Singing Down the Barriers: A Guide to Centering African American Song for Concert Performers
Never has there been a more urgent time to foster cultural humility, diversity, and dialogue and address systemically exclusionary practices in vocal music. This book will assist not only with programming music by composers from the African diaspora but also in creating brave spaces for critical conversations on race, equity, and American music.
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Emery Stephens, baritone, is an assistant professor of voice at St. Olaf College. He has delivered presentations for the College Music Society, Race and Pedagogy National Conference, African American Art Song Alliance, National Association for the Study and Performance of African American Music, and the Singing Down the Barriers Institute.
Caroline Helton, soprano, is a clinical associate professor of music at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Through her teaching, recordings, and publications, she is a tireless advocate for integrating the canon of song repertoire to reflect and respect its true diversity. Along with Emery Stephens, she co-founded the Singing Down the Barriers project.
Singing Down the Barriers, which is intended for people of all races, challenges assumptions and provides a thoughtful road map intended to correct the glaring omissions in our vocal canon. Their work presents a respectful approach to music and approaches difficult conversations about our racialized, exclusionary past while offering practical advice intent on engendering authentic conversation.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is an aphorism that is often cited to underline the importance of studying history. In Singing Down the Barriers, Stephens and Helton present the same advice, but with a positive spin. Those who learn from the past can improve the present, and lay the foundation for a future that is rich and respectful. Everyone should read this book because it is instructive and enriching. The volume is also empowering, not only to the composers and culture of Black song, but to anyone who aspires to be a collaborative partner in the performance of this repertoire.
Stephens and Helton emphasize that those of us in the arts must do the work of examining how racism has shaped our culture, which takes conscious and sustained effort. They believe that the work of exploring the causes of ignorance and ambivalence involves inevitable discomfort that is necessary before we can move toward meaningful cultural impact. Their shared aspiration is that the book will provide a model for what that work could look like. As such, it serves as a crucial resource for change that is long overdue.
