Early in the pandemic, I had an experience that brought home to me how deeply I harbor thoughtless misogyny. I'm no stranger to racism, either, as I was reminded after seeing this video:
There have been a number of responses, many disagreeing with Mr Neely and defending Heinrich Schenker. But for me, the fact that I accepted, without thought, that the default, correct "music theory" was that of German composers of the 18th century, was another sign that, no matter how hard I try to eliminate racism from my life, there are always more layers.
And are we really to say that Mozart's harmonies are more perfect than, say Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's, or Stevie Wonder's?
The most important American musical innovations come from the blending of all sorts and sources of music here. Dvorak, for one, according to Wikipedia, "supported the concept that African-American and Native American music should be used as a foundation for the growth of American music. He felt that through the music of Native Americans and African-Americans, Americans would find their own national style of music." So why have, apparently, no American concert composers since Gershwin even made reference to that? Why is not American symphonic music full of blues and hip hop?
No comments:
Post a Comment