Duke Ellington “Got It Bad”

Posted on October 30, 2023 by Connor Bitterman

Samuel A. Floyd Jr. ‘s “Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance” quotes that “The white show world of downtown New York, where a few black musicians performed and where black shows were also presented, was active, but after hours everyone, white and black, went to Harlem to hear black music.”¹

Duke Ellington began his claim to fame starting in 1923, when he moved from Washington D.C. to New York to build his musical career. Within just one year, Ellington became the leader of his own band, which regularly performed at the Cotton Club. By 1930, Ellington and his band were playing all over the country and the world, winning countless awards, including 13 grammy’s and the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation in 1999.²

George Redd’s observations imply that it was the more educated jazz musicians who helped to bring the two camps (white and black musicians) together. He points out that Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and others presented an image that was acceptable to the intellectuals. Ellington’s dignified bearing, his aristocratic flair, and his self-assurance in any company exemplified the New Negro, in and outside the jazz world.”¹

And that is exactly what Ellington did. By the mid 1920s, Duke Ellington already established himself and his jazz orchestra as highly successful contributors to black music. But how could black composers further expand their brand while continuing to experience the inequalities of living compared to white people? One way that Ellington did so was by composing for a predominantly white profession: symphony orchestras, operas, and theatrical productions.
“Ellington and his peers used jazz not only to satirize white culture but also increasingly to parody the music itself thus shifting its direction from swing to bop.
Ellington reflected through his music the social and cultural changes that occurred as more African Americans were able to gain greater personal autonomy free from interference by white society.³

Ellington’s three-movement suite titled Black, Brown and Beige“ presents historical narratives of the nation. Black, Brown and Beige, a “tone parallel” to black history as Ellington describes, “uses sounds and themes associated with jungle style but recontextualizes their musical and racial meanings in ways that transform the style’s primitivist codes. The work’s three movements represent the monumental moments and movements in African American historical memory: slavery, emancipation, and urbanization in the northern metropole.⁴

During the same time period, a man by the name of Harry T. Burleigh was also a leading contributor to bridging the gap between black society and musicians to the white society and classically-trained musicians by composing and intertwining spirituals into the classical music tradition. Burleigh’s new ideas, however, got loads of backlash, as segregation still played a major role in American society at the time.

Van Vechten often made critical comments on Burleigh’s arrangements: “White singers have been attracted to Mr. Burleigh’s arrangements, because they include many of the ‘tricks’ which make any song successful, while the accompaniments are often highly sophisticated.”

Van Vechten claimed, when discussing the arrangements of Harry Burleigh, that Harlem Renaissance musicians should base their work on the twentieth-century music of the South. If they really wanted to preserve the spirituals, they should go to the South and do their own fieldwork. Philosopher, arts patron, and friend of Van Vechten also made strong jabs at people like Ellington and Burleigh, claiming that “the proper idiom of Negro folk song calls for choral treatment” and that Black musicians who were “in vital touch with the folk traditions of Negro music” were “in commercial slavery to Tin Pan Alley and subject to the corruption and tyranny of the ready cash of our dance halls and the vaudeville stage.” On the other hand, musicians (like Burleigh and Ellington), who had formal training, were in his opinion “divorced from the people and their vital inspiration by the cloister-walls of the conservatory and the taboos of musical respectability.”⁵

Regardless of the critics of the 1930-1940s, what Burleigh and Ellington did was create strides for racial equality through music. Ellington and his Orchestra will go down as one of the most influential musical groups in American history, not entirely for their catchy compositions, but for the impact they had on giving minorities a voice to make careers in whatever field they want, even with the backlash they often received from a predominantly white nation.

“What we could not say openly, we expressed in music, and what we know as ‘jazz’ is something more than just dance music.” – Duke Ellington³

1 Floyd, Samuel A. “Chapter 1: Music in the Harlem Renaissance, An Overview, Samuel A. Floyd Jr.” Essay. In Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance a Collection of Essays. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1993.

2 “Duke Ellington.” Duke Ellington | Songwriters Hall of Fame. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.songhall.org/profile/Duke_Ellington.

3 Malcolm, Douglas. “”MYRIAD SUBTLETIES”: SUBVERTING RACISM THROUGH IRONY IN THE MUSIC OF DUKE ELLINGTON AND DIZZY GILLESPIE.” Black Music Research Journal 35, no. 2 (Fall, 2015): 185-227. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/myriad-subtleties-subverting-racism-through-irony/docview/1799185448/se-2.

4 Barg, Lisa Diane. “National Voices /modernist Histories: Race, Performance and Remembrance in American Music, 1927–1943.” Order No. 3044927, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2001. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/national-voices-modernist-histories-race/docview/304756357/se-2.

5 Snyder, Jean E.. Harry T. Burleigh : From the Spiritual to the Harlem Renaissance. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2016. Accessed October 30, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Robbie Robertson Americana or Canadian?

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Leigha Daniels

Although it is important to learn the history of ethnography with Frances Densmore and early recordings of Native American music, I find listening to music created by Native Americans specifically shared with the public to have greater impact. In the Akwesasne Notes Magazine, there is a section called Music Reviews by Jill O’Brian. This section of the magazine talks about the Red Road Ensemble and Robbie Robertson. When simply searching up Robbie Robertson we find that he was a Canadian musician and lead guitarist for Bob Dylan. What we don’t see is his Native American background and the group he created called the “Red Road Ensemble,” who created the album, Music for the Native Americans which was used in a television documentary.

Robbie Robertson was a musician, songwriter, and guitarist of Mohawk and Jewish descent. He played a significant role in promoting and preserving Native Canadian/American culture through his music. Robertson incorporated Native American themes and musical elements into his compositions, which helped bring Native American culture to a broader audience.

Let’s take a look into the album Contact from the Underworld of Redboy, which was released in 1998.

“One particular song on the record, Sacrifice, highlighted the plight of Native Americanawk activist Leonard Peltier, who was serving two life sentences in prison for a crime he did not commit. The song mixes traditional singing and drums with Robertson’s own voice singing the chorus and a recording from a phone call with Peltier in prison, where the Lakota man tells his story.”²

It is important that we as students educate ourselves on Native people’s music in order to help preserve and protect traditions, which have been passed down through generations. ³

1Akwesasne Notes, Vol. 2, No. 1. 1996. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_Akwesasne_Notes_1996_11Wnt [Accessed October 26, 2023].

2Rickert, Levi. “Robbie Robertson: A Transcendent Musician Who Bridged Cultures, but Never Forgot His Native Roots.” Native News Online, August 15, 2023. https://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/robbie-robertson-a-transcendent-musician-who-bridged-cultures-but-never-forgot-his-native-roots.

3Farber, Jim. “Robbie Robertson, 80, Dies; Canadian Songwriter Captured American Spirit.” The New York Times, August 9, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/arts/music/robbie-robertson-dead.html.

Émile Petitot’s Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples

Posted on October 27, 2023 by Rachel Dumont

CW: Sexual assault/pedophilia

French missionary Father Émile Petitot spent his life researching the Indigenous tribes of Northern Canada. An ordained minister, he was actually never trained as an ethnographer, nor did he study ethnomusicology.¹ Petitot traveled from France to stay with the Inuvialuit chief, Noulloumallik Innonarana, where he researched Indigenous music, culture, and languages.² He lived and worked in Canada until the end of the 19th century.³

Above is an example of Petitot’s transcriptions of Indigenous music, similar to Densmore and other ethnographers of the time who attempted to box this music into Western notation. Since he most likely didn’t have the means to record the songs, it does make sense that he attempted to notate them in a way that can be interpreted later, but it is still a frustratingly white-washed attempt at cultural preservation. Many of the Inuvialuit peoples were extremely mistrustful of Petitot and believed he may be carrying foreign diseases, but he still recorded that they were “hospitable” people.⁴ Petitot had a fascination with what he called “Eskimos” in Canada and wrote an entire book about them (Le Grands Esquimeuax)FOOTNORE INUV. His obsession with imposing himself and his religion on these people reeks of colonization and exoticization.

His exploitative nature went even darker than this, however, and he took advantage of his position sexually as well. He was said to have had sexual relations with many of the young indigenous people while he was staying with and studying different tribes.⁵ He had a history of sexually assaulting young people and was fired from a previous church job for having sexual relations with a young boy servant.⁶ Some records state that he attempted self-circumcision as a means to quell his desires, but he was clearly unsuccessful in his attempts and continued to harm and take advantage of young Indigenous people. He was said to have numerous “bouts of insanity” and mental health issues, and this may be the reason he has many inconsistencies in his research. ⁷ He had a history of paranoia and once became so paranoid of being murdered by Indigenous tribes that he abandoned all his possessions and ran for it.⁸ Whatever mental health disorders Petitot may have been suffering with, that is absolutely no excuse for the atrocities he committed. While some of his work may be useful in the world of ethnographic research, his legacy is not one to be praised or celebrated.

1 “Father Émile Petitotback.” Inuvialuit Pitquisiit Inuuniarutait, www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/wiki_pages/Father%20%20%C3%89mile%20Petitot. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

2 Ibid.

3. Lévy, J. (2014). Éros et tabou. sexualité et genre chez amérindiens et les inuit. Recherches Amérindiennes Au Québec, 44(2), 170-174. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/éros-et-tabou-sexualité-genre-chez-amérindiens/docview/1681918022/se-2

4 “Father Émile Petitotback.” Inuvialuit Pitquisiit Inuuniarutait, www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/wiki_pages/Father%20%20%C3%89mile%20Petitot. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

5 Lévy, J. (2014). Éros et tabou. sexualité et genre chez amérindiens et les inuit. Recherches Amérindiennes Au Québec, 44(2), 170-174. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/éros-et-tabou-sexualité-genre-chez-amérindiens/docview/1681918022/se-2

6 John S. Moir, “PETITOT, ÉMILE,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 27, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/petitot_emile_14E.html.

7 Honigmann, John J. “Emile Fortuné Stanislas Joseph Petitot Encyclopedia Arctica 15: Biographies.” Dartmouth College Library, collections.dartmouth.edu/arctica-beta/html/EA15-56.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

8 Ibid.

Problems with Indigenous American Studies

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Nathaniel Johnson

In recent years, there has been an effort among educators, music educators in particular, to diversify the pedagogical canon of repertoire, particularly with works by indigenous composers or with indigenous subjects. However current efforts to study indigenous music fall into some of the same issues as early colonizers.

Hennepin, Lewis. “Map of a Large Country Newly Discovered in the Northern America.” American History Indians and Culture, Amdigital.Co.Uk.

The map above, by cartographer Lewis Hennepin, depicts the area to become the US around the 1690s. Wide swaths of inhabited areas are marked empty, or are missing groups living in those areas. Wide swaths of land are generically referred to as Iroquois or Illinois, in a somewhat reductionist view of indigenous tribes – understood by current historians to have been significantly more complex¹.

In studies of indigenous music, mythical ideas of racial essences that are deeply embedded within the folk culture of U.S. society have to be recognized so that romanticized stereotypes may be challenged². The effort by some musicologists to “essentialize” indigenous music makes the same reductionist mistake as colonial explorers and disregards the complexity and details of indigenous cultures.

Even the Library of congress refers to indigenous music as a monolith, assembling instructions for how best to prepare to study native American musical traditions often lumps cultural traditions with little attention to differentiation or individual tribal identities. Thankfully the Library of Congress is careful to note that it is important to best appreciate music within its context³.

This contextualization is critical especially as there is the modern push to play and study more indigenous music. Prest notes the large influx of pieces attempting to celebrate indigenous culture that end up being largely reductionist and nearly downright insensitive⁴. He also notes that often western musicologists approach indigenous music with a self-serving attitude, approaching music wondering what they could gain from it. He also notes that attempts to integrate music tend to try and be inclusive while subverting the history of genocide committed against indigenous people. So as pedagogues look to make the noble push to diversify their repertoire, they must make sure to do so with careful attention to detail, that often starts with talking to and listening to indigenous scholars.

1 Malinowski, Sharon. “IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.” Iroquois Confederacy – CPN Cultural Heritage Center, www.potawatomiheritage.com/encyclopedia/iroquois-confederacy/#:~:text=The%20Iroquois%20Confederacy%20or%20the,North%20Carolina%2C%20joined%20the%20Confederacy. Accessed 26 Oct. 2023.

2 Eisenbeil, Bruce. “Native American Perspectives in Music – Post #1 (2 of 2).” Bruce Eisenbeil, www.eisenbeil.com/native-american-perspectives-in-music-post-1-2-of-2-2/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2023.

3 Appold, Juliette. “Appreciating Native American Music: NLS Music Notes.” The Library of Congress, The Library of Congress, 4 Nov. 2021, blogs.loc.gov/nls-music-notes/2021/11/appreciating-native-american-music/#:~:text=Its%20most%20traditional%20instruments%20are,to%20draw%20on%20traditional%20contents.

4 Prest, A., Goble, J. S., & Vazquez-Cordoba, H. (2023). On Embedding Indigenous Musics in Schools: Examining the Applicability of Possible Models to One School District’s Approach. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 41(2), 60-69. https://doi.org/10.1177/87551233221085739

Did Ethnomusicologists Know Other Forms of Notation? And Other Thoughts That Keep Me Up at Night

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Aiden Kocian

Among the greatest blunders committed by ethnomusicologists when interacting with indigenous cultures is their notation of that culture’s music. The process that comes with this endeavor ends up having a pretty standard formula. A musicologist will learn their notation skills in higher education, become convinced that theirs is the best (typically the standard European notation practice), and then go on to apply it when “capturing” the music of other cultures. We of course all know the tales of Densmore and her blunders, but unfortunately her story is not very unique. Take for example this French Ethnomusicologist’s transcription of indigenous American “chants”.

French Musicologist’s transcription of “Chants indiens du Canada Nord-Ouest [manuscript]”

Similar to Densmore, very strange notation that we can only assume is a mere approximation of what was heard. This begs the question- if western notation is restrictive, why not employ other notation styles? Why not unmetered bars of music? Why not employ a number system for microtonal music? WHY DON’T OUR TAX DOLLARS GO TOWARDS MORE PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE? But seriously- did these musicologists have ideas of other forms of notation? I believe that there are many answers to why western notation was forced to merge with other cultures in violent ways. For one, a precedent was set by Densmore to use western notation and to not deviate so that it was easier for western scholars to consume. Secondly, I do believe that many scholars of the late 19th and early 20th century were certainly unaware of other forms of notation. They lived in a far less globalized and more isolated society, even in the most diverse and rich academic institutions of the time.

But our time is different. We must teach at least basic introductions into other forms of notation. If not just to spread music from different cultures in less violent and in more reliable ways, but to expand our own worldview and thought processes when listening and interacting with music from varying cultures in all situations we may encounter it. To fail to learn other systems of notation, is to fail other cultures in an increasingly global society.

Works Cited:

https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/Ayer_MS_715/2

Music Identity Crisis in the Americas

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Joanna Perez

In Douglas Shadle’s Orchestrating the Nation, he opens up the discussion on unpacking what the national musical identity of the United States actually is. He argues along with multiple perspectives that the definition of the US musical identity changes through time. He makes a point to include a perspective stating that when talking about minority groups in the United States such as “other American residents–indigenous peoples and those of African heritage, for example–also played little role in these discussions until the end of the century, and only then primarily as objects under discussion, not participating subjects within it” <⁶> (Shadle, 8). Even today, this furthers the question, “were they American at all” (8)?

This gets us into the conversation of what is considered “American music”. In the nineteenth century some would say that folk songs were considered just that, “cultivated” music, as long as it was imbued with a national or folk “character” (Shadle, 6). Could this count as “true” American musical style? The concept of nationalism plays a huge role and question whether Aaron Copland or Charles Ives created an “ideal American sound” (7). Bernd Sponheuer, a German musicologist, argued that “national identity is not “an empirically demonstrable musical trait derived from style criticism.” Rather, it is constructed” (8). Critic Virgil Thomson addressed such concerns “that to write American music, one must simply be American and “then write any kind of music you wish” (8).

The topic of immigrant musicians specifically from Europe are said to have made a large impact on the music in America, but what of the many other immigrant groups that inhabit America today? Are they only considered American if they are named citizens of the United States of America or does the number of years of living in America mean nothing, even if they have been living here for practically their entire lives? Does the color of their skin erase their entire identity? Shadle reminds us, “should they assimilate into the culture of the English-speaking ruling class (8)?”

Cepeda ‘s book dives into the impact that talented Columbian artists such as “Shakira, Andrea Echeverri of Aterciopelados, and Carlos Vives” have had in the United States, Latin America, and its national identity, then “Cepeda argues that music is a powerful arbitrator of memory and transnational identity” <¹>(Cepeda). Harrison’s article discusses the revelation of “how an evocation of place functions in the practice of religious life within commercial southern (white) gospel music and fundamentalist Protestantism” <²>(Harrison).

