Beyond Song Selection: An Intro to Decolonizing and Antiracist Approaches in the Music Classroom

A workshop for all teachers of song in all classrooms or choirs. Choral pedagogy and practice are rooted in the eurocentric language of 19th century dead white men (and, yes, we can still love them). How can we use a decolonized and culturally responsive approach to engage, empower, and educate without tokenism or cultural appropriation? Led by Brandi Waller-Pace, Founder and Executive Director of Decolonizing the Music Room.

You will be emailed a Zoom teleconference link after June 15. Please purchase at least 24 hours before the class to allow us time to send the emails.

In this session, attendees will learn vocabulary foundational to decolonizing and antiracist approaches in order to develop common language, as well as explore identity and positionality as it relates to their practice.

Brandi Waller-Pace is the Founder and Executive Director of Decolonizing the Music Room. She taught elementary music for ten years in Fort Worth, Texas where she served as a mentor teacher, wrote lower elementary music curriculum. Brandi holds a BM and MM in Jazz Studies from Howard University and is pursuing a PhD in Music Education at The University of North Texas. She has completed Orff Schulwerk certification, Kodály level I, and Music Learning Theory levels I & II. An educational equity advocate, Brandi has been a member of the Fort Worth ISD racial equity committee since 2018 and in 2019. In 2019 and 2020, she served on the Texas African American Studies Course Curriculum Advisory Team, which helped to formulate curriculum standards for Texas’ first state-approved African American course. Brandi is an active musician and performs various styles, most often jazz and early American Roots music. She is an active presenter on topics ranging from decolonizing and anti-racist philosophies in music education to jazz and the Black history of early American music, and incorporating these into the classroom.