If Colors Could Be Heard: Narratives about Racial Identity in Music Education

by Christopher Cayari (Editor), Jason D. Thompson (Editor), Rekha S. Rajan (Editor)

Overview

If Colors Could Be Heard: Narratives About Racial Identity in Music Education is a platform of, by, and for People of Color who are music educators, artists, activists, and students. For this book, we asked authors to consider their race and ethnicity as an intimate and essential part of their music learning, making, and teaching.

The narratives in this collection include tales of being a music student, stories of growing up and finding one’s place in musical worlds, and accounts of teaching students about race, ethnicity, culture, and identity. The chapters in this book are not research studies unless explicitly stated by the author.

Instead, the chapters in tandem represent a stunning mosaic with shades of melanated skin that will serve as a scholarly picture that represents a portion of music education in the United States. Here, you will find self-told stories by people from the Global Majority—a term used to describe Black, African, Asian, Brown, Latin, Dual-heritage, and Indigenous people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781835951682
Publisher:	Intellect Books
Publication date:	10/20/2025
Series:	Contemporary Music Making and Learning
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304

About the Author

Christopher Cayari is an associate professor of music at Purdue University West Lafayette-Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Their research interests include popular music, musical theater, race & ethnicity, gender & sexuality, and identity scholarship.

Jason D. Thompson is an an inaugural faculty member at the nation’s first Black Honors College at California State University, Sacramento, USA. His research interests include socially engaged arts practices, music participation as civic engagement, and the ways culture shapes musical experiences.

Rekha S. Rajan is an award-winning classically trained singer who has performed in musicals, operas and operettas across the U.S. Her bestselling children's literature books encourage young readers to explore the world around them through the arts.

Christopher Cayari (he/they pronouns) is an assistant professor of music at Purdue University, West Lafayette. He researches mediated musical performance, popular music, YouTube, informal music learning, virtual communities and online identity. They are a YouTube video creator and publishes online performances, tutorials, vlogs and collaborations/collectives with their students.

Contact: Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art and Performance, Purdue University, 552 West Wood Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907-2002, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Painting Wondrous Tunes with Stories by People of Color

   Christopher Cayari, Jason D. Thompson, and Rekha S. Rajan 

Section I: Intersectionality 

Orientation I: Intersectionality and Music Education: Why Identity Matters, Especially for People of Color 

   Christopher Cayari 

1. "From minor to Major feelings, I am more than just Stop Asian Hate” 20

   Alice Tsui 徐晓兰 

2. In Her Voice: (Re)Visioning Race and Gender in the Music Classroom through the Lens of Black Feminist Pedagogy

   Paula Grissom Broughton 

3. Coming Out as Asian: Multiplying Identity and Intersectionality 

   Christopher Cayari 

4. Self-Made?: Representation, Tokenism, and Finding Autonomy as an Educator 

   Marcus Moone 

5. The Hip-Hop Therapeutic Education of a Single Mother 

   Terriee Pope 

Section II: Forging New Pathways 

Orientation II: Forging Cultural Pathways in Music Learning, Making, and Teaching 

   Jason D. Thompson and Rekha S. Rajan 

6. Searching Somewhere Over the Rainbow for a Home in Choral Music Education 

   Dr. Kiernan M. Steiner 

7. Teaching Music in Tkaronto: The Relationship Between Indigeneity and Place of Practice 

   Joyce Jing Yee Yip and Lee Cheng 

8. My Journey and My Music: Breaking the Hegemony of the Music Classroom in Hong Kong

   Chi Ying Lam 

9. inVISIBLE: A Journey to (re)claim, (re)embrace, and (re)settle 

   Shuk-Ki Wong 

10. Between the Piano and the Gayageum: From Reversal to Empowerment 

   Sangmi Kang (강상미) 

 

Section III: Epiphanies 

Orientation III: Epiphanies: How Reflection and Realization Influence Our Musical Experiences 

   Christopher Cayari 

11. SPOTLIGHT 

   Rekha S. Rajan 

12: Giving Myself Permission to be a Musician 

   Tina Huynh

13: “Just look at Anthony!”: Searching for identity, teaching music 

   Anthony Cao 

14: Ni de aquí ni de allá: The In-Betweenness of AfroLatinidad

   Marjoris Regus 

15: Silent No More: A Vietnamese American Adoptee Speaks About Music Education And Who I Wronged   

   Kính T. Vũ 

 
Section IV: Triumph and Excellence 

Orientation IV: Triumph and Excellence

   Jason D. Thompson 

17: Through the Looking Glass: An Asian American Music Educator’s Counter-Story 

   Mindy H. Park 

18: Remixing the “Good News”: Using Music to Sustain Faith 

   Latasha Thomas-Durrell 

19: Hitting the Music Educational Jackpot: Directing the Marching Band at a Historic Las Vegas School 

   Alfonzo V. Kimbrough 

Section V: Reimagining Music Education 

Orientation V: Reimagining Music Education: Challenges, Changes and Triumphs 

   Rekha S. Rajan 

20: The Diversity Within: An Intersectional Challenge/Opportunity 

   Darrin Thornton 

21: “Elite” Vocal Music Education: Where Perceived Liberalism Doesn’t Cut It 

   Taylor Masamitsu 

22: The Gospel of Musical Inclusion 

   Jason D. Thompson 

23: Musicking With the Other 80%

   Alberto Vargas 

24: I, Too, Wear The Mask 

   Quinton D. Parker 

25: “I Can See Clearly Now:” Confronting Stereotypes and Assumptions about Urban Music Education

G. Preston Wilson

 

Epilogue: Carrying the Fire!! of a New Music Education: Devoted to Musicians of the Global Majority 

   Christopher Cayari

Index