Kaleidoscope of Cultures: A Celebration of Multicultural Research and Practice

“A compelling and exciting view of multiculturalism in music education! Moore and Ewell have compiled essays from research sessions and lesson plans from workshops from the

MOORE with EWELL

Music Education • Multicultural

2006 and 2008 symposia into a unique, practical, and highly inspirational guide for music teachers. This book brings together innovative ideas and connects theory and practice to introduce music educators to the various music cultures of the world. A must-have for music teachers at every level!”

—Polyvios Androutsos, music education specialist/instructor,

KALEIDOSCOPE of CULTURES

Department of Music Science and Art, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

A Celebration of Multicultural Research and Practice:

the National Symposium on Multicultural Music. Marvelene Moore and the symposia have

Proceedings of the MENC/University of Tennessee

stood as a beacon for the advocacy, development, and understanding of multicultural music. The publication of papers from the 2006 and 2008 symposia provides us with an invaluable resource to consider and apply across our various music education situations. These challenging yet practical ideas and applications will help develop an appreciation and understanding of our culture—however we define it—and that of others.”

—David Forrest, associate professor

of music education, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia A rich collection of the best offerings from the 2006 and 2008 National Symposiums on Multicultural Music, Kaleidoscope of Cultures is full of resources, references, lesson plans, and ethnic music. In addition to lively speeches, engaging workshops (including making ethnic instruments), and reviews of vocal and instrumental multicultural literature, research papers address timely topics. With video clips from the conference performances and presentations available on the MENC website, you can see authentic demonstrations of the music and share them with your students. MARVELENE C. MOORE is professor of music education at the University of Tennessee–

KALEIDOSCOPE OF CULTURES

“This publication gives insight into the richness and breadth of work that has emanated from

National Symposium on Multicultural Music

Knoxville and founder and chair of the National Symposium on Multicultural Music. PHILIP EWELL is assistant professor of music theory at Hunter College in New York City.

For orders and information please contact the publisher ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD EDUCATION A Division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. Published in Partnership with MENC: The National Association for Music Education 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 1-800-462-6420 • fax 717-794-3803 www.rowmaneducation.com

KaleidoscopeCulturePBK.indd 1

90000 9 781607 093022

Cover image credits, top left and right: Donna Hundley; bottom left: David M. Royse

edited by MARVELENE C. MOORE with PHILIP EWELL 11/23/09 6:17:47 PM

Kaleidoscope of Cultures A Celebration of Multicultural Research and Practice: Proceedings of the MENC / University of Tennessee National Symposium on Multicultural Music

Edited by Marvelene C. Moore and Philip Ewell

Published in partnership with MENC: The National Association for Music Education Rowman & Littlefield Education A division of ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

Published in partnership with MENC: The National Association for Music Education Published by Rowman & Littlefield Education A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmaneducation.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2010 by Marvelene C. Moore and Philip Ewell All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kaleidoscope of cultures : a celebration of multicultural research and practice : proceedings of the MENC/University of Tennessee National symposium on multicultural music / edited by Marvelene C. Moore with Philip Ewell. p. cm. “Published in partnership with MENC: The National Association for Music Education.” Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-60709-301-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-302-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-303-9 (ebook) 1. Music—Instruction and study—Congresses. 2. World music—Instruction and study—Congresses. 3. Multicultural education—Congresses. I. Moore, Marvelene C. II. Ewell, Philip. III. MENC, the National Association for Music Education (U.S.) MT1.K255 2010 780.71—dc22 2009025066

⬁ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America

Contents

List of Illustrations

v

Foreword

vii

Acknowledgments

ix

Introduction

xi

Keynote Speeches

xiii

Part I: Research Papers

1

Music Majors’ Levels of Familiarity with Fifteen Musical Styles Lynn M. Brinckmeyer, Cynthia I. Gonzales, and Robin Stein

2

Studying Multicultural Music Can Oppose Prejudice: The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method Shows How Alan Shapiro

3

Cultural Identities of Composers Represented in a State-Prescribed Concert Band Repertoire List Mary Ellen Cavitt

4

Marcel Khalife’s “Oh Father, I’m Yusif” and the Struggle for Political Freedom and Religious Sensitivity Nasser Al-Taee

3

11 17

23

Part II: Workshop Presentations

5

African Traditional Musical Concepts: Philosophical and Pedagogical Lessons for Multicultural Music Education J. S. Kofi Gbolonyo

35

6

Approaching Multicultural Music Education through the Canarian Transmission Model Emma Rodríguez Suárez

47

7

The Lion’s Roar in the Classroom: Teaching Chinese Luogu Han, Kuo-Huang

53

8

Bamboo Is Fun: Bamboo Angklung for the Classroom Han, Kuo-Huang

59

iii

iv

9

Contents

The Modern Chinese Orchestra Han, Kuo-Huang

63

10

Then Sing My Song . . . : The Place of Gospel in Our Schools Rene Boyer and Marvelene C. Moore

69

11

Korean Mask Dance Drama Soojin Kim Ritterling

75

12

Make It and Take It! World Instruments for the General Music Classroom Lisa J. Lehmberg

83

13

Multiculturalism in School Instrumental Music Programs David M. Royse

89

14

Hear John Henry’s Hammer Ring: Moving Beyond Black and White Images of Appalachian Music Sean K. McCollough

15

Research, Resources, and Materials for Teaching the Music of Black Cultural Traditions Rosita M. Sands

93 101

Appendix A: Sample Lesson Plans

109

Appendix B: Additional Instrument Construction Directions

137

Appendix C: Performing Groups: Video Clips on the MENC Website

143

About the Editors

145

About the Contributors

147

List of Illustrations

FIGURES 1.1. Listening Experience of All Respondents about All Styles

5

1.2. Performing Experience of All Respondents about All Styles

5

1.3. Listening Experience Results with Above Average and Extensive Levels

6

1.4. Performing Experience Results with Above Average and Extensive Levels

7

1.5. Listening Experience Results by Ethnicity with Above Average and Extensive Levels

7

1.6. Performing Experience Results by Ethnicity with Above Average and Extensive Levels

8

2.1. Kanye West, “Heard ’Em Say”

12

2.2. Henry Purcell, “Dido’s Lament”

13

2.3. Timeline

13

2.4. Timelines

14

4.1. Songs by Marcel Khalife, Arabic Coffeepot

28

4.2. Marcel Khalife, Words to “Oh What a Country,” Arabic Coffeepot

28

4.3. Marcel Khalife, Words to “Oh My Father, I Am Yusif,” Arabic Coffeepot

29

5.1. “Dowuame Vo” Score

43

5.2. “Afokpavuvutola” Score

45

6.1. U.S. Population of Hispanic Origin and Race, 1980–2004 (in Millions)

49

7.1. Luogu (Chinese Percussion)

54

11.1. A Young Man Mask

75

11.2. A Young Woman Mask

76

11.3. An Older Person Mask

76

11.4. Kkwaenggwari

77

11.5. Jing

77

11.6. Janggu

78

11.7. Buk

78

11.8. Taryung Jang-Dan

78

v

vi

List of Illustrations

A.1. “Yo, Yo, Yo!”

110

A.2. “Ekpe! Ekpe!”

111

A.3. “Kpatsa”

113

A.4. “Pio, Pio, Pio Sign”

114

A.5. “Los Pollitos”

114

A.6. “Antón Pirulero”

115

A.7. “Tengo Una Muñeca”

117

A.8. Addition Table

117

A.9. Prelude Score

118

A.10. Etude Score

119

A.11. “Lion Dances”

120

A.12. “Fengyang Flower Drum Song” Score

121

A.13. “Fengyang Flower Drum Song”

122

A.14. Traditional Anklung from Sunda

123

A.15. “Pergi Kekota”

125

A.16. “Pergi Kekota” Song

126

A.17. “Burung Kakatua”

127

A.18. “Burung Kakatua” Song

128

A.19. Spoons Rhythm Pattern 1

131

A.20. Spoons Rhythm Pattern 2

132

A.21. Spoons Rhythm Pattern 3

132

A.22. Blues Form

133

A.23. I Made a New Instrument!

