- How you doing?

- Doing better than all right.

I'm better than all right.

(laughs) (jazz music) (people chattering) (gentle music) - Welcome to Music for Social Justice.

I'm your host, Damien Sneed.

Social justice can mean a lot of different things.

There are systemic issues, individual behaviors, the protests to ignite change, and reconciliation for those harmed.

It can be overwhelming, especially when trying to shoulder a burden on your own.

But as each of our performers in this episode show, it always starts with one person taking a stand and doing what they can to right a wrong.

One of the best ways to approach difficult issues is through collaboration.

Finding a partner who shares your vision is a meaningful first step.

Composer Dorothy Chang is a composition professor at a university in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Saxophonist Joe Lulloff is a skilled performer and university professor in East Lansing, Michigan.

And while their personal stories are different, they intertwine with beautiful results.

(gentle music) - The first step is always a germ, a spark of inspiration.

My sources of inspiration come from various places.

It could be a poem, an image, an emotion.

Often I'm inspired by personal experiences, the human experience, family history.

Sometimes I've been inspired by nature, and often by the performer.

For instance, this piece that I wrote for Jo Lulloff was inspired by his abilities and his personality.

- I have a lot of emotional reactions to any music I play.

That's maybe something I've been blessed with, at least, it's one of the reasons I play the saxophone, because it really fuels my emotions.

It soothes me, it helps me express everything, from joy, to anger, to sorrow, to passion, to hope.

And Dorothy's music was, is very captivating music for me.

I think for me, something that was very reflective probably of how she experienced life.

- The piece I wrote for Joe Lulloff is entitled New Stories.

And the concept behind this piece was that in my music, I was ready to tell my own stories.

And in this piece, I wanted to explore, really, a sense of cultural identity that embraces all my influences, whether they be Eastern, Western, whether it was marching band from my school days, or Chinese music that I heard my grandfather playing when I was young.

I had to come to a realization or come to a place of comfort first that I didn't entirely own any of these musical traditions, similar to my experience with my cultural background.

I was born in Winfield, Illinois, where I spent the first 12 years of my life.

My parents were immigrants from China, arrived at the US by way of Taiwan.

And growing up, I lived in a very predominantly white suburb, and it was always very apparent to me that I was an outsider, a foreigner, simply because of the the difference between the culture I experienced at home and the culture I experienced at school and outside the home.

And that was not so much of an issue until my parents moved back to Taiwan when I was 12.

And I, again, felt like an outsider because I'd never lived in Asia before.

I was familiar with the language and some aspects of the culture, but it didn't feel like home to me.

So that's when I really felt this sense of rootlessness in that I wasn't quite entirely American, yet also not Chinese, not Taiwanese.

The issue was further complicated when I moved back to the US and I attended university at the University of Michigan.

Rather than feeling a sense of coming home, I, again, felt displaced.

For a while I felt like I was an imposter.

But in this piece for Joe, I let myself free.

And I truly embraced all of these different influences.

(saxophone music) - This particular piece, in knowing a little bit of Dorothy's story behind the piece, this really was fitting for this series.

I think we have a great responsibility as musicians to bring about awareness to social justice issues with our music.

I think too often, we've been so focused on the traditional repertoire and focusing on, you know, the composers that either we grew up with that we learned music with that were predominantly white, male.

- For a long time, I really struggled to find my voice as a composer.

Much of the issue goes back to when I was a student first studying composition.

And all of the repertoire and all of the pieces put forth as models were, well, they're primarily written by white males, and often European composers.

And I studied them, I learned them, but at one point I felt a real disconnect.

I had all the tools to write music, but it felt like I was writing somebody else's music.

At one point I realized I need to embrace my own influences, rather than trying to suppress them to match a model or to match what I thought I should be writing.

And it's really when I freed myself to embrace all of my influences without trying to self-edit, without saying that doesn't belong in this piece, that I felt, yes, this is the voice I was intended to have.

- Why is it important to share these voices of these underrepresented composers or musicians?

I think it's important for our human growth.

- I believe they need to see role models the same way that I sought to find role models when I was a student.

They need to see someone who they can relate to and realize, yes, that is something I can do.

That is a path I can pursue.

We do have many voices out there and they need to be represented.

(gentle music) (emotional music) (gentle music) - Our next performer is a skilled vocalist, teacher, and community organizer.

