If Colors Could be Heard

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.