Dr Deborah Bradley
University of Toronto Guest Lecture On October 18th, Dr Deborah Bradley came to Western University to speak about her article, Music Education, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism: Can We Talk? I appreciated her lecture as it helped me better understand terms included in her article and clarified the article as a whole. I found her article difficult to read as it had a lot of tough language, however after her lecture, I feel as if I have a better grasp on the terms and the whole idea of why she wrote it. One thing that Dr Bradley said that stuck with me is, “first and foremost, music is a social and cultural experience.” This particular quote stuck with me long after the lecture because I thought it was very interesting that she chose social and cultural as the defining factors of a musical experience. I realized that she is right. Before we obtain things such as musicianship skills and performance experience, music begins as a social and cultural activity. Through music we meet different people and learn about different cultures and ways of life. I am glad that she said this as it made me think about what I get out of music and has stuck with me since she said it. I really enjoyed how Dr Bradley spoke about the difference between non-racist and anti-racist. The term anti-racist was used quite a lot in her article and her speaking about it really helped me to understand this term. I got a lot out of the video that she showed because it reiterated the fact that we need to stop being non-racist and start being anti-racist. Instead of just not being racist, we need to be making conscious efforts to stop racism. That is anti-racism. The video compared anti-racist to anti-rapist and also made ties to climate change. These comparisons made me realize that being non-racist just isn’t enough and we need to be taking action, particularly in the classroom and education setting to stop racism. Even though we don’t support racism, being a bystander and watching it happen is not the moral thing to do. While I enjoyed how Dr Bradley spoke about the previous topic, I also enjoyed how she talked a bit about the history of the world and certain turning points of racism. However a couple of times, I found myself wondering how this relates to music education. I came to my answer when Dr Bradley said, “how can we use our tool of music to get people to know other people without making assumptions.” I love this particular quote because it helped me realize that as an educator I have the ability to use music to make positive changes in the way people view others. This quote was very powerful and I took a lot out of it and I think it poses an excellent question, worthy of thinking about. Another thing that I am taking away from this lecture is the importance of teaching our students what the music is about. Dr Bradley stated the importance of teaching the history of the repertoire that we choose our students to perform. Even though it make take more time and we may have to chose less songs to teach, knowing the background of a piece is essential as students have to know what they are singing or playing about. I can relate this to my own experiences as in the Hamilton Children’s choir, my conductor Zimfira Poloz, always made sure we knew extol what we were singing about and would even bring in people from the countries to talk to us to make sure that we had an understanding got their culture and were able to perform the piece in a respectful way. On the other hand, in my high school choir we were always very rushed for time and so my conductor focused only on learning the notes and being performance rather than taking the time to speak about the music. Knowing where the music came from and what I was singing about was a much more enjoyable experience and much more rewarding. It is just not right to not teach what the music is about and as a result many people in my school choir did not have respect for music of different cultures than their own and were actually very negative when we were presented with a piece in a language other than English. Furthermore, in addition to all of that, I also really enjoyed how Dr Bradley spoke about teaching and music education. “Our duty is to help students see how the music fits into the world we live in and to help students view people differently.” I really appreciate her teaching style and I hope to be able to employ some of these extremely important philosophies into my own teaching someday. Lastly, after attending this lecture, there are a couple of things that I am particularly going to try to not do. The first being “othering” people. Dr Bradley spoke a bit about the term “othering” and how if they don’t live the same life as we do, we group them and call them an other. This is unethical and immoral and I am going to focus on not using this term when addressing those from different ways of life than my own. Another take away from this lecture is not making assumptions. Dr Bradley spoke about how many are so quick to jump to conclusions and say things about their peers without knowing what is really going on in their lives. I should focus on getting to know the person before making any kind of assumption and I am going to make a conscious effort to do so. Near the end of the lecture, Dr Bradley said, “the affects of colonization are still happening.” Even though in many ways, as a country and society we have come a long way in terms of racism, it is still happening and the effects of colonization are still very prevalent. I need to pay more attention to the more subtle acts of racism and remember that as a country, we are not in the clear yet and still have long ways to come. All of this relates to music education as through the teaching of music, we have the ability to be anti-racist and create an environment where all cultures are respected, appreciated, and talked about. This lecture was meaningful and significant for me personally because racism is a serious issue and through Dr Bradley’s lecture, I realized that as a music educator, I have the ability, through music, to teach in anti-racist ways that will make a change and impact on students lives and to me, that is extremely powerful. Therefore, I am very glad I got to hear Dr Bradley speak.
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