Who is Florence Price?

Kaufman Music Center's Special Music School has announced a very special and unique project: Who is Florence Price?. The children's book was written and illustrated by 45 middle school students at the Special Music School and demonstrates the importance of music education.

Who is Florence Price? tells the story of a brilliant musician who prevailed against race and gender prejudices to become the first Black woman to not only be recognized as a symphonic composer, but also to have compositions performed by a major American orchestra in 1933. When Special Music School English teacher Shannon Potts realized there were no materials about Price's life at a lower-reading level, she called on her students to fill this gap. The Special Music School students studied Price’s biography and mapped out her life story on a wall, discussing which elements were most important to the narrative for their intended audience. After collaboratively writing and revising the text, the students created the illustrations, beginning with backgrounds of cut paper.

The book was originally self-published as a classroom project shortly before the New York City COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in the spring of 2020 and has been revised for the 2021 release. All royalties from sales will go to the Kaufman Music Center in support of their Special Music School. Click here to learn more and to pre-order Who Is Florence Price?.

And Kaufman has a lot more going on! Their 2021-22 season is kicking off with in-person performances from their series Bridges, What Makes It Great?, Tuesday Matinees and more. Click here to view Kaufman Music Center’s Calendar to find upcoming events.

Photo credit: Kaufman Music Center