Helping Teachers Program More Inclusively
Helping Teachers Program More Inclusively
We believe that students deserve to play the best music available.
The On the List Project is a group of teachers engaged in the work of making state required music lists more inclusive.
Our starting point
In 2017, Tremon Kizer, Brandon Houghtalen, Rodney Dorsey, and Jackie Hartenberger presented a session at the Midwest Clinic entitled Music for All of Us: Reflecting Society Through Repertoire Selection. Our goal was to share music that we were passionate about but was relatively unknown.
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, but a common refrain emerged.
“I'd love to perform this music in the spring at concert band festival, but it's not on the list.”
On the List Project
It became clear that we must work to remove that barrier. In addition to the primary use, state required music lists have enormous influence on the wind band profession. Brandon investigated the process for adding new music to the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Prescribed Music List (PML). He assembled a group of 10 masterworks and submitted them for consideration to the UIL PML.
Out of those original ten, one was selected—but it was a start! The next year, the UIL announced the PML Diversity Initiative, which “encourages the submission of works from underrepresented composer groups and/or cultures.”
Brandon had also begun working with Rob Deemer and the Composer Diversity Project (now the Institute for Composer Diversity) and Amy Rever-Oberle, who was extremely successful in adding several pieces to the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) Basic Music List (BML). Brandon, Amy, and Cory Meals have assembled a list of all the music by women and BIPOC currently on state lists. That list is available here. Recently, major gains have been reported in Kansas and New York, but we know there is still much work to be done.
All over the US, teachers are working to make their state's list more inclusive.
We are glad you are here, and we hope you will join with us to put the best possible music On the List.Â