133

B.1. Mini-Pan Rim Note Measurements

140

B.2. Mini-Pan Rim Note Diagram

140

B.3. Mini-Pan Center Note Measurements

141

B.4. Mini-Pan Stand

141 TABLES

3.1. Frequency and Percent of Composer by Nationality

19

3.2. Frequency and Percent of Composers by Era

20

6.1. Percent of U.S. Population of Hispanic Origin and Race, 1980–2004

48

7.1. The Ba Yin (Eight Sounds) System

55

7.2. The Instruments and Their Mnemonic Sounds

57

PHOTOGRAPHS 7.1.

55

7.2

56

Foreword

As our world becomes smaller and smaller through

to participate in the richness of multicultural music. We explored cutting-edge research studies, played in a drum circle, and moved to music of Asia, all in the same weekend. Thank you to all of the music educators who participated in this symposium, because our students across the country will benefit from their contributions.

the use of electronic media, we expand and grow as human beings by experiencing the world through the lenses of a variety of cultures. Studying music of different populations help us gain insights into our similarities and differences. Each and every day, diverse music touches lives across the globe. Dr. Marvelene Moore, along with her colleagues and students, created the ideal venue for us

Lynn M. Brinckmeyer President, MENC, 2004–2006

vii

Acknowledgments

We sincerely appreciate the contributions that many

Finally, we extend our heartfelt thanks to the University of Tennessee College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Music for their support of the symposium, and our graduate assistant in vocal music, Carly Wilson, for the many hours she spent in typing the manuscript for submission. Special thanks are extended to Dr. Donald Pederson, Professor of Music Theory, for preparing the written music scores and Gabriel Osborne, a UT music student, for developing video clips from the symposium for the MENC website.

individuals have made to the successful completion of this project. In particular, we thank the contributing authors for their sound scholarly work in the areas of research and pedagogy. Special thanks is extended to the MENC editorial staff, Sue Rarus and Pat Woofter, for mentoring us in the process for developing the content. We are also grateful to the staff of Rowman and Littlefield Education Publishers, Tom Koerner and Maera Stratton, for their guidance and direction in the construction and assembling of the manuscript.

ix

Introduction

I

sessions are scheduled to allow music educators and ethnomusicologists to converse with each other and the participants. Further, special workshop sessions are presented that introduce songs and instrumental literature, with suggestions on innovative strategies for performing the music and instruction for students from kindergarten through university levels. An afternoon is spent at the Museum of Appalachia, an expansive farm, where music and dance of East Tennessee and the Appalachian region are performed. As a part of the symposium outreach, clinicians frequently present sessions in the local elementary, middle, and high schools. In addition, selected sessions are open to the public at no cost. A symposium children’s choir and a high school chorus are created to perform for parents, administrators, participants, and the local community. The symposium is sponsored by the University of Tennessee School of Music, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Ready for the World Initiative, and MENC: The National Association for Music Education. This publication is a compilation of sessions presented at the 2006 and 2008 symposia, keynote speeches, research papers, workshop presentations, papers on making ethnic instruments, and an extensive review of both vocal and instrumental multicultural music literature. Appendix A comprises lesson plans from selected music cultures. Appendix B provides additional instructions for making instruments, and appendix C lists performances of selected ethnic music that can be accessed at the MENC website, at www .menc.org.

conceived the idea of a national symposium on multicultural music in 1994 while I was preparing for a presentation on diversity in music education and reflecting on my dissertation written some years prior, on multicultural music. I presented the idea to my former colleague, Dr. A. Wayne Tipps, who served as symposium co-chair for many years, and to Dr. Kenneth A. Keeling, former department head of the School of Music, and Dr. Clifton Wood, former associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, both at the University of Tennessee. The first symposium was approved and held in October 1995; subsequent conferences occurred in 1998 and every two years thereafter. The symposium is a four-day event that focuses on bringing together international, national, and local clinicians, performers, and researchers recognized as experts in the music of their cultures, to provide instruction for undergraduate and graduate students, university professors in the fields of multicultural music and musicology, and public and private school music teachers. Further, it (1) provides exposure to music that will contribute to understanding one’s own culture and that of others, (2) supplies students and teachers with a repertoire of vocal and instrumental multicultural music literature appropriate for inclusion in the school music curriculum, and (3) offers a forum for intellectual discourse on research among faculty and students in multicultural music education and ethnomusicology. The conference consists of workshops and curricula planning sessions and live performances of music and dance by internationally and nationally known groups as well as community musicians. Poster presentation

Marvelene C. Moore Founder/Chair xi

Music Touches Lives: Keynote Speech 2006 Lynn M. Brinckmeyer

Thank you, Marvelene, for inviting me to be here. It is

tive voice, working together. It didn’t matter whether we were tall or short, a music teacher or family member, a band director or a general music teacher. MENC presidents select a theme for the two years they are in office, and I chose “Touch a Life: Teach Music” because I truly believe that music touches lives and teachers touch lives. That theme is important because of the human component. Large corporations and associations sometimes get caught up in business as usual and forget that we are working with people. We teachers can easily become engrossed in our own lives, fine-tuning the next performance, grading papers, and answering endless e-mails. People are a priority, and it is essential to remember that as our organization and our profession move into the next century. Our membership has diverse views. That is our greatest strength and our biggest challenge. Our dedication to music education provides a wealth of experiences, and I encourage all of us to lead the way to the global perspective to which we and MENC aspire. One of my colleagues in Washington State told me that we aren’t in the music business; we are in the people business. So I ask you: Are you a people person? Author John C. Maxwell agrees that people are a priority. He wrote several books; my favorites are Be a People Person and Leadership 101. In Leadership 101, he mentions that the average person influences four people on a daily basis. I venture to say that music teachers are not average. We have the opportunity to influence hundreds of individuals each day, and the number of people a music teacher will influence throughout the course of a career is absolutely mindboggling!

an honor to share this time with all of you. Let’s take a quick moment for the “getting to know you” part of our time together. How many of you teach secondary, elementary, or middle school music? Are there any private teachers here? Are there university administrators or administrators in other areas? Finally, how many of you are parents or friends of the students performing tonight? A special thank you goes out to all of you for supporting these talented students and being advocates for the right to receive a quality music education. I bring you greetings from the National MENC Executive Board and staff in Reston, Virginia. In case you are not aware of this, you have outstanding music educators in Tennessee. That is evidenced by the students you see here tonight. In spite of funding challenges and lack of resources, these teachers are serving your students. Will all of the teachers please stand and let us recognize your dedication? What a delightful experience to sing the national anthem together, and I bring that to your attention for two reasons. First, the National Anthem Project is an ongoing program that the MENC leadership and staff initiated to bring awareness across the country about the importance of school music programs. A recent Harris poll found that two out of three individuals do not know the words to the national anthem. We usually learn patriotic songs, folk songs, and other songs of our heritage in school. Although many mothers may sing to their children, they probably do not sing the national anthem to them as a bedtime ritual. The second reason I appreciated singing the national anthem was that for a few moments, we were all a part of the same musical community. We were one collecxiii

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Keynote Speech 2006

So what are the ramifications when you “touch” a life? Every person either adds to or detracts from the energy in a room. What “fragrance” do you leave in a room? We all know those individuals who test our resolve to be a patient and caring person. Are you the person who makes people smile when you arrive, or are you the person who is “testing the resolve” of others? Asking ourselves this simple question throughout the day can help each of us stay on track: Am I contributing or contaminating? In every interaction, we do one or the other. What about those of us who are passive? I recently moved to Texas, and I can tell you that a passive puddle of water will either dry up and disappear or will soon have a variety of unpleasant microscopic creatures swimming around in it. Isn’t that the same in music, too? A phrase that has consistent energy behind it will have vitality and forward motion, whereas a phrase that just sits there is lackluster, and intonation usually suffers. People and their communication with each other follow the same path. Most of us are motivated to help humanity move forward.

