198 | “I’ve Always Used That Song”: Reconsidering Songs with a Questionable Past & Finding Respectful Replacements

In this episode of That Music Podcast, Bryson dives into a challenging topic many music teachers face: those familiar songs that might actually have a questionable past. He explores why it’s important to reconsider what we include in our classrooms and offers thoughtful ways to identify and replace songs that don’t align with creating safe, inclusive spaces for all students. If you’ve ever wondered how to handle the songs you’ve “always used,” this episode provides practical insight and encouragement to take those next steps thoughtfully.

Episode Chapters:

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:59 Why every student deserves a safe and inclusive classroom
• 2:26 Songs with a Questionable Past
• 6:38 Respectful replacement song ideas
• 9:39 How to check songs for cultural sensitivity and suitability
• 11:35 Takeaways

Links and Resources: 

• The Elementary Music Summit®
• Elementary Newbie Guide
• Disabilities Guide
• Steady Beat Survival Guide
• Join Elementary Music EDGE™
• Songs with a Questionable Past Document

Have questions or want to share feedback? Reach out to us at hello@thatmusicteacher.com - we’d love to hear from you!

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:59 Why every student deserves a safe and inclusive classroom
• 2:26 Songs with a Questionable Past
• 6:38 Respectful replacement song ideas
• 9:39 How to check songs for cultural sensitivity and suitability
• 11:35 Takeaways