Meanwhile, Hess’s perspective on the “Latin American opinion on Copland’s cultural diplomacy” challenges the US perspective” <³>(Hess) going into the crisis of modernism in Argentina and Copland’s vision of Latin American music which is “one rooted in essentialism and folkloric nationalism and which ultimately prevailed in the United States throughout the late twentieth century” (Hess)<³>. A different perspective is seen through the Brazilian lens on the “music and cartoons in Brazil : complementarity in the representation of national identity” (l’Hoeste)<⁴>. Lastly, Knights is a melting pot for the different places in Americas and around the world fusion of music for national identity and its critiques (Knights)<⁵>. All encompassing I want to leave you with a full circle moment with Shandle’s reminder that “listeners constructed the nation from the inside out” (Shadle, 9).

Cepeda, Maria. Musical ImagiNation: U.S-Colombian Identity and the Latin Music Boom. NYU Press, 2010. https://doi.org/10.18574/9780814772904. <1>
Harrison, Douglas. “From Arkansas with Love: Evangelical Crisis Management and Southern (White) Gospel Music.” Southern Spaces, 2014, np–np. https://doi.org/10.18737/M7WC8F.<2>
Hess, Carol A. “Copland in Argentina: Pan Americanist Politics, Folklore, and the Crisis in Modern Music.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 66, no. 1 (2013): 191–250. https://doi.org/10.1525/jams.2013.66.1.191.<3>
l’Hoeste, Hector D. Fernandez, Pablo Vila, and Hector D. Fernandez l’Hoeste. Sound, Image, and National Imaginary in the Construction of Latin/o American Identities. Edited by Hector D. Fernandez l’Hoeste and Pablo Vila. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2018.<4>
Knights, Vanessa. Music, National Identity and the Politics of Location: Between the Global and the Local. 1st ed. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315596914.<5>
Shadle, Douglas. 2015. Orchestrating the Nation. Oxford University Press.<6>

Violent Notation, Eh?

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Thomas McCarthy

If you look at transcriptions of Native American music created by musicologists in the early 20th century, a common pattern emerges. Densmore’s writings are filled with transcriptions that feature several different odd time signatures back to back, hanging 32nd notes, and other abominations, all in an attempt to most accurately depict native music. Forcing Native American music to conform to western notation is an act of violent colonialism. Though not apparent, this is an act that attempts to create forced assimilation of native culture to Anglo-Saxon American culture.

While this was going on, America’s neighbors to the north were doing something similar, but in a completely different way. Emile Petitot, a French priest, was transcribing the songs of nations in the northwest of Canada. Petitot’s approach was vastly different from that of Densmore. As you’ll see below, in the seven transcriptions Petitot did, he makes no attempt at describing the music using the usual spaghetti monsters seen in Densmore’s work.¹ Instead, his transcriptions are made of note values and time signatures regularly seen in western music: Common time, cut time, quarter and eighth notes with the occasional use of triplets.

Petitot, Father, Emile. 1862-1889. Chants indiens du Canada Nord-Ouest [manuscript]: recueillis, classés et notés par Emile Petitot, prêtre missionnaire au Mackenzie, de 1862-1882, 1889. [Manuscript]. At: Place: The Newberry Library. VAULT box Ayer MS 715. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_MS_715 [Accessed October 26, 2023].

It’s hard to assess these transcriptions without having a recording of the songs being transcribed, but I would assume that this notation does not accurately portray the music it describes. Subjecting native music to this western notation is still violent colonialism. However, an argument could be made that this is much better, or much worse than how Densmore transcribed. These transcriptions could be much better than Densmore’s, because they include less detail, making them less prescriptive. It’s possible these transcriptions exist to get the “general idea” of the music, and by being less prescriptive, they force the music to conform to the notation less than Densmore’s transcriptions do.

On the other hand, it’s very easy to see how this transcription is much worse. At least Densmore poured time and effort to try to accurately depict the music as it was; this transcription erases every part of the music that doesn’t conform to western music standards. I could see these transcriptions being lazy attempts without any care for the music being represented. I tend to believe that these transcriptions are even worse. Densmore’s transcriptions are “violent notation,” but at least she actually tried.

1 Petitot, Father, Emile. 1862-1889. Chants indiens du Canada Nord-Ouest [manuscript]: recueillis, classés et notés par Emile Petitot, prêtre missionnaire au Mackenzie, de 1862-1882, 1889. [Manuscript]. At: Place: The Newberry Library. VAULT box Ayer MS 715. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_MS_715 [Accessed October 26, 2023].

Government Documents for Indian Boarding Schools

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Noah Schilbe

It can be said that the worst outcomes come from the best of intentions. Of course, we look back in history and find that the definition of ‘best’ is thoroughly different between cultures, backgrounds, classes, races, etc. And obviously, if one were to take the extremely low-hanging fruit, it requires an impressive amount of logic leaps to find the ‘best intentions’ in some of the greatest historical tragedies, such as the Holocaust, any number of catastrophic wars, or the Trail of Tears.

While the history of Indian boarding schools is undoubtedly tragic, the discussion of the goals behind them is surprisingly frank and positive. As a report from a member of the Advisory Council on Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior (one who had the fantastic decency to write his name in an illegible scrawl at the end of his letter to said Secretary of the Interior, at the time Hubert Work; I therefore have absolutely no idea who wrote thing beyond this) notes that the primary goal is to “place the American Indian… upon the same basis as the rest of our citizenship, politically, intellectually, and industrially…” with the disturbance of “community life or tribal or family relationships” no more “than a growing degree of general participation in economic and… political affairs has interfered with… the Negro…”¹

An excerpt from page 2 of a letter written to the Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work

Piercing through the incredible wordiness of this statement, it is perhaps difficult to gauge the true opinion of the report’s author. There is much wiggle-room presented in the goal, particular in the definition of an appropriate level of disturbance, but there does not seem to be explicit mention of disrupting family groups, of squashing heritage, and the like. Indeed, the report author notes that “the average American Indian should be educationally as well equipped and as self-reliant and self-sufficient as the average citizen of any other racial descent.”² A noble goal, if not for the fact that the peoples in question had been self-reliant for well before the arrival of Europe in the New World.

Turning attention to the boarding schools established for the purposes of educating American Indians to the degrees mentioned above, analysis of their curriculum identifies that a significant amount of effort seems to have been put in to ensure a full coverage of all subjects, in science, history, math, and more. One example from the Office of Indian affairs, prepared for use throughout the Indian school service in 1915, dedicates 30 pages in its curriculum overview to Industrial work and over 130 pages to various vocational studies (trade, agriculture, home economics, nursing, etc)³.

A excerpt from the table of contents from curriculum proposed for American Indian students. Note the wide variety of topics available, especially relating to ‘practical’ work.

A section is, of course, dedicated to music. Although there is attention given to the coverage of ‘good’ music (which is something that many others have covered, I will therefore not beat a dead horse), interesting emphasis is placed on proper vocal techniques. Notes to have a “light, pure tone”, with special exercises for “preventing huskiness” and “the elimination of monotones” in the lower grade levels, perhaps were included specifically to ‘correct’ vocal styles that are used for Native American singing ⁴.

A excerpt from the table of contents from curriculum proposed for American Indian students. A guideline for vocal standards lays out what to prioritize while singing.

For example, in an analysis of different pow-wow singing styles, it is noted that the Great Lakes style uses a “medium-high voice, often with a gravelly or rough timbre” while in both the Great Lakes and Midplains style the women’s part is described as “high and tense”.⁵ These assertions are difficult to confirm, as during the early 20th century musical analysis of Native American styles was in its infancy, and unfortunately there is little literature that refers directly to behaviors or tendencies that need to be prevented (which would have been an obvious indicator of this type of connection), but the possibility of a link is still there.

In conclusion, this serves as a slightly different approach, as I was surprised to see that reports regarding Native Americans in the 20th century were not as overtly hostile as I might have suspected, going from history. This, of course, could entirely be fancy political language, and there is the additional factor of the majority not understanding the minority and wishing to impose upon them an idea of ‘correctness’, but I found it interesting regardless.

Works Cited:

1 Member of the Advisory Council on Indian Affairs, Report on Indian Affairs (United States Government, 1923), 1-2. Retrieved from American Indian Histories and Cultures https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/Ayer_MS_668/3#Chapters (accessed Oct 26, 2023).

2 Ibid

3 Department of the Interior (Office of Indian Affairs), Tentative Course of Study for United States Indian Schools (Washington D.C: Government Printing Office, 1915), Table of Contents. Retrieved from American Indian Histories and Cultures https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/Ayer_386_U5_1915/5 (accessed Oct 26, 2023).

4 Dept. of Interior, Tentative Course of Study, 111-113.

5 Tara Browner, Judith Vander, et al., Music of the First Nations: Tradition and Innovation in Native North America (University of Illinois Press: 2009), 137-138. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/stolaf-ebooks/reader.action?docID=3413835&ppg=147 (accessed on Oct 26, 2023).

Music Education and Forced Assimilation at United States Indian Boarding Schools

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Mariana Rogan

The first off-reservation boarding school in the U.S. for Indigenous students, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was founded in 1879 by Henry Richard Pratt in Pennsylvania. The founding of the school was overseen by President Rutherford Hayes, under the Indian Civilization Act (ICA), that incentivized the so-called “civilized” education of Indigenous children. Carlisle’s strict, military-style modes of discipline and focus on vocational training that funneled students directly into underpaid manual and domestic labor jobs became a blueprint for several such boarding schools across the country.¹

Since the recent archeological discoveries of mass graves at the former sites of these schools across the US and Canada, the legacy of these institutions designed to “kill the Indian, save the man,” in Pratt’s words, is being examined again with a mind towards restorative justice, acknowledging how these modes of “education” and assimilation were not just physically violent, but also mentally and spiritually violent.²

One would not necessarily expect music to play a central part in the violent assimilationist education of these boarding schools, but a 1915 book giving detailed instructions, down to how much time in the school day should be spent on a subject, for boarding school curriculum suggests otherwise. The book features a chapter outlining the music curriculum, which is extremely telling of the strict assimilationist thinking that was the guiding force for these boarding schools.

The first paragraph seems innocent enough, touting the broader educational benefits of music training, but it quickly takes a turn. The author(s) of this guide state that the first step in a proper musical education is “to permit the pupils to hear only good music.”³ What exactly they mean by “good,” is quickly outlined by a long list of operas such as Aida and William Tell, as well as works from the Western classical canon by composers such as Mozart and Haydn. They also add that “Patriotic songs, as ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’… should, of course, receive special attention.” ⁴

Repertoire suggestions in 1915 book.

Following these narrow and purposefully Euro-centric repertoire guidelines, the author(s) go on to list aesthetic guidelines for the training of the pupils’ voices. The very first rule stated is “Always insist on a good, smooth, sweet, light, pure tone.”⁵ Soon after that, it’s also stressed that the pupils “Pronounce all words clearly, so that a listener can understand them.”⁶ These two guidelines emphasize the enforcement of Euro-centric standards for musical training, as well as complete assimilation to the English language and abandonment of Indigenous aesthetics and language.

With strict guidelines to teach and enforce the European classical canon as the musical ideal, Indigenous children, often as young as four years old, were completely cut off from not only their home and family, but also the musical culture they would have otherwise been surrounded by and raised in. The violence lies not only in hundreds of deaths of children that were torn from their homes, but the systematic way in which they had their culture and traditions torn from them, and the Indigenous music and languages that were lost in the process.

1 Ferris, Jeanne. 2021. “‘LET THOSE Children’s Names BE KNOWN’: THE PARADOX OF INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS.” News from Native California 35 (2): 26–32. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=154090702&site=ehost-live.

2 Ibid.

3 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915. Tentative course of study for United States Indian schools. Prepared under the direction of commissioner of Indian affairs. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_386_U5_1915 [Accessed October 26, 2023].

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

Cultural erasure: Western centralsim in Native American boarding schools

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Ian Snider

The Native American boarding school program, more commonly referred to as American Indian Boarding Schools, was a program meant to erase the native American culture from the land. The program coerced Native American families into sending their children to these boarding schools, which were meant to assimilate the children into white American culture. Some of the older kids there did fight back and then were physically punished by being beaten ¹. The younger kids who were brought to the schools were never able to be assimilated into the culture their parents were part of, resulting in their returned being outsiders to their own families.

Rules for the Indian School Service / Office of Indian Affairs

240. Instruction shall be given in music at all schools. Singing shall be a part of the exereises of each school session, and, whenever practicable, instruction in instrumental musie may be given. The formation of school bands should also be encouraged. – Office of Indian Affairs

The important thing to pay attention to in this quote is the erasure of Native American’s own musical traditions. This is very intentional, and we can see it in the quote. Saying “Instructions shall be given in music” and not specifying any particular style of music, therefore implying a Western music style.

Ayer 389 C2 1915-16

There is, too, a vocal department, which includes the classwork and singing exercises, where all are taught the rudiments of music. – Carlisle Indian Industrial School

We can also see this pattern of assuming Western music is the only form of music which is worth teaching in another school’s records. Showing that the Native American children need to be tough music and identify their traditional music as worthless. This careful framing of the education allows the colonizers to morally push away any doubt they had because they see the people they are “educating” as primitive and none of their wisdom as useful.

Bibliography:

Carlisle Indian Industrial School. 1913. Catalogue and Synopsis of Courses, United States Indian School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Carlisle: Carlisle Indian Press. https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/SearchDetails/Ayer_389_C2_C2_1915#.

Office of Indian Affairs. 1898. Rules for the Indian School Service / Office of Indian Affairs. Washington, D.C., United States: Government Printing Office. https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/SearchDetails/Ayer_386_U5_1898?searchText=Music&showSearchMessage=False&performingNewSearch=True#.

1Parker, E. S. (1846). Ely Samuel Parker scrapbooks: Vol 8 (p. 4). https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/SearchDetails/Ayer_Modern_MS_Parker_VL08#.

Mildred Bailey and American Indian Identity

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Eli Schrubbe

Mildred Bailey, studio portrait, USA, 1949. (Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns)

Concurrent Resolution No. 49 was filed by the Coeur d’Alene tribe of Idaho in the Idaho House of Representatives in March 2012 with the goal of correcting historical records and reuniting Mildred Bailey¹, one of the first female vocalists in jazz history. “I think it’s not known at all. Hardly nobody knew,” says Coeur d’Alene Tribal Chairman Chief Allan. “Not only being Native, but being a woman in that era, to be so strong and keep pushing and not to give up, that would help a lot of our young tribal members who are looking for a role model,” says Chief Allan².

For background on the Coeur d’Alene tribe, we can find a large monetary exchange between the tribe and the United States government. As a result of the constant stream of settlers into the area, the Coeur d’Alene people effectively transitioned from traditional means of nomadic survival in just fifty years after first making contact with Europeans and adopted static agriculture³. The Coeur d’Alene tribe paid the United States government half a million dollars in 1889 to give up the northern portion of their ancestral lands, as stated in the Indian Commissions Agreement. All Coeur d’Alene families received an equal share of the funds, most of which went into purchasing cutting-edge farming machinery⁴. Mildred Bailey, who was born in 1900 and was nurtured by her Coeur d’Alene mother and a Scotch/Irish father on a farm next to the reservation, portrayed this fast changing environment³.

For over eight decades, Bailey, a member of the Coeur d’Alene tribe, was mostly recognized as a “white jazz singer.” Conversations concerning the origins of jazz rarely addressed Bailey’s Indian identity; it stayed in the farmlands of Coeur d’Alene, where she learned to move, speak, and sing like a neglected crop. In a 1930s America that was still divided along racial lines, Bailey could easily be pardoned if she decided to conceal her Native American heritage, but she never made the attempt to do so³. On the contrary, she was happy to share it with everyone around her as a source of pride. The reason Mildred Bailey was labeled as “white” was that the jazz narrative she was a part of could not accommodate Indian jazz players. The faulty label of “white jazz-singer” was important for a number of reasons, not the least of which was Bailey’s significant influence on the jazz and pop scenes. Bailey invented the vocal “swing” style that many singers attempted to imitate, including “Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, and Tony Bennett.” (Hamill 33) Bailey chose to attribute her voice sixty years after it was recorded for the final time, to the Indian music of her childhood rather than her contemporaries.³

1“Page 260 Us, Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940.” Fold3, www.fold3.com/image/216137757. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.

2Robinson, Jessica. “Tribe Seeks to Correct Jazz History on Native Singer’s Heritage.” NPR, NPR, 15 Mar. 2012, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=148715100.

