I know I shouldn’t be writing on my blog right now… Not at 8:20 am when I have students coming in so soon. But I can’t help myself. I think if I don’t get this out now, I might burst. The more that I hear about the tragedy in Orlando, the more heartbroken I become. Perhaps what I find most sad is the cycle of hate that seems to happen in the light of such tragedy. I am not interested in turning your mind away from your own political beliefs. I am not interested in changing your religious affiliations, nor in transforming your sexual orientation, nothing like that. I just want to urge you to send love in everything you do. To spread a message of acceptance and equality, and to make even the smallest move to make our world a better one.
Today, in my classes, we will be playing music and sending love, as we always do. But today, we will be directing our love to the families and victims in Orlando. I urge you today to do what you can in your own lives to send love, to show your support to those who need it, and to fill the world with music, love, and pride. I have always felt that teaching music was my calling. But I am not a performer, nor do I care to make my own students into performers. What I have always been most interested in, is building a culture of acceptance and equity. Music is an incredible vehicle for building love and for transforming a culture. For, how many other activities involves so many individuals coming together to create a unique interpretation of an existing work of art? How many other activities involve an accumulation of humans, their emotions, their languages and accents, to create together one single work? What great power exists when so many come together as one. Today, we will be emoting acceptance and love. We will send our emotions and our harmonies, imperfect and raw, to the victims and families of the Orlando shooting. We will discuss the power of art, and the power of people, and together, we will do what we can to make the world a better place. “We rise and fall, and light from dying embers, remembrances that hope and love last longer and love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside. As sacred as a symphony Eliza tells her story. Now fill the world with music, love and pride.” – Lin-Manuel Miranda
#orchestra #community #SocialIdentity #musicians #musicteachereducation #choir #ensembles #band #music #recruiting #classroommanagementinmusic #nafme #musicteachers #strings #experientiallearning #education #musiceducation #inequality #chorus #love #ASTA #instrumentalparticipation #cultureintheclassroom #orlando