Any attendee of an event hosted by Chapman’s Musicians of Color Association (MoCA) is guaranteed to hear the phrase, “with radical self-love.” 

The four words became ingrained into the everyday lexicon of MoCA founder and junior music major David Garcia after reading Sonya Renee Taylor's book, “The Body is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love.”

“I absolutely love what it talks about. When we are creating a society that encompasses and appreciates all people, it starts with us appreciating and radically loving ourselves,” Garcia said. “We want to share this idea of radical love.”

MoCA is committed to doing just that at Chapman, Garcia said, by creating a culture that humanizes and values the historically ignored complexities of musicians of color through diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives. And on May 1 and May 2, Garcia and other MoCA members joined together to host a number of guest speakers and approximately 40 attendees — a mix of Chapman and other college students — to discuss the experiences, hardships and the courses of action for musicians of color navigating their way through a field they feel has long suppressed or forgotten their identities and cultures. 

“Chapman has a really long history of activism on our campus and it’s so great to be a part of that community,” Garcia said. “We don’t want to do whatever has been done before us, but we want to add to the conversation. I'm personally very proud of my club members who helped put this on. There were a lot of hours dedicated to it.”

Chapman music professors William Fitzpatrick, Jessica Sternfeld, Hedy Lee and Mu-Xuan Lin spoke on issues ranging from the impact of the pandemic on their practices to the marginalization of communities of color in the music industry.

“There's a wonderful community of speakers out there that are always willing to work with students. It was a joy to get to work with these speakers and have them exchange ideas,” Garcia said. “We have our little motto that we stand on the shoulders of people who have done it before. These people have certainly done it before, so it's great to talk with them.”

Lee, in particular, discussed her own experiences of balancing her Chinese identity with her American identity in the context of the music industry. She found herself emphasizing her Chinese background in auditions and other professional circumstances, even though that felt like an inauthentic portrayal of herself, while at the same time feeling isolated among her Chinese peers for not being born in China and experiencing their plight.

“I play my identity appropriately for what I need to do to get the job done, to get paid and to make a living,” Lee said during the summit. “You end up having multiple people in your personality that you send out.”

Lee said she found success during her post-graduate work when her teachers helped her find new composers from diverse backgrounds. They encouraged her, she said, to not solely stick with classical composers such as Richard Wagner and to embrace isolated communities.

“You’re encouraged to play what’s given to you and not stray too far from the status quo,” Lee said. “As a university, if we are brave enough, we need to start encouraging and finding more concert artists who are bringing diversity and who aren’t afraid to play something a little different. We need to be open to that culture.”

The first day of the summit began with a conversation among musicians of color from California State University, Northridge, University of the Pacific and California State University, Fullerton, to explore the positives and negatives of their respective music programs. The afternoon concluded with four student performances, ranging from the clarinet to singing. 

For Charles Partida, a Chapman alumnus who majored in music education, his biggest takeaway of the event was to embrace his individuality and continue to grow and educate himself.

“Be you. Continue to educate yourself on things you wouldn’t really think about,” Partida said. “Get your friends and people who want to bring up and talk about these issues and educate each other. Having a group like MoCA is really great to be able to do these things.”

The second day centered on the theme of saving a seat for musicians of color. Guest speakers included Collin Edouard, an educator, author, activist and Brandi Waller-Pace founder and executive director of Decolonizing the Music Room. The two speakers offered their insight and expertise on placemaking in music education, the importance of social justice work and music as a means of healing. 

Partida, who also attended the second day, recalled feeling inspired after a story Edourard told of traveling to different countries to teach music to underrepresented communities to help them find their voices. Partida himself struggled with his path as a musician during his time at Chapman, favoring more modern styles of rock while being taught classical curriculum. 

“There were faculty at Chapman that weren't even caring or supportive. You have a lot of professors that went to these prestigious music schools and don't listen to their students,” Partida said. “The speakers at the event talked about the problems that they faced personally in their music careers and within the conservatory. I was very humbled.” 

The afternoon ended with a performance of “Raise You Up/Just Be” from the musical “Kinky Boots” by a multitude of MoCA members. Similarly to the themes expressed in those lyrics, Garcia looks to spend his one year left at Chapman building and expanding MoCA through — you guessed it — radical self -love. 

“(MoCA’s) got some planning to do in the summer, so we're looking forward to some cool things,” Garcia said. “I'm certainly looking forward to my senior year and kind of wrapping up my time at Chapman. I'm just glad to have a community that loves and supports me.”