BPS puts the Composer Diversity Database into action

www.composerdiversity.com

Diversity is taking on a whole new form in the music department at Boston Latin School. The band program recently started using the Institute for Composer Diversity to find and perform music by composers from underrepresented groups.

"I started building the database and ultimately created the Institute for Composer Diversity for one simple fact,” said Robert Deemer, creator of the Institute for Composer Diversity. “Conductors and educators wanted to perform more works by women composers and composers from underrepresented racial, ethnic, and cultural heritages, but they didn't know where to find them. We're hoping to show folks how easy it is to program diversely and demonstrate why it's so important for students to explore and perform music written by composers who are like them."

Margaret McKenna, a band director at Boston Latin School, instantly became interested in using the database after receiving a tip from Anthony Beatrice, BPS Acting Executive Director for the Arts. Beatrice came across the database while attending a workshop at the National Association for Music Education Conference with Dr. Connie McKoy, co-author of the book Culturally Responsive Teaching in Music Education, and thought it would be a great tool for teachers in the Boston Public Schools. 

Beatrice said that BPS will be utilizing the database this summer to purchase new music for ensemble teachers to utilize from the district's arts resource center. Additionally, BPS music educators are currently participating in a book club reflecting how the text by McKoy noted above can change their teaching practice in the music classroom.  

As for the direct implementation of the Institute for Composer Diversity in the Boston Public Schools, band director Margaret McKenna said she noticed that the collection of composers whose music her bands have been performing was not reflective of the actual students that sit in front of her every day. McKenna felt that the database would help fix this misrepresentation of culture.

“There are not a lot of women composers that are normally programmed or composers of color,” McKenna said. “This is a great tool to give those targeted composers more exposure.”

Through a simple search on the database, teachers like McKenna are able to quickly find and connect with over 4,000 diverse composers. McKenna said that it is important to find music that is as unique as the students performing it.

“There was a social media blog where a band director said if we keep programming the same composers over and over, it’s like going to a library and only finding Shakespeare and Dickens,” McKenna said. “That’s leaving out a wealth of knowledge of so many different kinds of authors.”

McKenna said that exact same idea is true when it comes to music. So, with the help and input of students, McKenna has programmed two pieces this semester from the Institute for Composer Diversity. Her bands will be performing “Spring Festival” by Chen Yi, a female Chinese composer, and “Rocketship!” by Kevin Day, a 22-year-old African American composer from Texas.

“I think everybody is looking for ways to integrate more culturally responsive and culturally sensitive techniques into their classroom,” McKenna said, “and I think that this database is really a great tool to get those conversations started and to really integrate other cultures and other experiences into our classrooms.”

If you’re interested in hearing the music from the Institute for Composer Diversity yourself, the bands at Boston Latin School will be performing the pieces on Friday, April 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the school’s spring music concert.