I once heard an interview with Deepak Chopra. Dr. Chopra has authored several books and was asked, “How do you want to be remembered?” His answer was, “That I made a little difference.” All of you who are teachers probably entered the field of education to make society a better place and help your students learn to be contributing members of their community. Teachers, you are one of the “significant others” in your students’ lives, and you are making a difference to them. Parents and family members, you have more impact on these students than you can possibly imagine. Honor that privilege. As we close our time together this evening, let’s sing the Seneca melody “Neesa.” A loose translation of the lyrics is, “Honor the creator of the winter moon in January.” Once again we are a collective voice. I will take your gift of music and “contributing” energy with me back to Texas. You have touched my life with your beautiful, passionate singing. Lynn M. Brinckmeyer President, MENC, 2004–2006

Celebrating Difference, Embracing Commonality— Multiculturalism and the Arts: Keynote Speech 2008 Martin Comte

It is such a pleasure for me to be here. But before I

had multicultural music—the music of many cultures— for 40,000 years. Although these cultures were unique and separate, there is some evidence of a degree of overlap and sharing. Just as we did in Australia, you in the United States introduced a new culture to a land of Native Americans and others, also to a land mass where there were many different cultures. But in Australia we tend not to speak of multiculturalism—or multiculturalism in music—when we refer to our early white settlement, nor do we normally speak of multiculturalism with respect to the many indigenous cultures that existed prior to European settlement. It is only in our relatively recent history that the term “multiculturalism” has been commonly used. “Multiculturalism” today generally refers to a recognition and sharing of cultures, to the influence of one culture on another, indeed, even the embracing of other cultures. And of course, ideally it implies tolerance and respect for other cultures. Multiculturalism in Australia was not generally seen to be a serious issue until the end of the Second World War, just over sixty years ago. Australia’s population at that time was heading toward 7.5 million, composed almost entirely of white Europeans—and British at that. But what, you might ask, of the indigenous population—those people who had survived attack and being forced off their land and the land of their forefathers? Well, the first time that Aborigines were included in an Australian census was 1971. And it was only in the 1960s that Aborigines were allowed to vote in federal and state elections. This is, of course, a national disgrace and something of which thinking Australians are ashamed. Indeed, both of our countries have much reason to be ashamed of the way we have

go any further, I have to say that I can guess what you’re thinking as you look at me. You’re saying to yourselves, “Is he or isn’t he—a typical Australian?” Well, I’m pleased to tell you that I am. Like me, all Australians are over six feet tall, bronzed, with blonde hair and surfy looks. The men look like me, and the women look like Nicole Kidman. Multiculturalism is a concept that is very dear to my heart. I live in a country that is almost the same size as the United States. Unlike in the United States, however, most people in Australia live relatively close to our very extensive coastline. Although our countries are similar in size, our populations are vastly different: yours is well over 301 million, and ours is just over 21 million. Australia was only settled (some would say invaded) by Europeans in 1788, a mere 220 years ago—and just 12 years after the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. Australia’s history in one sense is very short. But its history in terms of settlement by our indigenous peoples goes back for thousands of years. Australian Aborigines have lived on our continent for at least 40,000 years. In a sense, our respective countries had a history of multiculturalism long before the European invasions. In Australia, for example, there was a multitude of Aboriginal nations; at the time of white settlement there were approximately 250 separate language groups. All of Australia’s Aboriginal nations coexisted, and all had their own music, dance, and art. In other words, England introduced just one more culture to a land of native Aborigines who themselves represented “many cultures.” So it could be said that we in Australia have xv

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Keynote Speech 2008

treated our indigenous peoples and other minority groups. But to return to 1945, the end of the Second World War. As did the United States, Australia had an influx of immigrants after the war. They came from all over Europe. In our case they did not come from Asia and some other countries, because we had a “White Australia Policy,” which restricted nonwhites from settling in our country. An exception was made for the descendants of the Chinese who had come to Australia in the 1850s as a result of the gold rush in our country. Our White Australia Policy, which was established in 1901, was legally abolished in 1973, although it had begun to be relaxed some years before this. Since then we have continued to see a great influx of immigration from all parts of Asia and other countries whose citizens were once prevented from immigrating. Let me return yet again to the end of the Second World War, because this is where I entered the picture, having been born in 1946, just months after the war ended. I started school in 1951, at age five. In 1951, most of the children in my class were Australian of Anglo Celtic descent. But this demographic changed very quickly within one or two years, as a steady stream of children from Italy, Greece, and Britain entered our schools. Of course, we also had a large influx of Jews, many of whom had arrived in an earlier wave of migration in the 1930s, prior to the commencement of the war in 1939. The British kids spoke with what we thought was a posh accent (quite different from Australian English), and the Italian and Greek kids smelled of garlic. And what they had in their lunch boxes was very different from the soggy white bread tomato sandwiches or Vegemite and cheese sandwiches that my mother used to make for me. Those kids from Southern Europe used to eat garlic sausage. To this day my mother has never used garlic in her cooking. Within a few years, children from other countries were joining my class—children from Turkey, Holland, Germany, Hungary, and so forth. Sometimes I visited the homes of my friends from Southern Europe. And I tasted their food. I loved it— even though it was quite different from the food my mother cooked. But their houses did have a distinctive smell. It was because of such ingredients as garlic, fen-

nel, and olive oil, I’ve since come to discover—things that we Australians of British stock tended not to use in our cooking. By the early 1950s, some of the new immigrants to Australia had begun establishing shops—Italian butcher shops, Greek greengrocers, and Jewish delicatessens—where one could buy food that the average Australian family would not think of buying. I began studying for a music degree at the University of Melbourne in 1964. I was eighteen. The University of Melbourne is just one mile from downtown Melbourne. One block away from the university at that time were Italian and Greek restaurants and all the shops that one needed to shop for ethnic food related to the palate of Southern Europe. Yet not once in the 1960s did I venture that far—only one block—to sample what was on offer. (Already I’ve been far more adventurous in Knoxville than I was as a young university student!) But I was not unique. In 1960s Melbourne it wasn’t a question of whether I would go to one of the Italian or Greek restaurants—the thought of it never entered my mind. Nor, I am sure, did it enter the minds of most of my friends. It was not long, however, before things began to blossom. Foodwise at least, Melbourne was becoming a multicultural city. Indeed, today it is regarded as having the best and most diverse range of restaurants in all of Australia. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you what was happening in schools in Australia during the 1950s and 1960s. The songs we sang were mostly English, Irish, Welsh, or Scottish folk songs. You see, we were still “English” or “British” in our thinking. But we didn’t only sing folk songs from the British Isles; we sang some Australian folk songs as well. We also sang a few—a very few—songs from other countries. I best recall singing what were then referred to as Negro spirituals. My first teaching appointment was at a secondary school in 1969. Just one month before I started teaching, I got married. And guess what? I married an Italian. By this stage, I had fallen in love with everything Italian, so much so that when my wife and I divorced some years later, I not only mourned the end of the relationship, but also my mother-in-law’s cooking. My love of everything Italian—well, just about everything Italian—continues to this day.

Celebrating Difference, Embracing Commonality

Why am I telling you my story? Simply because it is not unique. To some extent it represents my generation’s story of multiculturalism in Australia since the Second World War. Just as when I was a student, most of the songs I was taught emanated from the British Isles, when I myself began teaching music in schools in 1969. These, in the main, were the same songs that I taught my students—again with some Australian folk songs and songs from other countries thrown into the mix. But things were changing. Keep in mind, we are only talking about forty years ago. Increasingly, the song books we used included more songs from other countries: Spain, Mexico, and, a little later, Africa and parts of Asia. But because we were of British stock, I also continued to teach many British folk songs (the words of which increasingly had little meaning to my students, who by now represented many countries of Europe). Was this really multiculturalism in music? For example, did the teaching and singing of what we knew as Negro spirituals really give me—and later my students—a feeling for what had happened in America when the cotton fields flourished because of slave labor? In truth, the songs stood or fell from a student’s perspective on whether they had a nice melody, an enticing rhythm . . . whether in fact they were enjoyable songs to sing. At the same time, singing these songs did enable teachers—especially the more enlightened ones—to highlight issues associated with them. But it was certainly not a major emphasis, if indeed it was done at all. This brings me to an important point that I want to make about music and multiculturalism: Does an acquaintance with the music of other cultures necessarily lead to intercultural understanding? I ask this question because in many countries where children have been introduced to the music of other cultures, there has been an implicit but not necessarily stated belief that singing the songs or engaging with the music of another country, or another racial or ethnic group, will of itself give children a greater understanding of that particular culture. Was the intent when I was a student—and later on a young teacher—to introduce children to the music of other cultures in order to foster intercultural understanding? No, it was not! At the same time, I must confess that although I would like to think that involving children in the music