3 Berglund, Jeff, Johnson, Jan, and Lee, Kimberli, eds. Indigenous Pop : Native American Music from Jazz to Hip Hop. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2016. Accessed October 26, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central.

4 Dinwoodie, David. “Landscape Traveled by Coyote and Crane: The World of the Schitsu’Umsh (Coeur d’Alene Indians).” Montana; the Magazine of Western History 53, no. 1 (Spring, 2003): 75. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/landscape-traveled-coyote-crane-world-schitsuumsh/docview/217955660/se-2.

Music in Native American Boarding Schools

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Rachel Christensen

Tentative course of study for United States Indian schools. Prepared under the direction of commissioner of Indian affairs.¹

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States was attempting to assimilate Native American students in the white American culture. This was done in part by placing Native American children in boarding schools, and by 1925, “over 357 boarding schools were being
operated in thirty states.”² The United States government the education of Native American children was the key solution to assimilation. Since that is what the government believed, they also believed that “Only by complete isolation of the Indian child from his savage antecedents can he be satisfactorily educated.”³ A major part of the curriculum when assimilating Native American’s into white culture was music.

The document above is a few pages from a course study made for Native American boarding schools specifically focusing on the music aspect of their education. This document really emphasizes the importance of music in a young person’s education as music “develops all the powers and functions of the human mind.”⁴ This document lists some requirements in educating the students with music. The first requirement listed is that the students are only allowed to listen to “only hear good music, aiming consistently in this way to develop musical appreciation.”⁵ It proceeds to list selections that someone deemed “good” for the Native American students such as the march from the opera “Aida” and William Tell” but “rag time” music is not good since it is mostly enjoyed by the “average person”.⁶ This document states that these students should learn about music by Haydn and Mozart for special occasions, and special attention should be pay to patriotic songs such as “the Star-Spangled Banner.”⁷ It is stated that the purpose of this course study is to lead the children to “an interest in singing” and to “preserve” their voice, “secure the ability to read music at sight” and to perform it correctly and pleasantly, and “to cultivate enjoyment and appreciation of good music.”⁸

In many cultures, music is rooted into their tradition, especially oral tradition. In Native American culture, music is not simply a form of entertainment, it is an essential part of everyday life and ceremony. Where Western tradition focuses primarily on music in terms of entertainment at a distance, Native Americans view music as an active and personal experience, not simply something that is for personal entertainment.⁹

Bibliography

Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915. Tentative course of study for United States Indian schools. Prepared under the direction of commissioner of Indian affairs, page 110-111. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_386_U5_1915

The role of music in assimilation of students at … – gettysburg college. Accessed October 25, 2023. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1217&context=ghj.

Footnotes

1 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915. Tentative course of study for United States Indian schools. Prepared under the direction of commissioner of Indian affairs, page 110-111. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_386_U5_1915

2 The role of music in assimilation of students at … – gettysburg college, accessed October 25, 2023, https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1217&context=ghj.

3 The role of music in assimilation of students at … – gettysburg college, accessed October 25, 2023, https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1217&context=ghj.

4 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915.

5 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915.

6 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915.

7 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915.

8 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915.

9 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1915.

Music as a Means of Oppression

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Zachary Buerger

Music is often touted as a vehicle for social justice; a means of liberation, but it can just as easily be utilized as a means of control and oppression. Modern popular music has often aimed to push against the status quo, from Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”, but from an educational standpoint, there is power in deciding what music is studied and what is omitted.

This power is primely exhibited in the curriculum of the Carlisle Indian School. Opened in 1879, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was the first boarding school for Native American children to be both funded and ran by the U.S. government¹. Its doors were open for nearly 40 years and saw over 1,000 students enter and graduate. The term “boarding school” is almost comical to use, as the main objective of the school was the forced cultural erasure and assimilation of Native students.

Carlisle Indian Industrial School. 1915. Catalogue and synopsis of courses, United States Indian School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Carlisle: Carlisle Indian Press. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_389_C2_C2_1915 [Accessed October 25, 2023].

Seen above is an excerpt from the course catalogue of the Carlisle school. The language parades the importance of music in regards to the development of students, upon further reading, it is abundantly clear what kind of music they are referring to: American music. To the administration, and by extension the American government, Native music was seen as illegitimate. Students instead were to sing in choir, play in the band, or play in the orchestra. American music, in this scenario, was used as a means of cultural cleansing; of oppression.

The National Archives. US, Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940. 1967. Courtesy of Native American Archives. https://www.fold3.com/image/216096302/1924?terms=schools,boarding,united,america,states,school

This form of indoctrination highlights how the powers that be are able to exert control by deciding what is music and what isn’t, or what is high art art and what isn’t. As Cloonan and Johnson argue in “Killing Me Softly with His Song”, “Every time we applaud the deployment of music as a way of articulating physical, cognitive and cultural territory, we are also applauding the potential or actual displacement or even destruction of other identities”².

1Carlisle Indian School Project. n.d. “Carlisle Indian School Project | Richard Henry Pratt Carlisle Indian School.” Carlisle Indian School Project. https://carlisleindianschoolproject.com/past/.

2Cloonan, Martin, and Bruce Johnson. “Killing Me Softly with His Song: an Initial Investigation into the Use of Popular Music as a Tool of Oppression.” Popular Music 21, no. 1 (2002): 27–39. doi:10.1017/S0261143002002027.

Works Cited

Carlisle Indian School Project. n.d. “Carlisle Indian School Project | Richard Henry Pratt Carlisle Indian School.” Carlisle Indian School Project. https://carlisleindianschoolproject.com/past/.

The National Archives. US, Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940. 1967. Courtesy of Native American Archives. https://www.fold3.com/image/216096302/1924?terms=schools,boarding,united,america,states,school

Cloonan, Martin, and Bruce Johnson. “Killing Me Softly with His Song: an Initial Investigation into the Use of Popular Music as a Tool of Oppression.” Popular Music 21, no. 1 (2002): 27–39. doi:10.1017/S0261143002002027.

Are Musicals Inherently American?

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Lucas Jindra

There are certain musical genres that are considered to be inherently American, and one often overlooked one is musical theater. While the musical is a broad concept, the first modern musical is usually attributed to The Black Crook, which opened in New York in 1866.¹ Therefore, America was at the heart of the beginnings of the musical, many would say. But is that the case?

As is common with history, giving a topic a second glance usually sheds new light and much more meaning is discovered. This is also the case with musicals, as a quick search will bring up information related to the first musicals in New York City. David Armstrong, a musical theater ‘legend’ who teaches at the University of Washington, talks about how “musical theater got its start following a huge wave of Irish immigration in the late 1800s.”² So musical theater is some form that could be thought of as Irish. But aren’t Irish in America considered Americans? This is where debating the origin of a particular genre gets muddled, and complexities are often shown with a simplistic cover.

One particular musical named “Belle of New York” has an interesting story. While it was successful in the US, British audiences (London, in particular) enjoyed this musical as well. A picture of this musical from 1898 is shown below.³

Compared to a mere 64 performances in New York (perhaps ironically), the “Belle of New York” ran “for an almost unprecedented 674 performances” in Britain.⁴ An 1898 New York Times newspaper describes this fact as an “experiment of transplanting American burlesque to London”.⁵ While typically thought of as distinct regions, the British Isles and the US become tightly interrelated by musical theater. While Irish immigrants in New York were possibly large influencers and founders of musical theater, this musical art eventually found its way back to the British Isles, especially London. Because the majority of Americans are immigrants, it makes sense that this type of American music is essentially the music of immigrants. Musical theater, especially in its early days, is an especially good example of this multi-regional origin and spread.

1 Stewart, James. “Timeline: American Musicals.” 13 February 2017. Vermont Public. https://www.vermontpublic.org/programs/2017-02-13/timeline-american-musicals

2 “The Surprising History of Musical Theater.” University of Washington. https://www.washington.edu/storycentral/story/the-surprising-history-of-musical-theater/

3 Byron Company, Plays, “The Belle of New York.” 1898. Museum of the City of New York.

4 “The Belle of New York [Musical Comedy].” Josef Lebovic Gallery. https://www.joseflebovicgallery.com/pages/books/CL200-5/the-belle-of-new-york-musical-comedy

5 Lederer’s London Effort, The New York Times. 12 April 1898. https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/95619956/CC62D1F7E093472EPQ/4?accountid=351

Carlisle Indian School Project

Posted on October 24, 2023 by Carter Allen-Weyenberg

While looking for a source to spark my interest in writing this blog post, I found this manuscript seen below.[1] This manuscript was transcribed by Father Emile Petitot, a Roman Catholic Preist.[2] This sparked my thinking of common themes discussed among blog posts in the past. The idea of White Saviorism and the need to record practices from cultures other than your own. Petitot encountered various indigenous tribes in the land we now consider Canada. During these years of contact, he served as a missionary priest to the indigenous tribes. After these encounters, Petitot was convinced that liquor and guns were threatening indigenous culture and began to fervently record their cultural practices. That is how the ‘Chants indiens du Canada Nord-Ouest’ was created, the document you see below.

Cover of Chants indiens du Canada Nord-Ouest by Father Emile Petitot

There are a couple of different things wrong with this document. Most notably, we see once again the attempt to transcribe indigenous musical practices with Western notation. The discipline of Ethnomusicology has seen Francis Densmore[3], W.E.B DuBois[4], and many other musicologists attempt this. A common thread among all these examples is that the attempt is never quite enough to capture the quintessence of indigenous musical traditions. They introduce such complex rhythms, and attempt to give different tempo markings for different parts, and the shoe never quite fits.

(Click on it to see a better image) A syllabus for students going through the Carlisle Indian School

In the document above, you can see an attempt to Americanize indigenous children with this academic plan. This was called the Carlisle Indian School Project, and it was the first government-run boarding school in 1879.[5] Over 180 indigenous children died while attending this conversion school. Notice that in the fall semester of the first year, there is a class based on hygiene. This to me shows that the creators of this curriculum believed the people of indigenous cultures are dirty and need to be taught how to clean themselves. Not very kind and welcoming to my understanding. Below you will see a page outlining the musical education that these kids will receive. They speak of music being a good tool for happiness and religious worship, Christian worship. These kids will also go through the school’s orchestra or band program while having their identities stripped from them.

(Click on it to see it better) Rationale for music education in Carlisle Indian Industrial School

The theme of White Saviorism is not subtle throughout all the sources provided above. We can see it in the work done by Father Emile, and through the Carlisle Indian School Project. It went so far as many students who ‘attended’ the school believed that the only way to save ingenious culture was to shed all practices and dive deep into white culture. Common phrases were “Kill the Indian, Save the man.”[6]

[1] Petitot, Father, Emile. 1862-1889. Chants indiens du Canada Nord-Ouest [manuscript]: recueillis, classés et notés par Emile Petitot, prêtre missionnaire au Mackenzie, de 1862-1882, 1889. [Manuscript]. At: Place: The Newberry Library. VAULT box Ayer MS 715. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_MS_715 [Accessed October 24, 2023].

[2] Moir, John S. 2003. “Biography – PETITOT, ÉMILE – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography.” Www.biographi.ca. 2003. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/petitot_emile_14E.html.

‌

[3] Densmore, Frances. 1929. Pawnee Music. Da Capo Press.

‌

[4] DuBois, W.E.B. 1903. “‘The Sorrow Songs,’ from the Souls of Black Folk.” Teaching American History. 1903. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-sorrow-songs/.

‌

[5] Carlisle Indian School Project. n.d. “Carlisle Indian School Project | Richard Henry Pratt Carlisle Indian School.” Carlisle Indian School Project. https://carlisleindianschoolproject.com/past/.

‌

[6] Ibid

Works Cited

Carlisle Indian School Project. n.d. “Carlisle Indian School Project | Richard Henry Pratt Carlisle Indian School.” Carlisle Indian School Project. https://carlisleindianschoolproject.com/past/.

Carlisle Indian Industrial School. 1915. Catalogue and synopsis of courses, United States Indian School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Carlisle: Carlisle Indian Press. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_389_C2_C2_1915 [Accessed October 24, 2023].

Densmore, Frances. 1929. Pawnee Music. Da Capo Press.

DuBois, W.E.B. 1903. “‘The Sorrow Songs,’ from the Souls of Black Folk.” Teaching American History. 1903. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-sorrow-songs/.

Moir, John S. 2003. “Biography – PETITOT, ÉMILE – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography.” Www.biographi.ca. 2003. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/petitot_emile_14E.html.

‌

Music of the Menominee Indian Tribe

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Connor Bitterman

The Menominee Indian Tribe is the only present-day tribe in Wisconsin whose origin story indicates they have always lived in Wisconsin.¹ The Menominee tribe originated in the eastern side of Wisconsin in 1634. The tribe also originally occupied property in Illinois and Upper Peninsula Michigan. “The word “Menominee” is derived from their name for themselves, Mamaceqtaw, meaning “the people.”²

One aspect, when researching the Menominee Indian Tribe, that I admired was the fact that the Menominee were tough people. The ongoing trend of relocating Indian tribes and the minimization of native lands in the United States fully because of the westward expansion of the United States Government affected every native tribe. However, some tribes, including the Menominee, did everything in their power to push back on these treaties. “As European American settlements surrounded them, the Menominee sold much of their lands through treaties with the United States government.”²

Image of a Treaty with the Menomonie at Cedar Point on Fox River near Green Bay in the Territory of Wisconsin, September 3, 1836. The Treaty further cut the land of the Menominee Indian Reservation.⁴

When the government yet again pressured the Indians to migrate farther west, the Menominee people refused. The US government terminated the recognition of the tribe as retaliation in 1961, but Menominee weren’t done there: they took matters to court, and in 1977 won a landmark decision that restored their lands and tribal status.²³

Another aspect that is quite fascinating about the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin is the unique sound they make in their music. One instrument in particular that stands out is the water drum.The water drum is tall, with a removable top in order for the water to be filled one quarter full before playing. Drums in all tribes signify as a spiritual guardian that protects the tribe during ceremonial services. The water drum serves as a similar purpose, but creates a completely different sound, and “is often used in healing and festive ceremonies.”²

“Water Drum Music”⁵

“Menominee Vietnam Veterans Song, composed in 1973 by Myron Pyawasit⁶

The relentless spirit of the Menominee tribe can also be recognized in their music. “Menominee Vietnam Veterans Song” was composed in 1973, by Myron Pyawasit and his drum group, the Smokeytown Singers. The song, as the title suggests, pays homage to the veterans of the Vietnam War. I find this contribution very interesting, as the Menominee people were fighting to protect their land from the military and the United States government not that long ago, but then Pyawasit decides to write a song with the lyrics “brave warriors from Vietnam are dancing, we are proud of you, thank you.” I believe that this song is specifically highlighting the Native American veterans of the Vietnam War more exclusively than the entirety of Vietnam War veterans. Regardless, the music is not only touching, but also still holds the characteristics of the Menominee tribe.

1“Menominee History.” Milwaukee Public Museum. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.mpm.edu/content/wirp/ICW-153.

2 Menominee Song. Web.. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200215397/.

3 Ayer, Edward Everett (1841-1927). “U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners Files [Manuscript]: 1912-1922 [ Box 6, Folders 40 to 42].” American Indian Histories and Cultures – Adam Matthew Digital. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/Ayer_MS_911_BX06_2/175?searchId=3193cae1-b557-46c2-900d-ab19cd7c6bee.

4 “Page 39 US, Ratified Indian Treaties, 1722-1869.” Fold3. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.fold3.com/image/6593870/6593907.

5 Daniel Vandever, “The Water Drum,” May 1st, 2012, :38-:48

6 Various Artists – Topic, “Menominee Vietnam Veterans Song,” written by Smokeytown Singers, provided by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, January 1st, 1997

Goodman King of Swing?

Posted on October 22, 2023 by Nathaniel Johnson

Benny Goodman is often referred to as the “King of Swing”. He was a clarinetist and leader of the famous Benny Goodman orchestra which was one of the driving groups behind the swing craze of the early 1900s. Swing was a popular genre that was derivative of previous styles of New Orleans Jazz, borrowing elements such as off-beat emphasis, and chromatic harmonization ¹. Swing was a wildly commercially successful genre but despite its economic success, there’s skepticism that the most responsible musicians were fairly compensated. The commercial success of the genre often manifested in radio and record producers being the agents with the most power, and ultimately perpetuating a system of segregation and oppression ².

