Even as Do you Like Brahms? is on almost everyone’s watchlist here on DB, one thing that has struck me is the fact that I’m using a Korean drama to learn about and appreciate Western classical music – the anomaly is not lost on me. (To be fair, though, I did also thoroughly enjoy the first season of Mozart in the Jungle, which is the other example I can think of of a drama that has western classical music as its central theme.)
Even earlier, I have wondered why some of the best contemporary exponents of the form are not necessarily – ethnically, at least, to use a politically sensitive term – from countries where the music was created: names that immediately come to mind are Yo-yo Ma, Lang Lang, Vanessa Mae. The one reason why that is the case I can think of is – migrant families seeking validation in western societies through a display of virtuosity in their music, combined with tiger parenting practices, will inevitably churn out geniuses like this. This is besides straightforward exposure to western classical music in the colonial era (which there are some fascinating examples of in Indian classical music too!). I’m sure there are more complex reasons than this, though.
Appropriately enough, along comes this article by Alex Ross in The New Yorker earlier today on the whiteness of classical music, and how that is and/or needs to change. This para stood out:
“At bottom, the entire music-education system rests upon the Schenkerian assumption that the Western tonality, with its major-minor harmony and its equal-tempered scale, is the master language. Vast tracts of the world’s music, from West African talking drums to Indonesian gamelan, fall outside that system, and African-American traditions have played in its interstices.”
pickleddragon
September 15, 2020 at 6:06 AM
Even as Do you Like Brahms? is on almost everyone’s watchlist here on DB, one thing that has struck me is the fact that I’m using a Korean drama to learn about and appreciate Western classical music – the anomaly is not lost on me. (To be fair, though, I did also thoroughly enjoy the first season of Mozart in the Jungle, which is the other example I can think of of a drama that has western classical music as its central theme.)
Even earlier, I have wondered why some of the best contemporary exponents of the form are not necessarily – ethnically, at least, to use a politically sensitive term – from countries where the music was created: names that immediately come to mind are Yo-yo Ma, Lang Lang, Vanessa Mae. The one reason why that is the case I can think of is – migrant families seeking validation in western societies through a display of virtuosity in their music, combined with tiger parenting practices, will inevitably churn out geniuses like this. This is besides straightforward exposure to western classical music in the colonial era (which there are some fascinating examples of in Indian classical music too!). I’m sure there are more complex reasons than this, though.
Appropriately enough, along comes this article by Alex Ross in The New Yorker earlier today on the whiteness of classical music, and how that is and/or needs to change. This para stood out:
“At bottom, the entire music-education system rests upon the Schenkerian assumption that the Western tonality, with its major-minor harmony and its equal-tempered scale, is the master language. Vast tracts of the world’s music, from West African talking drums to Indonesian gamelan, fall outside that system, and African-American traditions have played in its interstices.”
I would love to hear the thoughts of fellow beanies on this, including on if this widening net of performers has led to the “canon” being redefined, or reconstructed even, and if so, how?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/21/black-scholars-confront-white-supremacy-in-classical-music