ABOUT THE WSMTA DEI TASK FORCE
The WSMTA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force meets regularly. Their ongoing discussions explore issues of access to music study and diverse repertoire for all types of students and for all types of teachers. They also seek to identify structures and practices at the local and state level that may (even inadvertently) help maintain inequity, and develop strategies to support each other in addressing them.
New members are welcome to join anytime. It is a safe place to share your perspective. Please contact Kathy Mortensen at kmortensenpiano@gmail.com if you would like to join the conversation.
The task force is busy with a number of activities, including:
- Bi-monthly meetings (Fridays at noon)
- Presentations at the WSMTA conference
- Reseaching new materials and resources
- dDeveloping a regular newsletter
The task force welcomes your suggestions on what you might want to see in the upcoming newsletters, and how to further DEI in our state.
MEET A FEW MEMBERS OF THE DEI TASK FORCE
Claire Elise Wang, NCTM
Claire Elise Wang, NCTM, is a private piano teacher with Chinese, Osage, Scottish, English, and French ancestry. She grew up in Springfield, Missouri and now resides in Cheney, Washington. Claire has studied classical piano since she was six years old, graduating with her Bachelor of Music from University of Montana and Master of Music from Eastern Washington University. Her intersections of identity include woman, mixed race, midwestern, ADHD, and cisgender, to name a few. As a teacher and perpetual learner, she aspires to constantly evolve with the times and create an equitable and inclusive environment for all of her students.
Kathy Mortensen
Kathy M
ortensen is Immediate Past President of WSMTA. She teaches piano. Kathy likes being self-employed.
RESOURCES
WSMTA is not responsible for the contents of these external links. Please report any issues to wsmtaoffice@gmail.com with the subject heading “DEI links issue”.
MTNA
ORGANIZATIONS
A Seat at the Piano: Promoting Inclusion in Piano Repertoire
Ebony Music: Shifting the Spotlight on Black Pianists and Black Composers
National Association of Negro Musicians “Our organization is concerned with the performance and preservation of uniquely African-American music, while acknowledging and providing opportunity to the Black composer and performer.”
The Sphinx Organization “transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts”
Association of Canadian Women Composers
American Composers Alliance – Music by Women Composers
WEB PRESENTATIONS, PODCASTS AND INTERVIEWS
Why Has American Classical Music Ignored Its Black Past: and the immigrant composer who predicted a different future. The American Scholar.org
Competition Repertoire by Black Composers. Leah Claiborne MTNA Webinar 2/11/22
Discovering Music by Indigenous Composers. Connor Chee MTNA Webinar 5/13/22.
Building a Diverse Music Studio – Leah Claiborne; Chan Kiat Lim; Veena Kulkarni-Rankin; Lynette Zelis MNTA Webinar, 5/14/21.
Ebony Music: the Ebony Prize List with links to video and scores of 30 pieces by Black composers suitable for competitions. A great way to explore.
A Seat at the Piano: Promoting Inclusion in Piano Repertoire A growing searchable and sortable database with composer links.
Hildegard Publishing Company: Our publishing mission is to seek out and publish compositions by women composers which display the highest level of excellence and musical merit.
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com They sell All of Nyaho’s books plus many others.
Part of the 1619 New York Times project:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/podcasts/1619-black-american-music-appropriation.html
https://www.coursera.org/learn/antiracism-1/lecture/YLE4Q/course-introduction-talking-about-race
BOOKS, ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, JOURNALS
Kosman, Joshua. “Where are the Female Conductors? This month, they’re in San Francisco“. San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2022.
Amuh, Nicholas. “Feeling Seen in the Classical World.” A Seat at the Piano, 24 Jan. 2021.
Gardner, Lillie. “Where Are All the Great Women?” A Seat at the Piano, 19 Nov. 2021.
Loesser, Arthur Men, Women and Pianos a Social History. New York : Simon and Schuster, 1954.
Steele, Claude M. Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us. New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2010.
Beer, Anna R. Sounds and Sweet Airs: the forgotten women of classical music. London: Oneworld Productions, 2016 “Sounds and Sweet Airs reveals the hidden stories of eight remarkable female composers, taking the reader on a journey from seventeenth-century Medici Florence to London in the Blitz.”
COMPETITIONS – PIANO
Nina Simone Piano Competition.
Taking place in the summer of 2023, this bi-annual competition is specifically for talented young African American pianists.
A monetary prize will be presented for the best piano performance for a piece by a Black composer at the national level for the Junior, Senior and Young Artist Division of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
Competitions – Strings
The Sphinx Competition, held every year in Detroit (MI), is a national competition offering young Black and Latinx classical string players a chance to compete under the guidance of an internationally renowned panel of judges and to perform with and receive mentorship from established professional musicians.