xvii

of other cultures might address problems of prejudice and discrimination and reinforce respect for ethnic or racial identity, I truly think that this is too much to ask of music teaching alone. It’s too much to ask of music educators alone. Not that many years ago, we had multicultural days in elementary schools in Australia, where children would cook spaghetti to get a better feeling for Italian culture. Or they would cook a typical dish from some other country as a means of fostering cultural awareness. Some children would even dress up in national costume. But this, it seems to me, was nothing more than tokenism, gesture over substance. Learning to cook spaghetti does nothing to foster multiculturalism. And learning to sing a song from another country or culture, of itself, does little if anything to foster multiculturalism. Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that we shouldn’t sing the songs of other countries, listen to music from other countries, and learn the dances of other countries or cultures. But if we’re serious about multiculturalism, I’m arguing for authenticity. And that is why I have particularly been looking forward to this symposium, because it is clear to me that Dr. Moore and her colleagues have assembled experts from many cultures and ethnic and racial groups to present to us the music and dance of their respective cultures. When we listen to the music of other cultures, it is important that we don’t do so with narrowed ears, narrowed eyes, and a narrowed mindset. If we do so we may, without knowing it, be ignoring some of the most salient features of the music—features that enable us to understand the music within its own (and not our own) cultural context. To put it differently, it’s important that when we engage with music from other cultures, we don’t do so through our own insular perspective of being an American or an Australian, or whatever. Regardless of whether we’re spectators, in the sense of being an audience, or more active participants, it is essential that we see the music through the eyes of those who live the culture. And this I see as the real challenge for multiculturalism in music: enabling us to perceive music, experience music, and engage with music through the eyes and ears of those who live—or lived—the culture.

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Keynote Speech 2008

When I was a very young music teacher, in the early 1970s, I read a book on music teaching that has inspired me to this day. I know that many of you are familiar with it. It was written by an American, Mary Val Marsh, and is entitled Explore and Discover Music (MARCH, 1970). In it, she describes a music and movement session with a group of young children. She encouraged them to move or dance to represent the music. They moved as if they were clouds. It was obviously an extremely enjoyable experience. At the end of it, one boy went up to her and excitedly exclaimed that it was the first time he had ever felt inside the music. What a wonderful goal this is for all music teaching and learning—to feel inside the music! In arguing for multiculturalism in music, I want us not only to be inside the music—but also inside the culture, to the extent that this is possible. If this is our goal in teaching music from other cultures, we have a much better chance of presenting the music with some degree of authenticity—and some degree of sensitivity toward the culture itself. Some people, however, argue that it’s an impossible task to expect music educators to represent the music of many cultures with equal degrees of authenticity. If I may be perverse, just for a moment, I sometimes get so frustrated at the state of music education in my country that I think how nice it would be if Australian children had an acquaintance with the wealth of Australian music and Australian folk songs. Many don’t. This was brought home to me some years ago when one of my graduate students, whom I liked very much and whose parents had emigrated from Southern Europe in the early 1950s, said to me that she didn’t know many Australian folk songs and certainly didn’t teach them to her students. She asked why she should teach Australian folk songs to her elementary school students when she and her family were really not part of Australian culture. I was somewhat aghast, but I asked her if, instead, she taught any of the folk songs from her parents’ culture. She replied, “No—because I don’t know any of their folk songs, either.” Sadly, this sums up one of the problems we have in Australia in relation to teaching the songs of our own past, our own folk songs, our own musical heritage. We in Australia are increasingly losing our folk heritage, our musical heritage—well, at least our heritage since 1788.

In Australia, and in some other countries with which I’m familiar, less and less time is being made available for music in the curriculum. This is a national disgrace. It is an international disgrace. Sometimes I feel so pessimistic that I fear that music education will be abolished long before shootin’ and huntin’ are! Of course, this symposium is not just about multiculturalism in music with respect to children in preschools, elementary schools, and secondary schools—the symposium is much broader than this. Its parameters extend beyond music in school. As such, it is about awakening us to music from diverse cultures regardless of the level at which we engage with music. It is vital, I believe, that musicians, composers, performers, and audiences broaden their horizons and open their ears to musics from other countries, because this can have a great impact on how we see, perceive, and make our own music. Of course, composers have been influenced by the music and dance of other countries for centuries. Bach, for example, used many stylized dance forms in his suites—the Spanish sarabande, the French courante and Italian corrente, the English jig, and so forth. Debussy, to take another example, incorporated many jazz elements in his music. And he was also enamored of so-called oriental scales. Of course, one could go on and on listing the influence on composers of the music and instruments of other countries and cultures across the centuries. Only a few days ago, I was in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. I was fascinated to read on one of the current exhibits that “As the British settlers moved westward . . . they took with them a wealth of fiddle tunes and folksongs.” In part, these contributed to the development of country music. Indeed, some of the folk songs they took with them were the very folk songs that I myself was taught in school and went on to teach my own students. How many degrees of separation is that? So you see, it could be argued that musically I’m related to American country music! I would never have believed it until a few days ago. I learned, further, that country music is not only rooted in the folk traditions of the British Isles. To quote another current display in the museum, British folk traditions “became entangled with the ethnic musics of other immigrants and African slaves. Many gospel hymns were also popularized in the nineteenth-

Celebrating Difference, Embracing Commonality

century South. . . . Played on fiddles or homemade banjos, all this music would one day sound as if born in the Southern hills.” This is a very interesting comment. The time would come, it said, when this music wouldn’t sound as if it had originated from Britain, Africa, and elsewhere; it would sound as if it had originated purely and simply in the Southern hills. This, I believe, provides us with an interesting perspective on music and multiculturalism. So much of the music that we see as belonging to “us” is, in fact, a result of absorption of music from other cultures that has been given a new twist, music that is the result of rich cross-cultural fertilization, interpretation, reinterpretation, and creativity. I was convinced during my visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame that there’s a sense in which some country music at least is a worthy example of multicultural music! Regardless of our musical background, interest, or specialization, I believe that there is great merit in each of us opening our ears to other musics. There are contemporary Australian composers, for example, whose music is strongly influenced by that of our own Aborigines, including the use of the didgeridoo as a so-called serious instrument. Some contemporary Australian composers are strongly influenced by the Indonesian or Balinese Gamelan orchestras. Simi-

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larly, there is a strong Asian influence in the music of contemporary Australian composers, just as there are strong influences from the African continent. Surely this enriching of the musical sources that we all have at our disposal today can only be for the better. I’m looking forward to celebrating the diversity of other cultures during this symposium. Indeed, it has already begun. I welcome the opportunity to compare and reflect on cultural differences with respect to all aspects of music—composition, performance, instrumentation, and so forth. Let us never lose sight of the fact that we are the inheritors of our respective musics. We are the beneficiaries of our respective musics. As such, we have a responsibility to be the custodians of our respective musics. And, accordingly, we must be advocates for our respective musics. Let us, during this symposium, “get inside the music” of other cultures, other races, indeed, other times. This, in turn, may well lead to further creativity in teaching, composition, performance, and musical engagement. Martin Comte Former Dean, Faculty of Education Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University of Melbourne, Australia

I RESEARCH PAPERS

1 Music Majors’ Levels of Familiarity with Fifteen Musical Styles Lynn M. Brinckmeyer, Cynthia I. Gonzales, and Robin Stein

Music educators strive to find appropriate methods to

lar styles of music are selected more often than any other style (Greer et al. 1973; LeBlanc 1981; LeBlanc et al. 1996; Neville 1985), which is particularly significant given that the standard collegiate music curriculum, for the most part, remains focused on Western art music. In a study of preference for world musics, Fung (1996) asserted that familiarity greatly influences music preference when considering a range of musical styles. Crossover influences and the increased accessibility of recorded music of all styles have expanded the options for listening experiences of people living in America. A significant event, for example, was the 1986 release of Paul Simon’s Graceland with Ladysmith Black Mombazo, which paired an American pop artist with a South African choir. The purpose of this preliminary study was to explore the following questions:

build bridges from the known to the unknown, bridges that connect a student’s current experience and level of understanding to the musical knowledge and skills defined by a university-level curriculum. Knowing what your students already know and developing curricula that have a close relationship to students’ existing knowledge leads to increased understanding, processing, and information retention (Wiggins 2001). New information that is relevant to students’ lives is also an important factor in retention. Motivation for learning is influenced by affect for music (Asmus 1989), which implies that curriculum that involves familiar music may be more successful than that which uses unfamiliar music. This project sought to determine what students know. The researchers investigated 270 university music majors’ familiarity with various musical styles. Each student rated his or her self-perceived level of familiarity with fifteen styles of music twice: first for familiarity through listening experiences, and second for familiarity through performance experiences. These data were intended to frame future discussions in the School of Music about appropriate musical examples in various curricular offerings, because building on prior knowledge, experience, and comfort level helps to create an environment of success and forward momentum in the learning process. Schmidt and Zdzinski (1993) determined that music preference is one of the most frequently cited topics in the leading music education research journals (Finnas 1989). LeBlanc (1981) concluded that style is the strongest variable when determining preference response. Numerous studies have determined that rock and popu-

1. What level of familiarity do music majors have with various styles of music through listening experiences? 2. What level of familiarity do music majors have with various styles of music through performance experiences?

