Welcome to the new school year! Today we won’t be talking about key signatures, or paradiddles or quavers or demisemihemidemisemiquavers (256th notes). Today we are gonna talk about justice and about peace, and about how one will ensure the other as we music make together this year. Being in community as we learn about music and about the world is a treat. Gathering in this gorgeous, sunlight-filled room where we are allowed to explore and wonder is a magical thing. Having this amazing musical instruments that we can do so with, is a great privilege (Thanks Little Kids Rock!) and having a staff that cares and loves about you, the students is the rug that ties the whole room together.

I love music so much. Music has changed my life. Dare I say it; music has saved my life! Through music I became who I am now. Through music I have a voice. It is my hope that I can pass that along to you. I am passionate about music and music education and there is truly nowhere else I’d rather be right now, than in this school, with you and our instruments.

We will get to talk about music and most importantly, we will get to make music real soon. Today however, I want to talk about possible the only thing that is more important than music (in my mind at least!) I want to talk about justice. Today I’d love to talk about what justice means to you, what it means to me, and how we can make sure that we can have justice our time together at all times. Even when we are mad or frustrated at each other.

“No Justice, No Peace”

Dr. Martin Luther King said: “There can be no justice without peace and there can be no peace without justice.”

I echo everything Dr. King stood for and said. This statement especially. I deeply think that we cannot have one without the other, and that both, justice and peace give life to each other. If we are to achieve peace, we need to establish justice. If we want to achieve peace we need to look at and act upon injustices that we create upon each other. If we are to achieve peace, we need to stop living unexamined lives and challenge assumed power dynamics. If we are to establish peace, we need to start questioning whose voices do we lift and whose voices do we sink. If we are to establish peace, we need have a conversation about it with those of whom we want to establish peace with. Here are some questions about justice that I have for you:

What does justice mean to you? What does injustice mean to you? When someone makes a mistake, what should we do about it? Why do people commit injustices?

Here are some questions about justice that I have for myself: How can I teach any subject to anyone, when there is not a sense of justice? How can I strive to always see the collective side of justice; especially your side before I see my side? How can I, as the keeper and the one who oversees the learning experiences be always in the moment so that when injustices arise, can facilitate conversations that restore us back to peace?

The vast majority of the time when students “act up”, is no different that when teachers “act up.” Sometime is wrong and something is bothering us. When nothing is done about it, i believe that “act up” is a root level act of protest. I would like us to protest injustices by talking about them respectfully and kindly, rather than by keeping them to ourselves and “acting up.” I’d like to invite y’all that when you feel injustices are happening to you (either during our time together, or else) that you tell me about it, either in private or in public. In addition, I’d like to invite y’all that when you feel injustices are happening to one of your peers (either during our time together, or else) that you tell me about it, either in private or in public. If you’d rather not tell me with words, you can write it, type or or draw it and leave it in my mailbox on my desk. If you’d rather not tell me, you can always talk with our school psychologist or any other teacher about it. I understand talking about this is hard. I know the feeling. I pinky promise that I will do my best to always be on guard about making our space and time together a just one but the work of establishing and keeping justice belongs to all of us. If it was just me doing it, it would be my justice and the point is that it is our justice. So, you gotta partake.

As the weeks pass and we establish community and we music make, we will learn how to hold restorative justice circles and how to use a peace table in the room. As we work together to make music, we will learn how to talk to each other in just ways and how to bring up injustices (and hopefully solve them) in ways that are kind and compassionate yet stern and meaningful.

I’m not saying that “acting up” is because of injustices. “Acting up” or misbehavior can be cause by countless things as deep as trauma and as shallow as joking around. However, in my informed experience of teaching well over ten thousand hours, I believe that “acting up” is lots of the times, an act of protest by someone who feels wronged either by us, or by someone else. When I examine my own life, I see that when I “act up” is because I feel hurt, sad, uncomfortable, ashamed, jealous or just plainly; not good about how my life is going in that particular day/time. I don’t feel at peace. As they say; “No Justice, No Peace.”

It is the first day of school and we won’t talk about chords or scales or vocal warmups. We will however, talk about how to collectively design environments that are conducive to learn and teach anything we want. Justice at the bottom of it all, just means a genuine respect of people. Peace means freedom. By talking about how a genuine respect of people gives us freedom and about how we can’t accept anything but, we set up the stage to talk about music.