Creating a Welcome Place for All Singers

At the center of inclusive pedagogy is our commitment to treat each other the way we would want to be treated if our positions were reversed. First, we must recognize that we come to the choral rehearsal from different positions and that the playing field for each of us has not been equally flat. Acknowledging these biases, we need to wrestle with curriculum. In which ways does our repertoire create an unmarked category of canonical literature and a marked category of ‘other’? When we acknowledge repertoire’s positionality as being an unequal playing field, too, we begin to change the language and choices we make, reducing our tendency to ‘exoticize’ music from cultures outside of the Euro-American, White, Christian, male, heterosexual canon. By investigating each work we teach with a deeper awareness for its cultural origins, removed from its positionality vis-à-vis the ‘canon’, we create an inclusive space that teaches and celebrates singing respectfully