Advocacy Tools During the Pandemic

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Dear Kodály Music Educators,

The Organization of American Kodály Educators is working diligently to provide resources and materials that may help you transition to a new framework of teaching. As school leaders are working to comply with safety guidelines, they will likely be exploring many different scenarios, from basic social distancing to virtual instruction. As you navigate through the waters of change, we know that you, as a music teacher, have the added task of fostering musical growth in a setting that creates obstacles to the social and emotional foundations of joyful music-making due to distance and, at times, isolation.

OAKE has joined with nearly 100 organizations to sponsor ongoing research led by Dr. Shelly Miller of the University of Colorado. With her team, Dr. Miller is studying how aerosols may spread during different types of music classroom activities, as well as what mitigation strategies lower the risk. We expect to have the results of this research in early or mid-July. Through this study, we hope to learn what combination of strategies will allow most people to get back to the music-making and interaction that we know makes us whole.

In an effort to educate our schools’ essential stakeholders, OAKE has composed advocacy letters for your distribution. Communication is a critical component of advocacy, especially when policy-makers are considering prioritizing some subject areas over others. We intend to support music educators through this uncertain time period so that music learning can continue, no matter what the upcoming school year holds.

Feel free to contact us with any needs that arise. We are a community, here to support you through this unprecedented time, and the best way to do that is to hear from you.

Sincerely,

The OAKE Ad Hoc Task Force on COVID-19-Precipitated Change
Kevin Pearson, Chair
[email protected]