KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — An award-winning hip-hop artist and Native American activist looks to bring a new perspective to Western Michigan University and its School of Music as an educator.
Artist-in-residence Frank Waln said he has previously been part of similar programs at other universities, but he has never had a class of his own to build up — something he calls a “dream come true.”
Students are excited to learn about music from a different perspective.
“Like a non-Western perspective, like an Indigenous perspective, looking at what concepts like music and healing and even activism means from a Native perspective,” Waln told News 8 earlier this month. “They have been so open to it, and also some of them have gone above and beyond what I’ve even expected of my students this semester.”
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One of the classes he is teaching is an upper-level elective course called “Indigenous Music, Healing, and Activism.” The course has brought in both students from music majors and those outside of the field.