In this article, I document a series of pedagogical responses in my high school instrumental music classroom following the events of Eric Garner's murder in New York City. Foregrounding traditions of black radical politics and aesthetics originating with the Black Power Movement in the 1960s, I explore their implications for classroom practice in…

The goal of every school district is to help students succeed academically and personally. But does every district leverage its most valuable resource, its teachers, to meet that goal? At the Valley Stream Central High School District in Nassau County, New York, these authors know how important teacher commitment is to student success, so they…

In this article, the author shares his experience at the first rehearsal of the All City High School band of New York where he was placed as first chair clarinet, when he was a junior in high school in Brooklyn. Playing the clarinet solo, under the instruction of the band director, has made him reflect and deal once more with feeling. Here, the…

Describes the collaboration between the school districts in western New York and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO). Explains that when the Orchestra was forced to close, the schools bonded with the BPO and had "community nights" in which students performed before the concerts, involving parents and the community, to help raise…