Cultural Appropriation

[Joseph K]

So are we going to discuss Alex Ross's article? (as opposed to repeating inaccurate hearsay about it, or condemning it on the basis of The Rest is Noise's shortcomings?)

I've just finished reading it and found it pretty uncontroversial. Much of it is about the systemic racism faced by African-Americans in the context of classical music in the USA; we live in a systemically racist society, so why should classical music be any different?

However, there were one or two assertions I found questionable e.g.:

At bottom, the entire music-education system rests upon the Schenkerian assumption that the Western tonality, with its major-minor harmony and its equal-tempered scale, is the master language.

I disagree with this because I think you have to start from somewhere, start from some tradition, and the fact that you start from this tradition does not mean it is the master language, but rather simply that it is a language. Of course, Ross suggests no practical alternative to this sweeping statement other than that Harvard has acknowledged it:

Vast tracts of the world’s music, from West African talking drums to Indonesian gamelan, fall outside that system, and African-American traditions have played in its interstices. This is a reality that the music department at Harvard, once stiflingly conservative, has recognized. The jazz-based artist Vijay Iyer now leads a cross-disciplinary graduate program that cultivates the rich terrain between composition and improvisation.

Perhaps someone should remind Ross that improvisation has been a feature in varying degrees of Western classical music. Also, learning solfege and the major-minor system etc. is not necessarily Schenkerian.

[Richard Barrett]

I disagree with this because I think you have to start from somewhere, start from some tradition, and the fact that you start from this tradition does not mean it is the master language, but rather simply that it is a language.

Indeed. But the implication of cultural superiority is often there nevertheless - most historians and theorists of Western music haven't been too keen on putting that tradition in a wider context. And this (as Ross emphasises) is much more of an issue in the USA than in Europe. It's not only Schenker who is at fault here, of course, but again Schenker analysis is much more central to (higher) musical education in the USA than in other places. I don't really understand why Vijay Iyer is singled out for mention when over a much longer period there have been African-American professors of composition (including improvisation) like George Lewis at Columbia (in Ross's home town!), Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan University, Roscoe Mitchell at Mills College, Anthony Davis at UC San Diego, and so on.

Nowhere however is the Western classical tradition denigrated or diminished by what Ross has to say, and whoever told this to RF needs to read the article again!

[Ein Heldenleben]

“At bottom, the entire music-education system rests upon the Schenkerian assumption that the Western tonality, with its major-minor harmony and its equal-tempered scale, is the master language.“

Pretty sure that American Unis like UK ones have a lot of ethno-musicologists who don’t spend their time Schenkerising . I know for a fact that the Oxford MA in Mus has a hip-hop / rap option which is pretty popular. Not to mention the many Undergrad jazz courses in both countries - which rely heavily on the blues and blue notes are not diatonic or well-tempered ( except on a piano where they are not really blue notes)

[Dave2002]

There's also something about both Ross and Norm that brings Zappa's famous comment on rock journalism to mind. ('Google' if you don't know it. )

That comment can also be modified to apply to other subjects, such as politics.

[Richard Barrett]

Pretty sure that American Unis like UK ones have a lot of ethno-musicologists who don’t spend their time Schenkerising

Indeed, but there you have it: "musicology" which covers the Western canon, and "ethnomusicology" which covers everything else.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Indeed, but there you have it: "musicology" which covers the Western canon, and "ethnomusicology" which covers everything else.

Yes but I would say that modern musicologists take in all sorts of composers who stand outside the Western canon. I remember reading the blurb on the OU music foundation course - they made a virtue of the claim that ‘you won’t find us doing Schenker. ‘ I think Ross might have been right mid - 80’s but not now. I remember reading an essay by Hans Keller , written early 90’s where he concluded that all musicology was pretty pointless !

[Richard Barrett]

I think Ross might have been right mid - 80’s but not now. I remember reading an essay by Hans Keller , written early 90’s where he concluded that all musicology was pretty pointless !

I believe that Schenker is much more of a thing in the USA - for a country that stands for innovation in so many areas, their higher music education can be extremely conservative. As for Keller's point, I mostly agree, with a few exceptions who take seriously Schumann's intention in his Zeitschrift für Musik to create bridges between music and its (potential) audience.