METHOD Data were gathered at a large, southwestern state university, with an enrollment of 27,503 students. At this diverse campus community, ethnic minorities comprise over 28 percent of the student body, and 21 percent of the undergraduates are Hispanic. The university is one of the top twenty producers of Hispanic 3

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baccalaureate graduates in the nation. According to 2005 enrollment by ethnicity in the School of Music, 64 percent were Caucasian, non-Hispanic; 4 percent black, non-Hispanic; 29 percent Hispanic; 3 percent Asian/Pacific Islander; and 0 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native. Subjects were undergraduate music majors (N = 270). The survey was distributed and completed by the respondents during the first week of classes in one of the following venues: freshmen orientation, a major ensemble rehearsal, or an upper-level theory class. Students rated their level of familiarity with a named style of music. Lists of musical styles available on the Internet from three sources were examined: MySpace.com (83 musical styles), Yahoo.music (100 styles), and CDBaby.com (196 styles grouped into sixteen categories). For the purposes of this project, the sixteen-category CDBaby list was considered the most suitable. Styles were blues, classical, contemporary Christian, easy listening, electronic, folk, gospel, hiphop/rap, jazz, Latin, metal, new age, pop, rock, and world music. The CDBaby category titled “Spoken Word” was intentionally omitted. Each category was further defined by descriptors: 1. Blues: electric blues, funky blues, guitar blues, rhythm and blues, etc. 2. Classical: early music, baroque, romantic, contemporary, etc. 3. Contemporary Christian 4. Easy listening: background music, mood music, musicals on Broadway, soft rock, etc. 5. Electronic: experimental, funk, house, techno, etc. 6. Folk: folk pop, modern folk, traditional folk, etc. 7. Gospel: contemporary, country, traditional, etc. 8. Hip-hop/rap 9. Jazz: big band, Dixieland, jazz fusion, swing, etc. 10. Latin: Latin jazz, mariachi, salsa, tejano, etc. 11. Metal: alternative, death, heavy, etc. 12. New age: meditation, environmental, Celtic new age, etc. 13. Pop: sixties pop, Beatles pop, current top 40, etc. 14. Rock: classic rock, emo, grunge, psychodelic, ska, etc. 15. World: Celtic, flamingo, polka, reggae, etc.

In addition to listening and performance experiences, the survey also collected demographic data on gender, age, ethnicity, major, and primary instrument. The data were analyzed by the statistical package SPSS.

ANALYSIS Aspects of the data are shown in six charts (figures 1.1–1.6). On each chart, the horizontal axis identifies the fifteen styles of music, one beam for each style. The vertical axis refers to the self-perceived level of familiarity, either through listening or performing. Figures 1.1, 1.3, and 1.5 refer to familiarity through listening experiences; figures 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6 refer to performing experiences. Each pair of charts (1.1 and 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6) keeps constant the group of respondents and the responses being examined. Students were asked to rate their level of familiarity using a Likert-type scale to select one of five possible answers: 1. No experience listening to (or performing) this style 2. Minimal experience listening to (or performing) this style 3. Average experience listening to (or performing) this style 4. Above average experience listening to (or performing) this style 5. Extensive experience listening to (or performing) this style Each of these five levels corresponds to the five segments on each beam. The lowest segment represents no experience, whereas the segment at the top signifies extensive experience. Figures 1.1 and 1.2 contain the complete set of data from all respondents who participated in the study (N = 270). By comparing the lowest segment of each beam on figure 1.1 (no experience), the data revealed that students were least familiar with contemporary Christian and new age styles through their listening experiences. On the opposite end (the extensive segment at the top of each beam), students were most familiar with rock, classical, pop, and jazz styles through listening.

Figure 1.1. Listening Experience of All Respondents about All Styles

Figure 1.2. Performing Experience of All Respondents about All Styles

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Results displayed in figure 1.2 show that a large percentage of the respondents had no experience performing fourteen of the fifteen styles. Classical music comprised more than 50 percent of the performance experience for the entire sample. Less than 5 percent of the respondents had extensive experience performing electronic, hip-hop, or new age styles of music. After classical music, jazz was identified as the next highest style with which they had extensive familiarity through performance. Students indicated no or minimal experience performing world music. Figures 1.3 and 1.4 are similar in format to figures 1.1 and 1.2. Styles of music again appear along the horizontal axis, and self-perceived levels of familiarity appear along the vertical axis. These charts isolate the above average and extensive responses. Each beam now contains the level of familiarity only for those who rated themselves as having an above average or extensive level of familiarity. For clarification, the above average response rate is displayed at the lowest segment of each beam, and the extensive experience is

displayed at the highest segment. Thereby, figures 1.3 and 1.4 are subsets of figures 1.1 and 1.2, respectively. They illustrate the same preference results on a less complicated graph. Figures 1.5 and 1.6 further explore the data by analyzing the respondents’ listening and performance familiarity by ethnicity. Students self-identified as Caucasian (N = 159), Hispanic (N = 82), African American (N = 10), Asian (N = 8), or other (N = 10). No ethnicity was indicated by one respondent. Given the small number of African American, Asian, and other respondents, the data for these three categories were combined in figures 1.5 and 1.6 as “All Others” (N = 29). Data on figure 1.5 represent the percentage of each ethnic group that rated their level of familiarity through listening as either above average or extensive. The results for Caucasians (N = 159) are shown in the top segment of each beam; for Hispanics (N = 82) in the middle segment, and for “All Others” (N = 29) in the bottom segment. These results mirror those in the

Figure 1.3. Listening Experience Results with Above Average and Extensive Levels

Figure 1.4. Performing Experience Results with Above Average and Extensive Levels

Figure 1.5. Listening Experience Results by Ethnicity with Above Average and Extensive Levels

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Figure 1.6. Performing Experience Results by Ethnicity with Above Average and Extensive Levels

previous charts. Students were most familiar with classical, rock, and pop styles of music in their listening experiences, and hip-hop was almost equal to jazz as the fourth highest choice. Students performed classical music at a rate more than twice that of the style rated the next highest, jazz. These last two figures present a visual comparison of the various ethnic groups. For example, in figure 1.5, the segments of the beams representing classical, rock, and pop styles of music are all about the same size, as are the segments representing classical and jazz on figure 1.6. This would indicate that all students, regardless of ethnicity, shared a comparable level of familiarity with these five styles. This was not true for other styles of music. In figure 1.5, gospel, hip-hop/rap, and jazz had a slightly higher level of familiarity identified by the “All Other” category as compared to the other two ethnic groups. In fact, the level of familiarity through listening for the “All Other” category was approximately the same for six styles of music: classical, gospel, hip-hop/rap, jazz, pop, and rock. Hispanics rated their level of familiarity with Latin music through listening at a rate approximately three times greater than the other ethnic groups.

