Schools of Music as Social Institutions in Service to Society
Requires Subscription PDF

How to Cite

Rice, T. (2023). Schools of Music as Social Institutions in Service to Society. MUSICultures, 50, 111–131. Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MC/article/view/33754

Abstract

Faculties and schools of music in Canada and the United States define their missions narrowly; their curricula  continue to be devoted almost exclusively to a music culture created in Europe and exported to colonial and postcolonial settings around the world. These institutions teach an exclusionary aesthetic philosophy rooted in white supremacy, one that results in the unethical exclusion of musicians and musical cultures created by the communities and societies that universities are meant to serve. After analyzing the content of, and the ideas behind, various course syllabi, the author outlines pathways for creating aesthetically and ethically inclusive and anti-racist curricula in music history and music appreciation at music faculties and schools of music in Canada and the United States.

Requires Subscription PDF

References

Amaegbe, Esinkuma James, Glory Nnam, Anthony Okoro, Nturem Masiakek, Pere Fatai, and Marie Agatha Ozah. 2022. Towards Decolonization of the Curricula in Nigerian Musical Arts Education. In Dialogues: Towards Decolonizing Music and Dance Studies, Ictmdialogues.org (accessed November 23, 2022). Ed. Tan Sooi Beng and Marcia Ostashewski. Ajdovščina, Slovenia: International Council for Traditional Music.

Blacking, John. 1973. How Musical Is Man? Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Bohlman, Philip. 2013. Introduction: World Music Histories. In The Cambridge History of World Music, 1–20. Ed. Philip Bohlman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cal Poly Pomona. 2022. Bachelor of Music (BM). 2022–2023 University Catalog. https://catalog.cpp.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=61&poid=15979&print (accessed December 3, 2022).

Campbell, Patricia, David Myers, Ed Sarath, Juan Chattah, Lee Higgins, Victoria Lindsay Levine, David Rudge, and Timothy Rice. 2014. Transforming Music Study from its Foundations: A Manifesto for Progressive Change in the Undergraduate Preparation of Music Majors. Missoula, MT: The College Music Society.

Carvalho, José Jorge. 2021. Ethnomusicology and the Meeting of Knowledges in Music: The Inclusion of Masters of Traditional Musics as Lecturers in Higher Education Institutions. In Transforming Ethnomusicology Volume II: Political, Social & Ecological Issues, 185–206. Ed. Beverley Diamond and Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco. New York: Oxford University Press.

Cobb, James. 1992. The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity. New York: Oxford University Press.

Delta State University. 2022. 2022–2023 Delta State University Undergraduate Catalog. https://www.deltastate.edu/academic-affairs/catalog/ (accessed December 1, 2022).

Ewell, Philip. 2020. Beethoven Was an Above Average Composer — Let’s Leave It at That. Music Theory’s White Racial Frame: Confronting Racism and Sexism in American Music Theory (blog). April 24. https://musictheoryswhiteracialframe.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/beethoven-was-an-above-average-composer-letsleave-it-at-that/ (accessed December 6, 2022).

Friedson, Steven. 1996. Dancing Prophets: Musical Experience in Timbuka Healing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gessell, Cynthia M. 2001. Conservatories, III. 1790–1945, 2. French-speaking Countries. Grove Music Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.41225 (accessed November 29, 2022).

Indiana University. 2022. Jacobs School of Music Areas of Study. https://music.indiana.edu/degrees-programs/areas-of-study/index.html (accessed November 30, 2022.

Kippen, James. 2021. Ethnomusicology at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. MUSICultures 48: 234–54.

Lin Wei-Ya, José Jorge de Carvalho, Matthias Lewy, Deise Lucy Oliveira Montardo, and Tan Sooi Beng. 2022. Collaborative Methodologies for Decentring Power Hierarchies in Education, Artistic Research, and Museum Curating. In Dialogues: Towards Decolonizing Music and Dance Studies, Ictmdialogues.org (accessed November 23, 2022). Ed. Tan Sooi Beng and Marcia Ostashewski. Ajdovščina, Slovenia: International Council for Traditional Music.

McAllester, David P. 1949. Enemy Way Music. Peabody Museum Papers 41(3). Cambridge MA: Harvard Peabody Museum.