Moonlight Serenade, Glenn Miller, Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries, Lester S Levy Sheet Music Collection

The other result of swing was that band leaders often became the celebrities associated with the music, with artists such as Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller becoming widely known ³. Their visibility and the power of radio and record producers led to a wide disparity in success in a genre that owed its roots to Black artists. Between 1935 and 1945 the four most popular big bands led by white musicians… racked up a total of 292 Top 10 records, of which 65 were number one hits. In contrast, the four most popular Black swing orchestras scored only thirty-two top hits, three of which made it to number one on the charts. The dominance of these white musicians provides another example of the co-opting of African American music to the financial benefit of white parties.

1
Early, Gerald. “Jazz and the African American Literary Tradition, Freedom’s Story,.” TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center, nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1917beyond/essays/jazz.htm. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

2
Saleh, Leena. “The Swing Era: A Time of Hidden (Beauty and Limited) Oppression.” AOT, 26 June 2021, www.aotontario.org/post/the-swing-era-a-time-of-hidden-beauty-and-limited-oppression.

3
Vitale, Tom. “Benny Goodman: Forever the King of Swing.” NPR, NPR, 30 May 2009, www.npr.org/2009/05/30/104713445/benny-goodman-forever-the-king-of-swing.

Musical Assimilation in Native American Schools

Posted on October 19, 2023 by Katya Jarmulowicz

When finding a text to research and write about in this post, the Tentative Course of Study for United States Indian Schools immediately caught my attention. This text, drafted by the Office of Indian Affairs, states that the Course of Study provided in the text is to be adopted by schools of the Indian school service.¹Children were required to attend these schools as a part of a treaty deal between a tribe and the United States government; both male and female children between the ages of six and sixteen were to endure the process of cultural assimilation and be instructed in the English language.²

Article VI; Treaty with the Navajo Tribe at Fort Sumner³

Within the text, an entire section is dedicated to the importance of, “training the senses,” and develop[ing] all the powers and functions of the human mind.”⁴Music is named as the only subject that can synchronize the senses in a way that is “enjoyable to the individual and helpful to the community,” but this is quickly followed by a list of particular criteria that must be followed in the classroom when music is being taught.⁵Unsurprisingly, these specifications uphold a legacy of cultural superiority. For example, in order to help students develop a sense of musical appreciation, they are only allowed to hear music deemed as good, which according to the text, seems to be limited to American patriotic songs and classical music composed by well-known European composers, such as Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven.⁶Additionally, the text presents individual aspects of music that can be used to further assimilate students into Western culture, like preferring a “good, smooth, sweet, light, pure tone,” over “raggedness” and “huskiness.”⁷

These schools masqueraded as institutions that concerned themselves with the education and futures of Native American children. However, when considering how these schools use subjects like music to perpetuate cultural supremacy, the deeply problematic intention of these school to assimilate Native American children becomes blatantly obvious.

1 Tentative course of study for United States Indian Schools. Govt. Print. Off., 1915. https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/Ayer_386_U5_1915/61?searchId=8c6fcef2-55e4-4583-b1cf-9be3f19eeaff

2 “Page 10 – Navaho Tribe at Fort Sumner – Article VI – June 1st 1868.” Fold3. Accessed October 19, 2023. https://www.fold3.com/image/6589725/372?terms=school%2Cschools.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

Sacred turned Spiritual

Posted on October 13, 2023 by Leigha Daniels

Henry Thacker (H.T) Burleigh, was a black American, classical composer who was known for his compositions and arrangements of spirituals. H.T. Burleigh was also an accomplished professional singer. “Harry Thacker Burleigh played a significant role in the development of American art song, having composed over two hundred works in the genre. He was the first African-American composer acclaimed for his concert songs as well as for his adaptations of African-American spirituals.”¹

“Burleigh was surrounded by music from a young age,” his mother was his first music teacher and throughout his childhood he was a dedicated church performer. As he grew older, sacred music was no longer his niche. Burleigh was quite the accomplished singer, he attended the National Conservatory in New York, eventually on scholarship. One important event/events that should be noted is that while Burleigh was at the National Conservatory, Antonín Dvořák became the director of the program. Throughout Burleigh’s time there, the two became quite close. Burleigh would often sing spirituals to Dvořák which he used as inspiration for some of his compositions and even used “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” as a theme in the first movement of his symphony “From the New World.”²

³
Burleigh wrote a few works based on plantation melodies he learned throughout his childhood. Among these few, “Deep River,” is one of the most famous and recognized spiritual songs. “It was soon normal for recitals to end with a group of spirituals. Musicians such as Roland Hayes, Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson made these songs a part of their repertoires.” Although we musicians know the voice type to be baritone, when Burleigh was publishing his music, most of the works were for “low voice.”

H.T. Burleigh’s contributions to music, most importantly African American spirituals, some instrumental, but mainly vocal music played a role in breaking down the racial barriers that existed and brought African American music to the forefront

1“H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949).” n.d. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035730

2“Harry Thacker Burleigh Biography.” 2016. Afrocentric Voices in “Classical” Music. February 10, 2016. http://www.afrovoices.com/wp/harry-thacker-burleigh-biography.

3Burleigh, H. T. (Harry Thacker), 1866-1949. Arranger. “Deep river : old Negro melody / arranged by H.T. Burleigh.” Digital Gallery. BGSU University Libraries, 23 May 2022, digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/collections/item/34006. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

Notation Limitation: The Influence of Written Notation on Musical Expression

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Aiden Kocian

What is a canvas, a lump of clay, or a hammer and chisel to the visual artist? They are the means- and therefore limitations by which the artist turns an idea into a product to be consumed by the masses. But while visual artists have an almost infinite amount of materials to use to express emotions, ideas, or stories- there are far less tools in music.

Notation is by many means, a prison that composers, arrangers, and other sonic explorers are trapped in when they go to document an idea or sound. Take for example, Frances Densmore’s controversial use of western notation to document traditional Indigenous ceremonial music. “Densmore used traditional Western notation for her transcriptions and at one point experimented with using graphic representations, which she intended to be used as an analysis of melody concurrently with Western notation.”¹ This case all the way back in 1907 was one of the first clashes between cultures in notation versus practice. Densmore’s use of a limited notation style, which she even recognized as limited for the setting, led to the erasure of several defining characteristics of the music she did her field study on- ultimately doing the culture a disservice and misrepresenting the music.

But what happens when western musical expression is applied to Indigenous music alongside western notation? …Well you get this:

This is Louis Wallis’ “Sioux Waltz”. It is not a traditional waltz, it just has the extra musical connotation of some form of Sioux influence mashed together with the 3/4 pattern characteristic of a traditional western waltz. Again, notation (and the assumed connotations surrounding it) influence and make an odd sort of amalgamation of itself and the culture it is bisecting.

There is hope yet for western notation in our increasingly socially conscious society, however. Elaine Gould’s book “Behind Bars”³ explores the limits of western notation and how it can be manipulated to better record and represent ideas, cultures, and stories. Resources such as Gould’s are becoming more and more available, with communities surrounding engraving issues and how to respectfully fix them becoming more commonplace as notation software has brought many new composers- and therefore ideas into the fold of modern music. Wester notation may never be perfect, but it is important to continue improving upon it until it can be a properly helpful and respectful tool for the facilitation of art-making.

“Libguides: Indigenous Music Resources: Frances Densmore Smithsonian Collection.” Frances Densmore Smithsonian Collection – Indigenous Music Resources – LibGuides at Brandon University, libguides.brandonu.ca/indigenousmusic/francesdensmore#:~:text=Densmore%20used%20traditional%20Western%20notation,melody%20concurrently%20with%20Western%20notation. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.

“To Mrs. Graham Atkinson. Sioux March & Waltz by Louis Wallis.” Playmakers Repertory Company Playbills, dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/sheetmusic/id/23812. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.

Gould, Elaine. Behind Bars the Definitive Guide to Music Notation. Faber Music Limited, 2016.

Violent Notation: Harvey B. Gaul & Black Spirituals

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Mariana Rogan

Harvey B. Gaul was an organist and composer in the early 20th century. He worked in various church music positions across the country, but was based in Pittsburgh for 35 years of his career, and was a central fixture of the music community in the city. He is even memorialized by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble’s composition contest, which bears his name.¹

During his prolific career as a composer and church musician, Gaul arranged a few spirituals/folk songs of African-American origin. There are two such examples that I found. The first is a song titled “Ain’t It a Shame,” which is published alongside another song under the larger title “Negro [sic] Dialect Songs.” The other is called “South Carolina Croon Song.” This latter work cites a lyricist named Will Deems, but I was unable to find any information about him. Although definitely not a unique case in his time, Gaul’s arrangements demonstrate perfectly the idea that using notation to transcribe non-Western classical music can be a violent act.

Title and Subtitle from “Ain’t It a Shame” sheet music.

What struck me about the first tune was the title of the larger work, which attributes these songs to Black Americans. Yet the credited arranger being Gaul, and the origin being as vague as an entire race, Gaul is the only one who benefits materially from the publication of this tune. Any sense of giving credit through this title is overshadowed by every other aspect of arrangement. The use of the word “dialect” also seems to other this song by distinguishing the way that Black Americans speak and sing from the way that White Americans do. The subtitle for the tune also labels it as a “semi-spiritual.”² This appeared odd to me, as it has religious themes, and there’s nothing I have noticed about the tune that would disqualify it as a spiritual. There is an overall sense from these elements of the sheet music that the tunes are not taken entirely seriously as worthwhile music.

Note about the origins of the “South Carolina Croon Song”

The “South Carolina Croon Song,” despite the title not referring to dialect in the way the other tune does, features lyrics that are notated to indicate the vernacular speech of Black Americans in the south. “Don’ yo’ hear yo’ pappy play de banjo chune?”³ is just one example of this. The sheet music also features a note at the bottom of the first page that says, “Sung by an old Mammy on a South Carolina Plantation on the Back River.”⁴ This is just plain lazy citation. This woman is not named, and the descriptor “old Mammy” could very easily be interpreted as a diminutive. The written elements of this arrangement already demonstrate a lack of respect for the origins of the music that is being exploited by Gaul.

Finally, what was most striking evidence of the violence of Gaul’s notation of these tunes was the recording I found of White American contralto Kathryn Meisle performing “South Carolina Croon Song.” In the citation, it even indicates that perhaps Will Deems was a pseudonym for Gaul, and not a real lyricist. The recording creates this romanticized vision of the “old Mammy” singing this tune on the “Back River.” The mournful orchestral accompaniment, and the distinctly operatic style of singing are all evidence of a desperate attempt to take a folk tune and cram it into the Western classical tradition. Gaul’s transcriptions are gross misappropriations of these tunes, beyond any justification of preservation or appreciation.

⁵

1 Library of Congress. “Harvey Bartlett Gaul (1881-1945).” Accessed October 12, 2023. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200185354/.

2 “Aint It a Shame : Negro Dialect Song.” Chicago, Ill. : Clayton F. Summy, 1927. Blockson Sheet Music. Temple University Libraries. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p15037coll1/id/5202.

3 “South Carolina Croon Song.” Boston: Oliver Ditson Company, 1922. Vocal Popular Sheet Music Collection. University of Maine. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5657&context=mmb-vp.

4 Ibid.

5 Library of Congress. “South Carolina Croon Song,” October 7, 1924. https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-71482/.

H.T. Burleigh – Life and Legacy

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Rachel Dumont

Harry Thacker Burleigh (Photo by Carl Van Vechten, Courtesy Van Vechten Trust)

Harry Thacker Burleigh, better known as H.T. Burleigh, was the first and most influential Black composer to rise to large success post- Civil War. He was widely known for his perservation and arrangemtn of traditional Black spirituals and plantation songs. Without his work, most likely most of the songs that come to mind when we think of “spirituals” would be lost in the past. A singer and composer as well as an arranger, Burleigh composed more than 300 works.¹His work was hugely influential and brought Black music to the Western classical music stage for the first time.

Born on December 2, 1866 in Erie, Pennsylvania, Burleigh showed an early passion and talent for music. He grew up learning these spirituals and folk songs from his maternal grandmother and singing in the church choir. However, he was unable to afford formal musical training until 1892, when he attended the National Conservatory of Music in New York City.²During his time there, he studied under and work closely with composer Antonín Dvořák, who was director of the conservatory.³ This relationship was very influential in fostering Burleigh’s love of spirituals and folk songs. Burleigh was dedicated to preserving the traditional flavor and sprit of these songs, and Dvořák was supportive of this. Dvořák was so inspired by this musical tradition that he wrote themes inspired by many of Burleigh’s melodies, for example in his “From the New World” Symphony no. 9 in E minor.⁴Burleigh was an incredibly accomplished musician despite being discriminate against every step of the way. A popular baritone singer, he sang as the soloist at St. George’s Church for 50 years and was the soloist at Temple Emanuel for 25 years.⁵ He even sang at a command performance for King Edward VI of England and received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Harvard and Masters of Music from Atlanta University. He was the first Black American to serve on the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers board of directors, and received the Spingarn Acheivement Medal in 1917 from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.⁶ I mention all these accomplishments because I believe it is important to spotlight Black Americans such as H.T. Burleigh who paved the way for so many others. His work brought Black music into the spotlight and made accessible to the average concert-goer for the first time. His arrangements of spirituals for solo voice were incredibly influential in American music – Burleigh, for the first time, brought Black music to the western classical music stage. He presented these spirituals as fine art songs, and Black music was more accessible to the concert world than ever before. While they strayed from their original performance style greatly, Burleigh was still dedicated to preserving the traditional roots and “flavor” of these songs in composed form.

Above is an example of Burleigh’s arrangement of one of the most famous spirituals arranged for solo voice, “Wade in de Water”. It’s important to note that Burleigh kept the original dialect in his arrangements, rather than completely Westernizing the songs for the classical stage. Burleigh was adamant about preserving the sacred nature of this musical tradition. As he states in the introduction of his 1917 “Negro Spriritauls Arranged for Solo Voice”,

“Their worth is weakened unless they are done impressively, for through all these songs there breathes a hope, a faith in the ultimate justice and brotherhood of man. The cadences of sorrow invariably turn ot joy, and the message is ever manifest that eventually deliverance from all that hinders and oppresses the soul will come, and man – every man – will be free.” – H.T. Burleigh

1 Erickson, Shannon. “Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949) •.” •, 19 May 2021, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/burleigh-harry-thacker-1866-1949/.

2 Bauer, Pat. “Harry Thacker Burleigh.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 8 Sept. 2023, www.britannica.com/biography/Harry-Thacker-Burleigh.

3 Erickson, Shannon. “Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949) •.” •, 19 May 2021, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/burleigh-harry-thacker-1866-1949/.

4 “H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949).” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035730#:~:text=Harry%20Thacker%20Burleigh%20played%20a,adaptations%20of%20African%2DAmerican%20spirituals. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

5 Bauer, Pat. “Harry Thacker Burleigh.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 8 Sept. 2023, www.britannica.com/biography/Harry-Thacker-Burleigh.

6 Erickson, Shannon. “Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949) •.” •, 19 May 2021, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/burleigh-harry-thacker-1866-1949/.

Harry Burleigh’s Foreword to Spirituals

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Thomas McCarthy

One of the best known spirituals in the United States is Deep River. Though, like all spirituals and folk songs, its origins are unknown, it was popularized in the early 20th century by Black American composer Harry Burliegh. In Burleigh’s first published arrangement of Deep River, he provides an account of the origins of spirituals. This foreword allows us to glimpse into the mind of Black American musicians in the early 20th century and see some of their thoughts on the history of spirituals, and their intended uses within society.

Burleigh asserts that the spirituals “sprang into life…from the white heat of religious fervor…” and that they are the “ecstatic utterance of wholly untutored minds.”¹ Burleigh seems invested in distancing spirituals from any sort of academic or “art song” contexts. In fact, Burleigh argues that the spirituals are “the only music in America which fits the scientific definition of Folk Song.”¹ Burleigh wants to make it abundantly clear that the spirituals are a natural outgrowth of Black culture in America.

This foreword also highlights some of the struggles that Black Americans faced with regards to appropriation of spirituals. Burleigh specifically says that the spirituals are not to be used in minstrel performances.¹
He asserts that these songs must be “done impressively,” otherwise their message is cheapened.¹

In these ideas, we see two aspects of spirituals that Burleigh is hoping to solidify the importance of. The first is that spirituals are not art songs, or the results of academic inquiry, but rather the result of an entire culture creating music spontaneously. The second is that these songs should be treated with the respect and dignity that any art song or religious statement would be treated. Burleigh is arguing that the spirituals are derived far from the theaters and concert halls, but that they should now be performed in these venues with the same reverence that audiences apply to other beloved works of the western classical canon.

1 Burliegh, Henry Thacker. “Deep River : Old Negro Melody / Arranged by H.T. Burleigh.” Digital Gallery, May 23, 2022. https://digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/collections/item/34006.

