Bruce is a high school choral educator who teaches in a district in which a very small percentage of elementary students are presented with a choral music experience. Across the country, we have a vast inequity in access to choral music making opportunities at the Elementary level. Not only disparities in access to high level choral experiences, but also access to basic, school choirs.
When we don’t have choral students, we don’t have choral parents. When we don’t have choral parents, we don’t have administrators that see it as important. This is the danger of not tending the roots. We have developed a top down perspective on what we are concerned with.
We are concerned with equity and issues of representation at the top. “Who makes all state choir?” “Who’s music is being programmed?” These are fine things to ask. But, this like noticing blemishes on a leaf and continuously pruning without bothering to check the tree under the earth.
We also discuss the problem of our professional organizations being run by mostly Collegiate directors. These directors may be very supportive of elementary music, but may be separated from the consequences. You can have an inequitable system, and still have it look just fine at the top.
Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com.
For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!
Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos
Bruce Rockwell is the choir director at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, California. He has taught choir, piano and guitar at College Park for 15 years, instrumental music at the San Francisco Waldorf schools, and theory and musicianship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s pre-college division. Mr. Rockwell received is MM in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and his BA in Music from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Episode 162: The Problem with “Talent” with Joshua Mazur
Episode 161: Where Has All the Polyphony Gone? with David Simmons Wood
Episode 160: Practical Vocal Acoustics with Kenneth Bozeman
Episode 159: The Entrepreneurial Future of Choral Music with Ryan Main
Episode 158: Is All Art is Political? With Melissa Dunphy
Episode 157: Civic Renewal Through Ensemble with Chris and Beth Munce
Episode 156: Choralosophers Livestream on Burnout, Literacy Instruction and the Moral Injury of Educators
Episode 155: What I Wish I Knew As A Young Conductor with John C. Hughes
Episode 154: Turning Title 1 Challenges into Success with Mark Bailey
Episode 153: Going Deeper on Gender Equity in Music Ed with Dr. Melissa Baughman
Episode 152: Prioritizing Context and Connection with Zanaida Robles
Episode 151: Omni-Musicians with Greg Thomas
Episode 150: Choir After the Pandemic with Emmy Burch and Chris Munce DURING the Pandemic
Episode 149: “Tár” Movie Review
Episode 148: The Arts and the Exceptional Child with Dr. Matthew Zakreski
Episode 147: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Music Education with ChatGPT
Episode 146: The Vibrato Question with Dr. Jennaya Robison
Episode 145: Teaching Skills, Not Facts with Melanie Trecek-King
Episode 144: A Thousand Tiny Cuts with Jasmine Fripp
Revisiting the Anti-Fragile Choir: Resilient, Robust, Powerful with Eric Barnum
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Marty Ray Project: Chats
What’s the Res?
It’s All An Act
The Story of Mankind
Grimms’ Fairy Tales
The Magnus Archives
The Moth