Music as a Tool to Build Empathy in an Anti-Racist Classroom

“Music, like identity, is both performance and story, describes the social in the individual, and the individual in the social, the mind in the body and the body in the mind.

— Simon Fritz

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Music is an emotional time capsule. I am one hundred percent certain that everyone can think of at least one song that zaps them back to a specific memory, feeling, place, and time. (For me it’s dancing the Macarena with my friends at a birthday party when I was 8; much simpler times.) Because of this, music is more than mere entertainment. Music is communication. As with all forms of art, the artist creates with the goal of conveying meaning.

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Throughout my years of teaching elementary music to Kindergarten through 6th grade, I’ve come to understand music as more than a performance subject. Music has become the channel through which I introduce my students to concepts surrounding social justice: cultural appreciation vs. appropriation, anti-racism, the beauty of diversity, and connection to name a few. In my current position as a 2nd grade classroom teacher, music has become a key tool to help my students engage and build empathy.

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Engagement

Research on music’s effect on the brain shows that it not only strengthens brain structure and plasticity, but it also sparks the imagination and lights up areas of the brain that reading alone will not trigger. One’s varying options and musical tastes naturally sets the stage for critical thinking and analytical conversations. Finally, because music is an important part of cultures all over the world, it can provide much needed mirrors and windows in the classroom.

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Empathy

Music is impactful in that it can broaden the narratives introduced in the classroom in an approachable way. Music is often a powerful primary resource. Jazz saxophonist, Charlie Parker said, “Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” When listening to music, the audience is invited to connect to the artist’s authentic voice. The artist invites the listener to feel what they were feeling when they were creating their song. Because of this, music transforms from mirror and window into Rudine Sims Bishop’s “sliding glass door.”

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“Music is powerful. As people listen to it, they can be affected. They respond.

— Ray Charles

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Most recently, I used music in my classroom to connect and humanize. One of my main goals during Native American Heritage Month was to disrupt academia’s lies that Indigenous people exist only in history books and that Native Americans are a monolith. My students watched a video of hoop dancers that featured a song from A Tribe Called Red; a Canadian electronic music group, who blend instrumental hip hop, reggae, moombahton and dubstep-influenced dance music with elements of First Nations music, particularly vocal chanting and drumming.

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My students were in awe of the skill and athleticism of the dancers and were jamming to the beats of the song. Listening to the fusion of dance music with traditional singing was the perfect example of how Native people exist in the here and now. We also used music as a way to learn about different Indigenous nations. Students were able to identify that each nation is unique through the diversity of their traditional musical

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Start with yourself

Music - like all art - will never exist in a vacuum. Don't let the dominant culture dictate your playlist! If you are an educator who wants to incorporate more music into your curriculum but don’t know where to begin, start with yourself. Diversify your playlist.

Our own biases show up in our musical preferences. In order to bring music into your classroom as a window, mirror, and sliding glass door (Bishop), you need to listen outside of your comfort zone. Listen to radio stations you normally wouldn't gravitate towards. Online streaming platforms like Spotify or YouTube are great for this. Ask your students what they are listening to or ask your students' families to share songs representing their cultural heritage. Search for musicians from various genres and identities. Literally type in BIPOC or LGBTQIA+. Google is your friend! I have found so many of my favorite artists this way.

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“Music has been and continues to be a source of cultural identity for cultural groups and communities and is among several expressive forms that provide opportunities for these groups and communities to be known and understood.

— Dr. Constance L. McKoy

About the Author

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Czarina Jimenez is an elementary music educator on unceded Tongva, Serrano, Cahuilla land in Southern California.

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She is passionate about creating culturally responsive music lessons and incorporating anti-bias/anti-racist social emotional learning into her curriculum. You can connect with her on Instagram @littleupbeatclass.