But can she play Bach?
NewsThe associate dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and associate professor of piano at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign thinks we are using the wrong composer to assess a student’s musicianship.
From an article inThe Fulcrum by Rochelle Sennet (pictured):
Johann Sebastian Bach continues to be a force of extraordinary influence across classical music, jazz and beyond. Yet this consistency has often led to misconceptions about excellence as well as exclusion of many underrepresented musicians, scholars and concert patrons. It doesn’t have to be this way: Many communities are highlighting the work of Black artists such the Harlem Chamber Players.
Traditionally, throughout history, other composers are evaluated in comparison to Bach. As a Black woman, academic and classical recording artist, I have often heard the question: “Can she play Bach?” As a long-time performer, a recording artist for more than a decade and an educator for more than 15 years, yes, I regularly play Bach’s music.
In a 2022 study, researchers at the University of York found there is an “overall consensus” that Bach’s music “constitutes a transition point between intermediate and advanced musicianship.”
In the recent book, “Expanding the Canon: Black Composers in the Music Theory Classroom,” editor Melissa Hoag writes that “taking the first step of addressing music by non-White composers might demonstrate an acknowledgment of Black culture and history, a recognition that Black composers exist and have existed for a long time, and a belief that music by Black composers is worthy of our time and attention.”
Both works show how strong emotions and opinions emerge across the classical music spectrum, including who is considered to meet the so-called gold standard of music performance.
While there have been recent efforts to be more inclusive in music performance and education, a separation remains in what many consider “high art” and who gets to be a part of it….
Read on here.
Associate Dean of DIE? You mean they have more than one?
Not necessarily. US universities often have associate deans or vice presidents in charge of a particular area. This means she’s an associate dean who happens to be in charge of DEI, not as associate dean under a dean of DEI in turn. But in this case, I don’t know….
No, she is an Associate Dean, and her area of responsibility is DEI. Just as you have an Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, one for Student Affairs, one for Research, etc. etc.
It’s a really tough job. You didn’t know? The DIE people all earn their 6-figure salaries through hard work. They all earned their posts based upon their merits and not the color of their skin, even though an estimated 99% of DIE admins tend to be black!
I’ve never heard of any of the 1%. You can bet they are not Asian — has the odd Latino/a got a look-in?
Or gay or lesbian or trans of any ethnicity?
Why is everyone in the U.S.so obsessed with race?
The noise doesn’t reflect “everyone”, possibly not even a majority.
Obviously because racism is an issue everywhere on the globe? They’re not “obsessed”. They are just working towards betterment, just like musicians work to play better.
David, of course they are working towards betterment. Like the party secretaries in the Soviet Union worked towards betterment of Society. How we can help? Wear a mask, take your anxiety meds, revisit your gender identity/pronouns and make sure the root of all evil is Trump. Namaste!
And what is she going on about anyway? It’s not as if Bach appears on most classical concerts. Bach rarely is included in a concert.
Maybe because of the history of slavery? Maybe because of continuing racism and racial discrimination, in spite of the reforms of the last 70 years?
Please tell us, what JS Bach had to do with slavery. He was a kid who grew up poor, and was orphaned by the time he was a teenager.
to Piston1: my reply was to the OP’s question “Why is everyone in the US so obsessed with race?”.
I would also like to know what Bach has got to do with slavery.
a progressive….whining
If one were to seriously study the history of slavery, one might come to the realization that most races and peoples have been subjected to slavery throughout history; no particular ethnic group can claim priority in terms of being victims of discrimination. We must live and let live, and respect all decent human beings, judging them by the contents of their character, and nothing else.
And gender(s).
Because the US is essentially and historically a racist (and sexist) country. I say this as a citizen who won’t sugarcoat history. It is not said with pride, but with honesty.
Dude, try Cuba. You will love it there. China is no worse. No racism, just pure genderless-hood and occasionally loving sisterhood. You will fit great. See, there are options, no need to suffer in such a cruel, oppressive country.
Then why are all these people trying to get here?
[Then why are all these people trying to get here?]
They’re all racists and sexists.
Another citizen dedicated to presenting an unbalanced historical perspective of the US.
Every country is racist, some more than others.