Spirituals and their Meaning Across Cultures

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Joanna Perez

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child : Negro spiritual

"The plantation songs known as "spirituals" are the spontaneous outbursts of intense religious fervor,"<²> as is described in the excerpt of H. T. Burleigh’s Negro Spirituals collection of “Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child”. This piece dates back to the historical events of slavery. This piece’s lyrics repeat “sometimes I feel like a motherless child…a long way from home…sometimes I feel like I’m almost done…true believer.” This shows the longing to be at a place they call home but it feels too far away. Their longing is there yet their faith remains. Similar songs like “Deep River” were sung by slaves in plantations as work songs reminding them that there is hope for them and very often their faith in God through these songs was what gave them the motivation to keep going. Thurman’s book "Deep River : Reflections on the Religious Insight of Certain of the Negro Spirituals"<⁴>provides a lens on the interconnection of religion’s significant role within spirituals.

In A New Perspective for the Use of Dialect in African American Spirituals, it describes the use of African American English and "its use in African-American Spirituals, and the sociolinguistic impact of the dialect in the United States."<¹> Understanding the dialect within the music is a key component prior to teaching or performing spirituals. In Burleigh's collection it also states that "it is a serious misconception of [spirituals'] meaning and value to treat [spirituals] as "minstrel" songs, or to try to make them funny by a too literal attempt to imitate the manner of the Negro in singing them" 2. By doing so in trying to imitate actions that black folk would use in the process of singing such as swaying, clapping, or imitating the style of the voice in a joking manner would be unacceptable. One must come into the space of sharing someone's culture through the mindset of respect.

In Jones’ book “So You Want to Sing Spirituals: a Guide for Performers,” it includes a chapter titled, "Must you be black to sing spirituals?<³>" It goes into the process of the acceptable manner to take on singing or teaching a spiritual in a respectful way. Part of that process is to educate yourself on the background and history of the piece. A good way to start is also through researching the composer, if one is known. In Fall 2022, I took the class African American Song Literature where we analyzed a similar article on how to respectfully perform an African American piece since we were expected to present a poem or a song from a Black composer, mine being Florence Price. We were expected to incorporate our piece in a presentation to the class where we would share the findings that we could find. We found that for many spirituals and composers there was little to no information on them that was more than a short paragraph long, if any due to how historic the piece dated back to.

I also wanted to connect the Latin American point of view through “Spiritual World in Latin America Spanish" where essayist Luis Racionero expresses ¨we are all one¨, every living being is part of the universe, as everything we have around. When someone lives any kind of transcendental experience it is impossible to be afraid of death. The ALL doesn’t die, it is just transformed.”<⁵> Religion itself is an all encompassing tradition that connects various cultures and races around the world. A belief in a higher power and hope regardless if one believes in a God or not, is something that can be seen in global and local music.

Lastly, Roberts’ book “Back Music of Two Worlds : African, Caribbean, Latin, and African-American Traditions” consists of chapters including 2. Cultural Blending: The First Afro-American Styles and 7. Fusions: Jazz, Latin America, and Africa,<⁶> which go more into depth about the connections between African American style of music and its blending with South and Central America, and the Caribbean where we can see Afro-latinx fusions of music and culture.

1. Barber, Felicia Raphael Marie. 2021. A New Perspective for the Use of Dialect in African American Spirituals : History, Context, and Linguistics. Lanham: Lexington Books.<¹>

2. “CONTENTdm.” n.d. Digital.library.temple.edu. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p15037coll1/id/5392<²>.

3. Jones, Randye. 2019. So You Want to Sing Spirituals : a Guide for Performers. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.<³>

4. Thurman, Howard. 1969. Deep River : Reflections on the Religious Insight of Certain of the Negro Spirituals. Port Washington, N.Y: Kennikat Press<⁴>.

5. “Spiritual World in Latin America - Youthreporter.” Www.youthreporter.eu, www.youthreporter.eu/de/beitrag/spiritual-world-in-latin-america.14130/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.<⁵>

6. Roberts, John Storm. 1998. Black Music of Two Worlds : African, Caribbean, Latin, and African-American Traditions. 2nd edition. New York: Schirmer Books.<⁶>

Maple Leaf Rag – a start of a genre

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Ian Snider

Ragtime is an African-American art form originating in the late 1800s. Maple Leaf Rag was composed by one of the major ragtime pioneers, Scott Joplin. Joplin was so large and influential in the creation process of the ragtime genre he was titled “The King of Ragtime” ¹. Joplin’s popularity only increased after he died ². As personal audio became more retally available, Joplin’s compositions became more popular in society.

Poster for Maple Leaf Rag

Maple Leaf Rag,” one of the earliest popular pieces within the ragtime genre, and served as a foundation for subsequent ragtime compositions. Its influence is still evident, even to this day. When you listen to the composition, particularly if you are familiar with ragtime music, you can detect the distinctive rhythmic patterns and melodic structures that have come to define the genre, resulting in it as a modern-day musical topic.

An interesting perspective on the enduring influence of “Maple Leaf Rag” came when I performed the musical ‘Ragtime.’ The music, composed by Stephen Flaherty, featured this iconic composition as a primary theme. It was fascinating to hear this historic piece performed live, and it underscored the timeless appeal of ragtime music.

The structure of “Maple Leaf Rag,” with its ABab style, is another key element that has had a significant impact on the genre. This structure contributes to the piece’s engaging rhythm and catchy melody, making it a memorable and enduring piece of music.

The recording of “Maple Leaf Rag” embedded in this post is particularly special. Performed by the United States Marine Band, it is the oldest known recording of the piece. Interestingly, Scott Joplin, the composer of “Maple Leaf Rag,” only recorded his works as piano rolls for player pianos, rather than using wax recordings. This was the common recording technique at the time, and these rolls provide a unique and valuable insight into the performance style of this pioneering ragtime composer.

“Collected Works of United States Marine Band : United States Marine Band : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, February 20, 2004. https://archive.org/details/UnitedStatesMarineBand.

1 Joyner, David. Notes 52, no. 3 (1996): 823–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/898648.

2 Dykstra, Brian J. American Music 13, no. 4 (1995): 499–502. https://doi.org/10.2307/3052409.

Hawaiian Music’s Journey to Mainstream America

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Eli Schrubbe

Hawaii is internationally regarded as a paradise and is the perfect place for exotic getaways in the heart of the Pacific Ocean. But until 1778, it was a hierarchical, sovereign nation populated by indigenous Native Hawaiians who were self-sufficient and coexisted peacefully with their families, their islands, and their culture. Since foreigners began to settle on the Hawaiian islands, the native Hawaiian population and culture have fought to survive from their near extinction.¹Specifically for this blog post, Native Hawaiian music was significantly impacted by the 19th-century immigration of Europeans and Americans. It is said that “by the late nineteenth century, Hawaiians could hear popular music from other countries in ports and cities that handled the growing trade” (Hearingtheamericas.org) after Christian hymns were introduced by missionaries.² Hawaii’s government was taken over by US-based companies in the 1890s, and soon after that the island was annexed by the US as a colonial property. By this time, Hawaiian musicians had established a style that would have a significant impact on popular music all around the world.² For example, the song “Aloha ‘Oe,” is revered as a symbol of traditional Hawaiian culture. Queen Lili’uokalani, the last monarch of the Hawaiian Islands, composed it more than a century ago. The song has both subtle and explicit themes about power hierarchies because it was written and recorded at a period of political and cultural unrest in Hawai’i. Although the song was originally written in 1878 as a mele ho’oipoipo (love song) between a man and a woman, Native Hawaiians through time adapted it socially, politically, and culturally into a song of melancholy farewell between the Queen and her country.³ Since its creation, “Aloha ‘Oe” has grown to be among the most well-known and well-known Hawaiian melodies. Following the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893 and Hawaii’s unlawful designation as the 50th US state, demand for the song’s sheet music and performances surged significantly.³ In the figure at the top of the page, you can see one of the many adaptions of this native song. We can even see that they changed the lyrics to english.⁴ Hawaiian music took the music world by storm, turning their into a genre and “culture” that every American has “taken apart of”.

1 Osorio, Emma Kauana. 2023. “Struggle for Hawaiian Cultural Survival – Ballard Brief.” Ballard Brief, July. https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/struggle-for-hawaiian-cultural-survival.

2 “Hearing the Americas · Hawaiian Music · Hearing the Americas.” n.d. https://hearingtheamericas.org/s/the-americas/page/hawaiian-music.

3 T. Chow, Evelyn. 2018. “The Sovereign Nation of Hawai’i: Resistance in the Legacy of ‘Aloha ‘Oe.’” SUURJ: Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal. https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=suurj#:~:text=Lili%27uokalani%20initially%20wrote%20“Aloha,Maunawili%20Ranch%20(Imada%2035).

4 Historic Sheet Music Collection, University of Oregon. “Aloha oe” Oregon Digital. Accessed 2023-10-12. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/00000002j

Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton and the Power of Notation

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Zachary Buerger

“Jelly Roll Morton.” 2019. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 2019. https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/jelly-roll-morton. ‌

Often referred to as one of the “fathers of jazz”, Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton was one of the pioneering faces of jazz to come in the early 20th century. Born in 1890 in New Orleans, Jelly Roll was at the forefront of the burgeoning genre of jazz. By age 10, he was playing in bordellos blending ragtime, minstrel music, and dance rhythms: the basis of jazz¹
. When he left New Orleans to travel the country as a musician, he often credited himself with the creation of jazz. While this claim was, and still is, disputed by many, it is impossible to deny that his tune, “Original Jelly Roll Blues”, was the first published jazz work.

“IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana.” n.d. Webapp1.Dlib.indiana.edu. Accessed October 12, 2023. https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/metsnav/inharmony/navigate.do?oid=https://fedora.dlib.indiana.edu/fedora/get/iudl:384651/METADATA&pn=3&size=screen. ‌Accessed via Sheet Music Consortium

Morton was far from the first to play and perform jazz, but publishing a work gave his claim serious credibility. To notate something is to is legitimize it, and that is exactly what Morton did. Many people of the time, especially white people, drew clear distinctions between jazz and classical music, high and low art, by the basis of their notation. To them, jazz was disorganized and sloppy when compared to the precise scores of orchestral works.

So notation legitimizes, but is it always in the best interest of the music? Is something lost? In Morton’s score of The Jelly Roll Blues, he consistently uses dotted sixteenth notes tied to eighth notes to allude to a swing feel, but if a musician read the ink as-is, it would still be lacking. A true swing feel is subjective, and nearly impossible to fully quantify. By being forced to notate jazz, one “establishes the objectification of subjectivity”².

In class, we’ve discussed the difficulty of transcribing some genres from Native music to Appalachian folk music. In his article, “Country Music and the Souls of White Folk”, we see the impossibility of accurately transcribing Tommy Johnson’s “Cool Drink of Water Blues” ³. The 32nd notes and triplet rhythms in the transcription surely wasn’t the true rhythm of the song, but it was the only way to quantify and notate it. While notation helps the legitimization and dissemination of music to the masses, it may not always be necessary. For oral/aural traditions, notation and transcription removes an irreplaceable essence of the music.

1“Jelly Roll Morton – Songs, Music & Facts.” 2021. Biography. April 27, 2021. https://www.biography.com/musicians/jelly-roll-morton.‌

2Marian-Bălaşa, Marin. “Who Actually Needs Transcription? Notes on the Modern Rise of a Method and the Postmodern Fall of an Ideology.” The World of Music 47, no. 2 (2005): 5–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41699643.

3Nunn, Erich. 2015. Sounding the Color Line : Music and Race in the Southern Imagination. Athens ; London: The University Of Georgia Press.

Works Cited

“Jelly Roll Morton.” 2019. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 2019. https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/jelly-roll-morton. ‌

“Jelly Roll Morton – Songs, Music & Facts.” 2021. Biography. April 27, 2021. https://www.biography.com/musicians/jelly-roll-morton.‌

Marian-Bălaşa, Marin. “Who Actually Needs Transcription? Notes on the Modern Rise of a Method and the Postmodern Fall of an Ideology.” The World of Music 47, no. 2 (2005): 5–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41699643.

Nunn, Erich. 2015. Sounding the Color Line : Music and Race in the Southern Imagination. Athens ; London: The University Of Georgia Press.

Spirituals and Printed Music

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Noah Schilbe

It’s interesting to look at the published presentation of spirituals, which shows how the publishers were trying to market their printings. When trying to get a sense of the public perception of something during a different time in history, printed media plays a large role in perpetuating a particular view. The introduction of the Jubilee Songs and Plantation Melodies presents an interesting view of the relationship between blacks, their music, and publications.

An excerpt from the introduction of ‘Jubilee Songs’

The person the introduction is credited to is Harry Hanaford, manager. It’s unclear if he was the manager of the singers responsible for the songs, the Original Nashville Students, or of something else, and little elsewhere can be found about the name. However, it’s clear that a positive spin is being placed on things, with phrases like “The words belong to a race infatuated with a passion for song.” Of course, it is expected that an introduction to a published collection aim to promote that collection, but it is the positive framing of the origins of the song that raises an eyebrow.

It can be safely assumed that it is probably white folks reading this introduction, least of all because perhaps black folks would already know such tunes. Later in the introduction, Hanaford writes about how the Original Nashville Students have a world-wide reputation, remarking that it “must be attributed to their retaining the old Southern style, and giving a truthful representation of the negro as he appeared in the days of slavery.” Respectfully, I would either assume someone who aimed a phrase like that at a black audience to be either remarkedly condescending or severely out of touch. Rather, I would assume that such an opinion, which perhaps borders romanticization, is therefore born from a lineage that did not experience generations of slavery, and is trying to frame and sell a collection of ‘interesting songs’ to an audience that has little in the way of context.

All this to say, it’s interesting to go back and see how things were presented. A significant amount of modern understanding of past sensibilities originates from analysis of media, written opinions of said media, and statements given about current and past events. It can be difficult to gain a sense of what the common mindset was over a hundred years ago, and each little bit found contributes something to the picture. In this case, a look at a (slight) romanticized framing of something in order to sell, which no was created to appeal to a specific audience. Did that indicate the sensibilities of those people, or a general opinion of them? Was it a new attempt? I’m not sure, but it certainly puts things into perspective for how varied looking back at history can be.

The full Jubilee Songs and Plantation Melodies can be found at the University of Tennessee Music Collection:

https://digital.lib.utk.edu/collections/islandora/object/utsmc%3A17777

Hanaford, Harry. “Introduction to Jubilee Songs and Plantation Melodies.” New York, New York: Thearle, H.B., 1800-1922.

The exact date of publication is not listed anywhere on the original piece and covers an extremely large range. This author would like to note that an alternative edition was arranged by J.J. Sawyer and published in Chicago, IL in 1884, and that the Nashville Students themselves were founded in approximately 1882; it is unlikely that this work was published before then.

Harry Thacker Burleigh’s Spirituals

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Carter Allen-Weyenberg

Harry T. Burleigh; Photo by Mishkin, New York, 1922. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Harry Thacker Burleigh was a trail blazer in for African American composers during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. One of the main things he was known for was the arranging of many different Negro spirituals.[1] He studied at the New York National Conservatory was noticed by Antonin Dvorak, and he hired Burleigh to be a librarian for him. During this time, he composed his first art songs. These initial compositions included plantation and minstrel songs, one such song we’re going to look at more in depth is ‘Steal Away.’

H.T. Burleigh prefaces his arrangement with saying that these spirituals were never composed, rather they had sprung to life through white religious oppression. These songs are not to be confused with minstrel songs; they have a more serious connotation. Steal away was published in nineteen twenty-one and very quickly became popular. He was one of the first composers to bring Negro spirituals to concert halls.[2] Unfortunately having to adjust to the times, these spirituals had to be brought to western classical tradition. I think that throughout constant oppression and lack of representation, Burleigh should be celebrated as one of the first to pioneer black composition in the Western Classical Tradition. With the shortcomings of American culture, I believe that we should take the time to recognize the first of many Black composers starting to take the spotlight of the 20^th century.

Burleigh, Harry Thacker. 1921. “Steal Away.” Digital.library.temple.edu. 1921.

These spirituals were not just popular during the time of their composition, it is still being sung by vocalists today. Below you will hear a recording from Indra Thomas, the lyrics are very obviously bleeding spiritual feeling. The repetition really drives the spirituality home, repeating “Steal away to Jesus” multiple times before hearing other lyrics. That line is the main motive that the composition returns to on three separate occasions. Whenever we diverge from these initial lyrics, they sing about the sounds of a trumpet ringing in their soul. The trumpet is usually accredited to being a very spiritual instrument, trying to ‘wake up’ sinners and calling them to repent.