With respect to performing Latin music, however, Hispanics rated their level of familiarity only twice that of the other ethnic groups.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Students ranked their level of familiarity with various styles of music through listening experiences in the following order, highest to lowest: rock (63.7 percent), classical (57.3 percent), pop (51.9 percent), jazz (47.4 percent), Latin (34.1 percent), metal (34.1 percent), hip-hop (33.7 percent), easy listening (28.5 percent), blues (26.4 percent), gospel (21.5 percent), contemporary Christian (20.8 percent), electronic (19.3 percent), world (18.5 percent), folk (16.4 percent), and new age (9.6 percent). These percentages represent the sum of the responses for extensive and above average experiences. For performance experiences, students indicated overwhelmingly that classical music was the style with which they had the greatest level of familiarity. Students ranked their level of familiarity with various styles of music through performance experiences in the following order, highest to lowest: classical (70.7

Music Majors’ Levels of Familiarity with Fifteen Musical Styles

percent), jazz (33.7 percent), rock (27.0 percent), pop (21.1 percent), Latin (20.7 percent), contemporary Christian (19.7 percent), blues (19.4 percent), gospel (14.8 percent), metal (13.3 percent), easy listening (13.0 percent), folk (9.6 percent), electronic (7.0 percent), world (7.0 percent), hip-hop (4.8 percent), and new age (3.0 percent). Again, these percentages represent the sum of the responses for extensive and above average experiences. Music majors are required to take applied lessons on their performance instrument, so the focus on classical music is understandable. Applied music professors usually control literature choices, which might account for the extensive experience in performing classical music. Breaking out the statistics on incoming freshmen music majors may show a contrasting view, although audition criteria favor students with classical backgrounds. Students with less traditional performance backgrounds may not be entering the School of Music. Teachers implement sound pedagogical practice when they identify the knowledge and skills students possess in order to build a curriculum. Our research shows that students’ listening and performance experiences span a variety of styles that provide them with a rich repertoire of musical patterns and harmonic relationships. Yet the overwhelming majority of examples in undergraduate theory texts, for instance, are drawn from the canon of Western art music. The researchers recommend further study using music familiar to students. A wider variety of styles could be incorporated to teach musical knowledge and skills. When learners begin with familiar information and then move on to unfamiliar concepts, they gain confidence and experience greater success. University faculty should consider exploring the cultural diversity of their students and possibly modify the curriculum to serve them, based on their prior experience. In addition to analyzing Western classical music, such as Bach chorales, students might gain insights from analyzing other styles of music. In closing, this project is the first of a longitudinal study at this university researching student familiarity with and preferences for various musical styles. Other areas of interest for future investigation are

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1. comparison of the levels of familiarity and preference between entering freshmen music majors and upper level music majors (four to six completed semesters), 2. comparison of listening preferences (free time choices) between current music majors and entering freshmen music majors, 3. correlations between students’ levels of familiarity with styles and their personal style preferences in listening and performance, 4. the effect on student success in beginning theory/ aural courses of using a broader range of styles in the musical examples and exercises.

REFERENCES Asmus, E. 1989. Factor analysis: A look at the technique through the data of rainbow. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 101:1–29. Finnas, L. 1989. How can musical preferences be modified? Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 102:1–58. Fung, C. V. 1996. Musicians’ and nonmusicians’ preferences for the world musics: Relation to musical characteristics and familiarity. Journal of Research in Music Education 44:10–83. Greer, R., L. Dorow, G. Wachhaus, and E. White. 1973. Adult approval and students’ music selection behavior. Journal of Research in Music Education 21: 345–354. Herbst, A., J. de Wet, and S. Rijsdijk. 2005. A survey of music education in the primary schools of South Africa’s Cape Peninsula. Journal of Research in Music Education 53 (3): 260–83. LeBlanc, A. 1981. Effects of style, tempo, and performing medium on children’s music preference. Journal of Research in Music Education 29:143–56. LeBlanc, A., C. Silvola, M. Obert, and W. L. Sims. 1996. Music style preferences of different age listeners. Journal of Research in Music Education 44 (1): 49–59. Neville, J. 1985. Aspects of music in the multicultural curriculum. Music Teacher 64:14. Schmidt, C. P., and S. F. Zdzinski. 1993. Cited quantitative research articles in music education research journals 1975–1990: A content analysis of selected studies. Journal of Research in Music Education 41 (1): 5–18. Wiggins, J. 2001. Teaching for musical understanding. New York: McGraw-Hill.

2 Studying Multicultural Music Can Oppose Prejudice: The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method Shows How Alan Shapiro

Multicultural

SAMENESS AND DIFFERENCE

music is being included increasingly as part of music education, and this represents the hope for respect for the great cultural diversity of our classrooms, our society, and our world. Even so, prejudice persists. The aesthetic realism teaching method enables the study of multicultural music to be a conscious means of combating prejudice. The philosophy of aesthetic realism was founded in 1941 by the American poet and educator Eli Siegel, who explained that “the purpose of education is to like the world” (1981, 5) and that the cause of both learning difficulty and prejudice is contempt, the “false importance or glory from the lessening of things not [one]self” (1977). The beginning of all prejudice is the ordinary yet dangerous feeling that “if I can look down on and have contempt for something or someone outside of me, then I am superior.” This is a feeling I have seen not only in students but also in teachers, including myself. To combat the contempt from which prejudice and racism arise, people need to see that the world—with all its social injustice, economic unfairness, worry, and ordinary confusion—can honestly be liked because it is made in a way that is sensible, even beautiful. This can be richly demonstrated through music. In an essay, Eli Siegel wrote: “Music for a long time has been telling what the world is really like. What music has to say now, in a manner that has both logic and emotion in it, is that the world has a structure persons could like; be stronger by” (1975). That structure is aesthetic, the oneness of opposites. It is described in this principle of aesthetic realism: “All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves” (Siegel 1967).

Every time students see the oneness of reality’s opposites in a specific instance of music, they have more respect for the world, and as a result, their desire to look down on, disparage, mock, or hurt another person representing that world is combated successfully. I have observed this in urban and suburban schools for more than twenty years. Further, when we see that the same opposites that make a musical composition beautiful are present in us and also in a person of a different skin color or ethnic background, we cannot be prejudiced against that person, because we see him or her as not only different from us, but also deeply the same. How important the technical study of sameness and difference in multicultural music is in understanding and combating prejudice is explained by Ellen Reiss (1997): What needs to replace [prejudice] is not the feeling that the difference of another person is somehow tolerable. What is necessary is the seeing and feeling that the relation of sameness and difference between ourselves and that other person is beautiful. People need to feel, with feeling both intimately personal and large, that difference of race is like the difference to be found in music: two notes are different, but they are in behalf of the same melody; they complete each other; each needs the other to be expressed richly, to be fully itself.

Take two very different examples, “Heard ’em Say” by Kanye West (2005) from the twenty-first century, and “Dido’s Lament” by Henry Purcell from the seventeenth century. On the surface, they sound 11

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very different. Hearing both, many students initially respond more favorably to the Kanye West song, because it is familiar. Yet, looking more closely at the music, we find both have this in common: in each, a fixed element below is supporting one that changes above. In the first example, that fixed element is the bed-track (see figure 2.1). In the second example, a passacaglia, it is the ground bass (see figure 2.2). These very different instances of music have this structure in common: they both put together a pair of opposites related to sameness and difference— constancy and change. In their important paper “Aesthetic Realism: A New Foundation for Interdisciplinary Musicology,” presented in Graz, Austria, at the Conference of Interdisciplinary Musicology, composer Edward Green and anthropologist Arnold Perey (2004) discuss constancy and change: They are ontological; they correspond to the deepest scientific and philosophic structure of the world; they are in every instance of reality one can think of: a leaf rustling in the wind; an embryo developing. . . . At the same time, they are present in the hopes and feelings of every man and woman. Has there ever lived a human being who did not want both stability and adventure? Both security and surprise? No. And that desire to see opposites as one impels all music.

In fact, constancy and change, stability and adventure are opposites present throughout the world of music,

Figure 2.1. Kanye West, “Heard ’Em Say”

from bagpipe music, with its relation of drone and melody, to salsa, in which the montuno—the piano vamp—underlies instrumental and vocal variations. Stability and change are often at odds in students; they feel both stuck and tossed around—and so do teachers. When young men and women see that instances of music like those by Purcell and West make a sensible, coherent composition of opposites that confuse them, they feel more composed themselves, and they are much less predisposed to be against what is called “classical” music. Even more important, they stop being scornful of each other and of people who may look different from them. They listen to music— and to each other—more carefully and respectfully.

