The Speaking of Music lecture series is co-hosted by the Royal Society of NSW and the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts. Our speakers will examine music, its relation to the world and its profound power to affect us – sometimes in surprising ways.
“Jazz and democracy”
Dr. Wesley J. Watkins IV
Jazz and Democracy Project
Tuesday 26 February 2019
Thomas Keneally Centre, Level 3, Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts
Dr Watkins is founder of the Jazz and Democracy Project, a music integrated curriculum that utilizes jazz as a metaphor to bring American democracy to life, enrich the study and teaching of U.S. history, government, civics and culture, and inspire youth to become active, positive contributors to their communities.
“Dr. Wes,” as his students call him, first proposed such a curriculum as part of the Stanford University School of Education Undergraduate Honors Program. He conducted research for his undergraduate honors thesis at Oxford University where he engaged and learned from music educators at both local elementary schools and world-renowned secondary institutions like The Bedales School, Eaton College, and The Yehudi Menuhin School.
After earning his PhD from the International Centre for Research in Music Education at the University of Reading, England, Dr. Wes immediately applied his knowledge as an independent arts education consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area, working at the district, school, and classroom levels. He then spent three years working for education-reform non-profits where he facilitated professional development for teachers, instructional coaches and administrators.
Dr. Wes is an avid music lover—particularly jazz and Afro-Cuban jazz—who loves to witness artists standing emotionally naked, transmitting their emotions to the audience, and modeling the best of what improvised music has to offer: a lesson in unity. Now living in Sydney, Dr Wes is speculating on how these principles might apply to Australian democracy and Australian education.