Citations

Burleigh, Harry Thacker. 1921. “Steal Away.” Digital.library.temple.edu. 1921. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p15037coll1/id/5268.

Burleigh, Harry Thacker, and Indra Thomas. 2012. Steal Away. Great Day! Delos.

Erickson, Shannon. 2008. “Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949) •.” Black Past. June 7, 2008. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/burleigh-harry-thacker-1866-1949/.

Library of Congress. n.d. “H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949).” Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035730/.

“What the Bible Says about Symbolism of Trumpets.” n.d. Www.bibletools.org. https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/11077/Symbolism-Trumpets.htm.

‌

[1] Snyder, Jean. “Burleigh, Henry [Harry] T(hacker).” Grove Music Online. 16 Oct. 2013; Accessed 10 Oct. 2023. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002248537.

[2] Erickson, Shannon. 2008. “Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949) •.” Black Past. June 7, 2008. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/burleigh-harry-thacker-1866-1949/.

‌

Ballet and Minstrelsy

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Lucas Jindra

As someone who is not very familiar with both ballet or minstrelsy, I didn’t think there was any relation between them. But more research led to clear connections between ballet and minstrelsy, primarily abroad in the current world. Closer to home but further in the past, it turns out that a minstrel themed ballet called Blackface was created by Lew Christensen, a choreographer who was the ballet master of several major ballet societies in the US.¹While described as a failure² (perhaps rightly so given its content), this ballet could say something about the connection between minstrelsy and ballet.

Talley Beatty and Betty Nichols are pictured below in Christensen’s Blackface.³ Both encountered racism in ballet, especially early in their careers in the 1940s. In fact, Betty Nichols was the first black student at the school of American Ballet.⁴ Interestingly enough, another picture by American Photographer Larry Colwell listed a similar picture (with clearly Talley’s same dance partner, Betty) in the Library of Congress as “Beatty, Talley, with unidentified partner.”⁵ This ‘unidentified partner’ is clearly Betty Nichols.

Searching up Lew Christensen’s ballet Blackface brought nothing up online. Was this censored, or taken down because of its content? Searching through sources, I could not find any that had detailed information on this ballet. This instance brings up a question for discussion: Are we to take down and forget a history of racism in our country, in order to get rid of it? While it is hard to generalize, in almost all cases the answer is the opposite. Instead of hiding a past history, it should be known so that we can realize the mistakes humans have made in the past, and learn from them. And if you didn’t know, there is actually a whole career path devoted to that: being a historian.

1 “Betty Nichols and Lew Christensen.” MoBBallet.org, https://mobballet.org/index.php/2022/02/21/betty-nichols-orbit-lew-christensen/

2 “Larry Colwell Dance Photographs.” Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/collections/larry-colwell-dance-photographs-1944-to-1966/about-this-collection/

3 “Talley Beatty and Betty Nichols”. New York Public Library Digital Collections. Jerome Robins Dance Division souvenir program files, 1947. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b804aee0-cf3c-0136-0af7-5dc327e0d399

4 Macaulay, Alastair. “Betty Nichols – Black History Month in Dance, 14.” 15 February. https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/6csitm8yle894tttza30umd8vqsyyl

5 “Larry Colwell dance photographs: Studio or publicity photos: Beatty, Talley, with unidentified partner”. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/muscolwell-200224941/

H. T. Burleigh’s Compositional Moods

Posted on October 10, 2023 by Rachel Christensen

“Little Mother of Mine” spiritual arranged by H. T. Burleigh.¹

H. T. Burleigh (Harry Thacker Burleigh) played a significant role in the development of American music as he composed over 200 pieces in this genre. He was the first African American acclaimed for his concert pieces and a founding member of American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).² After passing in 1949, Burleigh is thought to be one of the most significant contributors to American music especially through his arrangements of African American spiritual that are said to have “transported a musical tradition that was born out of the plight of enslaved people, onto the concert stage, where they are revered as masterful examples of uniquely American music.”³

Burleigh was able to arrange the piece “Little Mother of Mine,” to convey the sentimental meaning of the text through compositional techniques. The half-step motif seen in the left hand countermelodies throughout highlights certain expressive words like “twilight,” “evening,” and “west” which are important in the meaning of this text. Burleigh’s compositional choices such as using “sevenths, non chord tones, and chromatic melodic notes” are “frequently expressive devices in his songs, often indicating a bittersweet or sad emotion.”⁴ This is a subtle strategy used by Burleigh but it effectively allows him to convey the mood of the text.

Burleigh demonstrates the emotion of this text through how he differentiates the first verse from the second. The second verse is accompanied “memorable countermelodies and richer chordal textures” in the piano accompaniment.⁵ This further emphasizes the mood of the text. It is subtle, but a very effective strategy of arrangement by H. T. Burleigh.

Bibliography

Burleigh, H. T. “Little Mother of Mine.” CONTENTDM, 1917. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p15037coll1/id/6179.

Sears, Ann. “‘A Certain Strangeness’: Harry T. Burleigh’s Art Songs and Spiritual Arrangements.” Black Music Research Journal 24, no. 2 (2004): 227–49. https://doi.org/10.2307/4145492.

Footnotes

1“H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949),” The Library of Congress, accessed October 10, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035730.

2“H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949),” The Library of Congress, accessed October 10, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035730.

3“H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949),” The Library of Congress, accessed October 10, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035730.

4 Ann Sears, “‘A Certain Strangeness’: Harry T. Burleigh’s Art Songs and Spiritual Arrangements.” Black Music Research Journal 24, no. 2 (2004): 227–49. https://doi.org/10.2307/4145492.

5Ann Sears, “‘A Certain Strangeness’: Harry T. Burleigh’s Art Songs and Spiritual Arrangements.” Black Music Research Journal 24, no. 2 (2004): 227–49. https://doi.org/10.2307/4145492.

William Dawson, America’s symphonic one hit wonder

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Ian Snider

American-composed classical music is mostly a myth. This is because of the European teachings which influenced most of America’s largest composers. Even though there is a rich and vibrant community of folk musicians, there used to be no music besides the group of followers that Davořák had grown. One of the first major original American symphony compositions was created by a black composer William Dawson, and was premiered just under a year after Davořák’s New World Symphony premiered. Dawsons Negro Folk Symphony was a huge success and received an enormous standing ovation after its premiere in Carnegie Hall ¹. William Dawson’s legacy is being a choir director at Tuskegee University ². Dawson received his education at Tuskegee as well as founded its music department in 1931 ⁴.

³
After the premiere of his Negro Folk Symphony, Dawson decided to focus on his career at Tuskegee University and work on its choral program as he continued to compose and arrange pieces for his choirs. During this time, he continued to push for black composers and pushed a narrative of black empowerment:

I have’ never doubted the possibilities of our music, for I feel that buried in the South is music that somebody, some day, will discover. They will make another great music out of the folksongs of the South. I feel from the bottom of my heart that it will rank one day with the music of Brahms and the Russian composers ¹

Dawson took direct inspiration from African-American spirituals and other forms of African-American music to create a symphony for the culture he knew. Another African-American composer at this time was Florence Price. Her compositions took more of a European aspect because of the composition education she received ¹.

William Dawson’s symphonic career was short-lived because of the lack of further compositions ¹. He has formed a lasting impact on the African-American community with the founding of Tuskegee University’s music program, which continues to benefit young musicians from all over the United States ².

—

1 BROWN, GWYNNE KUHNER. 2012. “Whatever Happened to William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony?” Journal of the Society for American Music 6 (4): 433–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752196312000351. Accessed October 4th, 2023

2 “Founder’s Day at Tuskegee Institute Sunday, April 4.” Capitol Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas) 1, no. 29, April 4, 1937: PAGE EIGHT. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12ACD7F5186B1E69%40EANAAA-12C55C2E116B2EC8%402428628-12C55C2E55C768B0%407-12C55C2FA4B97D40%40Founder%2527s%2BDay%2Bat%2BTuskegee%2BInstitute%2BSunday%252C%2BApril%2B4. Accessed October 4th, 2023

3 “A TUSKEGEE SYMPHONY – Stokowski to Present Dawson’s Pioneer Work on Negro Themes.” New York Times, November 18, 1934. https://nyti.ms/3Q4Ezyb.

4 Huizenga, Tom. “Someone Finally Remembered William Dawson’s ‘Negro Folk Symphony’.” NPR, June 26, 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2020/06/26/883011513/someone-finally-remembered-william-dawsons-negro-folk-symphony. Accessed October 8th, 2023

Horowitz, Joeseph. 2022. DovořáK’s Prophecy: And the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music. New Yourk: W.W. Norton & Company.

The truth behind Minstrel shows

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Leigha Daniels

Before we dive into Minstrel shows and what they exactly are, we should take a look at the history of the word “Minstrel” and its multiple meanings. I think it is important that we educate ourselves and others and learn the true history behind these shows and their meaning. In Hebrew, a minstrel is a player of a stringed instrument. There are references in the Book of Samuel of David as a minstrel playing for Saul.¹

A little bit later, we find that a minstrel is a medieval poet and musician who sang or recited while accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, either as a member of a noble household or as an itinerant troubadour. As you can see, there are many different definitions of minstrel and how it truly hasn’t changed very much over many centuries. ²

Then we reach the early 1830’s and we find that there are performances called Minstrel shows. “The first minstrel shows were performed in 1830s New York by white performers with blackened faces (most used burnt cork or shoe polish) and tattered clothing who imitated and mimicked enslaved Africans on Southern plantations. These performances characterized blacks as lazy, ignorant, superstitious, hypersexual, and prone to thievery and cowardice.” ³It is important to note that when the word “Minstrel” originated, that person or persons were not being used to humiliate an entire race. We also need to be educated that the word “Minstrel” had not become popular with the definition of blackface until the 1800’s.

Continuing with blackface in the 1800’s, this small clip from a newspaper article in 1856 is quite the shocker. The parts that stood out to me were how “cheap” the entries to the shows were and that they essentially happened daily. The specific group that was performing that night were called the Campbell Minstrels and a few songs from their set lists include: “Darkies on the levee,” “Old Dan Tucker,” “Gold versus postage stamps,” and plantation scenes.

⁴

1“What Does Minstrel Mean? Bible Definition and References.” biblestudytools.com. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/minstrel/.

2Collins online dictionary | definitions, thesaurus and translations. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/.

3“Blackface: The Birth of an American Stereotype.” National Museum of African American History and Culture, November 22, 2017. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/blackface-birth-american-stereotype.

4
“Advertisement.” New Orleans Daily Creole (New Orleans, Louisiana), November 20, 1856: 3. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A11B849020C1891B3%40EANAAA-11B95E54DF497DB0%402399274-11B86D1545DDADB0%402-1211B25BB46A165B%40Advertisement.

Spirituals as Advocacy

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Katya Jarmulowicz

H. T. Burleigh composed beloved arrangements of Black spirituals for voice and piano, and as a result became one of the most well known Black composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.¹As an influential proponent of the development of the spiritual as an art genre, much of his beliefs and practices legitimized Black folk music within the classical music tradition.²In addition to a prolific compositional career, he had an extensive career as a vocalist and performed internationally.³

“Deep River” arrangement for voice and piano; by H.T. Burleigh ⁷

During Burleigh’s life, Black-face minstrelsy was the most prominent form of entertainment in popular culture.⁴Minstrel shows are unquestionably racist and dehumanizing towards Black people, featuring a combination of expropriated folk music and dance performed by demeaning caricatures. In his edition of “Deep River,” Burleigh comments on the ability of spirituals, when performed well, to express hope, faith, and justice.⁵Additionally, he acknowledges the prevalence of Blackface minstrelsy and warns against the use of the spiritual in a way that is an inappropriate imitation of vocal inflection and body language for the sake of racially extortive humor.⁶

H.T. Burleigh, “Deep River” preface ⁹

Not only were spirituals a way to uplift the Black community and counter the damage being done through minstrelsy, but their ability to empower was recognized and used to advocate for other groups as well. An example of the use of the Black spiritual as a means for advocacy is the work of Paul Robeson, who spoke out on the behalf of the lower class and other marginalized groups. ⁸It seems as though the development of spirituals as art songs coincided with the practice of minstrelsy. However, minstrelsy expropriated black folk songs as a method of dehumanizing and profiting from the marginalization of Black people, while Burleigh’s work with Spirituals helped to legitimize Black folk music and empower other marginalized communities.

1 Dickinson, Peter, H. Wiley Hitchcock, and Keith E. Clifton. “Art song in the United States.” Grove Music Online. 25 Jul. 2013; Accessed 5 Oct. 2023. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002240068.

2 Bell, Danna. 2018. “Link to the Library of Congress: Harry T. Burleigh—The Man Who Brought African-American Spirituals to the Classical Stage.” Music Educators Journal 104 (4): 9–11. doi:10.1177/0027432118767819.

3 Ibid.

4 Lott, Eric, and Greil Marcus. Love and theft: Blackface minstrelsy and the American working class. Oxford University Press, 2013.

5 “Deep River : Old Negro Melody / Arranged by H.T. Burleigh.” Omeka RSS. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/collections/item/34006.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Riis, Thomas. “Robeson, Paul.” Grove Music Online. 31 Jan. 2014; Accessed 6 Oct. 2023. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002257958.

9 Ibid.

Black AND White Spirituals

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Connor Bitterman

We all know what a spiritual is, or at least have heard a spiritual being sung. That is because spirituals are identified in many different contexts; religious songs, folk songs, traditional songs, to name a few. When reading George Cullen Jackson’s article titled “White and Negro Spirituals (1943),”¹I was amazed to discover that “the white people once sang spirituals, and still sing them-some of the very same songs as those sung by the black folk (page 1)” at nearly the same time as each other.

“Traced the white man’s tunes back to a still more remote emergence, in the British Isles where possible and in a secular song environment. For I have felt sure that singers in the Old World would be fairly free, in those early times, from the suspicion of having been influenced by the singing of American slaves (page 265).”²

These “Old World” tunes, as he calls them, were transferred from the British Isles to America. However, many of these tunes also transformed into new spirituals with different meanings as before.

“Swing low, sweet chariot” Spiritual. This composition was arranged by H.T. Burleigh³

Take “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”³ for example. Jackson’s studies discover that the ‘Bailiff’s Daughter” pattern linked from the British Isle can be heard in this Black American spiritual. Now this doesn’t mean that anyone is at fault for “copying” the work’s of other races with context to this scenario. I state this because even though these two tunes have similar structures and characteristics, they also have completely different sounds and meanings.

After listening to the recording of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,”⁴ the first thing I realized is how different this sounds compared to a European religious spiritual. Where a catholic spiritual would likely be arranged in SATB singing structured chords resulting in a timed cadence, this recording not only consists of a male vocal group, but also elongates each chord as long as they felt was needed. The harmonies blend well into each other, and create a sort of African smoothness from their style. There seems to be no western classical notation instructed, because this spiritual wasn’t meant to be strict in the harmony or structure of religion in European context – regardless of the many different interpretations of the origins of this composition, all fall into the central theme of slaves being hopeful for days of freedom, whether that be freedom from slavery, or freedom into heaven.⁵

Over the centuries that this American tune has been circulating, many arrangements have been presented, like this video of The Tabernacle Choir singing the same spiritual.⁶ Over the centuries that this American tune has been circulating, many arrangements have been presented, like this video of The Tabernacle Choir. Notice how it is sung in a completely different style. This alteration gives light to different experiences of the vocalists, those who simply did not sing this spiritual out of hope for better days. This does not discredit any performance of this piece, but rather circles back to the original point being made that different races and backgrounds have and continue to sing the spirituals of other races and backgrounds to this day. Think of this as sampling: artists take old songs and material to shed new light on it, and create a whole new perspective. We can apply the same ideas to that of spirituals, instead of playing a constant “this versus that” when it comes to the music we listen to and perform.

1 Hustvedt, S. B., and George Pullen Jackson. “White and Negro Spirituals: Their Life Span and Kinship.” California Folklore Quarterly 4, no. 4 (1945): 265–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/1495642.

2 Hustvedt, S. B., and George Pullen Jackson. “White and Negro Spirituals: Their Life Span and Kinship.” California Folklore Quarterly 4, no. 4 (1945): 265–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/1495642.

3 Burleigh, H.T., ed. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot : Negro Spiritual. [High].” CONTENTDM. Accessed October 5, 2023. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p15037coll1/id/5403.

4 Brown, Leroy, Tuskegee Institute Singers, Alvin J Neely, Charles Edward Clayton, Alfred Taylor, William P Smith, William J Williams, and William Wiley. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. 1916. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-14854/.

