A few years ago, two graduate students in Michigan State Universitys College of Music both noted a lack of diversity and set out to do something about it. The result was an organization that is elevating and broadcasting musical voices of color.

Professor Rodney Whitaker, the director of Jazz Studies in the college, introduced Jordyn Davis and Jadrian Tarver to each other and suggested they combine efforts. They met in the Union building and that day formed a group called Color Me Music that aims to create a safe space for all members of the college, and brings issues important to students of color to the forefront.

Davis and Tarver have led the group through performances, recitals, block parties and other events. Their original goals have grown to encompass civic engagement and outreach and spread beyond just the walls of the College of Music. They are working with Wharton Center. In June they responded to the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyds death with a list of action items for solidarity.

The MSU College of Music is making strides to change and be more inclusive and diverse, said Tarver. Im on those calls as we speak and there is a lot of stuff in play that they are waiting to announce.

Color Me Music is building on the successes they have had since the end of 2018 when they officially launched. They have mixed performances with the goal of creating a safe space for students of color and allies to form a community where they can talk and connect.

Its also bigger than students of color, said Tarver. We are talking about each department being in their silo and we wanted to bring the College of Music into a community where we are all working together.

They started by sitting down with Whitaker, who became their advisor, and learning about areas they werent aware of and what had been done before. They met with the dean of the College of Music, spoke with students of color and white students, and pulled together a list of goals.

The public first saw them during the annual MLK concert at MSU.

For Tarver, who studies classical voice and is pursuing his doctorate in vocal performance, singing at that concert was an extremely memorable moment for him.

It was outside my area of study, Tarver said. I got to perform with a jazz band and jazz artists.

From there, Color Me Music pulled together a Black History Month recital focusing on Black composers that was as inclusive as they were able to make it.

We included all of the departments from classical strings to jazz, to classical voice to composition, said Tarver. All of the major departments were represented in this Black History Month recital. That started us thinking into bigger ideas who can we get in the university together?

Next, they began planning a convocation/block party. It launched, creating a way for everyone to get together or, as he said, to mix and mingle and get out of their silos.

Tarver said the event was a success, an opportunity to celebrate. He recalled such things as professors line dancing and everyone having fun playing games, dancing, talking and laughing.

We dont get to see that often because we are all so busy, burning both ends of the candlestick, said Tarver.

In the winter of 2020, they did a recital for Black History Month, one of the last performances done in person before everything was canceled. The recital focused on racial battle fatigue.

We wanted to talk about something overlooked when dealing with minorities and Black people, said Tarver. A large audience is not aware of the racial battle fatigue and the microaggressions that students and black people experience. We wanted to talk about what we have endured and how we heal, what we use to process.

They also hosted a forum to amplify the concerns of students of color in dealing with lack of representation on staff, unqualified panelist addressing race issues, the lack of representation of composers and musicians of color in the curriculum and the need to address racist incidents on campus.

Then came the pandemic and plans changed even though their goals of creating diverse communities and communities of belonging have not.

What has changed is how we will accomplish these goals due to coronavirus, said Tarver. How can we effectively bring about change in a more innovative way while keeping our initial goal.

He said many of them have been doing performances virtually and they are working on the idea of webinars where they can continue the discussion and conversations around particular issues.

They are also trying to push ahead on racial justice issues, whether it is within the College of Music, Wharton, or anywhere else in the university.

On June 11, they responded to a College of Music Black Lives Matter statement with a letter of their own in which they wrote that students of color want to have the same great experiences that their fellow white students do. Toward the end of the letter, they wrote:

From your statement, it is clear that the first phase of allyship has been reached. You have acknowledged the need for change. We are in a desperate need to move to phase two where we work together to create change. We want to ensure true diversity and inclusion within the College of Music.

They then included a list of 11 action items that included such things as including composers and musicians of color and women in music history curriculum, hiring more Black faculty, music history and theory classes taught by Black faculty, programming composers of color in upcoming concerts and events, outreach and communication between students of color and Color Me Music and the Diversity and Inclusion committee, and more intentional collaborations across disciplines.

There are a lot of things on the docket, said Tarver. Its just covid is making things move a little slower than planned.

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Music students team up to improve issues of color - Lansing State Journal