Getting to Happily Ever After G. Preston Wilson, Jr., PhD Assistant Professor of Music Education Westminster Choir College of Rider University gwilson[at]rider.edu
Diversity, equity, and inclusion work in and out of the classroom is currently a hot topic. The pandemic has only exacerbated the need for work to be done in general education, educational policy, music education, and music performance. There have been a plethora of seminars, trainings, taskforces, and countless conversations about what needs to change. But once the seminar is over, once the taskforce has made its recommendations, once the conversation ends: then what? How do we move from talks of change to actual change? What does diversity, equity, and inclusion work actually look like? An old fairytale may provide a fresh perspective. As a child in grade school, I read a Danish fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen called "The Princess and the Pea," about a prince’s seemingly unsuccessful search for a princess. One stormy night, a woman who claims to be a princess requests shelter from the elements. In an experiment to see if she is who she says she is, the prince’s mother decides to test the unexpected guest: she places a single pea in the bed, covered by huge mattresses and 20 featherbeds. The following morning, the young woman states that she endured a sleepless night for she was kept awake by something hard in the bed. Only a "real" princess would have the sensitivity to feel a pea through such a quantity of bedding! The prince rejoices because the woman has passed the test, proving that she is, in fact, a princess. The two are married, and everybody lives happily ever after. Currently, I am an assistant professor of music education at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Prior to Westminster, I taught music in the public school system: three years teaching general music for grades K-8 and three years teaching choir for grades 9-12. My decision to pursue a terminal degree was largely based on the injustices and inequities I witnessed during those years. Children with whom I worked were subject to racial discrimination, antagonization, and harsh punishments as opposed to restorative consequences. This treatment by adults towards children connects to the everyday aggressions and microaggressions I also have experienced in my life as a black male. For example, I am often told my eloquence is a surprise, or there is visible shock when folks realize that I am knowledgeable about musical styles outside of Hip-Hop or Gospel genres. When I reflect on the best approach
to address quotidian incidents like this, or the larger-scale systemic issues, I find that a straightforward, yet subtle approach is most efficacious, similar to placing the irritating pea beneath a pile of mattresses in “The Princess and the Pea.” This childhood story has stayed on my mind for years. As I am older and with a little more life experience, I offer this tale as a metaphor for approaches to progress and how we might effect change. The pea serves as a small but influential reminder of the work that we have to do; the princess represents the system or the people that operate the system. In the fairytale, the small pea did not allow the princess to have a good night's sleep; she was so uncomfortable on account of the tiny object buried deep in the bedding. The princess gets off her many layers, which should have brought comfort, to search for the cause of her discomfort and remove it. To me, this is what diversity, equity, and inclusion work is now. We want to make changes in such a way that the mainstream society has to get off their many beds of comfort and discover what it is that is making them uneasy. I believe this could bring about the sustainable change we want. So, what are ways we can achieve this? One way is to spend our privilege wisely. This means taking the privilege you have and using it in a way that provides opportunities for those without. One example is the collaboration between White and non-White scholars. In qualitative research, scholars bring their experiences, identities, and understandings to their research; this begets a level of authenticity, especially for non-White populations. While nonWhite scholars may bring authenticity, White scholars often have more access in terms of freedom in scholarship and research. In her book The Truest Eye, Toni Morrison believes that if you have some power, it is your job to empower somebody else. I truly believe that progress in the profession will happen when the privilege and access of White scholars is used to highlight the authenticity of non-White scholars' experiences. Another strategy is contextualizing our repertoire. When we teach a piece of music, we must provide the entire context, not merely a translation of a non-English text and some background information on the composer. For example, you should not learn,
TEMPO 48
JANUARY 2022
