Innovative music program engages students of color

IOWA CITY — A new music program that started with a question — “what would it take to get more students of color involved in music?” — is a place where Jaime Soto, 16, can “unapologetically” express himself.

The program, called Hear My Voice, is a venue for aspiring musicians to cultivate their talent outside of traditional Eurocentric music education historically offered in schools, said Soto, a student at Liberty High School.

While about 25 percent of students participate in music programs in high school, that number is “startlingly white,” said Annie Savage, a music teacher at Liberty High. It’s especially “troublesome” in the Iowa City Community School District where the enrollment of students of color is almost 50 percent, she said.

Students in Hear My Voice — also offered at City High — are “some of the most heartbreakingly talented musicians we have in our public school system,” Savage said.

The class focuses on hip-hop, a genre characterized by its strong, rhythmic beat and a rapping vocal track that originated among Black, Latino and Caribbean youth in the 1970s. Outside of class, these students spend hours a day “writing bars” — or lyrics — showing “a command of linguistics that I don’t think you see in Language Arts classrooms,” Savage said.

Through their music, students take risks, tell stories, rhyme and communicate humor, irony and marginalization, expressing their “raw intellectual ability,” Savage said.

Students don’t need to know how to play an instrument or how to read music, which is historically a barrier to school music programs. That’s not what “wins Grammys,” an award presented by the Recording Academy of the United States that honors the most successful musicians.

What happens in the typical music classroom is “so different” from what happens in the music industry, Savage said. “When did the classroom get so far removed from this multibillion dollar industry?” she asked.

This is why Hear My Voice also incorporates “music industry literacy,” Savage said. Last week, the class visited United Action for Youth — a youth services center in Iowa City — where students learned how to use a recording studio.

There are 15 students in the school’s Hear My Voice, who are handpicked for the class. Students either audition for the class or show off their talent at a spring talent show hosted by Liberty High’s Black and Latino student unions.

Makayla Bryant, 15, a sophomore at Liberty High, said Hear My Voice is a “safe place” for her to share her feelings through music.

Ryan Owen, 15, also a sophomore, said there is “freedom in songwriting,” and he’s proud of what he’s achieved as a part of the class.

Another new music program, called Free Strings, is an ensemble that meets before school and plays American roots and pop music, Savage said. Students learn how to improvise, sing harmony and play music by ear.

“Free Strings has been a major part of my life, bringing me into a world of new music styles, wonderful people, and my own instrument, a dulcimer. It’s literally a cardboard box with a stick on it,” said Ruby Frank, 17, a junior at Liberty High.

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