I started this project to construct a music education that was activist.

I wanted to teach things that allow people to be better humans.

The death of Michael Brown in August of 2014 really struck me and made me angry.

Shortly after his murder, there was a protest at the St Louis Symphony.

Justice for Mike Brown is justice for us all.

It really struck me because here was this musical response that made me think that music education might have a role to play in that political moment.

I decided that I was going to speak with folks who were both activist and musicians about what they saw as the role of music in the world, and they determined that music is connective, communicative and political connection.

Became this pedagogy of community, helping students see each other and to communicate that every single person is human, equally human and valuable.

And then the second facet music as a potential to tell stories and communicate became a pedagogy of expression.

I think so many musicians go into music because it's allowed them to convey emotions that they may not otherwise get to.

Music is political became a pedagogy of noticing.

Learning to notice the ideologies that affect you, but also affect your peers.

Because so much of what is going on right now is kind of erasing the humanity of people who you don't agree with and making people into lesser humans, which allows violence to occur.

You've got to do something, so you've got to move to action.

And I think this is a way that music education could matter.

Where we can do that work in the classroom locally and have it move beyond the classroom to the local community and perhaps even further than that.