Black History Month in the UK represents a time of year when people from various backgrounds focus on the achievements of the Black diaspora. In music education, this naturally means focusing on the output of musicians, as a way to honour, respect and remember how their contributions have shaped our world sonically. In the weeks and months leading up to Black History Month, the thoughts of many educators turn to the best ways to present some of the music created by Black people throughout history. This usually takes the form of listening and playlists, designed to introduce or reintroduce others to certain musicians and their music.
While Black History Month is a time to celebrate the achievements of the diaspora, there tends to be a bias towards the output and contributions of Black America. Musicians such as Nina Simone, B.B. King, Ella Fitzgerald or Florence Price tend to be featured far more than British musicians such as Beverley Knight, Macka B, Miss-Teeq or Craig David. Yes, there are arguments to be made about the popularity of certain artists versus others, or even (depending on the stage of education) suitability of lyrics and/or themes that certain artists are known for. Nonetheless, the bias towards Black America often obfuscates the contributions of artists from the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, West Asia and Australasia.
The reality is that, in 10–15 years' time, there will be Black students entering the UK music education workforce – as teachers, workshop leaders, researchers and performers – with the hope of being able to talk and teach about the music they connect with, and which has helped shape the UK in various ways. Setting the right conditions to allow the next generation to thrive begins with how we see and treat musics of Black origin, our attitudes to Black British music and the musicians who have created it.
The Beyond the Bassline exhibition held at the British Library from April to August 2024 was curated by Dr Aleema Gray and Dr Mykaell Riley, and marked the first major exhibition of Black British music in Britain. This process of acknowledging and illuminating the musics of Black British folks is slowly setting the scene for the next generation, who will be far more knowledgable about the histories of grime, drill, garage, jungle, Black classical music, jazz and other styles which have failed to be truly represented thus far. These young people are watching and listening to how the music of their generation, and that of their forebears, is being talked about, which will influence their decisions to enter into the education industry or not. While it is important to learn about ‘Strange Fruit’ as recorded by Billie Holiday, we must also ask ourselves about the conversations and ideas which may be spawned from learning about the music made in the last half-century by Black Britons.
The next generation is far more politically aware, and has a variety of understandings about how language, representation and equality show up in society. Combined with the systematic pulling of funding to the arts across the UK, there is potential for music education to simultaneously become more diverse in terms of content and pedagogy but still struggle to ‘attract’ young Black folks to teach. It all begins with creating environments that allow for young people to experience music of Black origin as being deeply connected to themselves and their communities, rather than only focusing on Black musics that may represent forms of Blackness with which many Black Britons cannot identify, far less anyone who does not identify as Black.
What the next generation inherits is our duty today. It requires us not only to highlight listening lists during Black History Month, or embed music of Black origin throughout the academic year. It requires us to engage with multiple elements of contemporary Black British society – not only to better represent the output of musicians, but to connect with children and young people, for whom the dialogue around what it means to be Black and British is constantly evolving and being critiqued before their very eyes.
