead. This statement stands for First Steps in Music, as well. While a lot of the content is good, we need to have more updated versions available to us.

Because of this, my district also has a subscription to MusicPlayOnline. I tend to use this resource the most often because it is constantly being updated, which allows me to use culturally sensitive and relevant materials. It isn’t a perfect solution, but it’s much more useful to me than the books that are decades out of date. I still thoroughly believe in my statement that “elementary music method books need to be updated and their publishers should be held accountable.”

Something that I need to be more careful about is avoiding generalizations and comparisons. When talking about music from various cultures, I will often say that it is “similar to” Western music in XYZ ways. I do this because I feel as though it helps students make connections between their cultures and the ones that they are learning about. I would argue with my previous self that you don’t necessarily have to avoid these statements all together, as long as you are able to teach about the concept WITHOUT the comparisons as well. I think a better way to approach this would be to teach the music as it is, and then ask students to make connections to their cultures on their own.

Another statement that I have held myself accountable to as a teacher is as follows: “Since race is not something that is often discussed in music classes, especially at the elementary level, students avoid the conversation. This, however, is something that teachers need to bring awareness to in order to stop minority discourse.” We discuss MANY different races in my music classes, and talk about the history relating to each piece. If that means we have to talk about enslavement, we do it. An example of this would be when I taught a lesson about “Build a House” by Rhiannon Giddens. We had a thorough discussion regarding Juneteenth and how it still impacts POC to this day. If teachers are afraid to talk about various races in their classroom, they are preventing students from learning about so many different cultures.

This also relates to the questions I listed in my original essay. “Who wrote [this piece of music]? Why did they write it? What was happening in the world when they wrote it? Conversation about these questions … can lead to the discussion of social justice issues, current events, and historical connections.” Simply including the answers to these questions for each piece of music we discuss allows students to have a broader understanding of the topic at hand.

The paragraph that follows that statement is a major part of my philosophy. In it I say, “In addition to students gaining unfamiliar musical experiences, it is important to use pieces that represent their heritage.” This is what I call windows and mirrors. A window allows students to peak outside to learn about various cultures, and a mirror reflects their own. If you teach in a predominantly Hispanic school, make sure you are teaching about Hispanic music. Know who you are teaching, and use that to your advantage.

As I stated in my final paragraph, “It isn’t difficult to include culturally diverse music in classrooms and give that music context … So why is it acceptable for elementary music educators to blatantly use racist content when there are anti-racist options at their fingertips?” This is such a big takeaway that I still believe in to this day. Am I perfect when it comes to this? No. I am a white woman who is learning every day. We all make mistakes. In order to learn and grow from those mistakes, we need to have an open mind and accept the responsibility of holding ourselves and fellow educators accountable.