Transcript

Bryson Tarbet: 0:00

But I've always used that song. What do you mean I can't use it anymore? You are listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tart, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher in the elementary music summit. Each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found@thatmusicteacher.com. Welcome back to that music podcast. Today we're gonna dive into a topic that can feel a little bit uncomfortable, but it's absolutely essential when creating inclusive and equitable music classrooms. Today we're gonna be talking about those songs that you've always used, um, and, and why we, why it might be time to, why, why it is time to acknowledge those questionable origins, the lyrics in the historical context. And see what we need to reevaluate and replace in our classroom. So obviously there are, there, there are likely some, some of you that are going well, why now I've, I've, you know, I'm. 10 years into my career, I'm 15, whatever. Why, why are these something? My, my students love these songs. Why are they things that I should remove? Um, and obviously there's a lot of of stuff going on that allows cultural sensitivity to grow and our understanding of the historical context of a lot of these songs to grow. Um, the goal is not to shame anyone who's used any of these songs. I've used a lot of these songs, but my goal in this episode is to empower educators to make informed choices. Knowing the understanding and the context of a lot of these songs. In last week's episode, we talked a little bit about when you know better to do better, and this is really one of those things that we, we really need to make some action when we get new information. I'm sure we'll come back to this point, but I want to start off with a really simple answer to why is this important, and it's the fact that every single student deserves to feel safe, understood, and heard in your classroom. And that's kind of the whole episode. If you are including songs that are antithetical to that goal, I really think that's a problem and we need to make some decisions to get us. Away from that. So let's talk about what I mean when I, when a, a song that has a questionable past. So if you have not heard of, um, there's this document that's been floating around on the interwebs for quite a while now called the Songs with the Questionable Past List. Um, it has been. Created and compiled by so many different people. Um, and it's this like Google Doc that it's just growing. Every time I log into it, it's completely like, there's just so much more to it. Um, and what I love about it is that it, it shares the song, it shares why it's on the list, and then it gives you sources as to. To basically prove their point. Like it's, it's, it's researched, it's pure researched. People are showing things and finding these different connections. And, and honestly, what I think is really interesting is there are some on that list that are actually still kind of unsure. There's still, there's like research on both sides of why, or, you know, of, you know, a. You know, this person says, it says this, but this research says that it, it actually is much older. So, you know, there sometimes there is a little bit of a gr of a gray area where we have to kind of make that decision for our own classroom. And there's sometimes where it's really not, and it really is just like, no, stop doing this song. Find something new. There's no reason this needs to be in our classroom. So when I'm talking about questionable, there are a few different things, um, that, I mean, so first of all, um, stereotyping and misrepresentation can be, uh, is, is a really big one. Um. You know, songs that have lyrics that kind of, you really, really lean really heavily into those stereotypes, or even historically leaned heavily into those stereotypes.'cause sometimes there are songs where the lyrics as they are today are totally fine. But the reality is, is those aren't the real lyrics. Those, those were changed to make them a little bit more acceptable as, as the, the world around us changed. Um, cultural appropriation is another big one. Um, there is, there are a few songs that I did early in my career that honestly I really liked. Um, my Paddles, Keenan Bright, um, what was the other one? Uh, my Paddles, Keenan Bright was a really good, you know, one that I loved and I had learned that it was an indigenous Canadian song. Um, come to find out, it is completely composed. By someone without any connection to Canadian indigenous roots. Um, it was just that appropriation. Um, there are some that have some songs that have harmful historical context, especially in American folk repertoire. There are a lot of songs that have a harmful historical con context, especially when it comes to really racist undertones in some cases, and some cases just not, not even undertones, just full on. You know, the songs were created with racist, with racist words. Um, some, some of them were, a lot of them were used in minstrel shows. A lot of them were used with blackface. And those are things that I really don't, there's no reason for them to be in our classroom. There's so much other music that we can use instead. And I think it's really important for us to acknowledge that these songs, even if we've used them in the past, and the students love them, they come from a really hateful pass. And there's just, I really don't think there's any reason that we should be continuing. Those, that type of music. Then beyond that, sometimes the repertoire, especially when we're dealing with folk repertoire, um, it's just inappropriate. Um, a lot of songs might have outdated or offensive languages, um, or they might be dealing with topics that really aren't suitable for young children. Um, and I think that, that, that's, those are really some things that we can kind of be aware of when we're looking at repertoire. Either we're looking for a new repertoire or just kind of looking at our own repertoire that we already have included. Um, because. Again, that, you know, there more information is being found all the time. There's more, more connections are being found. Um, what I love, see, I I, I do love seeing, um, that there are a lot of these brands, these, these publishing companies that are reprinting books. Um, one that comes to mind is Purple Purposeful Pathways. Um, they just reprinted, uh, I believe actually at this point they've, they've reprinted all of them, um, and they've removed any of the folk repertoire that, um, came from that questionable past and they replaced it with something else. That's the reality is there's so much music out there, why are we including things that really aren't great? Just there's so much, so much better that we can add in there. So let's talk a little bit about replacement songs. When I'm talking about replacement songs, I'm talking about, alright, if I let, let's, let's talk about the ticket. Ticket in the room, right. For whatever reason, um, the, the repertoire that has been very. Front, front heavy, um, in a lot of training programs and curriculums, um, for ticket ticket or, you know, four 16th note pair, four 16th notes, um, has been ra a lot of it has been really kind of decimated by. The songs of the questionable past list, because a lot of it came from minstrel shows. Um, a lot of it originally the original lyrics were very inappropriate. Um, very hurtful. Um, so what do we do instead? Um, and I think first of all, kind of go outside your box. You know, one of my favorite ticket tickets is from an. Orff volume. I know I'm the Kodi person. Right. Uh, but the reality is, is there's repertoire out there in the world. That's, that already has a lot. Um, I'm thinking, ding don d uh, it's, it's all ticket tickets. Right? One of my favorite things to do is to. Compose a new song. And again, I know I'm the co, I'm I'm a Kodi person that's telling me I composed a song. Well, yeah, because I needed something for ticket Ticka. Uh, so this is a song that I wrote recently, um, called Flying with a B. Um, and this is, I like this because it has ticket tick, it's. It's composed in a way that I know where it came from, and I know that it's, that it's not questionable and it's worth keeping. Uh, but it goes like this, flying like a bee and flying all around the bees. Make sure the world goes round, flying like a bee and finding all the flowers. Then we all fly home and there's a, a body percussion that I do, um, basically. The game for this, you know, if you raise, uh, I take a bunch of beanbags or other objects, they're scattered around the room. That's the quote unquote nectar. Uh, and then during the bee section, everyone kind of flies around like bees. Um, basically you're trying to capture as much nectar as you can. The goal is to have as much, uh, and bring it back to the hive, which is kind of where they started, um, and then kind of go from there. The goal is to get as much as you can. Um, so that's one of those things that you can do when you're replacing a song, um, that. Doesn't need to be in your classroom anymore as you can, you know, writing that song for me took maybe maybe 30 minutes, um, from start to finish to coming up with the words, to coming up with the game. Um, and I, I, I think that there's just, there's no reason to include songs that. Come from that past. And I think it's really important for us to just do the work. I know it's hard. I know sometimes even, you know, if you're not gonna compose something, finding, you know, even just Googling ticket ticket replacement songs can take you down a rabbit hole. That can be a lot of time. Um, but I think it's important work for us to do. Um, and I think it's important for us to make sure that we're not letting the frustration of. Things get in the way. So when you find a piece of repertoire, what are some ways that you can make sure that it's authentic? Right? So if you're giving you something new, uh, first of all, make sure it's authentic. Um, talk. Thinking about songs that are created by, or generally representative of a culture, if they're representing a culture. Uh, make sure that they have positive representation. Make sure they're uplifting, celebrate, and actively portraying any, any cultures that they may or may not be representing. And if they're not. Cool. That's fine too. Um, making sure they have an educational value, right. Don't, just, don't just include a song just 'cause does it still, is that song still able to teach a musical concept you'd need? Um, and then make sure it's age appropriateness. Um, is the language and the theme suitable for elementary music students? Um, and, and this is really important, is the, the, the difficulty of the concepts and, and the. The concept levels, do they match the age appropriate level? Right? So if we're doing a ticket ticket song and it's all about, you know, something that a student might find baby-ish, that might be an issue. Um, so making sure that we're kind of keeping that in, in the thing as well. So I know it takes time. It takes time to rebuild a song collection, and especially when you feel like. There are certain concepts like ticket ticka where you're just pulling things out and you're just, you don't know what else to add to it, but it really is incredibly rewarding. It's, I want you, I wanna encourage you to start small, replacing the songs or pulling out the songs when you know that they need to be pulled out, and then replacing those songs one at a time, right? Don't try to replace your entire song collection all at once. Just pull out the ones you don't need to use anymore. Then as you need, as you kind of find that need for where that song would've gone fill in a hole, I want you to be willing to critically evaluate your repertoire. I want you to prioritize inclusive, authentic, and respectful music. Honestly, there are so many high quality replacement songs available right now, especially if you utilize the re, the internet as a resource that there are so many things that you can find. So I wanna know from you, what are some of the songs that you've had to reevaluate in your curriculum, and what replacement songs have you found? Did you create 'em on your own? Did you find them from somebody else? Did you just happen to have a second one and you use that instead? Let us know on Instagram at that music teacher, send me a dm. I really want to hear what some of your favorite replacement songs, especially if they're a tick, tick.'cause tick, tick is hard. Uh, with that being said, thank you so much for joining me on this important conversation. We are not done with this conversation, just only the beginning. Um, but I really think it's, it's so important for us to create those inclusive and enriching music classrooms. Until next time. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of That Music podcast. I appreciate if you were to leave us a review. Wherever you are listening, wherever you are watching, subscribe to us on YouTube. It really helps us out. Um, and then that, with that being said, thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of the students that.