We recently connected with Georgia English and have shared our conversation below.

Georgia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

Let me start by giving a little bit of context about my role in relation to the educational system. I want to make it known that I am not a classroom teacher or district professional, and while I have worked in close partnerships with schools for over 10 years as a Community Music Teacher, I can’t completely speak to the system as a whole.

What I can offer is what I’ve learned from listening to students in structured yet less formal settings. My team and I talk a lot about making space for students to decompress, access their creativity, and know that they are in a place where they belong. This often leads to conversations between kids about how they see themselves in the school universe. I am always blown away by their insight and perceptiveness. I have noticed that how they feel received by the adults and systems around them fluctuates so much with class, language barriers, and other experiences that make some kids systemically vulnerable and less supported through their educational journey.

We talk so much about college readiness, career training, and other really big topics topics in schools where children are growing up unprotected by the systems that are supposed to serve them, and we should. Children DO deserve to dream a beautiful life, and defining pathways to a healthy future is a very important part of this. But it is hard to convince children who face extra barriers that that kind of life is actually for them, when they don’t have a regularly staffed counselor, consistent arts, or access to daily wellness services.

Well-funded public schools have sensory rooms and beautiful instruments for children to play and dedicated school counselors with tangible tools and resources, thanks largely to PTO’s. Economically disadvantaged schools do not have these things, not because their parents don’t love them or don’t want to invest in their school communities, but because working class families often don’t have the time or resources to participate.

My daydream of a more equitable city involves a city-wide PTO, rather than a school-by-school PTO. One where families who can do, do, and families who can’t don’t, and families who maybe would but who don’t attend a school with an active PTO *can* finally contribute to and be involved in one. This could also help offset some of the disparities resulting from such a wide range of property taxes and home values.

Preparing a generation of fulfilled and successful adults must start with showing children, all children, they are important.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

You Be You Music Room, LLC is a mental-health informed music education initiative founded by myself (Georgia English, music therapy masters student). Our team of 12 educators provides in-person services (including lessons, and 11 after-school programs) in Nashville, TN and Pittsburgh, PA (through our soon to be You Be You Inc) , as well as a global community of learners through virtual lessons. Additionally, we provide engaging, culturally responsive music curriculum for our programs and beyond. We are a community of 200+ students and 12 teachers revolutionizing music education to build emotionally resilient kids through our research-backed curriculum.

We currently operate 11 after-school programs in Nashville, host 24 live virtual classes for global learners 9from Uganda to Australia to Taiwan, and more), serve 50+ students in private lessons.

At a time when youth mental health has never been more vulnerable (nearly 20% of high-school students report serious thoughts about suicide and 9% report a suicide attempt, according to NAMI/National Alliance of Mental Illness), and school mental health professionals have never been shorter-staffed, we recognize the importance of pursuing creative, integrated systemic approaches to youth wellness. (It’s important to note that our services are NOT clinical.) Our programs and curriculum are trauma-informed in that they are backed in legitimate data and research and reviewed by a team of child psychologists from many backgrounds. Knowing that the music room at school, and music-based after-school programs are two of the few school spaces that stay consistent to children and teens over a school career, music education has the potential to not simply offer the joys of music, but to serve as a school-wide support system. Through my work as an educator, I have often served as a liaison between students who are struggling, and school social workers and counselors, who youth likely wouldn’t connect with on their own. We see the impact, responsibility and potential for this kind of service, and You Be You is what we named it!

I am currently pursuing a masters in Music Therapy, and so a lot of this work will be aligned with that journey as well.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Being a white teacher, I think most of my job description is “unlearning.” This involves a lot of reading about educational philosophies from marginalized writers (WEB DuBois, Chris Emdin, bell hooks, Paulo Freire). It also involves shutting the f word up and listening to and believing students of color when they express their experiences, and reflecting on the role of whiteness and my own identities in my life. There is a great book by Lisa A. Talusan called “The Identity Conciosu Educator” that I am working through and recommend to anyone working with youth!

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

I didn’t ALMOST miss payroll… I did miss it, for one of my teachers! She works many passionate hours for me a week, and somehow I left her off. I owned the fact that I messed up, shared some context about managing ADHD, brought her a check, and bought myself a spankin’ new payroll binder! Crossing fingers to the wind I don’t mess that up again, but if I do, we’ll make it right.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.youbeyoumusicroom.com
• Instagram: @youbeyoumusicroom
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/youbeyoumusiced
• Twitter: @ageorgiaenglish
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2AdMVsxLHy-0zcf_FVLesw/featured

Image Credits
Molly Lins and Jake Faivre