Members of the Ohio State Sigma Alpha chapter participate in the #maskedupsai challenge on social media, sharing pictures of themselves promoting mask-wearing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Credit: Courtesy of Irene Guggenheim-Triana
During a year that saw worldwide protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and institutions reevaluating how structural racism affects the success and recognition of people of color, the sisters of Sigma Alpha Iota are shining the spotlight on underrepresented creatives in music.
The Sigma Alpha Iota chapter of Ohio State, an all-women music fraternity, is accepting video submissions until Jan. 27, 2021, for a new YouTube series centered around diversity and inclusion in music. “On the Stage Together” will feature performances by female and/or Black, Indigenous and people of color composers and the discussions and lectures will be about diversity and inclusion in music, according to SAI’s Instagram.
“I think we as a chapter are very dedicated to service and we wanted to be able to do our part to highlight these underrepresented composers and bring about change in the school of music,” Lily Carpenter, a third-year in music education and president of SAI, said.
Carpenter said the videos will be posted to SAI’s YouTube channel, with an upload schedule dependent on how many submissions they receive. She said the plan is to start posting videos in the beginning of February 2021.
The inspiration behind this project largely came from all of the events that happened in the world — especially during the past summer with the Black Lives Matter movement — that has struck a chord with all of the members, Carpenter said.
Ila V. Sharma, a second-year in music composition and member of the fraternity, will be commissioned to write music pieces for the series. Sharma said she will be composing a pair of piano pieces along with an unaccompanied piece for the French horn.
As a member of the BIPOC community, Sharma said that she has been using a lot of her own self-taught skills in composition so far to write something that is truly unique to someone with her kind of experience.
“I grew up listening to a lot of Indian music and my grandmother was a classically trained Indian singer so I think that some of that has influenced me,” Sharma said.
Sharma said she is most excited for people to get a sense of her style.
“I think that it’s a little bit of a mix of a lot of different eras of music,” Sharma said. “And I think that what I’m writing is very unique to my personal taste in music too.”
Carpenter said that in general, this project series is a good way for people to be thinking about how we can be more inclusive in any aspect.
“I hope that this opens people’s eyes to so much more that we could be doing and so many more composers we can be appreciating and learning from,” Carpenter said.
Those interested in submitting lectures or music, should email [email protected].
More information along with any new updates surrounding the project will be posted to their social media platforms.
