Canadian music education charity MusiCounts, a branch of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences which presents the Juno Awards, has launched a new resource called #BlackMusicMatters: Hip-Hop & Social Justice in Canada.
The listening and inquiry-based resource is designed for teachers with students in grades 7-12. The goal is to introduce them to Canadian hip-hop artists and their music, while engaging them in critical inquiry into a variety of social justice themes.
The resource is presented by MusiCounts Learn. Ontario secondary school teachers Darren Hamilton and Jon Corbin led its development.
#BlackMusicMatters: Hip-Hop & Social Justice in Canada will be released as a series of four lessons, with lesson plans for English, Social Studies, Geography, History, Visual Arts and of music. Each lesson focuses on a song by a black Canadian artist. The first features “Africville” by Black Union with Maestro and Kaleb Simmonds.
The resource can be used in distance learning scenarios and all lessons will be available on the MusiCounts website.
MusiCounts brought together Black artists and educators to create #BlackMusicMatters: Hip-Hop & Social Justice in Canada in hopes of empowering others to explore Black culture, history and creation, especially through the prism hip hop music.
Hip-hop, like many other forms of black music, has historically been underrepresented in music classrooms. As a result, black students do not see themselves reflected in music programs.
Hamilton is a high school music teacher with the Peel District School Board and a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. Her research interests focus on formal gospel music education and equity, diversity, and social justice in the music curriculum.
He has written about racism and advocating for social justice in music education and started an integrated arts course at his school called “The Sounds and Sights of HIp-Hop and R&B” which exposes students to musical analysis, production and performance of these black musical forms. with their visual arts elements.
Corbin is a secondary English and social studies educator at the Halton District School Board who has spent 15 years bringing the study of hip-hop and spoken word into Ontario classrooms. He is also a hip-hop artist who has released three full albums and a dozen musical projects.
Corbin is host of The Jon Corbin Podcast, a conversational storytelling program about creativity and inspiration. He develops Spark Rap Coaching, an interactive program that teaches students how to rap.
#BlackMusicMatters: Hip-Hop & Social Justice in Canada was developed in conjunction with an advisory committee that included:
- Dr. Mark Campbell, Assistant Professor and Associate Chair of Music and Culture at the University of Toronto;
- Adrian Khan, teacher, hip-hop DJ and music producer;
- Alicia Mighty, Peel District School Board music teacher;
- Carlos Morgan, recording artist, songwriter and music producer;
- Keziah Myers, executive director of ADVANCE, Canada’s black music business collective;
- and Nick Godsoe, Head of Programs and Education at MusiCounts.
MusiCounts was established in 1997 as a music education charity associated with the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the JUNO Awards. Its goal is to make music education inclusive, sustainable and accessible to youth across Canada by providing musical instruments, equipment and resources.
MusiCounts Learn creates innovative new learning resources for teachers and students, while facilitating national dialogue on music education.
