How a Grammy-nominated choir teacher fosters friendship and excellence: 'Like family'
"There's no use keeping your gifts to yourself," Jasmine Fripp lovingly but firmly called out to her high school choir students. "Some of y'all look like statues."
She hardly stopped moving as she coached the group of about 50 kids a few days ahead of their winter concert on a mid-December afternoon. The kids didn't stay still for long, either. Fripp had them stomping, clapping, snapping, swaying and singing as they worked through their lineup for the concert.
Fripp, 33, teaches at KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School and is up for the Grammy Music Educator Award this year. She is among 10 finalists nationwide. Winners will be announced during Grammy week ahead of the main awards show on Feb. 4.
The day Fripp told her students the news, they exploded with cheers, claps and shouts, captured in a video Fripp shot. One student even lifted a chair over his head and pumped it in the air in celebration.
"You did that! You did that!" one student said as several ran up to hug Fripp.
It's not the first time Fripp has been up for the award. She was in the running last year. While she said it was a heartbreaking loss for her, she used the opportunity to remind herself, along with her students, that perseverance is key.
"This whole process, in all honesty, reminds me that everything happens in God's timing and there's a reason for everything," Fripp said. "I feel like this process has made me a better teacher."
From December: Nashville music teacher a finalist for Grammy educator award
'Choir is like a family'
The supportive and joyous response to this year's nomination wasn't isolated to that moment. It carries over into how Fripp runs her classes, fostering a spirit of community and friendship among her students. Juniors Alvin Newson and Angel Carter can attest to that.
Newson, 16, has always loved singing and music and was drawn to Fripp's class because of the personality of the choir as a whole. He's in the bass section. When he first started at the school as a freshman, he said he mostly kept to himself. But once he joined choir, things changed.
"I feel like being in choir has made me more of an outgoing person," he said. "Now that I'm in choir, I'm talking to everybody I can see."
Carter, also 16, said choir has given her a place to overcome her stage fright and build her confidence. She grew up surrounded by music in her family and at her church. She's also been pleasantly surprised by the social connections she's forged through choir — especially with people she wouldn't have gotten to know otherwise.
"For me, choir is like a family," Carter said. "I'm a pretty social person, but I didn't really expect to build really big, meaningful connections to people. ... I feel like we all just bond over the fact that we love singing and we love getting our voice out there."
KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School, a public charter school, is situated on Douglas Avenue in the heart of East Nashville.
Under Fripp's leadership, the school's choir program has flourished, winning national competitions and seeing students earn all-state and mid-state honors. Along with fostering an atmosphere that's fun and engaging, Fripp also challenges her students to excel at technical skills, like breath control and developing different parts of their vocal registers by using their head, chest and core.
How the Passionate Black Educator was born
A champion of diversity and empowerment, Fripp is also nationally known as a speaker, working under the name the Passionate Black Educator. She started using the name on social media in 2020 as civil unrest rippled worldwide over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
It inspired her to speak to racial inequities she sees in music and education. She wrote a letter titled "With love, to my dear white music colleagues" on Facebook, and it quickly gained a large audience. So she kept posting and began signing her posts as the Passionate Black Educator.
From there, her brand grew.
"I work with music educators ... making sure that they're implementing an anti-racist, healing-centered and all-out inclusive music education curriculum," Fripp said.
A look at the 10 finalists for the 2024 Grammy music educator award
More than 2,000 initial nominations came in for the 2024 Grammy music educator award. A list of 25 semifinalists was released in October, and the 10 finalists were announced in December.
"The Music Educator Award recognizes current educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the music education field and demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools," a news release from the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum said.
Here are the 10 finalists:
Meg Byrne, Pleasant Valley High School, Bettendorf, Iowa
Ernesta Chicklowski, Roosevelt Elementary School, Tampa, Florida
Michael Coelho, Ipswich Middle and High School, Ipswich, Massachusetts
Antoine Dolberry, P.S. 103 Hector Fontanez School, Bronx, New York
Jasmine Fripp, KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School, Nashville
J.D. Frizzell, Briarcrest Christian School, Eads, Tennessee
Coty Raven, Morris Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
Annie Ray, Annandale High School, Annandale, Virginia
Kevin Schoenbach, Oswego High School, Oswego, Illinois
Matthew Shephard, Meridian Early College High School, Sanford, Michigan
The winner will receive a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for the music program at their school, according to the release. The nine remaining finalists will receive $1,000 honorariums and matching grants. Additionally, 15 semifinalists will receive $500 honorariums and matching grants.
Nominations for the 2025 award are now open. Learn more at grammymusicteacher.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Grammy music educator award: Inside a Nashville nominee's classroom
