Session Description: Direct conversations surrounding race, cultural dominance, and marginalization of the experiences, practices, and traditions of racially minoritized people are not common in music education training. We will share concepts of decolonization and anti-racism as they relate to the music classroom through our own experiences as educators.
About the Clinicians:
BRANDI WALLER-PACE, Founder, Executive Director, Co-Editor
Brandi taught elementary music for ten years in Forth Worth, Texas where she served as a mentor teacher, wrote lower elementary music curriculum, and was awarded the 2018 Bayard Friedman Chair for Teaching Excellence in Performing Arts. Brandi holds a BM and MM in Jazz Studies from Howard University and is pursuing her PhD in Music Education at the University of North Texas. She has completed Orff Schulwerk certification, Kodaly Level I, and Music Learning Theory Levels I & 2. An educational equity advocate, she has been a member of Forth Worth ISD racial equity committee since 2018 and in 2019 completed a Campus Voices Fellowship with Leadership ISD, focusing on educational equity. Brandi is an active musician and performs 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.
LORELEI BATISLAONG, Deputy Director, Lead Editor
Lorelei is a 14-year veteran of the elementary music classroom. She received a BM in Music with teacher certification from Soutwest Texas State University and a MM in Instrumental Conducting from Texas State University. She served on the American Orff Schulwerk Association National Board of Trustees as Region III Representative and is a former chair of the AOSA Diversity and Inclusion committee. Lorelei is the State Director of the Texas affiliate of the National Association for Music Education. Along with presenting local, state, and national clinics, Lorelei is completing a Ph.D. in Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include teacher noticing and decision making, inclusivity in the music and teaching profession, and generally wondering why everything is the way it is and how it could be better.