Suzanne's Mom's Blog

I want to follow where today’s kids are leading. So many of them seem to recognize they have to take matters into their own hands if they want change in their lifetimes, whether it’s a question of global warming or gun safety or race relations.

In today’s story, we see that empowerment can start early.

Anastasia Tsioulcas reports at Natural Public Radio (NPR), “For decades, it was almost impossible to hear a piece of music written by Florence Price. Price was a Black, female composer who died in 1953. But a group of New York City middle school students had the opportunity to quite literally write Florence Price’s history. Their [book]Who Is Florence Price? is now out and available in stores.

“The kids attend Special Music School, a K-12 public school in Manhattan that teaches high-level music instruction alongside academics. Shannon Potts is an English teacher there.

” ‘Our children are musicians, so whether or not we intentionally draw it together, they bring music into the classroom every day in the most delightful ways,’ Potts says. …

“Potts assigned her sixth, seventh and eighth grade students to study Florence Price — a composer born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887. She was the first Black woman to have her music played by a major American orchestra: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her Symphony No. 1 in 1933 and her Piano Concerto in One Movement the next year. …

“Despite Price’s talent and drive, most classical music performers and gatekeepers put her aside, and her work failed to gain traction with the large, almost exclusively white institutions that could have catapulted her to mainstream renown. …

“Recently, though, there’s been a blossoming of interest in Price’s work. A recording of her symphonies by the Philadelphia Orchestra was just nominated for a Grammy. In the months ahead, her music will be performed by the San Francisco Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

“When the students began researching Price, however, they realized that although there were a few materials written about her life for grown-ups, there was nothing aimed at kids.

“That gave Potts had an idea: She would have her students write and illustrate their own book about Florence Price, and about how her music was rediscovered. As the kids’ book begins:

” ‘In 2009, a couple bought an old house outside of Chicago. in the attic, they found boxes filled with yellowed sheets of music. Every piece was written by the same woman, Florence Price. “Who is Florence Price?” they wondered…

” ‘Florence’s mind was filled with music, but she had a big question. She was a girl and her skin was a different color than so many of the composers she knew about. Could she grow up to be a famous composer, too? When Florence was only 11, her first piece was published. Was it possible that Florence’s music could change things?’

Special Music School [executive] director Kate Sheeran was extremely enthusiastic about the students’ work. …

“Sheeran was so impressed that she ordered a small, self-published print run of their work. She sent it around to various people in the classical music community — including Robert Thompson, the president of G. Schirmer, the company that publishes Florence Price’s music.

‘I think it’s one of the few moments in my job where I had to cancel the next meeting and I was just kind of filled with tears,’ Thompson recalls. ‘It was just an incredibly beautiful moment.’

“Thompson agreed to publish the book; all royalties will go to Kaufman Music Center, which is a non-profit organization.

“Rebecca Beato is a 14-year-old violinist from Queens. She was also one of the lead illustrators of Who Is Florence Price? and she says that Price has been a personal inspiration. ‘Her music has been out there, performed by major orchestras,’ Beato says, ‘and she’s a woman of color, which even now — it’s like difficult to get your music shown to the world.’ …

“Hazel Peebles, a 13-year-old violist from Harlem, says that you can hear Price’s personal history in her music. ‘It really is beautiful,’ Peebles observes. ‘She worked in some of her history, some of her Black background into the music.’ …

“What the students learned in creating this book goes far beyond music, Kate Sheeran says.

‘They’re also seeing that they can have a voice in shaping who writes history and who tells stories … and that we don’t have to just accept the way music is presented to us or the way music history is presented to us — that they too can shape that.’ …

“Potts says that the very last lines of her students’ book have already come true, thanks to their hard work and creativity. ‘Today, Florence’s music can be heard all around the world just like she dreamed of when she was young,’ Potts reads. ‘If someone asks, “Who is Florence Price?” you can tell them.’ “

More at NPR, here.