May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a time to honor the rich and diverse cultures that have shaped so much of the music we know and love. At Music Workshop, we believe that music is one of the most powerful doorways into understanding and celebrating the world’s cultures – and this month, we’re inviting educators to walk through that door with their students.
Music Workshop has a growing collection of resources to help bring AAPI musical traditions into your classroom in meaningful and engaging ways. Our Culture Series features four lessons dedicated to the continent of Asia, diving deep into the musical traditions, instruments, and stories that have shaped cultures across the region. Looking for something shorter? Our mini lesson on Asian pop is a perfect quick listen for a single class period, offering a fun and accessible entry point into contemporary AAPI music. And don’t miss our ICAN Listen featuring The HU – the extraordinary Mongolian folk-rock band that is bridging traditional instruments and ancient throat singing with modern rock. These resources are designed to spark curiosity, conversation, and connection in your classroom.
And another thing that really inspires us: we’ve been hearing from teachers who are taking these resources even further. Teachers have been creatively combining lessons from our Culture Series to build entire units on Music Along the Silk Road – tracing the ancient trade routes that connected East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and exploring how music traveled, transformed, and took root in new cultures along the way. It’s a brilliant example of what happens when great teachers get curious, and it’s exactly the kind of creative, cross-cultural teaching that Music Workshop exists to support.
We encourage you to explore our AAPI resources this month – and honestly, any month. Representation in music education isn’t just a May conversation; it’s a year-round commitment to helping students see themselves and their world reflected in the music they study. Because when students hear the music of cultures beyond their own, something remarkable happens: the world gets a little bigger, and a little more connected.
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