Year 8: Week 31 – Any Dream Will Do

On Monday, my 3rd graders performed selections from Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with one of our high school choirs. It was a lot of kids one stage, almost one hundred total, and the coordination was tricky, but it worked.

I did this a couple years ago with my 3rd graders and a middle school choir. I did tell the story to the kids, and when students who knew it from Hebrew school mentioned that they knew it in that context, I acknowledge this, but I didn’t explore the religious context of this music.

That was almost four years ago, and I’ve changed, the world has changed. The illusions that once existed of accepting plurality in American culture have been demolished and the I feel an impetus to do teaching and learning that addresses the conflicts in our society. Steering away from issues that are important, but are hard to talk about is no longer an option.

To introduce our performance, I organized three faculty members their experiences with the story of Joseph/Yusef, from their own personal experiences and religions backgrounds. We started with a teacher who identified as Jewish followed by a Christian teacher and then a Spanish teacher who is Muslim. Then I talked about my perspective learning about this story from a secular musical theater experience.

I knew that bringing forth the idea that this story was shared by these three major faith traditions and that is lived in the secular world was an important connection. I didn’t realize until college that Islam shared so many stories in the Jude-Christian tradition. However, framing this presentation took a lot of time and thought. Here’s the thing, I don’t belong to any of major American faith traditions. I don’t fully understand the religiosity of American culture and why there is so much conflict around religion in our society. I was really afraid that somehow I would offend someone.

I wrote a couple drafts of an intro, sent it to our principals and other teachers for ideas, and here’s what I ended up using:

Good morning. The Special Chorus, the 3rd grade, and some special guests are excited to present to you selections from the musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The story this musical is based on the ancient story of Joseph.  Joseph overcomes the cruelty of his brothers and rises to a position of power, because of his ability to tell the future by interpreting his own dreams, and other people’s dreams.  Initially, Joseph tests his brothers, and he forgives his brothers after he sees that they have changed.

The story of Joseph is a unique story because it is included in the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The musical presents this story in a secular, non-religious setting.  When we explore this story from different perspectives, we may see ourselves in these faith traditions. As we learn more, we begin to better understand other religious traditions around the world.

We include the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as an act of inclusion, to bring together voices of different faiths through a shared story.  It’s important to acknowledge that the themes in this story resonate with religious traditions, and philosophies around the world that are not represented here.     
Three of our teachers are going to share how they have experienced this story in their own religious traditions in chronological order.  Their sharing is representative of their own personal experiences and beliefs, and these experiences are not meant to be generalized across the great diversity within each of their religions.  After they speak, I will share a secular, non-religious viewpoint on this story.

What the teachers shared was thoughtful, personal and powerful. The Jewish teacher provided insights into details of the story and talked about learning from your mistakes. She also touched upon the idea of you can change, and that you can always become a better person. The second teachers talked about teaching this story in Sunday school and how the themes of suffering and forgiveness. The third teacher gave some insights into how the idea of patience can be learned from this story and how it ties into Ramadan.

I've been working on this music for the past month, and after hearing these introductions the music sounded different.  There was a new energy knowing that this music was connected to other religions, and other cultures.  The music felt more inclusive, more immediate and more powerful.

How we think about music is as important as the music itself.  If we think about music in the context of diversity, and inclusion, maybe it can change more than how we think about music.