Classical (Music) so white and male: Time is overdue for diversity

SF Chronicle ^ | 3-7-2017 | Joshua Kosman

[brucedickinson]

While organizations in other artistic fields — theater, literature, the visual arts — attempt, however haltingly and imperfectly, to broaden the scope of their activities to include a range of creative voices and life experiences, the leadership in classical music keeps on ignoring the whole subject. The field is just as committed now to the work of white men as it was 100 years ago or more. That’s a very bad look for any cultural organization in 2017. And it’s a particularly bad look for a field that needs to be thinking seriously about how far the traditional models can be relied on in a rapidly changing artistic landscape.

[Unam Sanctam]

Tired of the demonization of white males and the trashing of our cultural and artistic heritage as a result.

[Fiji Hill]

Is any good classical music even being composed today? It seems the world has been without a first-rate classical composer since Igor Stravinsky died in 1971.

[StAntKnee]

That’s some real classy stuff all right.

[BigEdLB]

Here is an area where BigEdLB has some standing. I write this type of music myself.
BigEd music

but, I have always been in favor of female composers with talent, old and new.
Cecile Chamimade, and Germaine Tailleferre are examples of female composers, and W G Still is a black composer with standing

[Mears]

“All the rest, without exception, are white men.” (Referring to the composers on their schedule)

---

Maybe that’s because white men wrote the most beautiful music.

.

—

[Perchant]

I like that era Cuban music, but it isn’t classical.

But that’s the other part of the fallacy, in the modern forms of music, non-whites are as important as whites and you can argue that blacks were the MVPs in 20th century music for inventing most of the popular genres. Think of Blues, Jazz, Soul, Spiritual, even can be argued they invented Rock, The best Rock acts were totally inspired by black Blues music.

[left that other site]

Oh My.....

[left that other site]

I miss Igor...

[a fool in paradise]

. The field is just as committed now to the work of white men as it was 100 years ago or more. That’s a very bad look for any cultural organization in 2017.

This same mindset is behind the rock and roll hall of fame calling ANYTHING after the advent of rock music "the new rock and roll".

If Pearl Jam and Beatles and even Ice T are all supposed to be "decedents" of the Blues, when do they get their inductions in the blues hall of fame?

There is something to be said for preserving a tradition and not altering definitions of what "something is" to "remain relevant in the 21st century". Once lost it cannot be recaptured. And no, classical music does not need to be played strictly by white men. Plenty of women in orchestras are playing violins, cellos, harps, pianos, horns, drums, et al. Plenty of Asian, black, or whatever ethnic people.

But don't redefine what classical music IS. That doesn't make classical music "better".

There are black revisionist historians who call jazz "african-american classical music". Jazz is played by people of all colors and backgrounds. Classical is not a synonym for "instrumental" or "fancy".

[Lee Enfield]

Had an LP back when of the “Master drummer of Ghana”. Good stuff. I believe it was recorded in the 1930s.

[BigEdLB]

Every so often a self righteous PC bean counter writes something like this. Yawn. All music has access to an audience and vice versa through on line means. Orchestras schedule works based in part on the ability to sell tickets. So many orchestras are in the margins that they have to stick with traditional fare. As this article is from the, “SF Chronicle”, on naturally must consider the source.

[nwrep]

When I lived in India, there was a program at the university where I worked that strove to expose Indians to the great music of the West, billing it as of approximate maturity and complexity to the incredible catalog of Indian music. Apart from those two musical traditions, and to a lesser extent the musical developments of the Orient (maybe not as towering as the symphony but in some cases far more sublime), there just isn’t a comparable body of musical work.,

There is one big difference between Western and Eastern musical traditions.

Harmony.

Western music has the world's only tradition of harmony, discovered, nurtured, and perfected in the West, culminating in the tradition of Bach-Mozart-Beethoven. Eastern, including Indian or Chinese music, has no native Harmony. That music is purely melody and rhythm. Whatever harmony you hear in those musical traditions today is harmony learned and borrowed from the west in the past 100-200 years.

[Publius]

Concerning composers after Khachaturian and Stravinsky:

In 1940, when organist and French Catholic mystic Olivier Messiaen (1908-92) was a prisoner in a German POW camp, he composed "Quartet for the End of Time." The quartet was written for violin, cello, piano and clarinet. Of the eight movements, only half feature all four instruments.

The fifth movement, "Praise to the Eternity of Jesus," features only cello and piano. He dispenses with a time signature and sets only a metronome marking for the 16th notes on the piano. Bar lines are somewhat random. The resolution at 5:36 is heartbreaking.

Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time, 5th movement

The eighth movement is for violin and piano alone and is titled "Praise to the Immortality of Jesus." Here he uses a time signature while the piano imitates the beating of a heart. The violin soars above it, and at the end, triple pianissimo, the soul unites with Christ.

Eighth movement

[arrogantsob]

Listening to a top tier orchestra (like the best- The Chicago Symphony) is like listening to the sounds of heaven. Just incredible.

Much of the problem today is the forced feeding of new music to an audience which basically hates it. Hence, Beethoven is paired with John Cage or Schoenberg.

[Objective Scrutator]

The largest racist musical organization in the USA is BET. No doubt this “journalist” believes that BET should be kept racially pure...

[Ransomed]

“Let’s say someone is holding a gun to your head and he tells you that you have to do an exact copy of one of these paintings in a week. And one of the paintings is a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover and one of the paintings is a Picasso. It doesn’t matter which one, as long as the Picasso is one of the ones that is just a geometric patchwork of painted shapes. So, any Picasso from Cubism onward. The Rockwell can be any Saturday Evening Post cover. Now, with a gun at your head and your life on the line, which one are you going to copy? Exactly. Because pretty much anyone can do it. It takes no talent. It is the Emperor’s New Clothes.”

—Dave Sim

Freegards

[KC Burke]

Wow. What a great site with such fine music. Your TALENT is on display.

Everyone, check it out.

[wideminded]

Classical (Music) so white and male

I've heard that it has been the practice for some time for major orchestras to have potential new members audition behind a curtain so that they are judged only on their musical ability. Apparently this has led to a major increase in female players in orchestras.

[reg45]

Art to copy: Jackson Pollock

[onedoug]

Consider the source.