Actually, very few people are. You confuse volume with numbers. The Bolsheviks won out because they were single-minded and ruthless, not because they were popular.
If every trace of race consciousness disappeared in the US, people like Rochelle Sennet would be unemployable.
If every trace of race consciousness would disappear in the US, there would be no need to worry about diversity, equity and inclusion. The goal would have been achieved.
Kind of racism, maybe?
Because it’s taught from birth to death.
If you’re a dean of DEI that’s like, your job…
It’s your job to be unreasonable and divisive?
Strange job.
It’s engrained in the very creation of our country. The historical effects of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the genocide of the indigenous peoples of the U.S have created an undeniable history that puts race at the forefront. Add to that all forms of immigration and then laws that racialized and policed it, such as the Gentleman’s Agreement, and you find that it’s embedded in the legal system too (one must only look at our 13th amendment for absolute proof!) America is a beautiful place because of it’s mixing pot qualities, but that means we also must open the discussion regarding potential racial inequities. I think it’s one of the most special and unique groups of people in the world and that striving for equality is something to be admired!
The big irony is: the biggest slave traders in history were some Africans themselves and some Arabs.
The biggest slave-owners were European Americans.
It’s mind-boggling. I am speaking as an outsider, but it’s fascinating and terrifying to see how the US is getting crazier and crazier with the race thing. I preach these deranged ideas don’t reach my third-world country.
Not all Americans and not all Black Americans I believe — just some who hope to make a career on that.
The whole country is defined by race – slavery and all that followed. Regularly you will hear on any business channel not just the rate of Unemployment but the rate of “Black Unemployment.” This is a govt statistic regularly published. Apparently nobody is counting Asian or Native American unemployment (maybe they are but they don’t talk about it). The entire history of the US is one of slavery, followed by “reconstruction” (i.e. attempting to institutionalize racial separation) followed by Jim Crow laws in the former Confederacy (“separate but equal” – except don’t use my bathroom Mr. Black person). You may have been aware of the Civil Rights movement back in the 1960s and 70s………….it’s not long ago really. I remember pulling into a gas station in South Carolina a few years ago – I followed another car in and there were two pumps – the station attendant noticed the driver of the first car was black and immediately came over to the white man and asked how much I needed. When I pointed out that the car in front was ahead of me in the line, it was explained to me that “he is black.” Needless to say I drove off immediately – no gas pumped. Yes, the US is defined by race.
Absolutely. I’m not American. In Atlanta airport a few years ago, on a first visit, I was sitting next to a black man. When he moved off, the white lady next to me said “They’re getting uppity, aren’t they.” I could hardly believe my ears, but my eyes were opened. Of course not all of America is blatantly racist, but it hasn’t gone away.
If you’re not from here…A little thing called slavery? From its beginnings an institution very much founded on notions of Blacks being an inferior race. Followed by a century of Jim Crow. Which both the Nazis and South Africans modeled in designing their own systems of racial hierarchy. Ended in law only by the Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965), and the Fair Housing Act (1968), and still not entirely in hearts and minds.
To this day there is a very clear pattern that the higher the Black population is in a state, the more reactionary (I won’t say “conservative”) the White population is. So yes, a lot of people in this country are fixated on race – but maybe not the ones you are suggesting.
Slave trade was NOT based on racist supremacist ideas. Slave trade was based on political and economic realities. Some of the biggest slave traders were Africans themselves. Why? Because they COULD. They could make money, by selling other Africans they captured to European intermediates, who then had the logistics for transatlantic shipping.
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
Slave trade was based both on economics and on a belief in white (European) inherent superiority and black inferiority. How many people of white European origin were enslaved in America between 1600 and 1800? (A few by native Americans, I know.)
Did you never hear of the Barbary Pirates? Arabs who ravaged all the coastlines of Europe, pillaging, raping and enslaving (white) Europeans?
Thomas Sowell has established that statistically there were MORE white slaves than black slaves in N.A. during those years you reference…
Because we shed our obsession with accomplishment and achievement a long tone ago, since we have ethnic groups in our alphabet soup who cannot compete with the rest of the world, but they need to feel special/superior. So we make something mystical out of melanin.
