Focus Groups

About the Focus Groups

For this research, we conducted 5 different focus groups with students from all throughout the nation. These were some of the questions asked during the sessions:

• Do you have experience performing music that reflects a cultural identity different from your own? If yes, elaborate. What sorts of experiences have you encountered?

• Do you have access to resources that would allow you to find music by composers of color?

• When you are performing music by composers of color, what does your preparation look like?

• How active is your school in programming and performing works by composers of color?

• Has that activity changed in the last year? To what extent?

• Describe your school’s response to the summer of 2020 with respect to the national conversation surrounding systemic racism? How did it affect the performing arts at your school?

• What are the next steps?

As we conducted our sessions we notice some patterns. One of them being that most of the work being done in musical institutions starts by being student-driven. We also notice how many students rely on their instrument professors when searching for music by the composer of color. These are just some of our findings, but more can be found by clicking on these sections:

Focus Group #1 Focus Group #2 Focus Group #3 Focus Group #4 Focus Group #5

Music by Composers of Color