5 Anderson, Toni P. “Swing low, Sweet Chariot”—the Fisk University Jubilee Quartet (1909). Accessed October 5, 2023. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Swing%20Low%20article.pdf.

6 The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot The Tablernacle Choir.” Youtube video, 2:02. January 15, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCMBFvhGEHs

The American Music Family Tree

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Aiden Kocian

Pop punk, roll-the-dice improvisation, break core, and hyper pop are just a few of the niche genres of music that are taking American youth by storm. However, few stop to think about how we got to this age of new genres being synthesized on an annual basis- where did this music truly come from?

The answer is ultimately pretty cut and dry- black people have created, either directly or indirectly, every single genre of American music. The American Music Family Tree¹ starts with music of African American origin in its roots and extends out to more modern genres at its branches, all derived from its roots.

The evolution of African American Music (#infographic) | bluesyemre

This is not a new notion, however. All the way back in 1893, African American people all over the nation were waking up to the notion that the music around them had been co-opted and repackaged into something “new” by white people. In the Cleaveland Gazette’s 1893² article “Dr. Dvorak On The Right Track” the editor cites that “about all the American Music we have is furnished by in these same “Negro” melodies.” In tandem with this claim, the author mentions Dvorak’s prophecy before it was actually called Dvorak’s prophecy. Dvorak claimed, in essence, that the experiment of American music (which he was tasked as a white person coming all the way from Europe to create) would not succeed unless it incorporated and gave due regard to the musical traditions around itself.

Unfortunately, today music is still being co-opted and not being given due regard by white musicians and listeners alike. In Vince Dixon’s 2011³ article concerning this topic, tragic ironies are outlined like slave owners learning banjo from their slaves, or ragtime being considered offensive by white people before it was co-opted and turned repackaged into more popular and palatable genres for white people. We have this information now of a pattern of abuse in our American musical canon- and we have the means by which to recognize and change our patterns of behavior. As Dvorak said, the ongoing experiment of American music will fail if we don’t- whether or not we’re 130 years on from his prophecy.

Bluesyemre, 9 June 2020, bluesyemre.com/2020/06/09/the-evolution-of-african-american-music-infographic/.US/se/ID_No/429107/Product.aspx4

“User Account: Readex.” User Account | Readex, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&sort=YMD_date%3AA&fld-base-0=alltext&val-base-0=%22American+Music%22&val-database-0=&fld-database-0=database&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=&docref=image%2Fv2%3A12B716FE88B82998%40EANAAA-12C2B6D224650FF8%402412618-12C106450CC13688%401-12DAC74F0C2567D0%40Dr.%2BDvorak%2BOn%2BThe%2BRight%2BTrack&firsthit=yes. Accessed 5 Oct. 2023.US/se/ID_No/429107/Product.aspx4

Vince Dixon. “How Black People Created Every Music Genre in America.” Vince Dixon Portfolio, vincedixonportfolio.com/app/black-music-history/#:~:text=Family%20Tree%20of%20American%20Music&text=The%20research%20shows%20that%20nearly,is%20a%20very%20flexible%20genre. Accessed 5 Oct. 2023.

Black Newspaper Critics and Bluegrass

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Mariana Rogan

In March of 1969, the Osborne Brothers, a bluegrass duo from Kentucky, released a record called “Yesterday, Today and the Osborne Brothers.” The album was half vintage, half contemporary bluegrass tunes, including re-recordings of the duo’s greatest hits. The same month, a review of this album appeared in The Minority Report, which was an underground African-American newspaper based in Dayton, OH. The reviewer, Mike Hitchcock, was writing during the time of the folk revival of the mid-20th century, and he notes this in the opening paragraph:

“The latest issue of Rolling Stone…is chock full of stuff about bands like Pogo,…Crosby, Nash and Stills, and the word from people on the West Coast is that country music is rapidly becoming where it is at.”¹

Hitchcock does clarify, though, that he doesn’t believe the Osborne Brothers are “happening” yet, and are rather on their way to reaping the benefits of this folk revival.² The review is framed as an early discovery of this up and coming group (though they had been well established in bluegrass as a genre), and credits the largely black readership of the newspaper with being a driving force in a bluegrass revival, due to the genre’s roots.

Bluegrass Discography: Viewing full record for Yesterday, today & the Osborne Brothers

Cover of ‘Yesterday, Today & the Osborne Brothers’

One of the main ways Hitchcock does this is through his emphasis on the live performance aspect of the genre of bluegrass. He recounts how one of the more traditional songs on the record is “the kind of thing you used to hear at the Ken-Mill when all the boys were too drunk to fight anymore and not drunk enough to go home and somebody would put a quarter in the request box…”³ Demonstrating the community aspect of this genre is how Hitchcock asserts it as popular and integral for his reader base, which are largely Black Midwesterners.

His focus on the communal roots of bluegrass music being evoked through traditional songs that are recorded for a commercial audience contrasts the condescending reaction to bluegrass from the wider public that he observes. The example given by Hitchcock involves general condescension at the University of Chicago Folk Festival, where bluegrass was described as “quaint and ethnic.”⁴ To Hitchcock, this is precisely the reason that although they are making progress towards popularity, bluegrass musicians are still largely not considered “hip.” He directly ties this to the socioeconomic and racialized origins of bluegrass when he asks the rhetorical question: “After all, what do [n-words] and hillbillies know about music?”⁵

In addressing the fact that bluegrass is a music traditionally enjoyed and made by Black people and poor White people, and yet is on the rise in universal popularity contrary to previous resistance at the idea, Hitchcock is documenting an important cultural dialogue around folk and popular music. We now craft arguments such as his to give equal stake in the popularity and commercial uses of bluegrass to all who were/are the originators and curators of the genre.

1“The Osborne Brothers. Buy a Nickel of Bluegrass Baby.” Minority Report (Dayton, Ohio) 1, no. 4, March 15, 1969: 5. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12A7ECD8048E2975%40EANAAA-12BA755320D4E840%402440296-12BA7553513015E0%404-12BA7553CDFFFFE8%40The%2BOsborne%2BBrothers.%2BBuy%2Ba%2BNickel%2Bof%2BBluegrass%2BBaby.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

Leontyne Price and Racism in Opera

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Rachel Dumont

Leontyne Price made her Metropolitan Opera debut in January 1961 as Leonora in Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore, pictured here.

Leontyne Price is known as the first Black leading performer in opera. She was the first Black prina donna to gain an international reputation and become a singing superstar in the world of opera. Born as Mary Violet Leontyne Price on February 10, 1927, she grew up singing in the church choir and only decided to pursue music after she graduated from the College of Education and Industrial Arts, now Central State University.¹ She then attended the Julliard School of Music and began her singing career on Broadway in 1952. She made her operatic debut in 1957 and continued traveling the world singing opera until 1985 when she switched to more recital work.² Her role in Verdi’s Aida remains her best-known work, and she is widely considered the most stunning Aida this world will ever see (see video below). Price was an incredibly accomplished artist and received numerous awards, including 20 Grammys, the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964), the Kennedy Center Honor (1980), the National Medal of the Arts (1985), and is a National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honoree. ³ Today, at age 96, she continues to inspire upcoming generations of Black classical musicians.

I found this snippet of a newspaper from the Kansas Whip in 1955 titled “Whites Help Welcome Negro Soprano Home”, describing the large mixed-race crowd that greeted Price for a benefit concert in her birth town of Laurel, Mississippi. ⁴ I found this title to be extremely diminishing of Price’s accomplishments as an artist – according to the snippet, it was the largest gathering of White and Black people in Laurel’s history. To title this as “Whites Help Welcome Negro Soprano Home” is centering White people once again in a story that should be centering Black voices and celebrating Price’s artistry and accomplishments. It reminded me of the conversations we have had in class about White saviorism and White guilt – once again, White people are making themselves the heroes of someone else’s story.

Article published in the Kansas Whip in Topeka, Kansas on April 1, 1955

We can only begin to comprehend the struggles that Price had to overcome as a Black woman in the opera industry, which is a racist and almost exclusively White-dominated industry to this day. Take the Met, for example. With a board of 45, only 3 managing directors are Black.⁵Bass-baritone Morris Robinson said in a New York Times article about representation in opera: “In 20 years, I’ve never been hired by a Black person; I’ve never been directed by a Black person; I’ve never had a Black C.E.O. of a company; I’ve never had a Black president of the board; I’ve never had a Black conductor,” Mr. Robinson said. “I don’t even have Black stage managers. None, not ever, for 20 years.”⁶

Representation in opera is still a huge issue today and racism is prevalent, especially considering the mostly old and white audience that opera attracts. Hopefully, as time goes on, we will center Black artists in the world of opera. Artists like Leontyne Price are an inspiration, but also a reminder of how far we still have to go to achieve equity in the world of opera.

“I am here and you will know that I am the best and will hear me. The colour of my skin or the kink of my hair or the spread of my mouth has nothing to do with what you are listening to.” – Leontyne Price

1 Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Leontyne Price.” Encyclopedia Britannica, October 3, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leontyne-Price.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 “Whites Help Welcome Negro Soprano Home.” Kansas Whip (Topeka, Kansas) 18, no. 44, April 1, 1955: [1]. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12ACD9E685B77CD5%40EANAAA-12C5FD6F41BAB7F0%402435199-12C5FD6F493F5AF8%401-12C5FD6F72CA74E8.

5 Barone, Joshua. “Opera Can No Longer Ignore Its Race Problem.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 July 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/arts/music/opera-race-representation.html.

6 Ibid.

Florence Price – Pioneer or Archetype?

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Nathaniel Johnson

Florence Price was a composer in the early 1900s in the United States. She is often remembered for persevering against prejudice (being a black female composer), working to find her niche in the post-Dvorak American Music scene, composing along side peers such as Dawson, Burlesque, and others.¹

As seen in this clipping from the Plaindealer (an African American newspaper from Kentucky) from 1934, Price enjoyed a fairly high deal of synchronic success²
. Marion Andersson famously sang one of her arrangements of a spiritual on the steps of the Lincoln center in front of an audience of thousands.³

While it is true that Price’s existence as a black female composer put her in the face of a considerable deal of adversity (Price at one point had to write letters that explicitly asked conductors to evaluate her music without regards to her race or sex), it is also important to evaluate her objectively as a composer and see in what ways her work fit into the pattern of composition surrounding her time⁴
. Just as composers like Mussorgsky or Stravinsky were drawing on folk traditions from their own countries, so too was Price using the American folk tradition she knew as a launch point for her own idiosyncratic style. In terms of harmonic style and phrasing, her first symphony is compared to Tchaikovsky and is dripping with 19th century European tropes.

So as we appreciate the unique position of Price, one of a few— if not the only notable female composer of color from her time, we must be careful not to over-essentialize her position, and do as she says: evaluate her objectively and appreciate her position among her contemporaries.

1 Davis, Lizzie. “The Inspirational Life of Composer Florence Price – and Why Her Story Still Matters Today.” Classic FM, Classic FM, 2 Feb. 2022, www.classicfm.com/discover-music/florence-price/.

2 “Mme. Evanti Praises Race Composer.” Plaindealer (Kansas City, Kansas) XXXVI, no. 41, October 12, 1934: 6. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12ACD7C7734164EC%40EANAAA-12C188C7B81DCC88%402427723-12C188C8027A3378%405-12C188C9427D9E78%40Mme.%2BEvanti%2BPraises%2BRace%2BComposer.

3 Ross, Alex. “The Rediscovery of Florence Price.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2018, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/the-rediscovery-of-florence-price.

4 Ege, Samantha. (2018). Florence Price and the Politics of Her Existence. Kapralova Society Journal. 16.

Representations of Minstrelsy in the Americas

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Joanna Perez

PFOP: 'Welby and Pearl' a minstrel act with local roots

Minstrelsy is ¹“the form of entertainment associated with minstrel shows, featuring songs, dances, and formulaic comic routines based on stereotyped depictions of African Americans and typically performed by white actors with blackened faces,” as defined by Oxford Languages.

Seeing the history of minstrelsy emerge in America beginning in the 1830’s in the Northeastern states was just another racist blow directed to people of color, specifically African Americans. The hatred was portrayed as a “national artform” expanding to even operatic shows by appealing to the intended white audience.²

It is also important to know that minstrelsy was not limited to only America, but Latin America was exposed to it as well. It can be observed that ¹“American blackface minstrels began to perform for local audiences in Buenos Aires between 1868 and 1873” (Adamovsky, 2021).

The reasoning behind this takes into account the slave trade going mainly to parts of America and South America and spreading inward. The artforms of theatre, opera, and dance found a common ground for the white audience to ridicule the black folk regardless of if they were free or not. Thus creating a race barrier for any person of African descent living in the Americas since the emergence of minstrelsy and progress of slavery.

The incorporation of Shakespeare’s minstrelsy seen in the nineteenth century productions as well shows the crossing of time relative borders of racism and does not come as a surprise as it incorporated swing music and African American culture that was catered to the exclusively white audience. As continued in one of the productions Swingin’ he Dream, ³“the only hint of non-Anglo ethnicity is a Latin American chanteuse who plays the bad girl role of Kyser’s would-be seducer” (Lanier). The inclusion of people of color as the weaker party submissive to the white superior only ties back to the roots of slavery.⁴

¹Adamovsky, Ezequiel. “Blackface minstrelsy en Buenos Aires: Las actuaciones de Albert Phillips en 1868 y las visitas de los Christy’s Minstrels en 1869, 1871 y 1873 (y una discusión sobre su impacto en la cultura local).” Latin American Theatre Review 55, no. 1 (2021): 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1353/ltr.2021.0027.

²Haines, Kathryn. n.d. “Guides: Blackface Minstrelsy Resources: Blackface in Other Cultures.” Pitt.libguides.com. Accessed October 5, 2023. https://pitt.libguides.com/c.php?g=935570&p=6831076.

³Lanier, Douglas. 2005. “Minstrelsy, Jazz, Rap: Shakespeare, African American Music, and Cultural Legitimation.” Borrowers and Lenders I (1).

⁴McMains, Juliet. “Brownface: Representations of Latin-Ness in Dancesport.” Dance Research Journal 33, no. 2 (2001): 54–71. https://doi.org/10.2307/1477804.

Evolution of Black Gospel Music in the 20th Century

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Eli Schrubbe

During a Sunday service at the National Pentecostal Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, a gospel choir leads the crowd in song. Photo by Dieter Telemans/Panos ⁴

“Gospel Music,” a specific genre of sacred American black music, reached its peak in the second half of the nineteenth century. Some of its musical predecessors include “white Pentecostal hymns, slave songs, spirituals, work songs, and evangelistic congregational songs from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.” Gospel music has advanced by embracing musical ideas and “expressions from genres including the blues, jazz, rock, soul, classical, and country.” (Beatrice Irene 2014) Thomas A. Dorsey, dubbed “The Father of Gospel Music,” brought blues and jazz to black and white gospel songs, white evangelical hymns, and other genres even though he wasn’t the first to compose gospel songs.¹

Gospel tunes from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries started to take the place of slave songs and spirituals owing to the work of composers like Charles Tindley, Lucie Campbell, and Dr. Isaac Watts² . They “gospelized” traditional tunes by introducing African American music style, such as flattened notes, altered rhythmic pulses, and pentatonic scales. Many of Charles Tindley’s melodies were written in pentatonic scales, and, according to gospel music specialist Dr. Horace Clarence Boyer, he left leeway “for the interpolation of flatted thirds and sevenths” (Horace Clarence) in both his melodic lines and harmonic structures. Additionally, Tindley left room in his compositions for improvised language and rhythm. Thomas Dorsey advanced this by gradually merging the performance of black holy music with blues performance elements.²

Gospel singer and scholar, Horace C. Boyer, offered an explanation for how the sacred and secular gospels came to be recognized as separate categories.³ Black Americans who had never heard gospel music or had just chosen to disapprove of it for whatever reason began to support it, but not in churches. Black middle-class Americans suddenly found it highly fashionable to buy gospel CDs and watch gospel-music singers on television, even though going to concerts was still frowned upon² . Furthermore, non-blacks held the opinion that because they view gospel singing as an “act,” it belongs in nightclubs where other entertainers also perform. ²

We can see this type of secular change in a 1969 Milwaukee Newspaper 1, when ABC-TV broadcasts the special program, The Folk Gospel Music Festival, the spectacle and emotionally “charged excitement of the best in contemporary gospel music”(Milwaukee Star 1969) will be broadcast on network television. Featuring many of the top gospel artists and figures of the time, including the inspirational Clara Walker and the Gospel Redeemers, the Staple Singers, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Mahalla Jackson. As part of the Harlem Cultural Festival in New York City, “The Folk Gospel Music Festival” was recorded during an outdoor performance in front of 70,000 spectators.1

1 Pate, Beatrice Irene. 2014. “Southern Black Gospel Music: Qualitative Look at Quartet Sound during the Gospel ‘Boom’ Period of 1940-1960.” Order No. 1568090, Liberty University. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/southern-black-gospel-music-qualitative-look-at/docview/1609004829/se-2.

