Caribbean Music
Pedagogy Workshop
Summer Professional Development Program
A music pedagogy for social justice.
Started in 2018, the Caribbean Music Pedagogy Workshop (CMPW) is an intensive professional development workshop offered during select summers. The program combines studies in ethnomusicology, music education, and social justice. CMPW offers new ways of learning and teaching Caribbean music that recognize and validate the ingenuity and pedagogical methods of the people who create it. During the program, participants study music from at least three Caribbean nations representing different language areas from the region. Past workshops have focused on Cuba, Haiti, and Trinidad & Tobago. A Certification of Completion is awarded after successful completion of the workshop.
Photo: Zane Rodulfo, CMPW Music Instructor, with 2018 cohort.
A different kind of workshop.
CMPW differs from other music pedagogy workshops in that it actively promotes social justice in both its design and implementation. The workshop aims to help eradicate systemic racism in music by getting teachers, artists, and administrators to think consciously about their approaches to teaching, performing, and programming music. Participants will be exposed to Caribbean history and culture, important musical concepts in the study of Caribbean music, and will gain an understanding and appreciation for the inter-connectedness of the Caribbean region as a whole.
Program Highlights
Caribbean Music: Practice and Theory
Caribbean History
Music & Dance Workshops
Special Guest Artists
Social Justice Framework
Teaching Resources & Strategies
Certificate of Completion
Our Instructors
In keeping with our social justice goals, CMPW program instructors are local artists from the Caribbean or of Caribbean ancestry and are experts in their field. They bring a unique perspective to the study of Caribbean music in the U.S. where classes are taught primarily by people outside of the culture. Instructors teach from a Caribbean perspective and offer strategies for teaching musical traditions that have been marginalized within a system that privileges Western art music and Eurocentric pedagogical methods. Classes are led by multi-disciplinary artist, ethnomusicologist, and Kodály-certified music educator, Dr. Danielle Brown. Special music and dance workshops will be led by guest artists. For a list of past workshop instructors, click here.
Photo: Goussy Célestin, CMPW Music & Dance Instructor.
Location and Schedule
Past workshops have taken place at the LuEsther T. Mertz South Oxford Space, conveniently located in Downtown Brooklyn, New York, as well as online (during the pandemic). Join our mailing list to stay informed about future workshops and their locations.
Classes meet Monday—Friday from 9:30AM EST–4:30PM EST, with a 1-hour lunch break included. Considering the health implications of sitting, activities and small breaks are incorporated throughout the day to help break the monotony of sitting.
Registration, Tuition, and Fees
Course Tuition: $1499*
o Registration Fee (Non-refundable): $350*
o Tuition Balance: $1149*
Space is limited. To secure a seat in the class, register online and submit your deposit. The remaining balance is due by the stated deadline. After the deadline, applications for the workshop will be accepted on a space available basis. For applications submitted on or after the deadline, tuition will be due in full at the time of registration.
*Prices are for our most recent workshop, and are listed only for reference. Join our email list to stay informed about upcoming workshops.
Refund Policy
All tuition and fees will be refunded in the event that the workshop is canceled by My People Tell Stories. Otherwise, the registration fee is non-refundable. The tuition balance will be refunded if registration is canceled by the stated deadline. Registrants are not entitled to a refund of their tuition balance payments after the stated deadline.
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”
— Audre Lorde