I knew what the end result of this would be, but I did it anyway: my music library is dominated by straight White men. I stuck to my band library (I have a Chorus library too, and that's also a big problem), but examining the different "authors" (composers/arrangers), I documented over 50 unique white men. There was one Black man (multiple pieces from him, but the same composer), and 3 White women (several concert band pieces by the same woman, and then jazz band arrangements of Lady Gaga and Adele). I found one Latino composer/arranger in my jazz band library. I found no nonbinary authors, and the only LGBTQ+ representation I could find was the Lady Gaga piece.
While I didn't closely examine my Chorus library, I know that it's not quite as ugly as my Band library, but it's still not good. There are more women who get published as composers for middle school chorus, and the arrangement of pop songs represent more Black and Latinx performers/songwriters, as well as more LGBTQ+ performers/songwriters (but, especially in the case of LGBTQ+ songwriters, "more" is not "a lot more").
I knew this was true, I have worked to address it recently, but I am still deeply ashamed at how non-representative this music is. Much of it is multicultural music, even, arrangements/settings of folk music from around the world, but not presented by a member of said culture. I need to clean out music that I won't use (especially if it's blatantly offensive) and replace it with more women and nonbinary composers, as well as more composers of color. I will say that the range of published composers of school music is extremely limited, especially at my kids' ability levels, but if it's out there, I need to bring it into my library. Every single one of my kids deserves representation, and so far not all of them are represented.
While I didn't closely examine my Chorus library, I know that it's not quite as ugly as my Band library, but it's still not good. There are more women who get published as composers for middle school chorus, and the arrangement of pop songs represent more Black and Latinx performers/songwriters, as well as more LGBTQ+ performers/songwriters (but, especially in the case of LGBTQ+ songwriters, "more" is not "a lot more").
I knew this was true, I have worked to address it recently, but I am still deeply ashamed at how non-representative this music is. Much of it is multicultural music, even, arrangements/settings of folk music from around the world, but not presented by a member of said culture. I need to clean out music that I won't use (especially if it's blatantly offensive) and replace it with more women and nonbinary composers, as well as more composers of color. I will say that the range of published composers of school music is extremely limited, especially at my kids' ability levels, but if it's out there, I need to bring it into my library. Every single one of my kids deserves representation, and so far not all of them are represented.