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Maura Donnelly
Professor scar Fernndez
FRINQ Race and Social Justice
19 December 2014
Community Engagement Reflection Essay
I attended the BRAVO concert at the University of Portland on the 15th of November.
BRAVO is a non-profit organization that has a goal of improving the lives of underserved
children through music. This event was a free concert in which students of Rosa Parks
elementary school, the Oregon Symphony, and the noted German cellist Alban Gerhardt that was
open to the public. Walking into the Buckley Center Auditorium the room was full of
excitement and proud parents. All the children preforming were wearing a purple BRAVO tshirt. Families big and small from all backgrounds sat in the audience. Many of the families
knew each other and there was a warm feeling about the room. Most of the youth were on their
best behavior, however there was the occasional student who got too fidgety and needed to be
talked to by their teacher. Every time there was applause it was loud and I could tell how proud
the parents were of their children. I have been to other orchestras and the audiences clapping
was different at this one. I could feel the emotion in the crowd. Something I loved seeing was the
young musicians scanning the crowd for their families, then smiling ear to ear when they finally
found theirs.
The concert connects with Race and Social Justice Class because most of the students and
families at this event were a minority. We often discuss in class the concept of stereotype
threat. According to the journal, African American Classical Musicians in 2013, out of all the
orchestral musicians in the United States there was only 4% that were African American or

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Latino musicians. In the book Whistling Vivaldi, Steele defines a stereotype threat as a
situational predicament felt in situations where one can be judged by, treated in terms of, or selffulfill negative stereotypes about one's group". The stereotype associated with classical
musicians is that, that only white people can play classical music. What I really enjoyed about
the organization BRAVO is that it is breaking down stereotype threats for each of those students.
They are learning that they too can be musicians. It has a domino effect where if one person sees
someone else like them playing in an orchestra they are more likely to want to do the same.
I really enjoyed going to this concert and supporting these young musicians. I hope that
BRAVO continues to help underserved youth through music. In class we discussed how it would
have been better to have a famous classical musician who was Black or Latino preforming with
the children. I agree that would have been great for the students to see someone like them
performing. Unfortunately, there are not many well-known minority classical musicians. Maybe
one day minority in student in BRAVO will be a renowned classical artist and could be role
model for young aspiring musicians.

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Works Cited
"Exceeding Hegemony and Debunking the Myths." Exceeding Hegemony and
Debunking the Myths. Gc.cuny.edu. Web. 2 Dec.2014.
Steele, Claude. Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. New
York: W.W. Norton, 2011. 1-242. Print.