Challenging Racism and Dismantling White Supremacy in the Canadian Choral Arts
Originally published in Choral Canada's journal Anacrusis, volume 43, number 3, Fall 2024
ISME Community Music Activities Preconference Seminar
Presentation of my Master’s Research at the International Society for Music Education’s (ISME) Community Music Activities (CMA) Preconference Seminar in July 2024 in Tampere, Finland
ICCM 2023 Student Research Symposium
Enjoy my presentation of my masters research entitled “Confronting Racism in Canadian Music Conservatories: Healing Trauma Through Community Music” virtually presented at York St. John University in York, United Kingdom on November 27, 2023
Confronting Racism in Canadian Music Conservatories: Healing Trauma Through Community Music
This manuscript describes an autoethnographic capstone for my MA in community music where I describe my lived experience with racism and exclusion in the Canadian music conservatory system and how I used community music to foster pathways for healing from racial trauma. While conducting the research, it became clear that my disconnection from my Filipino-Canadian heritage, and the Philippines’ history of colonization, contributed to a fractured sense of identity. As an act of resistance against White supremacy and the colonized mindset, this manuscript explores how I reconnected with my Filipino heritage, directed Filipino-centered community music ensembles, and established musical, linguistic, and cultural organizational infrastructure that is aimed at connecting Filipino diasporic researchers, artists, and community members in order address critical issues faced by the Filipino-Canadian community of Southern Ontario and beyond.
Failing To Be Perfect: The Role of Mindfulness & Meditation in Music Performance
I wrote this essay as part of my music education seminar in my Bachelor of Music Education degree. I explore my own experience with music performance anxiety as well as my practice as a mindfulness and meditation practitioner. I also provide strategies for addressing MPA and incorporating mindfulness in a K-12 model.
Research Activities
Forthcoming Contributions
Co-Edited Book & Manuscript 2026
Keywords: Filipino Canadian Queer Mental Health, Families, Community work, Diaspora Studies, Race and Ethnicity Studies, Social Work.
500-Word Contribution (In Press) 2026
In Juliet Hess’ (Ed.) Music Education and Social Change (2nd Edition), Routledge.
Contribution Title: “How I Found Paulo Freire For The First Time: Learning to Name my Oppressive Reality In Order To Transform It”
Book Chapter (In Press) 2025
Myers Education Press
Chapter Title:Overcoming Anti-Blackness as a Filipino Canadian Artist-Scholar-Activist: Healing and Confronting Historical Colonial Conditioning”
Book Chapter (co-authored & accepted) 2026
In Dr. Ilyan Ferer & Dr. Fritz Pino’s (Eds.) Racialized Older Im/migrants in Canada: Critical and Transnational Perspectives
Chapter Title: “Making Music with Aging Im/migrant Filipino Elders as Community Music Therapy and Care”
Most Recent Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journal Article (Published) November 2024
Choral Canada’s Journal Anacrusis, Volume 43, No. 3, Fall 2024 Edition
“Challenging Racism and Dismantling White Supremacy in the Canadian Choral Arts”
Non-Refereed Contributions
Master of Arts in Community Music Capstone 2023
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON
“Confronting Racism in Canadian Music Conservatories: Healing Trauma Through Community Music”
B.Mus.Ed. Research Study 2018
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s NL
Manuscript Title: “Failing to be Perfect: The Role of Mindfulness and Meditation in Music Performance”
Conferences Presentations
Gala Performance & Artistic Exhibit May 2026
2026 Community Psychology Conference
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON
KW Sentro adult and children’s choir performed traditional Filipino folk songs at the conference’s opening gala.
Session Title: Understanding Filipino Canadian Identity and Thought to Combat the Polycrisis: Fascism, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and What We Can Learn From Their Tyranny
Conference Presentation 2025
Ontario Music Educators’ Association (OMEA) Conference, Toronto, ON
This presentation was a deliverable that was part of the LIFT Grant from the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) issued in January 2023. At OMEA, our team shared stories about what it was like to make the resources, implement them, and lead a group of elementary students to a performance at Centre In The Square, the symphony hall of Kitchener-Waterloo.