MUSIC IS FREEDOM AND ORDER Other opposites in the daily life of every person, student and teacher alike, are freedom and order. From New York City to Beijing, Edinburgh to Kinshasaa, people want to feel free, unfettered, and independent. But we also want order and routine; we want to feel our lives have organization. In music, people of different cultures have composed these universal opposites, each in a unique way. Take the Ewe of Ghana. We find order and freedom, pattern and unpredictability in David Locke’s (2005) description of Agbekor, a traditional percussion ensemble piece of the Ewe:

Studying Multicultural Music Can Oppose Prejudice

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Figure 2.2. Henry Purcell, “Dido’s Lament”

Although a performance of Agbekor follows a definite pattern, it is not rigidly formalized. A.M. Jones, a pioneering scholar of African music, [writes]: “Within the prescribed limits of custom, no one quite knows what is going to happen: It depends quite a lot on the inspiration of the leading performers. . . . They are moved by the spirit of the occasion.” (85)

One of the key features of this music is the timeline, which brings order and unity to all that occurs around it (see figure 2.3). In its particular way, this music has satisfied a hope in Ghanaian people to put together freedom and order, a hope of all people. One of the wonderful things about the timeline is that it can be experienced in two, three, four, and six (see figure 2.4). This is a major reason that this West African music, with all its intricate rhythmic organization, feels free, loose, and unrestricted. The same opposites of freedom and order are central in Arabic music, too. More than ever, it is essential that we see the people of the Arab world with accuracy and respect, and learning how the music of this region puts opposites together can encourage that perception. Writing about the improvised instrumental form called the taqsim, the noted musicologist Habib Hassan Touma (1996) points to these opposites: In the hands of a gifted musician, no taqsim performance is musically the same as any other, for tradition prescribes that the taqsim be created anew each time. Nevertheless, the taqsim is not purely improvisational. Underlying its freely unfolding rhythmic-temporal design is a . . . fixed tonal-spatial organization, its predetermined sequence of tone levels and phases. This interplay between composition and improvisation is the essential characteristic of a taqsim. (99)

Figure 2.3. Timeline

So the taqsim is at once improvised and composed; it unfolds freely, yet has a fixed organization. Here again, in this music that represents a large part of the world and a tradition many hundreds of years old, we find in outline a solution to a problem we and our students meet every day, from Brooklyn where I teach, to the windy city of Chicago, to sunny San Diego: the problem of freedom and restriction. Studying any improvised music—for instance American jazz, the music of India, folk music of Eastern Europe, or freestyle rap—we can ask: How is there order within this freedom? Students and teachers can have a thrilling time exploring this. I have seen the pleasure on students’ faces as they follow for the first time the twelve-bar blues structure underlying a Charlie Parker solo, or count out the tala of a Ravi Shankar improvisation. And looking at music in which improvisation is not central to its performance, be it a Beethoven sonata, a traditional Chinese instrumental composition, or a popular song on the radio, we can ask: Is there freedom within the order, surprise within the organization? Time and again, the answer is yes. The aesthetic realism teaching method, in explaining that the oneness of opposites is what makes for beauty, enables students and teachers to look at music from any culture with a respect for the uniqueness of that culture, while simultaneously seeing that it is fundamentally related to music of other cultures. Of course, we have to be careful critics of each instance of music and encourage this exactitude in our students as well, for it would be as much a mistake to say all music is of equal value as it would be for us to say greatness in music is a matter of style, or worse, nationality. Still, whatever the music, whatever the culture, whatever the century, the opposites are there.

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Figure 2.4. Timelines

EXCITEMENT AND CALM, FAST AND SLOW Excitement and calm, energy and thoughtfulness often take the form of speed and slowness. Do people all over the world want to put these opposites together? Music shows the answer is yes. In the Hindustani tradition of North India, the structure of a raga performance shows the desire to relate these opposites in a way that is graceful and dramatic. Such a performance traditionally begins with the alap, a more meditative section without definite beat, followed by the gat, with definite rhythm, building finally to the jhala, the rapid conclusion. In many instances, there is a shift in the jhala to something like a doubletime feel, as though the underlying tempo has become twice as fast. In the greatest performances, that shift is done so subtly, it is difficult to say just when the change occurs, showing the continuity and deep friendliness possible between calm and excitement, slowness and speed. This music meets our hope to bring together repose and energy, thoughtfulness and excitement. There are notable examples of speed and slowness throughout the world of music. For instance, the people of Japan have put together these opposites in a style of music for koto called danmono. In Music: An Appreciation, Roger Kamien (1996) writes that in the danmono “the theme is presented in the first section (dan)

and is then varied in subsequent sections, which have increasingly faster tempos” (643). There is Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor, which begins fast, then suddenly slows down at the second to last phrase of the main section, returning to the first tempo to conclude that section. There is Louis Armstrong’s “West End Blues,” which begins with a rapid introduction by Armstrong on solo trumpet, followed by the slow blues form. There is the structure of the classical symphony, with its arrangement of faster and slower movements. And an example in contemporary popular music is “Let ’er Rip,” written by Billy Crain and Sandy Ramos and recorded by the Dixie Chicks. Like many raga performances, this song begins with a slow introduction, followed by the faster paced main section, which builds in excitement as the steel guitar soloist implies a double-time feel. In each instance, we can study the relation of fast and slow with our classes and ask, Do these opposites go together convincingly, satisfyingly, beautifully? And if so, why? Like the people and cultures represented by these different musical examples, students and teachers want to put together excitement and calm. We want to feel things are interesting, stirring, and inspiring; we want to feel composed, at ease, and relaxed—and we don’t want these feelings one at a time. Excitement without calm is agitation, nervousness, anxiety. Calm without

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Studying Multicultural Music Can Oppose Prejudice

excitement is boredom, dullness, lifelessness. People everywhere are looking for the oneness of these opposites. In fact, Eli Siegel (1981) defined happiness as “dynamic tranquility” (77). And through the aesthetic realism teaching method, learning with our students about the opposites in music makes for an atmosphere in the classroom that has just that quality: excitement with composure. For any person to effectively oppose prejudice, we must first be against it in ourselves. As a boy and young man, though I would have denied being bigoted or prejudiced, I was, in ways I didn’t realize. I saw myself as more intelligent and sensitive than others, and looked to find flaws in people to support that image. I was prejudiced in favor of myself. I also told jokes in which I used various ethnic slurs, something I tried to laugh off at the time, but of which I am ashamed to this day, more than thirty years later. I am very grateful to have learned about the struggle between contempt and respect as explained by aesthetic realism, because that knowledge enables me to be a better critic of myself, to be truly affected by my students, and to have a good effect on them. For us to be the effective educators we are hoping to be, we each need to ask courageously: Do I have an unconscious stake in feeling superior to my students? As I look at other people, do I see them as essentially different from me, or as deeply and interestingly the same and different? The aesthetic realism teaching method has been used effectively by teachers across the curriculum, from elementary through graduate levels, enabling students to learn—even those young people desperately hurt by our unjust profit economy. Further, through the subject they are studying, it encourages students of diverse backgrounds to view all people with greater kindness and respect. Articles documenting this effect have been published in journals and newspapers in the United States and abroad, and many are available on the website of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York

City (www.AestheticRealism.org). Teaching multicultural music with this method opposes prejudice in two ways. First, while honoring the uniqueness of any culture’s music, it enables one to see the opposites that all music has in common. Second, by showing the relation between the opposites in music and the opposites in ourselves, it enables people of one culture to respect honestly not only the music of other cultures, but also people of other cultures. This great method enables a student to feel: “The beauty that other people have gone after also stirs me. This means other people’s feelings are more like my own than I realized, and the whole world looks friendlier.” REFERENCES Green, E., and A. Perey. 2004. Aesthetic realism: A new foundation for interdisciplinary musicology. In Proceedings of the conference on interdisciplinary musicology (CIM04), ed. R. Parncutt, A. Kessler, and F. Zimmer, University of Graz, Austria. Kameian, R. 1996. Music: An appreciation. New York: McGraw-Hill. Locke, D. 2005. “Africa/Ewe, Mande, Dagbamba, Shona, BaAka.” In Worlds of music, shorter version, 2nd ed., ed. J. T. Titon, 73–121. Belmont, CA: Thomson Schirmer. Reiss, E. 1997. The right of aesthetic realism to be known. New York, NY. Aesthetic Realism Foundation, 1264. Siegel, E. 1967. Four statements of aesthetic realism. New York: Aesthetic Realism Foundation. ———. 1975. Music tells what the world is like. In The right of aesthetic realism to be known, ed. Ellen Reiss. New York, NY: The Aesthetic Realism Foundation, 93. ———. 1977. Aesthetic Realism: A Tripartite Study. In The right of aesthetic realism to be known, ed. Ellen Reiss. New York, NY: The Aesthetic Realism Foundation, 247. ———. 1981. Self and world: An explanation of aesthetic realism. New York: Definition Press. Touma, H. H. 1996. Music of the Arabs. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press. West, K. 2005. Late registration [CD]. Roc-a-Fella Records, B000A2H2C2.