Baritone Jadrian Tarver is also a man who knows the power that faith, love, and music have to bring about change.

He shares his story and how he finds strength in the songs that inspire and empower.

(bright music) - I just love music.

I come from a family that sings.

Either they're preachers, teachers, or singers.

You know, I guess I was all three.

So, (laughs) so it was a beautiful thing growing up in the black church and, you know, listening to all the different styles of gospel music, and listening to spirituals growing up in the church.

And it influenced me to be a performer.

That's the first opportunity I got to sing was in the church.

And when I got up there, it was like, I'm at home.

I finally found my place.

And I was like about six or seven years old.

And ever since then, every concert, no matter what concert I do, I always either end with a spiritual or gospel song.

It's to always to pay homage to my roots.

For this series I chose "I, Too, Sing America," composed by Margaret Bonds, and "Life and Death" by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

I chose both of those songs because I think that it speaks to the current state in which that we're going through and the state in which that America is in.

(gentle music) I think I was in a concert when the first time I heard "I, Too."

And when I heard it, I was like, oh my gosh, there's this song out there, an art song, that reflects who I am as a person.

The first line is "I, too, sing America.

"I am the darker brother.

"They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes.

"But I laugh, and I eat well, and grow strong."

And I was like, that spoke to me.

It's like, I'm not going to wait for someone to give me something.

I'm going to take action and get it for myself.

You know, he didn't ask to sit at the table.

He didn't ask to be a part.

He placed himself there.

And it speaks to the hope of the black experience and the black identity.

I think that's what he's holding onto.

The person is holding onto the hope that they're gonna sit at the table, and I'm going to take it, and I don't care what you may think about it.

I don't care how you may feel about it.

I'm gonna sit there and it's gonna change.

And it's gonna change for the better.

The idea with "Life and Death," if you think about all of the trauma porn that we watch on TV, we are reliving these police shootings.

It just keeps happening.

And it's like we never move out of the first stage of grief.

One day it's this, the next week it's, you know, someone else.

And so you're constantly living through this.

With Life and Death, it speaks to the idea of love and loss.

It makes you remember the person, but also it's soothing to the individual as well.

It creates a solace for them.

"To have thee, to have thee, "to hold thee and fold thee.

"It is life, it is life, it is life."

Even though that you're not there, but the idea of having you and holding you brings me life.

It helps me get up, you know, the next day.

Service has always been a part of my life.

I think it starts with my grandfather, Archie Roberts Salary.

His favorite quote is, "Charity begins at home and spreads abroad."

I joined the NAACP at a very young age.

As a little kid, I used to go to the town hall meetings.

You know, I think of a song, "May the work I've done speak for me."

So I think that's why I really feel it is important for us as artists to be a conduit of justice, a conduit of peace.

That's what I live to do.

I live to inspire, I live to empower.

I live to bridge the gaps, you know, to make a difference.

My hope is that people will be the change that they want to see.

In order for us to work together in unity is to be open to that, to be open to change, and be flexible, and be nimble with change.

And it's very difficult when we live in a structured society in a structured world and things have been the same way for years.

And I think that is something that I hope from this, that people will be open to receive change.

(uplifting music) ♪ To look for thee ♪ ♪ Cry for thee, sigh for thee ♪ ♪ Under my breath ♪ ♪ To clasp but a shade ♪ ♪ Where thy head had been laid ♪ ♪ It is death ♪ ♪ It is death ♪ ♪ It is death ♪ ♪ To long for thee ♪ ♪ Yearn for thee, burn for thee ♪ ♪ Sorrow and strife ♪ ♪ But to have thee, to have thee ♪ ♪ And hold thee and fold thee ♪ ♪ It is life ♪ ♪ It is life ♪ ♪ It is life ♪ ♪ I, too, sing America ♪ ♪ I am the darker brother ♪ ♪ They send me to eat in the kitchen ♪ ♪ When company comes ♪ ♪ But I laugh ♪ ♪ And eat well and grow strong ♪ ♪ Tomorrow ♪ ♪ I'll sit at the table ♪ ♪ When company comes ♪ ♪ Nobody'll dare say to me ♪ ♪ "Eat in the kitchen," then ♪ ♪ Besides ♪ ♪ They'll see how beautiful I am ♪ ♪ And be ashamed ♪ (gentle music) - Thank you for joining us.

I'm Damien Sneed, until next time.

(bright music)