Moore, Robin. 2017. Introduction: Toward a Model of Reform. In College Music Curricula for a New Century, 1–29. Ed. Robin Moore. New York: Oxford University Press.

Muniagurria, Lorena Avell ar de, Michael Silvers, Priscila Duque, and Francisco DiFreitas. 2022. Making Cultura Popular Brasileira (Brazilian Popular Culture). In Dialogues: Towards Decolonizing Music and Dance Studies, Ictmdialogues.org (accessed November 23, 2022). Ed. Tan Sooi Beng and Marcia Ostashewski. Ajdovščina, Slovenia: International Council for Traditional Music.

Nettl, Bruno. 1995. Heartland Excursions: Ethnomusicological Reflections on Schools of Music. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Nettl, Bruno. 2005. The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-one Issues and Concepts. New ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Rice, Timothy. 2003. Time, Place, and Metaphor in Musical Experience and Ethnography. Ethnomusicology 47 (2): 151–79.

Rice, Timothy. 2017. Aesthetics and Ethics in University Music Curricula. SEM Newsletter 51 (3): 4, 13–14. Reprinted from Proceedings: The 92nd Annual Meeting 2016, 20–23. Reston, VA: National Association of Schools of Music.

Rice, Timothy, and Megan Rancier. 2021. Robert Garfias: An Oral History. Los Angeles: UCLA Ethnomusicology Publications.

Rice, Timothy, and Dave Wilson. 2023. Gateways to Understanding Music. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

Robinson, Dylan. 2019. To All Who Should Be Concerned. Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music / Intersections: Revue Canadienne de Musique 39 (1): 137–44. https://doi.org/10.7202/1075347ar (accessed December 4, 2022).

San Diego State University. 2022. SDSU at a Glance — SD campus. https://asir.sdsu.edu/data-profiles/sdsu-at-a-glance-sd-campus/ (accessed December 3, 2022).

Tan Sooi Beng and Marcia Ostashewski, eds. 2022. Dialogues: Towards Decolonizing Music and Dance Studies. Ajdovščina, Slovenia: International Council for Traditional Music. Ictmdialogues.org (accessed November 23, 2022).

US Census Bureau. 2020. Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census. Census.gov (accessed December 4, 2022).

USAfacts.org. 2022. Changing Populations: San Diego County, California. https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-and-demographics/our-changing-population/state/california/county/san-diegocounty?endDate=2021-01-01&startDate=2010-01-01 (accessed December 1, 2022).

Vallejo, Jesse, Guillermo “Willie” Acuña, and Flora Delgado. 2022. Case Study: Los Angeles and Mariachi Music Education (script for PowerPoint presentation) in a Latin American Dialogue for Social Inclusion: Community Musics, Ethnicities, and Identities. In Dialogues: Towards Decolonizing Music and Dance Studies, Ictmdialogues.org (accessed November 23, 2022). Ed. Tan Sooi Beng and Marcia Ostashewski. Ajdovščina, Slovenia: International Council for Traditional Music.

  • The author retains copyright over the work.
  • The author grants the journal owner (The Canadian Society for Traditional Music / La Société canadienne pour les traditions musicales) an exclusive license to publish the work.
  • The author may post a pre-print or post-print version of the work (see definitions below) on a personal website for up to twelve months after the work is published in MUSICultures. After twelve months, the pre-print version must be replaced with the published version.
  • The author may deposit the published PDF of the work in a non-commercial online repository twelve months after the work is published in MUSICultures, or any time thereafter.
  • Any such deposit must include a link to the work on the MUSICultures website, e.g., https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MC/article/view/19996

A pre-print is a work-in-progress—a contribution not yet accepted, or perhaps even submitted, to MUSICultures.

A post-print is the version of a contribution after peer review and acceptance by MUSICultures, with revisions completed.

The published version is the PDF file of a contribution as it appears in MUSICultures.

Please note that academia.edu and ResearchGate.com are both for-profit repositories; authors may not deposit the published PDF of the work in these repositories until after the journal’s embargo period.

For permission to reprint or translate material from MUSICultures, please contact Heather Sparling, General Editor of MUSICultures (heather_sparling@cbu.ca).