● How can I encourage gender and racial equity on the concert stage while creating a sense of inclusiveness? When I began to perform music by women, these concerts offered me an understanding of what it felt like to be part of “the club”. Once I discovered this feeling, I could only imagine what it might be like for a female person of color . This concept took me down another series of questions that consider gender and race of the music that we perform, musicians who perform the music, and audience members who come to listen to the music. From 2012 to now, three concepts have become apparent during my time with Seattle Collaborative Orchestra. First, all students have potential and it is never too late to make a difference in their education. Though Simone did not begin private lessons until her Junior year, she worked hard and made enormous strides. Between Simone’s hard work and the encouragement and support of her fantastic cello teacher, a helpful family, and a very proud orchestra teacher, Simone took a gap year after graduating to practice her cello. I am thrilled to tell you that she graduated May 2022 from the Royal Conservatory of Scotland in cello performance. Second, being an outsider, whether it has to do with gender, race, age, ability, or something else, does not create a sense of confidence. It is important to have role models and a community that you identify with. Lastly, I still believe strongly in SCO’s slightly amended mission to “create a unique and collaborative musical experience that includes a creative mix of traditional orchestral music and works by underrepresented composers.” It is clear that o ur audience members and musicians are enthusiastic to hear and perform compositions by historically underrepresented composers. We want to welcome more and more people to feel like insiders. I love music. I love to perform music, listen to music, and teach music. While I still adore performing cornerstone compositions from standard orchestral repertoire, I am enthusiastic to seek and discover current and future cornerstones of repertoire that resonate with a more inclusive group of people. Additionally, I am excited to explore great compositions that historically did not have the chance to be performed, enjoyed, or recognized as masterpieces. Many of us have experienced similar paths and have reached similar conclusions. One challenge I have noticed has been access. Over the past 10 years, it has been exciting to discover and encourage performances of composers who have been underperformed and/or unrecognized. The opportunity to research, listen to, and perform music by a diverse spectrum of composers has offered a path that has enriched my experiences. My hope is that I can offer a resource that will be helpful for all of us who have a quest Anna Edwards, Experince continued on Page 43
My intentions were to bring together three aspects of musical performance that were significant for me during this time – education, gender, and leadership. Because I had performed many side-by-side concerts with the Seattle Symphony with RHS students, I decided to model SCO from this important educational example - with a little added oomph. SCO musicians included high school students, community musicians, and professional musicians from both the Seattle Symphony and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. We performed Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances and a world premiere composition A Mountain Symphony by local Seattle composer Sarah Bassingthwaighte. This concert resonated to my core. The initial mission of SCO was directly driven by gender inequity in music. This was an avenue that I had personally experienced and was a topic that I wanted to address from my research. SCO’s mission questioned the words ‘equity’ and ‘equality’ and focused our vision towards how to make meaningful change in our community through music. We started by creating concert programs that were gender diverse. As we progressed through the years, our desire spread from gender diversity to racial diversity in our concert programming. As SCO evolved, we asked many questions on how to diversify our musical community. Most of the time, youth symphony organizations allow only the top students into their programs. In many cases, students admitted have had the good fortune to participate in private lessons for a number of years. So, our organization began to dispel the idea that those top auditioning students were the more talented or hard working students. Our goals have slightly changed to consider potential, rather than just auditioned performance. We consider that some students play and audition at a higher level because they have had opportunities. We want students who will benefit and thrive from our organization as our quest is to make a difference in our community through music. As an influential community organization, we feel compelled to ask ourselves how we can even up the playing field? How do we offer opportunities to help talent thrive in all demographics? Looking back over the almost twenty years I spent at Roosevelt High School, I am confident that many of the students could have been lifted up in their musical studies if they had been given more opportunity. Three questions I consistently consider are: ● How do we find solutions that encourage students of color to go into music at the university level, which will help encourage equity in music at the professional level? ● As an influential musician and educator, how can I offer student opportunities for musical diversity in my organizations?
Voice of Washington Music Educators Association January 2023
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