Conference Presentation February 2025
Pinoys On Parliament Annual Conference, Ottawa, ON
Session Title: Awit Ng Pagalaga (Songs of Care): Singing To Your Elders as Care
Panel Presentation October 2024
Decolonizing the Music Room’s Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian (BBIA) Music Symposium, Fort Worth, TX, USA
Sharing about KW Sentro, non-profits, and liberatory praxis
Conference Presentation September 2024
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Symposium in Music Education Research, University of the Philippines, College of Music (Online)
Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
“Filipino Community Music Theory and Practice as a Vehicle for Cultivating Cultural Resonance: A Practitioner-Scholar’s Journey of Healing”
Conference Presentation July 2024
International Society for Music Education (ISME) Community Music Activities (CMA) Preconference Seminar, Tampere, Finland
“Confronting Racism in Canadian Music Conservatories: Healing Trauma Through Community Music”
Keynote Address May 2024
Inaugural Filipino Cultural Gathering & Symposium
Kitchener-Waterloo, ON
“Kwentuhang Filipino-Canadian: Filipino-Canadian Discussions at The Inaugural Filipino Cultural Gathering & Symposium”
Conference Presentation 2023
Student Research Symposium, International Centre for Community Music (ICCM)
York St. John University, York, United Kingdom
“Confronting Racism in Canadian Music Conservatories: Healing Trauma Through Community Music”
Conference Presentation 2023
Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Music Education Gathering, Westminster, CA
“Confronting Racism in Canadian Music Conservatories: Healing Trauma Through Community Music”
Conference Presentation 2018
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL
Newfound XV Music Festival,
Session Title: “Mindfulness Break”
Conference Presentation 2017
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL
Newfound XIV Music Festival
Session Title: “Innovation in Education: Social Constructions and Their Interaction with Pedagogy”
A presentation examining racial disparities in standardized testing.
Creative Outputs/Public Performances
Original Sarswela Presentation December 2025
Sarswela Title: Ako Ay Pilipino (I am Filipino)
Concept: A lecture-musical about the corruption and embezzling of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos in the Philippines during the 1970s.
Choral Music Festival Participant 2025 & 2026
Junior Treble Fest Hosted by Mississauga Children’s Choir, Etobicoke, Ontario
KW Sentro Children’s Choir performed a set of Filipino folk songs with Pamati Children’s Choir of Guelph and engaged in workshops led by top clinicians.
Original Sarswela Presentation December 2025
Sarswela Title: Ito Ang Pasko Ko (That’s Christmas To Me)
Concept: A mini children’s musical about Catholicism during Christmas time and how we can be proud to be Filipino Catholics, but perhaps we don’t have to take up so much space. A reflection piece.
Original Sarswela Presentation May 2024
Sarswela Title: Coming Home
Martin Luther University College, Waterloo, ON
Presented at the 1st Filipino Cultural Gathering and Symposium, this Sarswela is a children’s musical featuring traditional Filipino folk songs weaved into dialogue about being proud to be Filipino and (re)learning our cultural traditions as a form of ancestral reverence. This was also performed by a children’s camp hosted by the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s Equity Department in the same year.
KW Sentro Choirs 2023 - Present
Highlighted Performances:
Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Festival
Various events hosted by the Filipino Canadian Association of Kitchener Waterloo
Ongoing events by KW Sentro
St. Mark’s Catholic Church
Little Lights Haven of Hope Fundraising Event
Junior Treble Fest (Hosted by Mississauga Children’s Choir)
West Hill Retirement Home
Community Singing 2024
Kanata Centre, Martin Luther University College, Waterloo, ON
KW Sentro Choirs taught a Filipino song to Inshallah Choir (a majority White ensemble) and performed with them in a concert entitled Singing With Our Neighbours hosted by the Kanata Centre.
Lecture-Recital: Piano and Vocal Music of the Philippine ArchipelagoMarch 2023
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario
Performed piano and vocal music by Filipino composers and delivered research about historical context of the music.
Music Director: Monthly Catholic Filipino Masses in Tagalog 2022 - Present
St. Mark’s Catholic Church, Kitchener, ON