(1) acts as a strong and positive ambassador for EPS
(2) attends school events and student performances (i.e. arts, athletics, social)
(3) participates visibly in the daily life of the school
(4) recognizes and supports diversity in all its forms
My goal as a music educator is to create and support a diverse community of student musicians within the school and facilitate opportunities for them on and off campus. Through these experiences I contribute to building community within the student groups as well as between the student groups and audiences. Most of our audience is the EPS student, faculty and parent community, although we have had the opportunity over the last several years to expand beyond that as well and build relationships with the professional and public facing arts community and the independent school music education community. Although it may be an awkward fit for this category, my curriculum choices impact the community I build through my classes and how I support a diverse group of learners. Because I am not required to work through the Curriculum section of the PDP, it naturally fit well here for me to address those choices.
In late fall 2019, I facilitated an exciting experience for select members of the EPS choir classes from 7-12th grade to sing in a professional production of the Mark Morris Dance Group’s ballet The Hard Nut.
The EPS name was included on the front page of the playbill, and the students performed in 7 of the 14 shows during the run. This was a professional level experience for our students, as they sang under the baton of Colin Fowler, experienced the life cycle of a show through repeated performances, and were held to the same standards as the other professionals involved. Through this experience the students interacted with professional artists and performed in a premier venue in downtown Seattle, The Paramount Theater. 
On the final performance, I brought Thank You cards for the students to write notes to the STG and MMDG staff and artists who helped to create this experience for us. Among others, they wrote notes to the following people: Colin Fowler, the conductor of the MMDG Orchestra, Greg McKell, our daily handler and go-to person, Sarah Strausbaugh, the STG Associate Director of Community Programs, and even Mark Morris himself, founder and artistic director of the Mark Morris Dance Group. Through this experience the students’ ambassadorship was excellent (1) as acknowledged in a thank you email from The Seattle Theatre Group, “Many people commented that the choirs were fun, professional, and beautifully sounding. You made an extremely positive impression and added a glow to the lobby and your part in the performance. Many thanks again for your time, energy, perseverance, patience, joy, and artistry. Our greatest appreciation! I hope that we have another opportunity to work with both choirs” (Rel-3) .
One of the things that I love about teaching music is that it is timeless and universal. We can learn to understand ourselves and understand others through music by studying the context of the language, time, place, or inspiration. In regarding diversity within the domain of community membership and support (4) I focus on the membership and support that I can provide my students within the classroom and EPS community. In my personal practice this overlaps quite a bit with curriculum development, which may be a stretch for this category called Community Membership, however I believe supporting our community should be to recognize each person, and listen to them and believe them. Through my music choices, I try to create opportunities to celebrate language, history, religion, ritual and celebration, learning differences… anything and everything. I seek input from experts when I can’t and shouldn’t represent something myself, and generally participate in the learning process with the students from a very honest and transparent place. Here are ways that this is present in my practice.
Regarding diversity in religion, nationalism and singing words they may not believe or relate to
The Paramount experience we had recently required us to sing twenty minutes of Christmas Carols before the show started
I had several non-Christian students participate in the experience and we had open and frank conversations about what their experience would be like. Similarly, in teaching The National Anthem for the UW basketball game, we had open and frank conversations about how to sing music that you may not feel reflects your personal beliefs. At this point in our country’s state of affairs, some students were less than enthusiastic about the lyrics of the National Anthem.
Regarding diversity in language, ethnicity and culture
I try to embrace the diversity inherent within vocal music. The traditional choral cannon is rooted in western European culture and can reflect a narrow establishment history of vocal music. Some academics argue that teaching western tradition as the gold standard of music is to reinforce institutionalized racism and patriarchy. In my music programming I intentionally look beyond the traditional canon in order to reflect vocal music as both timeless and universal, as well as provide variety in how we learn, the exploration of resonant spaces in vocal production, and a variety of sounds for the audience. (Rel-7, 9). This is an example of a traditional Zulu song from South Africa. We learned this song aurally, not using traditional classical notation, as would have been the local tradition. Through a collaborative project with the publishers, all proceeds from purchasing the sheet music go directly to supporting choral music and composers in South Africa.
Regarding diversity in learning differences
I am still somewhat limited by what exists within notation, as it is always a helpful “shared text” in class. But I have made efforts to get away from it at times, in exploring learning and arranging by ear without notation (Rel-9), as well as teaching from the tradition of the music itself (aural, as in the video above).
Regarding a binary language and the evolving gender spectrum
Many years of hearing sopranos and altos referred to as girls or women, and tenors and basses as boys or men, created a gender orientated pattern of language in my rehearsal process. Functionally it was just faster to say “girls” than “sopranos and altos” and, sopranos and altos were always girls. Then, in my first year of teaching I had a soprano who identified as he/him. I had to update my language. In my process of doing so, I have learned how to talk to students about it, how to be transparent about my own learning process, to forgive myself when I make mistakes, and how to be a better advocate for all students. I have basically eliminated those terms from my rehearsal management language, and in turn learned more about hormones and the changing voice.
My participation in the daily life of the school as well as attendance at after-school events is largely centered around what I do for my classes, including performing in assemblies and concerts, running musical rehearsals, and the ad hoc music flash mob (2, 3). This year Dr. Castro and I programmed curriculum around Stevie Wonder and had intended to perform in the MLKjr day of celebration organized by DEI Coordinator Bess McKinney however that was sadly canceled (twice. What the heck, 2020. Rel-10) Outside of my own class commitments my calendar is full of school events, music related or not. I attend plays to support my arts colleagues and the performing arts students and I usually attend one or two athletic events each year (2109 homecoming volleyball game and 2020 basketball game). I have chaperoned hikes and ski busses, dances and coffee houses. I was featured in an epic battle of bad-video game playing set up by the EPS broadcasting club, Ellingson against Castro. Sadly, I lost (Rel-5). I love being a part of a school community and I am thankful to be integrated outside of only my classes. In my future practice, as part of the national movement to identify and eliminate systemic racism, I would like to continue the work of de-colonializing the music education classroom. I need to better explore difficult questions of representation, and appreciation vs appropriation, and continue to educate myself on how to be an inclusive member of a diverse community through my work.