3 Cultural Identities of Composers Represented in a State-Prescribed Concert Band Repertoire List Mary Ellen Cavitt

The goals of a music curriculum are often based on

or apparent consensus on the quality of the compositions (Gaines 1996). The music selection committee for the Texas Prescribed Music List uses the following criteria to determine whether a particular piece should be included:

the repertoire selected for performance. To provide a good music education, teachers must choose music of the highest quality. According to Colwell and Goolsby (2002), “music should be selected for what it can teach of and about music, and also for its interest, its motivational value, and for variety” (425). H. Robert Reynolds (2000) states that although “you should consider the students’ enthusiasm for the music, the intrinsic merit of the music has a much higher level of priority” (33). Several studies have examined the wind band repertoire in an attempt to identify excellent works (Gilbert 1993; Ostling 1978; Peterson 1986) and a core repertoire of concert band literature (Gaines 1996; Howard 2001; Olson 1982). Numerous textbooks have also attempted to identify best works for concert bands (Dvorak 1986; Dvorak and Floyd 2000; Dvorak, Grechesky, and Ciepluch1993; Kvet 1996; Reynolds 1975; Wallace and Corporan 1984). In the United States, many state music organizations have adopted a prescribed music list of compositions authorized for use in state-sanctioned music contests and festivals. These lists aid music educators in selecting quality literature and are expanded and improved upon regularly. Many of the state music festivals require that teachers not perform multiple selections by the same composer at one festival. The purpose of the prescribed list seems to be in alignment with the national standard for music education that states that we should perform a varied repertoire of music (Consortium of National Arts Education Association 1994). These repertoire lists are usually based on the opinions of the compilers rather than on any empirical research

• Does the composition have some shape and design, and is it consistent in quality throughout the various sections? • Does the composition reflect good scoring, and how active are the parts? • How predictable are the probable musical goals, and does the piece contain a musical result, which moves above just historical worth and a good teaching piece? (Prado 2007, ¶ 4) In 1967, the Tanglewood Symposium first called upon American music educators to consider a more culturally diverse repertoire (Mark and Gary 1999). Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman (1995) stated that, “in order to develop respect for the achievements of cultures other than their own, teachers need to integrate multicultural music into the core music curriculum” (285). Although many teachers may support the idea of cultural and musical diversity, when it comes time to select music for competitions, they may be limited by state-prescribed music lists. Terese Volk (1998) has pointed out that there is a lack of multicultural materials for instrumental music classes. Composers may add authentic elements such as scales or traditional percussion to the composition, but rhythms and melodies are often adjusted to meet the educational needs of the students. Most composers of school band music do not focus on cultural context or authenticity. 17

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Chapter 3

Many students perceive the music that they perform in band as “school music” and not “real music” (Wiggins 2001, 85). Teachers need to consider using authentic works or arrangements of authentic works instead of music created solely for educational purposes. Carlos Abril (2006) urges that, “the performer, arranger, composer, or transcriber . . . be an individual who understands the culture and music style. The person can be a culture bearer or an individual with an in-depth understanding” (41). Palmer (1992) argues that when music “is transferred out of its original culture, it loses some of its essential qualities” (32). He concedes that some compromise of authenticity may occur when music is performed for educational purposes. For example, composers who collect and arrange folk melodies may or may not be concerned about authenticity. Volk (1998, 178) describes four categories that may help in questioning the authenticity of compositions: 1. Pieces whose only connection to the authentic music of another culture is in their titles. 2. Pieces that essentially employ Western art music forms, but incorporate melodies from other cultures. 3. Pieces that make a conscious effort to incorporate melodic and rhythmic elements from the music of another culture. 4. Pieces that are either original compositions by composers from the culture, or arrangements that are a close approximation of the original music of the culture. According to Anderson and Campbell (1996), In the past, as a result of emphasizing selected aspects of Western European and American classical and folk music, teachers have often led students to believe there was only one major musical system in the world, the Euro-American system. By stressing the importance and perhaps “superiority” of that system, educators have taught by implication the relative unimportance, if not the actual inferiority, of other musical systems. Today’s scholars have clearly demonstrated that educational institutions at all levels need to ensure that music curricula contain balanced programs that are representative of the world and also of the multicultural nature of the United States itself. (3)

Hornyak (1985) explored the core repertoire of university bands and attempted to classify the nationality

of composers represented. He categorized the composers into four distinct groups: (1) American tradition, (2) English tradition, (3) Austro-German tradition, and (4) Russian tradition. Most of the pieces included in the Austro-German and Russian traditions were orchestral transcriptions for band. It should be noted that this categorization was limited to American and European composers. Demographics are rapidly changing within the United States. In August 2008, a United States Census Bureau news release stated that minorities are expected to become the majority in 2042, with the nation projected to be 54 percent minority by 2050 (Bernstein and Edwards 2008). Currently, Texas, Hawaii, New Mexico, and California are “majority-minority” states, in which the combined minority population exceeds the majority population (Longley 2005). This means that classroom populations are becoming more diverse, and there is a greater need for students to learn to be tolerant and understanding of people from varying cultures. Kelly and Van Weelden (2004) stated that, “while traditionally a multicultural approach has focused on race and ethnicity, effective music education programs present music experiences with a wider cultural scope that encompasses differences in gender, social class, religion, language, geography, and age.” Cushner (2006) identified twelve attributes of culture that influence teaching and learning: ethnicity/nationality, social class, sex/gender, health, age, geographic region, sexuality, religion, social status, language, ability/disability, and race. The sociological, artistic, and cultural conditions of composers whose works are represented on prescribed music lists have a direct influence on the music education of numerous students. Although the lists restrict the music selection process, they also clearly define an important part of the American instrumental music curriculum. The purpose of this study is to explore the cultural identities of composers included on a selected state-prescribed music list.

METHOD Information about prescribed lists of concert band music was obtained from Gaines (1996), jwpepper.com, the National Band Association, and state-specific websites (obtained through the jwpepper.com website).

Cultural Identities of Composers Represented in a State-Prescribed Concert Band Repertoire List

While attempting to investigate a core repertoire of concert music for the high school band, Gaines (1996) found that very few states used their own prescribed music lists (Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and West Virginia). Five states used another state’s list. The jwpepper.com (October 8, 2008) website included information about twenty states’ prescribed music lists; there was no information for thirty states and Washington, D.C. For the purposes of this investigation, the Texas Prescribed Music List was selected for analysis. The University Interscholastic League was created in 1913 by the University of Texas at Austin to provide leadership and supervision to public school competitions (www .uil.utexas.edu/history/index.html). The Texas University Interscholastic League Prescribed Music List for the school years beginning 2007–2010 was obtained at www.uil.utexas.edu. The Texas Prescribed Music List is configured as a database and can be sorted by title, arranger, composer, publisher, and type of event. Music for full ensembles (concert band, orchestra, choir), small ensembles, and solos is included on the list. The database was sorted first by event type (concert band) and then by composer. The list includes no quick-step marches. The assigned variables that were initially analyzed are sex, nationality, race, and era. The following sources were used to determine the results of the cultural identity variables:

• • • •

Rehrig (2005) Miles (1997–2007) Several different composers’ personal websites Burkholder, Grout, and Palisca (2006)

The composers’ nationalities were defined by examining their reported country of origin and citizenship. The composers’ citizenship (naturalized or by birth) and length of the residency were determining factors.

RESULTS Results indicated that 298 distinct composers were identified on the Texas Prescribed Music List. Many were represented by more than one composition on the list. There were 292 males and 6 females. The female composers were Jodie Blackshaw, Carolyn Bremer, Julie Giroux, Elena Roussanova Lucas, Anne McGinty, and Joan Tower. Frequency of composer by nationality (N = 298) is described in table 3.1. American composers comprised 61 percent of the prescribed music list. Each of the other nationalities represented was less than 10 percent. The 2000 U.S. Census defined sixty-three racial categories; five were the following mutually exclusive categories: (1) white alone, (2) black or African American alone, (3) American Indian and Alaska Native alone, (4) Asian alone, and (5) Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander alone. Another category, called “Some

Table 3.1. Frequency and Percent of Composer by Nationality Nationality American Austro-German English (& Welsh) Russian French (& Belgian) Italian Czech Japanese Australian Canadian Hungarian Spanish Dutch Norwegian Mexican Unknown N = 298

19

Frequency

Percent

n = 182 n = 23 n = 20 n = 18 n = 17 n=6 n=4 n=4 n=3 n=2 n=2 n=2 n=2 n=1 n=1 n = 11

61.0 7.7 6.7 6.0 5.7 3.0 1.3 1.3 1.0