A great (albeit extremely disturbing) example of racism in the US.
There is big money to be made in race hustling. Just ask Al Sharpton. It’s a growing industry.
Guess you’re white?
Americans generally could not give a hang about race, but powerful bureaucrats and legislators, who are all in the pockets of oligarchs, set these very tiresome agendas, and punish those who do not conform.
She seems eminently sensible.
Oh good lord. Just really tired of this stuff.
Solve this Bach-Black issue: play more Bloch.
Along with Professor Sennet’s ideas, we need more efforts to recognize and support white rappers, Asian hockey and basketball players, and Hispanic winter olympians.
In all seriousness (promising no jabs at San Francisco here, to the otherwise easily offended Bay Area Libs), I agree with Professor Sennet that great music should be recognized. It’s unfortunate that Bach was white; had he been another color his music would be better, correct? It’s not fair that his music is evaluated by his skin color, but unfortunately it is.
My nephew adores Tupac Shakur and a talented artist named Nas. My nephew has never said, “Uncle Gerry, I like these rappers but it’s not right that the great Jewish American rappers are so few and so out of the mainstream. This means I should quit listening to Tupac and Biggie until Shlomy MaHomie gets the credit he’s due.”
My nephew might like Shlomy MaHomie, but there’s a reason why Shlomy MaHomie isn’t known: he’s apparently just ‘mid’ at rapping.
The arts are Darwinian. Sad but true.
Make it a cause to recognize all lost composers! Regardless of race, please! If their music appeals to listeners they will be celebrated for their art. This is how it works
Bloch? Jesus, no, please no….
“Can he swing?” is also a valid musicianship question, even if the musician is playing from notation rather than improvising.
“Can she accompany a singer?” – there’s another one
Try Nina Simone. She can sing, she can swing and she can play Bach – her own piano accompaniment to her songs from time to time morphs into Bach. Great performer!
I’m a Hazel Scott guy myself.
It would be better not to think of J.S. Bach as a ‘white composer’, but to think of him as a seminal figure in musical history, available as a resource and inspiration for all nationalities and races and all genres of music. It is an accident of history that there are really not very many Black composers of classical music until the twentieth century. Of course Black composers deservesattention, and it is good that they are now getting it, but don’t distort the classical tradition simply in the desire for racial justice.
How unusual…. a puffickly SANE comment on SD.
i am so sick of people prioritizing race and sex in the arts. Personally all Ive evered wanted to discover is if a composer, painter, pianist, singer etc in any genre deserves our respect based on their TALENTS. Period. everything else is meaningless.
Please see my comment above on Nina Simone. Her talents shine.
The crucial term in this fuzzy text is ‘underrepresented’.
Representation in music life, including the educational trajectories, is something different from the music and its composers.
The work of JS Bach offers a golden standard for musical excellence, period. This has nothing to do with representation.
The confusion of social (in)justice with the music itself, is clinically insane.
It may be helpful to quote from “Regaining Classical Music’s Relevance”:
“The discussion in the USA about racism has spilled into the world of classical music as well, with accusations of racism supposedly being deeply embedded in its repertoire and in its academic surrounding structures, where a ‘canon of superiority’ is upheld, excluding works by non-white composers. In short: classical music is a symbol of “white suprematism”.
It goes without saying that it is always a good idea to look for underestimated or ignored music–underestimated or ignored unfairly for whatever reasons–to bring variety and novelty to programming. But the reason that there is no single non-white pre-20th century composer of the level of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Wagner, Mahler, etc., is not because non-white composers were suppressed, or were ‘genetically less gifted’, but because the mentioned composers who hold a central place in the repertoire were one-off geniuses in a period and area where white people were in an overwhelming majority. Statistically it is for that reason entirely natural that these composers were white, and this aspect has nothing to do with racism.
If there has been a non-white composer of genius level whose works have been suppressed, it is the task of musicology to do historical research, but the chances that such a composer will be found are minimal, because non-white composers were in an absolute minority. This does not mean that the handful of composing geniuses whose works have survived the times, were the product of racist privilege: their ‘whiteness’ simply represented social conditions which were not of their making.”
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-5314-9
Book tips:
Charles Murray: Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. Harper 2003.
