Activist, author Chloé Valdary is a diversity and anti-racism trainer with a refreshingly loving approach. This week, on Valentine’s Day, I am encouraging us to approach our ensembles, our classes, our colleagues and our neighbors with Agape.
In music education, we have a very popular, and important euphemism: “I want my students to see themselves in the music, or in the ensembles I have them watch” based on the finding people who look like them. And this representation does matter! But what I don’t hear enough is, “I want my students to learn to see themselves in everyone, and in ALL of the music we learn.” This introspective approach is echoed in Chloé’s fascinating brand of Anti-Racism.
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
James BaldwinOne of the core premises that Chloé likes to communicate is that if you can’t apply the principle James Baldwin describes here to YOURSELF, then it will not have any value in healing the rifts between us. If you see it only as a principle that applies to others, we will never enter important conversations as equals. She trains, teaches and advocates for a type of conversation about diversity in schools, groups and organizations that starts with introspection and search for our common humanity.
Be sure to weigh in on the Choralosophers facebook page, on Substack or any posts related to this episode! Be sure to check out DOJO and get the trainings for individuals!
For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!
Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos
From Theory of Enchantment: One particular day, in a religious studies class, my professor, an agnostic, shows us a documentary called Jesus Camp. It follows a group of evangelical Christians at their summer camp for kids. The subjects are not portrayed in a positive light.
Suddenly, a student in our class starts to rail against the Christians in the movie, and I peg my agnostic professor as a person who won’t mind. How wrong I am. It becomes a shouting match between her and the student. My professor vigorously defends the Christians in the documentary, saying we all gravitate toward things that give us a feeling of meaning and significance, belonging, and community.
Then she says,
She defies the agnostic box I placed her in. The frameworks that I am using to find meaning in the world are no longer sufficient. I am desperate for one that is. Slowly but surely, I realize I am outgrowing
my religion.
I grew up in New Orleans with four sisters. We were an extremely atypical Christian family, and my parents deeply inculcated a strict religious philosophy. We didn’t observe Christian holidays, we observed Jewish holidays. Church was on Saturday instead of Sunday, and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were celebrated instead of Christmas and Easter.
From my mother, a homemaker, I absorbed a deep inquisitiveness about human beings. From my dad, a banker, I gained a reverence for the numinous and the transcendent. But I also came out of childhood dogmatic in certain ways.
I went to a performing arts high school then to the University of New Orleans, where I became an activist.
Episode 75: The Delta Variables with Dr. Tracy Hoeg (part 2)
Episode 75: The Delta Variables with Dr. Tracy Hoeg (Part 1)
Mastering Literacy Instruction- Live at Iowa ACDA
Bite Sized Choral Tips: “Mindset” in Rehearsal with William Bennett
Bite Size Back to School Thoughts- “Cultural Custodians” with Zach Singer
Car Thoughts Live: What is Expertise in Choral Music?
Reimagining the Rubric For “Success” In Choral Careers
The Essential PD Library: Starting Your School Year With Momentum
Episode 74: Is the Choral Ecosystem a Political Monolith? With Reginal Wright
Episode 73: Love Supreme with Professor Teodros Kiros
Episode 72: Artists! It’s OK to be an Entrepreneur with Brian Witkowski
Car Thoughts: The Conductor is ALWAYS Right?
Episode 71: It’s All in the Story, with Cecilia McDowall
Episode 70: Legitimate Love and Suffering in the Music Classroom with Dr. Ryan Board
Episode 69: Higher Standards-Lower Anxiety
Car Thoughts: Is Social Media Steering or Reflecting Choir Conversations?
A Rhetorical Analysis of Toxic Discourses with Dr. Erec Smith
Episode 67 Part 2: Growing Access in a Greenhouse with Vince Peterson
Episode 67 Part 1: How to Create your Musician’s Credo with Vince Peterson
Episode 66: “I Shine!” Music as Self Care with Sarah Quartel
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Marty Ray Project: Chats
What’s the Res?
It’s All An Act
A Tale of Two Cities
Anne of Avonlea
The Magnus Archives
The Moth