{"id":5215,"date":"2021-09-28T02:13:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T07:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=5215"},"modified":"2021-10-07T00:44:50","modified_gmt":"2021-10-07T05:44:50","slug":"reverence-ignorance-or-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2021\/09\/28\/reverence-ignorance-or-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverence, Ignorance, or Danger"},"content":{"rendered":"

When approaching a musical tradition that I find unfamiliar, I hope to analyze that particular tradition with the reverence it deserves. Additionally,\u00a0 I aim to avoid making sweeping statements that describe this music in terms that fit only my personal musical experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s entry, I will examine some of the dangers of failing to do these actions within research through Reverend George H. Griffin\u2019s article \u201cThe Slave Music of the South,\u201d published in <\/span>The Musical Visitor, a Magazine of Musical Literature and Music <\/span><\/i>in February of 1885. It is important to note that even though this article is published years after slavery became illegal, the scars of its horrors were still fresh and did not dissipate immediately (if at all).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“The Slave Music of the South”<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

At first, when I stumbled onto this article, I was taken aback by the glowing praise of slave songs packed into such a short blurb. This author not only labels African American songs as exhibiting the \u201creal genius of music,\u201d but also describes their emotional power on all who experience it. However, after further contemplation, I find his language ultimately misleading and maybe even dangerous.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, Griffin begins with an examination of how the music of enslaved people feels to \u201coutside\u201d listeners. He introduces the concept of the \u201csoul of music\u201d and how this music provokes a \u201cresponsive thrill in every human breast.\u201d I find that\u00a0 beginning an article in this manner is interesting. In a lot of musical discourse, authors seem to dive into the sonic descriptions of the music they study before tackling the emotions that these sounds promote. For example,\u00a0 Griffin points to the hauntingly pure melody of <\/span>\u201cNobody Knows the Trouble I See.\u201d <\/span><\/a>\u00a0Ultimately, I think genius for Griffin seems to be primarily how the music makes him feel, not the way it sounds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The sound of a slave song, however, does contribute to Griffin\u2019s categorization of a \u201cgenius\u201d piece of music. Upon his listening, this author points to different aspects of African American song that co-exist with Western Classical ideals. These songs contain balanced and rich harmonies, interesting melodies, abrupt \u201cresolutions,\u201d expressive bass line, common tempo, and \u201cstrange points of emphasis put upon syllables and unexpected cadences in rhythm, which are well nigh unreducible to musical notation.\u201d Even though \u201c[n]o exhaustive analysis of slave music is here attempted,\u201d Griffin manages to describe this music in purely western musical terminology (e.g. \u201charmony,\u201d \u201cresolution,\u201d<\/span> ad libitum<\/span><\/i>) . The crux of his description is how all \u201cthe children of bondage knew nothing of the methods of the school\u201d\u00a0 This music sounds\u00a0 like \u201cgenius\u201d to Griffin because these European-esque characteristics appear in enslaved people\u2019s music without<\/em> a \u201cproper\u201d musical education.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite both of these problematic ideas, I found that Griffin\u2019s ending line made my stomach churn the most:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe sweetest utterance of the sacred poets of all the centuries have been those \u2018song in the night\u2019 that came forth from the bitterest experiences of human woe.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This line may seem bittersweet, because it sounds as though all beautiful creations come from absolute despair — then, \u201creal genius\u201d will manifest. I am somewhat surprised Griffen did not make a reference to ye olde Ludwig Van Beethoven at this moment. Anyway, what I find most troubling about this line is what is the audience supposed to do with this assertion. It seemingly justifies the horrors of slavery with reference to the beautiful music that resulted from the suffering of the enslaved. What are we supposed to do with this conclusion? These questions remind me of Mark Monmonier\u2019s article regarding the way scholarship (in this case, maps) can deceive and justify the unimaginable. Here, Monmonier references the way \u201cNazi propagandists also used facsimile maps to prove their opponents\u2019 treachery and justify Germany\u2019s advancing western front\u201d (Monmonier 104). I wonder if Griffin is subtly engaging in something similar–with intent, I am not sure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After sifting through this primary source, I include some questions that came up while writing this post:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Could an article praising the beauty, emotional power, and \u201cnaturally\u201d Western-ness\u00a0 of\u00a0 slave songs justify the actions of those participating in the horrid institution?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Is this an <\/span><\/span>article to alleviate white guilt?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Or was the purpose to canonize slave songs within Western Classical Music by pointing out the sonic similarities?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Leave a comment if you have some thoughts!<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Footnotes:<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Griffin, George H. “THE SLAVE MUSIC OF THE SOUTH.” <\/span>The Musical Visitor, a Magazine of Musical Literature and Music (1883-1897)<\/span><\/i>, 02, 1885. 35, <\/span>https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/magazines\/slave-music-south\/docview\/137490866\/se-2?accountid=351<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Monmonier, Mark S. How to Lie with Maps\u00a0 Third edition. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2018. <\/span>https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/0BxQzWOgr8AurY1lieTR4OUkyRWhvVVpoZDVsTDAwY3JuNlRF\/view?resourcekey=0-P–ubpi6ivwKxafR71b9xA<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cNobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.\u201d Streaming Audio. Recorded by Water Garrick. <\/span>U.S.A. South Negro Folklore Collection. <\/span><\/i>https:\/\/search.alexanderstreet.com\/view\/work\/bibliographic_entity%7Crecorded_cd%7C3561996<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When approaching a musical tradition that I find unfamiliar, I hope to analyze that particular tradition with the reverence it deserves. Additionally,\u00a0 I aim to avoid making sweeping statements that describe this music in terms that fit only my personal … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3503,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-1m7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3503"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5215"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5527,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215\/revisions\/5527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}