I would ask can they play Cecil Taylor or Art Tatum and see what happens?
Diversity, Equity, and Exclusion. It’s one way of ignoreing those whom you dislike, and I’m not talking about color.
I’m always trying to be as discriminatory as possible, but with the right subjects.
So boring to read and therefore assess
So sad. We need to politicize everything. The same people who want to erase racism keep promoting ideas that separate humans by skin color.
Lots of white racial resentment in the comments here. Trumpistan, AfD, Brexit, National Front, Geert Wilders, Orban, Freedom Party of Austria. It’s all hiding in the wings and as we see, it only takes a little tap to bring it all out.
Do you EVER give it a rest, Osborne? No one – absolutely no one – is impressed by your smug pseudo-virtue. You can drop the act.
And out comes some more…
Yes I don’t understand it either, this is all about music, no?
I have an aunt who is, as the story goes round in the family, of mixed race, half white and half something else, but not white. Fortunately for all of us, the non-white half was the lower one so it was mostly covered by clothing. We never got round to know the truth.
Sally
You should hear what black people say to each other.
Germany in the 30s was about 25% “fascist” and that’s all it took. The US is about there too now. As Hemingway wrote in For Whom the Bell Tolls – “many do not know they are fascists, but they will find it out when the time comes.” And the time came during that Spanish Civil War. And what did Fascism gain Spain? 40 years of economic stagnation and a lot of dead people.
I think there are a number of interesting ideas in that article, but there also seems to be some confusion.
A university is an ideal place for exploration of the quality of “under-represented” composers. Research is a basic component of academic life, and graduate degrees are expected to present something new.
Outreach to “under-represented” communities by presenting “under-represented” composers performed by members of “under-represented” groups is fine. Any audience-building effort is worth a try. But make sure the orchestras and soloists playing the “under-represented” works have been trained well enough to play Bach and other well-represented composers. Otherwise they will make a nonsense of under-represented composers who knew what they were about.
And for the love of heaven stop trying to rewrite musical history as if it were a vast conspiracy against “people of colour.” I can pretty well assure revisionists that people like Bach and Beethoven and Mozart and Handel and Haydn and Brahms and the whole canonical lot of them went decades on end without ever thinking a thought about a “person of colour.” The western canon of music was created by westerners, and not until people of other cultures began moving into these societies did they begin to compete in the genres developed by this society.
If they were ignored in their efforts for racial reasons, as might be assumed after a certain point, then by all means those efforts should be researched and dug out and placed in context, and if that means playing more Florence Price and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor than usual for a bit, well so be it — only familiarity will see pieces and their composers take their appropriate place in the canon. But they will only be considered credible and not token if they are judged honestly on their merits.
Whenever I read “stuff” like this, carefully avoiding the use of another, more appropriate word that also starts with “s”, I become convinced that America deserves Trump, and I say that as someone who loathes Trump. Two sides of the same fetid coin who deserve each other. My only hope is that they will eventually annihilate each other (ideologically, of course). But make no mistake: Trumpism is a reaction to this sh-, sorry, “stuff”, which was started by so-called progressives. I lay the blame both for the Sennets of America and for Trump squarely on the left. They started this, and it is my fear, and my hope when I am at my most nihilistic, that Trump will end it.
Gripes about Bach and yet can’t name a single Black composer to replace Bach. Hmm…
The argument of her essay seems sound to me. That doesn’t mean I agree with all points but unlike a few people here I am not discrediting it based on only reading the headline or the tone of NL’s precise – which let’s admit it are both done to engender comments.
After years of living in Europe I retired to Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest province. As the name implies it is separated from the rest of the country by water. Until 1997 when a bridge was built, it was only accessible by boat. That isolation meant that until recently we were a parochial community – primarily white, Christian, and English. That has changed rapidly in the past decade with immigration from all parts of the world.
We have a semi-professional symphony orchestra now in its 53rd year. Our programming has always been traditional with, for grant purpose’s. the odd new Canadian work. However, as with many arts organizations, our traditional audiences are aging and dwindling. How do we attract new audiences particularly amongst the many new ethnic communities. Like it or not if we want to get to our 55th season we have to diversify our repertoire. And we have to advertise that diversity to get bums in seats.