2 Boyer, Horace Clarence. “Contemporary Gospel Music.” The Black Perspective in Music 7, no. 1 (1979): 5–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/1214427.

3 Milwaukee Star (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) VIII, no. 18, September 6, 1969: Page [1]. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12A7AE31A7B3CA6B%40EANAAA-12BE206EFAC5BEF0%402440471-12BE206F06AEFFA0%400.

4 Aeonmag. “Why Repetition Can Turn Almost Anything into Music: Aeon Essays.” Aeon, aeon.co/essays/why-repetition-can-turn-almost-anything-into-music. Accessed 10 Oct. 2023.

Music as a Tool for Change: Black Music Opportunities in the Early 20th Century

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Thomas McCarthy

As I was searching for sources to write about this week, I stumbled upon “The Appeal,” which was a moderately successful African-American Newspaper for nearly four decades until 1923, based out of St. Paul, Minnesota. African-American Newspapers were newspapers published specifically for black communities in the 19th and 20th centuries. At the time “The Appeal” was founded, there were only around 1500 black people in the twin-cities area.¹ Because of this, “The Appeal” was targeted to a much larger demographic than just black residents in Minnesota, and became popular throughout the country.

While I was searching for music related topics within “The Appeal,” I noticed something interesting. By 1906, the New England Conservatory had started advertising in nearly every issue of “The Appeal.”² This suggests that by 1906 at the latest, the New England Conservatory was seeking out black students to study music on the east coast. This is particularly notable given that many colleges wouldn’t even enroll black students until much later in the 20th century. St. Olaf’s first black graduate was in 1935, Princeton’s was in 1947, and University of Alabama’s wasn’t until 1965. The New England Conservatory’s first black graduate was Rachel M. Washington, who graduated in 1872, just five years after the conservatory was founded.³ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife Coretta Scott King was also a graduate of the New England Conservatory much more recently in history.

Another article from “The Appeal” highlights the work of Bob Cole and the Johnson Brothers.⁴ Rosamond Johnson also graduated from the New England Conservatory, while his brother James was a graduate of Atlanta University and a recipient of a doctorate from Colombia according to “The Appeal.” James wrote the lyrics and Rosamond composed the music of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which is known today as the “Black National Anthem.”

Bob Cole partnered with the Johsnon brothers to create their own vaudeville act. Their entertaining pop music is the focus of a column in “The Appeal.” Cole and the Johsnon Brothers took advantage of a society that was obsessed with Minstrelsy and black entertainment, and produced music that fought against the pejorative and negative stereotypes usually portrayed in the genre. All three men were early civil rights activists, and they used music to express their views in a way that white audiences wanted to engage with.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were not many opportunities for black people to achieve upward social mobility in the white-supremacist framework of the United States. However, with minstrelsy and black music in such high demand, many black people were able to use music to gain an education, a livelihood, and further their political messages. In the years immediately after the reconstruction, music was a driving factor towards equality for black people in America.

1 Hornsby, Alton. Black America: A state-by-state historical encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2011.

2 “Advertisement.” Appeal (St. Paul, Minnesota) 22, no. 21, May 26, 1906: [2]. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12B3C3588A28E808%40EANAAA-12CFF03DDE530BD8%402417357-12CFF03DF95260A0%401-12CFF03EA3EA65A0%40Advertisement.

3 “From the Archives: A Celebration of NEC’s African American Legacy (Part I).” New England Conservatory. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://necmusic.edu/news/archives-celebration-necs-african-american-legacy-part-i.

Conceptions about Minstrel Shows

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Noah Schilbe

Minstrel shows are most commonly known as a performance in which black culture is represented with an extreme amount of negative stereotyping. Blackface, the practice of having a white man imitate the skin tone of an African American through the use of burned cork makeup, is presented as one of the greatest demonstrations of bad taste and racist portrayals, and often as a defining feature of these performances. However, it is easy to forget that the reality was far more nuanced.

A snippet from the New York Globe newspaper, December 22 in 1883.

As this snippet from a prominent newspaper of the time shows, it was quite often that African Americans performed in minstrel shows. Gustav Frohman was a prominent theater manager, specializing in minstrel shows, and operated one of the most successful black performance troupes of the 19th century. In his remarks to the newspaper, it can be seen that he identifies that few opportunities for African Americans exist, and that his sentiment is to give as many opportunities out as possible.

Of course, it is difficult to know if this is what he truly believes or if he is doing a variation of virtue signaling by saying that providing opportunities is important despite what he truly believes. However, the presence of such a statement in a significant newspaper indicates that such things were important to at least a not insignificant amount of people. Otherwise, why would it be in such a large publication?

Statements like these perhaps contain the notion that these shows are a good thing, as they provide opportunities that would not otherwise exist and allow for the chance to demonstrate skills. Either way, in looking back on a practice that is considered to be very distasteful today, it is valuable to consider such statements, especially those in public view, and imagine what the public perception of the event must have been, unbiased by our modern assertions.

Citations:

“Mr. Gustav Frohman.” New York Globe (New York, New York), December 22, 1883: 4. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com.

The Legacy of The Southern Syncopated Orchestra

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Rachel Christensen

Review of a minstrel show at Orchestra Hall in Chicago.¹

This review published in Chicago, Illinois details the experience of someone who went to see the New York Syncopated Orchestra which became known as the Southern Syncopated Orchestra. Made up of 27 black musicians and 19 singers, this orchestra primarily performed jazz music as well as classical music, rag tunes, blues, and slave songs.² They were primarily known for bringing black musicians to the United Kingdom.³ They introduced jazz to Europe “years before the music saw its heyday and even played at Buckingham Palace for George V.”⁴ They achieved great success in the UK and America.

Southern Syncopated Orchestra : London Remembers, Aiming to capture all memorials in London

Souther Syncopated Orchestra in the UK.⁵

The published review of this orchestra explained how this performance was not advertised, so the audience was rather slim. The reviewer explains that those in attendance had a good time and expects that the next time this orchestra is in town, the audience will surly be jam packed. The reviewer continues by detailing every instrument and performance the orchestra gave. As far as the quartets that sang, “not since the days of Fisk’s Cantors” had he heard anything quite as good, and the “timpany-boy” was a “revelation.”⁶ He details the quality of the performance as “distinctly good,” “the strings were in tune, and of fine tone,” and “pitch was the middle-name of all those who took part.”⁷ Overall, this reviewer had nothing but positive comments about the Southern Syncopated Orchestra.

The SSO achieved great success in their significant, yet short run. Only a few photos survived from their time, but their music was never recorded and “their legacy is now largely forgotten.”⁸ The SSO met an tragic fate while traveling from Scotland to Ireland, their ship crashed with two others and they lost eight members of their orchestra. The SSO only survived from 1919 to 1921, yet they were pioneers of American jazz music and were some of the firsts to bring it to the international stage.

Bibliography

“Good Minstrels.” Broad Ax, 1919, p. 6. African American Newspapers, Accessed October 4, 2023.

Dome, Brighton. “Jazz Pioneers: The Southern Syncopated Orchestra / Brighton Dome.” Jazz Pioneers: The Southern Syncopated Orchestra / Brighton Dome. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://brightondome.org/news_blog/southern_syncopated_orchestra/.

Rye, Howard. “Southern Syncopated Orchestra.” African American Studies Center, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.47655.

“Southern Syncopated Orchestra.” London Remembers. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/southern-syncopated-orchestra.

Footnotes

1 Broad Ax. “Good Minstrels.” African American Newspapers, Accessed October 4, 2023.

2 Howard Rye, “Southern Syncopated Orchestra,” African American Studies Center, 2007, https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.47655.

3 Howard Rye, “Southern Syncopated Orchestra,” African American Studies Center, 2007, https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.47655.

4 “Southern Syncopated Orchestra,” London Remembers, accessed October 4, 2023, https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/southern-syncopated-orchestra.

5 “Southern Syncopated Orchestra,” London Remembers, accessed October 4, 2023, https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/southern-syncopated-orchestra.

6 Broad Ax. “Good Minstrels.” African American Newspapers, Accessed October 4, 2023.

7 Broad Ax. “Good Minstrels.” African American Newspapers, Accessed October 4, 2023.

8 Brighton Dome, “Jazz Pioneers: The Southern Syncopated Orchestra / Brighton Dome,” Jazz Pioneers: The Southern Syncopated Orchestra / Brighton Dome, accessed October 4, 2023, https://brightondome.org/news_blog/southern_syncopated_orchestra/.

The Ethical Question of being a ‘Jazz Ambassador’

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Lucas Jindra

Jazz came out of enslaved Africans brought to America against their will, where a combination of many factors led to the creation of a particular music. African music became a single identity, since many were stripped of their previous and distinct African cultures.¹ Jazz in Europe, then, could be thought of as a music out of its homeland.

After WWII, however, jazz flourished throughout Europe especially after many toured as ‘Jazz Ambassadors.’² Louis Armstrong himself (shown the newspaper article below) faced a dilemma in the midst of the Cold War: Should he work for the US in making allies with the Soviet Union? Should he be proud of the US, a country which did unbelievable harm to his people? Armstrong struggled with this publicly and likely because of it, never went to tour Europe under the US State Department.³ However, others like him did.⁴

Duke Ellington was one of those who did go to Europe in 1963 under the State Department. The attached recording⁵
shows Alice Babs, a Swedish singer, soloing during one of Ellington’s shows. Shows like this were what the US wanted other countries to see: Equality and desegregation, especially when many different types of segregation were in play in areas like East Germany at the time. Even in an era of segregation, the US wanted to show (perhaps falsely) that they were more or less an ideal society compared to Russia and other Eastern European countries. Because of this show and many more like this, Europe got a biased view of racial identity and music in the US, and it is possibly a reason that jazz flourished in Europe after World War II.⁶

It’s particularly interesting that jazz was formed through a certain set of very sad and unique circumstances, yet, it was never broadcasted in that way. When brought over to a land where there still are acts of racist inequalities, although perhaps less talked about, an interesting case is set up to analyze the music’s development. The spread of jazz under US government support is another question for thought in a world of complexities.

1. Jones, Leroy. “Blues People.” William Morrow and Company, New York. 1963

2. Beliar, Felix. “United States has a Secret Weapon–Jazz”. The New York Times https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/11/06/93808557.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0

3. “Sathmo Tells us off Ike, US! Armstrong Blasts Bias in America”. Pittsburgh Courier, 28 September, 1957

4. Jenks, J.P. Jazz dIplomacy: Then and Now. US Department of State. 30 April 2021 https://www.state.gov/dipnote-u-s-department-of-state-official-blog/jazz-diplomacy-then-and-now#:~:text=Jazz%20Ambassador%20heroes%20included%20Quincy,just%20to%20name%20a%20few.

5 PJJ. “Take it Easy – ALice Babs – Duke Ellington – 1963”, Youtube, 2:45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXm1SawjacI

6. Liebman, David. “Europe and its Role in Jazz” https://davidliebman.com/home/ed_articles/europe-and-its-role-in-jazz/

Minstrel Shows: An American Institution

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Zachary Buerger

Rossiter, Harold. 1921. How to Put on a Minstrel Show. ‌

From the late 19th century throughout the early 20th century, minstrel shows were as American as apple pie. In his 1921 book, How to Put on a Minstrel Show, Harold Rossiter provides a standardized and systematic approach to organizing a Minstrel show, which only alludes to its popularity in the American eye. Minstrel shows were such an institution that there was an established process to conducting one, from rehearsals to advertising. Rossiter discusses the canon of minstrel songs, and how to create a set list of songs to include. To further the notion of how dominant minstrel shows were in the sphere of American entertainment, he also recommends that organizers should treat minstrel shows much like a carnival: “I might add that a Minstrel Show that is ‘billed like a circus’ will nearly always be successful” (23)¹. The fact that minstrel shows were so widespread that they necessitated common procedures cannot go understated.

Rossiter, Harold. 1921. How to Put on a Minstrel Show.

Rachel Sussman argues in “The Carnavalizing of Race” that this popularity stems from minstrel shows giving white people an escape from the pomp and circumstance of 19th century society. At these shows, white people were able to indulge their prejudices and biases with reckless abandon. The minstrel show “…was the predecessor to the broadway musical…”, and was considered American theater in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many even lovingly referred to it as “American National Opera” (80)². Racism was so central to the American identity that professing black inferiority could go as far as to be considered a thespian art. The American entertainment industry has continued to keep the black caricature in our cultural memory from Looney Tunes to Madea.

1Rossiter, Harold. 1921. How to Put on a Minstrel Show.

2Sussman, Rachel. “The Carnavalizing of Race.” Etnofoor 14, no. 2 (2001): 79–88. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25758014.

Works Cited

Rossiter, Harold. 1921. How to Put on a Minstrel Show.

Sussman, Rachel. “The Carnavalizing of Race.” Etnofoor 14, no. 2 (2001): 79–88. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25758014.

Rose, Steve. 2018. “Tyler Perry: The Creator of a Racial Stereotype or the Greatest Indie Film-Maker of All Time?” The Guardian. The Guardian. November 12, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/12/tyler-perry-madea-creator-of-a-racial-stereotype-or-the-greatest-indie-film-maker-ever.

‌

The Origins of Soul Music

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Carter Allen-Weyenberg

Getty Image. 1901. Photo of Margaret Murray Washington.

Black woman Margaret Murray Washington gave an address during the Louisiana Purchase exhibition, titled “The Songs of Our Fathers.” In this address, she demarcates soul music as “words and music voiced together with the deepest feelings.”¹This was in 1905, during a time when hearing the words of a black woman was not extremely common, even the article was stated to be written by ‘Mrs. Booker T. Washington is a white soldier. This was the earliest definition of soul music that I could find, from an African American source.

Soul music is an African-American genre established in the 1960s.³ It’s a fusion between Gospel, Jazz, Rhythm, and Blues. Many different singers across the genre attempt to achieve a spiritual ascendance. Big names like Ray Charles, Etta James, and Sam Cooke spearheaded the genre. Billboard topper “A Sunday Kind of Love”⁴ by Etta James, to me, represents the spirituality that soul music represents. Typical Christian denominations, that James subscribed to meet on Sunday. In the song she sings of wanting to meet a lover on Sunday, to keep her warm throughout the week. In my opinion, she’s talking about God here. Someone that you’re closest to on Sunday. Take a listen to the song below.

In the latter half of the 1960’s you can hear a marked difference in Soul music. The influence of gospel increased, but the influence of the blues fell. You hear a more distinctive Southern style; it becomes more rugged and less polished. As you hear in the recording by Etta James, it’s almost an aria sung by her while backed by a rhythm section. In this recording by James Brown “Out of Sight”⁵ you can hear a very large difference in how the two songs sound. This difference in sound is defined as “Mowtown.” The latter better signifies the soul scene in the 1970’s.

Although Soul Music is a relatively new genre, I have a feeling that it’s going to stay. We’ve got popular black artists pioneering the genre. Artists like Lauryn Hill and Mary J Blige are bringing it into pop culture. We’re getting gospel style music with secular lyrics. We see it all over the country too, places like New York, Chicago, and New Orleans are the first places that come to mind.

1 “The Songs of Our Fathers. An Address Delivered on Fisk Day during the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition.” <em>Plaindealer</em> (Topeka, Kansas) VII, no. 20, May 19, 1905: [3]. <em>Readex: African American Newspapers</em>. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12A7EF1A4AC47F2D%40EANAAA-12C8B913302F6748%402416985-12C8B9134BFB71A0%402-12C8B913A0F80C58%40The%2BSongs%2Bof%2BOur%2BFathers.%2BAn%2BAddress%2BDelivered%2Bon%2BFisk%2BDay%2Bduring%2Bthe%2BLouisiana%2BPurchase%2BExhibition.

2 Hampton, Riley. 2000. The Chess BoxGeffen. https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Crecorded_cd%7C714506.

3 Brackett, David. “Soul music.” Grove Music Online. 31 Jan. 2014; Accessed 3 Oct. 2023. https://www-oxfordmusiconline com.ezproxy.stolaf.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002257344.

4James, Etta. 1960. “Etta James – a Sunday Kind of Love.” Genius.com. 1960. https://genius.com/Etta-james-a-sunday-kind-of-love-lyrics.

5Lowe, Sammy. 2007. GoldPolydor. https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Crecorded_cd%7C694897.