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If Colors Could Be Heard

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A groundbreaking collection of first-hand accounts by music educators, artists, activists and students from the Global Majority. Deeply personal narratives explore how race and ethnicity shape expe...
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  • 03 November 2025
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If Colors Could Be Heard: Narratives About Racial Identity in Music Education is a platform of, by and for People of Colour 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.

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Price: £79.95
Publisher: Intellect Books
Imprint: Intellect Books
Publication Date: 03 November 2025
ISBN: 9781835951682
Format: eBook
BISACs:

MUSIC / Instruction & Study / General, Techniques of music / music tutorials / teaching of music, EDUCATION / Arts in Education, EDUCATION / Teaching / Subjects / Arts & Humanities, Ethnic groups and multicultural studies, Education / Educational sciences / Pedagogy

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Christopher Cayari is an associate professor of music at Purdue University West Lafayette-Indianapolis, IN. 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, CA. 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 USA. Her bestselling children's literature books encourage young readers to explore the world around them through the arts.

Acknowledgments

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

Alice Tsui 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 

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 

16. Making Space. Taking Space. Owning Space. Creating Space

Eric Williamson

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. Vocal Music Education in Queer Asian America

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, Jr.

 

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

Christopher Cayari

Index