| Classical Music and Today's Youths: How to Make it Relevant to Their Lives |
| Monday, 17 December 2007 | |
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In my mid-teens, I couldn’t understand why these two kids around my age were kept apart by their families. Same feelings I got when I watched West Side Story for the first time, although I did understand issues of race more or better than I understood issues of class which is what R&J is based on. What I now wish had happened is the reason for today’s article. Teachers, conductors and other instructors of music, today I write to you. As you can tell from last week’s article on Black Men and Boys, our youths are having some serious problems trying to stay alive, trying to figure out the world and their place in it and ultimately trying to thrive in a society that appears to disregard their opinion and their lives. No one appears to speak to them. No one seems to want to deal with the responsibility of having to teach them anything more than whatever is on Bush’s standardized tests. But there are plenty of opportunities to listen to the youths and teach them a number of relevant things. It’s unbelievable what they know that you have no idea that they’re even thinking about. There are so many reasons to speak to youths and to find out about them. Oftentimes, music teachers think “I only have 30 minutes per week to teach these kids and I don’t want to waste time with chatter.” My students often do that—if they haven’t practiced, they will try to talk to me as a waste of time. I understand that it’s a red herring and I don’t give in. Therefore I win because I make them really talk to me and learn something. But perhaps if the conversation were still about the piece, it’d be well worth the time. Think about this… Music is social commentary. There isn’t a piece out there that didn’t stem from some environmental circumstance. Life and art are interrelated. No way around it. So it makes sense to use music as a conversation piece for a number of reasons including building a trusting, open relationship with a youth. Maybe when they’re in trouble or there’s something they feel they can’t communicate to a parent or other advisor, they’ll come to you instead of turning to drugs or worse. But I digress. Point is, if you can, be methodical in your music selection. Do your research and be interested in your students. No doubt they will come prepared more often if they know that it’s about them and not just about a perfect recital, about which they may have no real care. As concerns Romeo & Juliet, English teachers and/or conductors should talk to students, especially Black students if the ensemble is of color, to make it relate to their lives. For instance, what do they think about gang violence? Capulets vs. Montagues are like Bloods and Crips. Is it ever alright to fight? Is suicide the answer to life’s problems? On and on. It’s hard-hitting stuff, but you’d be surprised just how relevant that conversation is to their lives. A conversation like such will make their playing more expressive and deepen their understanding of social issues connecting 16th century to the present. I’m not saying psychoanalyze your students, but if we’re looking to make classical music relevant in a hip hop society, we need to connect it on a social level where it starts.
Why just play music when you can live it? Why not make black dots on white paper come to life for youths more than aurally? Help youths understand classical music’s relevance in their lives and its place in society through conversation.  No. 6 : You're also assuming that the instructors are all on the same page about such topics as the war. Perhaps some support it! I understand that you want to spark conversation and make kids think critically and tie music to society, but not everyone is on the same page. No. 5 : Furthermore, it's naive to think that the kids in orchestra or performing music are the "good kids." That's an unfair stereotype perpetuated by society that categorizes hip hopizens as ghetto and violent and classical musicians as some kind of angelic model citizens. I personally know better. No. 4 : I'm not suggesting that "our" kids are the ones standing on the street corners, but it would be naive to believe that they are not interacting with those who do. Not that they're buddies, but they might have to take out the trash and someone might confront them. When they turn on the television, they are exposed. Friends of friends or cousins or younger/older siblings who are not involved in a youth orchestra may have contacts. Point is, where we can and do have access to make positive changes and suggestions, we should. This is a social problem, not just the black community. Our YOUTHS need OUR help. No. 3 : You are also assuming that "our" kids are also involved in this community of violence. Most of the kids I teach are "good kids" meaning they are from nuclear families that keep them involved in extracurricular activities and aware from "the streets." Just because it's "Black" doesn't mean it's ghetto or gangsta or whatever negative seen-on-the-news stereotype people think is happening in the Black community at large. It's just not true. No. 2 : I think we need to be careful here. Remember when that math teacher got fired because he tried using guns or drugs in his equation saying that he was trying to make math relevant to the lives of his student but others thought he was stereotyping? True, he received more scrutiny because he was white, but still. No. 1 : That sounds like a great paper--the analysis of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and the Black community. Issues of race and class, the comparisons, etc. Hmmmm... Or even a sound analysis, how do you describe the different themes in Tchaik's version to students of color in a way that excites them and makes it passionate? |
You remember Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, right? That dramatic tragedy by about two teenage "star-cross'd lovers" whose "untimely deaths" ultimately unite their feuding households. I read it in high school around the same time that I played Tchaikovsky’s and heard Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. Around the same time, I saw the version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes three times at the movies and sobbed every single time starting right around the time that R&J meet at the fish tank at her mother’s masquerade party. I think I started crying for a few reasons: 1) I’m a hopeless sappy romantic and 2) I knew their fate. 
Personally, I decided to be more conscious about the music that I perform. As a harpist, my music has no lyrics, but it still has meaning. I suggested to some collaborators this week that we use the music in our youth group as a vehicle to get the youths talking. For instance, let's say you choose to have an ensemble perform On Emancipation Day by Will Marion Cook. What an excellent opportunity to talk about human rights or talk about civil rights! Maybe some have brothers or uncles in the war in Iraq. There are many things from which we can emancipate ourselves. In addition to the tune, you can talk to your kids about Will Marion Cook, their choices about college (he attend Oberlin Conservatory), black musicals, etc. This gives them options in addition to information. Send them away thinking about life and music and its interconnectedness. | < Prev | Next > |
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