Most of you have probably had a music class at some point in your life. You were either in piano lessons, or some elementary teacher taught you how to play the recorder for half a year, and then you never addressed it again. When you were taught music you were probably taught that the way we read music is on a staff with five lines and four spaces, Treble and Bass Clef, whole notes and half notes, and probably the phrase Every-Good-Boy-Does-Fine. When joining a choir we can be bombarded by sounds of famous white composers but why never the sounds of African miners, American Slaves, the true American music of the inner cities of America? Since the times of harpsichords, upper-class music listeners and their lineage adopted the eurocentric model of teaching music to their students. “What does this mean?” you might ask in a befuddled manner. What it means is that an elite standard of musicianship in developed 1st world nations may be playing piano pieces by Mozart, or playing Flight of the Bumblebee with haste. But the following questions remain from American parents; “What music ideals should we be teaching?”, “Why should things change at all?”, and “What is ‘real’ music?” . There is an underlying problem with the eurocentric ideals we teach our students in music and it needs to change.
Whenever this topic arises there are always questions about what we should be teaching in our music classes. What drastic changes will be made, what will my student be lacking in, and of course there will be absurd questions, “Opponents of such a broadened curriculum raise the specter of students learning about the sitar instead of the violin, which no one is actually proposing.”(Jon Pareles). These parents aren’t typically invested in music classes but seem to become prime investors when they hear “Afrocentric”. The first question we have to ask is what are we teaching music class? Ethan Wein helps us out, “School music teaches the competencies of European-descended classical music: performing acoustic instruments in ensembles, reading notation, and following a conductor.”(Ethan Wein). But the fundamental problem is that Western music theory and history teaches students only a small scope of what exists in the music that we listen to everyday and is not even a product of Eurocentric stylings, but a product of Western tampering in Afrocentric music of the past. So why is it our theory textbooks are not talking about those deep establishments, “The(theory)books only address Western classical harmony and counterpoint. other elements of music like rhythm or timbre get cursory treatment at most” (Ethan wein). Herein lies the issue, the cultural negligence of music education in America leaves students not just uneducated but leaves a large fraction of its students unrepresented. Why is this? Well, early teachers that were already sullied with prejudice and racism have a huge part; “They saw no point in looking to “inferior” races and nations for alternative musical ideas... because there were no valid ones to be found there. While he found charm in Arabic, Japanese and Turkish music, he compared it to the charm of a young child’s babbling”(Ethan Wein).
Teachers need to make a better effort to include culturally diverse music into the curriculum. How do we accomplish this? Wein answers that as well, “music education as a field will have to reorient away from large ensembles and toward small ad hoc peer groups.”(Ethan Wein). The answers are clear, we need to start listening to the students in the classroom. And introduce the importance of diversity to the curriculum.
Parents may come forward asking “Why does this even matter?” In my experience they’ve said things like “Well this is just the ‘fun’ music but when will they learn the important stuff?”. These statements are problematic for a smattering of reasons, but primarily they are problematic because they ignore the history of Afrocentric music, and ignore the roots of the music they listen to every single day. Where are the roots of that music? “West Africa, the birthplace of many slaves, was home to rich musical traditions which continued in the songs and field chants of America's slaves.”(Origins of Jazz). Blues develops into Jazz, Jazz turns into Rock and Roll and Disco and Pop and so on. “Okay, but that isn’t real history, just music history” parents might say; however, while I would argue that those are the same thing let me abide by that logic. In 1948, South Africa became victim to essentially a White Nationalist party known now as Apartheid. Essentially, The white nationalists put forth bans on mixed marriages, segregation, and of course unfair job opportunities. Some phenomenal pieces of music came from Miners that were transported and put to work in dangerous situations. “Like those men and women in America’s Deep South who formed the blues in the late 19th century musicians in South Africa found solace in singing about their troubles and about the heartache that was instilled on them by apartheid.”(Thato Mahlangu). One of the famous pieces of music sung by miners was a song titled ‘Shosholoza’, “‘Shosholoza’ originated among working miners who sang the song to the rhythm of their swinging axes as they dug.”(Gill Lange). So within these songs, there is a rich cultural history and tradition. That shouldn’t be ignored and that is why we need to introduce cultural diversity and change into our curriculum.
Jon Pareles is quoted saying “Eurocentrism equals elitism, the determination to protect what's best. In music, it's not elitism... it's ignorance”(Jon Pareles). We as a culture have neglected the music of not just other cultures, but diverse composers such as Rollo Dillworth, Ulysses Kay, and gloss over writers like Coltrane, Ellington, and Joplin. The culture isn’t hateful, simply neglectful and careless. Our music education isn’t bad just not as put together as it should be for such a seemingly progressive line of art; “A talented product of that education may be able to play Mozart beautifully, but isn't equipped to appreciate or understand, the galaxy of rhythms from Africa”(Jon Pareles). Finally just like the Black Lives Matter vs All Lives Matter movement, we will meet those that ask the question emphatically: “What about the brilliant White composers and their impact?” Well, Pareles answers that as well, “As for the great-composer question, no one denies Bach and Beethoven their due, or their importance in any full education. But oral traditions don't look for designer labels. Just because no one has taken credit for the West African rhythms that now underlie the entire Western world's dance music, or left a signature on the ketjak, the Balinese monkey chant, doesn't mean that extraordinary human creativity wasn't involved.” (Jon Pareles). No one is saying that Eurocentric music is racist in nature or unimportant, we’re simply saying that it isn’t everything and it is racist and ignorant to ignore Afrocentric forms of music.
In this unique time of American history, the Black Lives Matter movement has really helped us open the conversation about how we have fostered racist ideologies in all areas of life. While whiteness in music isn’t necessarily malicious, or racist in its infantile forms, prejudice practices have allowed America and others\ to adopt that method of music-making into its day-to-day classrooms. Whitewashing music is a problem across the country educators are trying to stamp out with vigor. The solutions are present but so is the blowback. However, the air pushing back is manufactured. With all this said, Black Lives Matter and so does Black Music.
Bibliography
Bradley, Deborah. “Hidden in Plain Sight.” Oxford Handbooks Online, 10 Dec. 2015, www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199356157.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199356157-e-14.
Ethan. “Teaching Whiteness in Music Class.” The Ethan Hein Blog, 10 Dec. 2018, www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/teaching-whiteness-in-music-class/.
Lange, Gill. “How a Mining Song Became South Africa's Anthem of Unity.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 27 Apr. 2018, theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/how-a-mining-song-became-south-africas-anthem-of-unity-shosholoza/.
Mahlangu, Thato. “How Musicians Helped Sing South Africa to Freedom From Apartheid.” Global Citizen, 15 Nov. 2018, www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/musicians-south-africa-apartheid-nelson-mandela/.
“The Origins of Jazz.” Jazz Observer, 14 Mar. 2018, jazzobserver.com/the-origins-of-jazz/.
Pareles, Jon. “Eurocentrism? We Aren't The World.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Apr. 1989, www.nytimes.com/1989/04/23/arts/pop-view-eurocentrism-we-aren-t-the-world.html.
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