Music History We Weren’t Taught: An Interview with Chenoa Murphy

Today we’re speaking with Chenoa Alamu Murphy who is a violinist, teacher, and speaker who offers fabulous courses online about Black Classical Composers & Musicians, as well as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We talk about diversifying our repertoire, some of her story as a musician, incorporating music history we wish we had known growing up, music practice, and more. 

Highlights of My Interview with Chenoa Murphy Include:

On practice as a young student: “I just wanted to get to it and just play it and, and be perfect right away. And I have to admit, I was pretty impatient with myself. So as long as I was getting it, I was happy with things and my progress and whatnot, but otherwise, I do recall my mother practicing with me as, standard in the Suzuki method. However, when I was, on my own, it was just a struggle to get the hours in or, or really even knowing how to practice. So I think that was probably the bigger issue for me is just knowing how to practice.”

“First of all, I want to say you’re not alone in feeling left out in terms of what you were taught, the who’s and the, and the, you know, the what’s in classical music. That’s my own story. It wasn’t until I was in undergraduate school where I began to even ask, you know, I wonder if there were people who looked like me, who were in this field as musicians, you know, who were concert artists as well as composers. And to my recollection is when I remembered coming across William Grant Still and I actually performed his suite for violin and piano for one of my recitals.”

” . . . particularly if I may say, for white string teachers, there’s this pressure to get it right. There’s this pressure to not make a mistake. And so I do hope, and so far the feedback that I have been getting is that my workshops and my classes in general, just really help people to come to terms with some things, as well as have a safe, nurturing space, to be able to say, Hey, I just didn’t know. You know, and, and this is what I was taught about classical music, or this is what I believe to have been the right way to hear or know of classical music. So I’m really grateful for that because I feel like we’re all human beings really trying to do our best with life and with the issues that, you know, have fallen into our laps and the legacies that we have been left with that might not be so just might not be so comfortable to own up to, and, and really do something about not just for where we are currently, but also for our children and grandchildren. And great-grandchildren.”

“I mean, is it special? Is it awesome? Is it, do I wish every classroom, every concert stage, every home even knew about these people? Sure. You know, and again, I just feel like if we just start to talk about it, just like we do anything else and normalize it, then I feel like that would also help to take a lot of being anxiety and angst out of introducing, not just the people, but also their music in their studios.”

---

You can find the Time to Practice Podcast on your favorite podcast platform or listen by clicking below

---

Links from Today’s Episode: 

Chenoa Murphy’s website where you can find links to her courses: www.blackclassicalmusicians.com

Chenoa Murphy‘s Courses: https://blackclassicalmusicians.com/product/intro-to-black-classical-musicians/

Contact Chenoa Murphy:  chenoa@blackclassicalmusicians.com

Link to the October 16th Time to Practice Pep Talk