Just in: Black orchestral musicians get organised in the US
NewsLocal 802 of the American Federation of Musicians has thrown its backing behind a Black Orchestral Network (BON) that has organised to improve opportunities in US orchestras.
Here’s the opening statement from Juilliard Dean, Weston Sprott:
We decided to build BON, capitalizing on this moment of shared awakening and utilizing our first-hand, professional experiences. Beginning with the open letter below — and continuing with a website, listening tour, calls to action, a podcast series, and convenings — BON aims to aggregate and amplify the needs and perspectives of Black musicians.
Throughout our careers, we have experienced racism at each turn: the requisite exceptionalism needed to navigate systems designed to exclude us, the prolonging and denial of tenure for reasons never explained, and even nooses hung at our lockers. With regard to the absence of Blackness in American orchestras, our community has heard much noise but seen little action. Recalling violinist Sanford Allen — after becoming the first Black full-time member of the New York Philharmonic in 1962, he resigned in 1977 because he was “simply tired of being a symbol.” The same year Mr. Allen joined the orchestra, famed Boston Symphony harpist Ann Hobson Pilot had the following interaction with her white teacher: “Sometimes during a lesson, when she thought I was playing especially well, she would say, ‘Annie’ — she called me Annie — ‘when you were playing just now, I forgot that you were Black for a minute.’”
We want something different for the next generation. We want them to know they are not alone, and we want others to support the cause of building an inclusive environment for Black people in the orchestral field.
Read more here.
The south side of Chicago is getting organized as well!!!
They should ask Muti to champion their Network, while he’s still around. Who is more genuinely committed to the black agenda in classical music than the man who refuses to remove the n-word from Verdi’s librettos? He did not forget that his singers in Chicago were black.
“…capitalizing on this moment of shared awakening…”wokeness is about separating the races? I don’t understand why the races need to be separated. Will this lead to a Local 802 African American branch? What would the advantage of this be for anybody? Just like Black Lives Matter. Why not protest against police brutality instead of turning it into something that only happens to Black people? (yeah I know that if you are Black then you are more likely to be shot, percentage wise. But the police manage to kill twice as many Whites than Blacks every year). Unite the races, don’t separate them.Their fundamental desires are the same.
A) The majority of the American population are white, so it would be expected that more of them would be shot given there’s… literally more of them. If you take the percentage of races in America into perspective, black people are predominantly shot more.
B) Please educate yourself on why this kind of initiative is such a great and POSITIVE thing. It’s not about ‘separating the races’. It’s about championing the great black musicians that America has to offer! This isn’t an anti-white thing, which I can assume you may be thinking. It’s a way to bring black musicians out into the spotlight in a society that has been working against them for centuries. A HUGE thing to celebrate. So let’s look at all its positives! Pro-black doesn’t equal anti-white. Pro-black = accepting there has been racial inequality for too long, and supporting their fight to be seen.
Yes of course there is going to be white on black crime. Any race can and does commit crimes. It’s awful. But, the blacks do not need the help of White people to shoot them up, the Blacks are doing that to themselves in America DAILY. Look at the stats in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit. If these people actually cared about their own, they would actually talk about this rather than blame the easiest target – white people.
Trust me Ellie, you’re banging your head against a brick wall with this crowd, speaking from experience.
I once heard critical race theory described as like a Game of monopoly. Yes, everyone can now play the game, but those of some races have been playing for 6 hours already and have bought all the properties and amassed all the wealth.
A lot of commentators on SD think that the only racism that exists in classical music now is anti-white, (stoked in part by editorial comment), but that isn’t the case at all, what everyone agrees should be a meritocracy based on ability is often subverted by racism and unconscious bias against non-white musicians. It’s ugly and uncomfortable to talk about, but many in the industry know it to be true.
Organizations like BOM, Black Lives in Music, Chineke!, Opera Ebony, South Shore Opera, Pegasus and many others are out there raising the profile of Black and Asian performers to ensure they have equal opportunity, but also hold a mirror up to the industry to see their failings in being representative of society as a whole.
And that’s before mentioning the other benefits to this work around developing new audiences and inspiring the next generation of talent.
Measuring police shootings by race against the percentage of the total population occupied by each race is meaningless. For such a comparison to be relevant, we’d have to assume the police come into contact and have violent confrontations with all segments of the population at an equal rate. We know that isn’t the case.
