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Thursday, June 10, 2021

Harmonium offers Music Teacher Workshop


Harmonium Choral Society, in collaboration with the American Choral Directors Association NJ ACDA, is pleased to present 

Beyond Song Selection: An Intro to Decolonizing and Antiracist Approaches in the Music Classroom
A workshop appropriate for all teachers of song in all classrooms and choirs

WHEN: Tuesday, June 29th, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Zoom
TICKETS: The cost per screen is $20, and professional development certificates are being offered.
To register for this workshop please visit harmonium.yapsody.com by June 28th.

The workshop is presented by Brandi Waller-Pace, the founder and executive director of Decolonizing the Music Room, a nonprofit organization that  centers on BBIA (Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian) voices, knowledge, and experience to challenge the historical dominance of white, Western European, and American music, narratives, and practices. Attendees will learn vocabulary foundational to decolonizing and antiracist approaches in order to develop common language, as well as explore identity and positionality as it relates to their practice. Teachers will learn how to use a culturally responsive approach to engage, empower, and educate without tokenism or cultural appropriation.

Ms. Waller-Pace taught elementary music for ten years in Fort Worth, Texas and was awarded the 2018 Bayard Friedman Chair for Teaching Excellence in Performance Arts. She holds a BM and MM in Jazz Studies from Howard University and is pursuing a PhD in Music Education at the University of North Texas. She has completed Orff Schulwerk certification, Kodály level I, and Music Learning Theory levels I & II. She has been a member of the Fort Worth ISD racial equity committee since 2018, and in 2019 completed a Camus Voices Fellowship with Leadership ISD, focusing on achieving equity in the public school system. She is an active musician and performs in various styles, most often jazz and early American Roots music. She is an active presenter on topics ranging from decolonizing and anti-racist philosophies in music education to jazz and the Black history of early American music, and incorporating these into the classroom. 

This program has been proudly supported by a grant from Investors Foundation investorsbankfoundation.org.  Additional funding has been made possible in part by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

About Harmonium Choral Society

Directed by Dr. Anne J. Matlack of Madison, Harmonium Choral Society, based in Morris County, has been one of New Jersey's leading choral arts organizations for over 40 years. The 100-voice choral society has been recognized for its musical excellence, innovative programming, and commissions. They perform a diverse repertoire of choral music at a high artistic level, and they advance the choral arts through education, commissions, and community partnerships. Within the chorus, they create a challenging and enjoyable environment where excellence can flourish. Harmonium is planning a full return in the 2021-2022 season, as guidelines allow, with concerts in December, March, and June and an international tour of the Balkans. Harmonium has spent this past season mentoring, networking, and helping the membership’s many music educators, and has ongoing commissions with both of their composers-in-residence, Mark Miller and Martin Sedek. To learn more about Harmonium, please visit Harmonium.org.