Our first ever episode features Cassie Ruiz, a Puerto Rican violinist and music educator originally from Chicago, the current elementary orchestra director for grades 4 and 5 in West Chicago, IL, and winner of the Illinois American String Teachers Association Emerging Educator Award! We talk with Cassie about her teaching during a pandemic and how she builds culturally responsive lessons that teach her students to become anti-racist while celebrating their own heritages.
To learn more about Cassie and the resources she recommended, check out the links below:
Music by Black Composers Violin books: https://www.musicbyblackcomposers.org/sheet-music/violin-volumes/
Decolonizing the Music Room: https://decolonizingthemusicroom.com/
White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun: https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf
Huge thanks to Trevor Weston and Whitney George for letting us include their music in our intro and outro! Our recording of Weston’s “Fanfare for Changes” opens the podcast, and Ashley’s recording of George’s “Incantations” closes each episode. Visit their websites to learn more about them and their works below!
Trevor Weston - http://www.trevorweston.com/
Whitney George - https://www.whitneygeorge.com/
