Re-Fund the Music Education
There is a rich history of music out there that not written down. It was passed on from generation to generation. In Egypt, 1932, the Cairo Conference was held to establish standards for education and transmission of Arabic music. One of the big items of debate was the adoption of western notation practices. Umm Kulthum and the ensemble she traveled with did not read from sheet music, believing that reading notation would deprive the authenticity from the poetry. The traditional way to perform and express Arabic music was through memorization and rote. This touches on topics of personal memory and expression being infused into the conversation that a musician has with their audience. The griot of the Mande in Africa understand that there is power in words, and the bards of the content know that “speech is not in the hands of people, people are in the hands of speech.” Their poetry holds deep magic, and the written text translates virtually none of it. Meaning and inflection, context and pronunciation are often lost with interpretations of the reader. If they are attempting to perform the composition, the message can be completely lost.
This barrier for cultures that have learned to communicate through the technology of writing in concert with speech and performative expression with those that have developed through masters of storytelling and singing songs is the crux behind the infringement of power systems from one civilization to another. This disconnect holds the key to cultural bridges and is almost immediately recognized with the introduction of recorded sound. As soon as we developed ways to transport the written language of music through the medium of audio reproduction, those bridges of cultural gap begin to close. There is less language and interpretive loss of expression. While not perfect, this helped the world decolonize the ear from the notion that people without formal writing systems were savages, and their lack of extensive literary practices had any connection to their humanity and expression of the human spirit.
These spiritual, cultural, and historical accounts of musical expression from the Atlantic slave trade traveled continents and grew into new history. Eventually, through incredible hardship, these songs would evolve into gospel, spiritual, blues and rock n’ roll that would transform the voice of an entire country. The music of Egypt and the Arabic world adopted western notation styles and appropriated instruments, tonality, and western art music idioms, while maintain the tonal systems of the maqam and the 24-tone pitch systems. By maintaining their roots of expression, they would go on to unite the entire Arab world. Music transported from American G.I.s station in Japan after WWII were the bearers of the improvisational stylings of Jazz music. Young Japanese groups would spring up and adopt this genre, adding their own branding of experience, bringing the circle of philosophies around the globe through this amazing invention of recorded sound in tandem with performative style. There are many more examples of how music connects people beyond the written world and across language barriers.
The picture I am painting is how foreign cultural systems connect by adding music lexicons of understanding expression, creating a bridge of awareness through which we can begin to communicate. There is a social movement right now in conjunction with the “Black Lives Matters” conversation about changing the way we fund programs designed to help community safety, order, and education. I would like to make my own case for the enhancement of education for the arts. There are massive opportunities for the current civil rights protests to redirect how we approach equality, diversity, and liberty. The enrichment of our music and performing arts programs and education is a vital part of this effort. By teaching people about their own music heritage, and enhancing their understanding of others, they can build strong identities for personhood, and connect with the pride and history of another’s.
I don’t know how I ended up on a soapbox this morning, but I did. We are all very charged with opinions and ideas on how to make things better for everyone, and we are all immensely grateful for the opportunity to do so. If there is one thing that the tragedy of racism has brought us, it is a compelling reason to make the world a better place by replacing it with love and song. My place in the contribution is advocating for music, history, and finding your voice. I hope that in all of this, you can find yours.
Here some music from one of our great educators, Leonard Bernstein. Below is a link for “America”, from West Side Story. Enjoy, and as always, thanks for reading.