Teacher Feature: Mia Ibrahim

UPDATE: After this story was posted, the whole Music Will family was shocked and saddened by Mia's sudden death due to a tragic traffic event. Their life and their amazing legacy are also featured in this beautiful news story.

-- Meet music educator Mia Ibrahim, who teaches 9th-12th grade students at Health Opportunities High School in the South Bronx. Additionally, they are on the Board of Directors for the Association for Popular Music Education, serve on the development committee, and they are a fierce advocate for bringing music to marginalized students and communities. Mia says, “I always knew I was a music teacher in my heart,” even when their parents urged them to pursue ‘something practical’ as a college major. But they couldn’t shake that feeling that there was no other career path that felt quite as right as music. Now years later, Mia has provided music education to more than 3,000 students across the span of their career. Having heard about Music Will from other colleagues in the field, it wasn’t until Mia was working on their Master’s degree at Teachers College when Music Will visited and Mia became “eager to engage in music-making that allowed for engagement, relevance, and ROCKING OUT.” Since then Mia has been bringing the healing power of music to underserved communities by pioneering music programs at schools in the Bronx.

Music Will student

Some of Mia’s favorite moments as a teacher are when a student begins to identify as a “guitarist” or “pianist”, even after only a week. It brings Mia so much joy to see an identity shift into the creative, music-making world after such a short period of time. While Mia is certainly an accomplished educator and musician, they see that as secondary to being a human and mentor to their students. When Mia’s students face challenging situations, it is not uncommon to forego the planned music curriculum to participate in productive conversations that help the students better understand each other and the world around them. Mia’s students have overcome abuse, mental illness, foster care, housing insecurities and so much more through leaning on their music and the relationships they have built with their peers.

Music Will student

Mia has been a guest writer for publications such as the LGBTQ+ musicology website, has written chapters for a number of published books, and has been invited to speak to organizations such as KONY and Pride and Less Prejudice about topics including, “Queer Teachers in the Choral Classroom”. They are also a guest lecturer at NYU in their graduate studies programs. Outside of music, Mia is an avid athlete who works out almost every day and has even been a yoga instructor and played post-collegiate lacrosse after playing Division 2 in college.

Mia Ibrahim (they/them), a music teacher at Health Opportunities High School.

Help support teachers like Mia to make a difference in their students’ lives by donating here. If you are a teacher and would like to learn more about our Modern Band approach and professional development opportunities, check out our Educators Page and get in touch!

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