I think your well-intentioned idea is based upon the very dubious assumption that people who will not come out to hear very, very good white composers will come out to hear non-white ones, good or not.
As far as I know the majority of PEI’s international population is South Asian and Chinese. Is the aging, white MAJORITY of the population now to be subjected to Chinese opera? I suppose Tan Dun crosses cultural boundaries — I certainly like his work — but I’m curious as to what you have in mind for this symphony of yours.
That is the problem in a nutshell. How to diversify the programming? That is a dead end. The only solution is: create educative projects, give information at schools, tell the diverse youngsters about what classical music really is, that it is for THEM, like for everybody else. But don’t try to get diverse works in the program selected for ‘diverse appeal’ because that is always the racist wrapping paper with which a new audience cannot be sustained. People coming back should do that because they are gripped by the music and not because the music was written by a diverse composer or performed by a diverse player.
In several non profit organizations where I have worked there was a do-nothing position on the org chart reserved for patronage employees. We always called the position( strictly entre nous) as the vice president in charge of paper clips.
What a needlessly inflammatory way to frame this article, very rude Norman!
Why? What is the *right* way to refer to the article according to you?
Crazy stuff. The irony is, these morons don’t even realise, how divisive and discriminating they are.
Not so sure. Division and discrimination would seem to me to be the objective of quite a few of them. It’s certainly the goal of BLM, which has no interest in D or I, and whose definition of E would appear to be “After me, sucka.”
All DEI programs are inherently based on racism. Six figure salaries to convince everyone that Florence Price and Coleridge-Taylor are equal to Bach. Fine to look into the history, but after 4 years of this BS isn’t it time to look at the studies that show most DEI (nor all) is a giant waste of money that only causes more workplace friction and a general lowering of standards overall? You want your heart surgeon or airplane pilot based on DEI hiring? Go ahead,
Not exclusive to black artists, I’m afraid. In the comments on Facebook you regularly can see “music lovers” who are usually European and unfamiliar with holding their tongue on such matters, saying that X asian pianist couldn’t possibly play Bach, or doesn’t understand Western culture. It’s not using Bach as an audition requirement is the problem, and it isn’t just black people who are the victims. But it is awful.
“Why is everyone so obsessed about race?” — because it is a threat to those who haven’t made it yet and who fear more competition. Of course, they always loudly proclaim other reasons for their obsession.
I am in the peculiar position to have been a student of Ms. Sennet, for one hard-to-forget semester. I think people are being too hard on her.
It’s not like there was much of a choice. She HAD to be given one of these DIE positions, because, frankly, nobody wanted to take piano lessons with her. The head of the piano department at the time, in desperation, afflicted even more students with some compulsory Piano Literature class taught by her. (He’s a very kind gentleman and likely wanted to avoid trouble.) Results were the same, few if any liked what they were offered, student feedback was, let’s be nice, not flattering, regarding her academic credibility… Later on, years after our graduation, hearing that she became a DIE Dean made some of us, still in touch with each other, chortle. I guess that firing someone benefitting from her non-musical “credentials” was out of the question, so she was offered this sinecure, which basically pays somebody for inventing fake instances of oppression and whining with tears paid their weight in gold.
Numbers don’t lie. The salary of this latest victim of systemic racism:
2019 78,678.00
2022 94,804.00
2023 108,043.00
“Oppression” pays. Handsomely. At this time she is paid a lot more than the head of the piano department, who is an internationally renowned soloist and professor. (Wrong color though.)
Not to mention… poor Bach. Paid a pittance. Soli Deo Gloria. That much for “white privilege”.
Art, literature and music is a journey one must go on alone, black or white. I am pushing 80 and still trying to understand Dante’s Divine Comedy. I just discovered Listz’s Dante Symphany which I loved. Apparently there is more music written based on his epic poem for me to discover. Search is the advice I give to a young musician. Don’t be limited by diversity influence.
The problem is with the unending focus on Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, as if no other music matters. German musicians established the American music education system with their values, and it has never truly been challenged. If it will continue, then use Bach as a test. If they can make it sound like Bach, and not like themselves, they have talent.