People whether black, white, brown, etc. would not be shot if they simply obeyed a lawful order by a police officer. When you run from the law or take a shot at an officer the outcome will not be positive. Police are hired to enforce the law. When you decide the law does not apply to you while you are dealing narcotics, doing drugs, or committing some type of unlawful act don’t be surprised when it goes sideways. Just obey the law. Why is that so difficult for some people? “I fought the law and the law won.”
It would be nice if Asian-American musicians could get similar support for the racism and obstacles they face
Every orchestra I’ve ever watched has Asians way over represented relative to their percentage of the population. Asian racism is a myth not backed up by numbers.
That comment is a typical example of confusing equality of opportunity (which should be the goal) with equity of outcome (which should not). Relatively large number of musicians of East Asian background in orchestras does not prove that there is no bias against them, just as relatively small number of “Black”musicians in orchestras does not prove that there is bias against them.
As a member of the audience I have witnessed a fair number of orchestras and their makeup. Most contain male European musicians but always there are visible minorities – Asians mainly but also women. Do these musicians have their own advocacy organizations? What of national and international musician’s unions? Are not their functions to represent all musicians?
The only sure way to get more Black musicians hired is to increase the pool of Black applicants. This is a “numbers game.” That can only be done by encouraging more Black youngsters to study classical music, give them all of the training and support they need to be successful, to graduate top music programs and win auditions. I’m all in favor of this but there are no shortcuts in this business.
The easiest way to increase the number of black musicians in orchestras is to audition without screens starting from preliminary rounds. The addition of screens decades ago was successful in getting many more females hired, but not blacks. Any musician of color who meets the standard of the orchestra should be advanced and subsequently hired. This will allow orchestras percentage-wise to be more representative of the communities they serve. Since the goal of diversity is so important the end justifies the means.
One can argue either way about the merits of using a screen so I won’t dispute what you’ve said, Matt. Yes, of course any musician of color who meets the standard should advance but my question is: what percentage of all musicians auditioning are Black? I wonder if anyone knows that number.
If I understand correctly — and if not, please correct me — about two per cent of all current musicians in American pro orchestras are Black. If we know that two per cent of ALL musicians who auditioned are Black, then this would be a positive number, ie. a one hundred per cent hiring of Black musicians who auditioned.
But, if you tell me that ninety-eight per cent of those auditioning were Black, and only two per cent have been hired, then that’s a huge problem which needs to be addressed. Were they not hired because of outright overt racism, not hired because the audition process is flawed, all of the above, none of the above? Let’s all work together to solve the problem.
What an insult to the musicians of color who have earned their spot through the standard procedure that all musicians go through
Will never happen. If you knew just how vicious and competitive players are for the few spots that open up each year you would understand the demand by players for anonymous auditions. And it’s not just the large, well-known orchestras. Even small orchestras that play only a few concerts a year are doing these blind auditions. To give certain players of color an advantage would be fought by the AFM with all its legal power.
You mean the same AFM that supports every Democrat who has ever been elected. Surely the AFM would support Affirmative Action and quotas if Joe told them too.
This development is awfully sad and hugely disappointing, because it is another step in the very wrong direction – away from unity toward division, with emphasis on superficial differences instead of common humanity. After nearly six decades of slow but steady progress in racial relations until just a few years ago, it is extremely unwise to reverse the course now and go back to the bad old days of segregation and prevalence of racist attitudes. It is precisely the opposite of what this country needs these days.
How is it a step towards division? They are not seeking to exclude white musicians from black orchestras! Their aim is to bring about “a diverse, equitable, and inclusive orchestral community”. Is that not a step towards unity? There is nothing unusual or sinister about networks of people with common interests and a shared background working together within larger organizations. It is tragic that, 60 years after African-American musicians were finally admitted to full membership of the AFM, extra efforts still have to be made to counter “exclusionary and inequitable systems and policies, and racism which is both casual and cultural” (the quotes are from https://www.blackorchestralnetwork.org/open-letter).
Quoting their text to justify its validity is not a logical argument. Treating people differently because of their skin color is definitely a step against unity and toward racial division that is guaranteed to increase racist thoughts and feelings among people in that profession, which is exactly the opposite of what we should all be striving for.
“treating people differently because of their skin color” is precisely what the Black Orchestral Network is against.
The very fact that this racially segregated organization was created and much of the contents of its “manifesto” (see for example number 1 “action” it demands) shows that they are very much for it.
Sorry – I meant to say show.
Just more affirmative action garbage leveraging this woke moment we are living. It should not matter what color, race or sex a player is. Just talent. I think white basketball players should form a white basketball network to get into the nba.