2020-21 School of Music EDIB Progress Report

Professor John Ferri will incorporate music either composed by, or performed by BIPOC musicians in his Music Theory courses. It is already part of the class to some extent, but this term will include greater representation. Examples this year include:

• High School Music Theory Singing Assignment: Let’s Get Together and Feel Alright (chorus) by Bob Marley
• Theory 3 Class: I’ve Got It Bad (Ellington) sung by Nina Simone
• Theory 1 Classes: Recordare: Verdi Requiem, performers are Leontyne Price and Janet Baker
• In HS and Theory 2 class: Two Songs by Kenneth Edmonds (Everytime I Close My Eyes, When Can I See You) for singing and harmonic analysis.
• In Theory 4: Excerpts from Scott Joplin to illustrate the following core concepts:
• Mode mixture
• Applied (i.e., secondary) Dominant chord function
• Rondo Form
• Common tone chromaticism
• Schenkerian Analysis Classes (Undergraduate and Graduate): Art Tatum Arrangements of Willow Weep for Me and Ain’t Misbehavin’ (chordal embellishment)

Jazz is a uniquely American art form which was born out of the African American experience, and many of its historical artists and pioneers have indeed been African American. The study of jazz has always included the major contributions of these individuals to the art form and their legacy. Professor Ron Rudkin has listed the musicians whose recordings and compositions the class will be studying, playing, listening to and discussing over the course of the fall semester. 

Jazz Performance Practice

• Count Basie
• Duke Ellington
• Billy Strayhorn
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Thad Jones
• Fletcher Henderson
• Quincy Jones
• Miles Davis
• Oliver Nelson
• Christian McBride
• Maria Schneider

Jazz Improvisation

• Miles Davis
• John Coltrane
• Cannonball Adderley
• Dexter Gordon
• Freddie Hubbard
• Sonny Rollins
• Clifford Brown
• Art Blakey
• Duke Ellington

In History of Musical Styles, Professor Michael Dodds has added the following composers in recent years: Chevalier de Saint George, Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, Florence Price, George Walker, Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong among others. In lectures he is challenging stereotypes of racial and ethnic hegemony in Europe, for example including recent research about Black trumpeters in Germany in the 18th century (there were about 200 of them) and emphasizing the importance for European culture of the Mediterranean world (including N. Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey) in ways going beyond mere exoticism, and also by including a unit the past two years on music in colonial Latin America (including music by mestizo composers). He seeks to put colonial music in the American colonies in the broader Americas context. He also explores the intersecting issues around orientalism, exoticism, colonialism, nationalism and “othering” especially (but not only) in the context of 19th-century music.

In that course and in Performance Practices in Early Music, Professor Dodds is doing many of these same things but in ways more related to that course topic, including especially addressing the notion of canon and the ways it can be harmful to the recovery (and performance) of early music and to contemporary music, and also the ways that the notion of “classical music” harmfully restricts our understanding of the interchange between popular and “art” music.

Professor Paul Sharpe has encouraged his studio to participate in the Facebook group Bass Players for Black Composers and invited them all to watch the most recent recital of recently created music by Black composers, and to consider playing one of the pieces presented. The group seeks performers for works by Black composers and seeks funding/commissions for these composers to write works for bass.

Professor Sharpe actively recruits and encourages underserved students to audition and join the UNCSA Double Bass Studio. There are currently two Black students and three Latinx students in the studio.

“I am proud that my studio has maintained a substantial percentage of Black students in recent years. Additionally, I believe in community outreach. This past year I sponsored a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to purchase a double bass and bow for a young Black student without the resources to purchase a bass of his own. I am proud to say that the campaign netted over $8,000 in donations, which was enough to buy this young eighth-grader a double bass suitable for a college student majoring in double bass performance.” – Paul Sharpe

Guests to Professor Saxton Rose’s online bassoon master class forum this year will include Andrew Brady, principal bassoonist of the Atlanta Symphony, and instrument repair technician Sean Gumin.

Professor Oskar Espina-Ruiz has added the following to his clarinet performance course syllabus: “Avoiding racial inequality in music requires us all to take an active role. African/Black, Latinx, Asian/South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Native American, as well as women and gender non-conforming composers, have historically been underrepresented in classical music, as acknowledged by Chamber Music America (CMA). Be sure to read CMA's Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, and to consult CMA’s Composers Equity Project database, to bring to light lesser known but great works by these underrepresented composers.”

In the Collaborative Instrumental Literature Seminar, Professor Allison Gagnon has added substantial repertoire by BIPOC composers and included an ongoing segment called “meanwhile in America” to the regular discussion of the mostly Western European canon of standard repertoire. In her chamber music course, Professor Gagnon will coach students who are studying William Grant Still’s Suite for violin and piano. In the support skills seminar, a master’s student is focused on inequality as manifested in the lack of equal access for students in underserved communities, whether this is internet access, technology availability, or access to keyboards and other musical instruments. She is also an ArtistCorps member. Professor Gagnon and this student will explore connections and projects through these avenues.

Professor Michael Rothkopf plans to devote a composition seminar to George Walker's “Lyric for Strings” and several of his art songs, as well as another seminar on Ornette Coleman and his “Grammar of Sound.” His technology class, by the nature of the medium, includes a wide diversity of compositional styles including jazz, hip-hop, Latin, folk and commercial styles.

Professor Rothkopf’s two sections of career strategies include ongoing class discussions on the value and future of music, especially concert or art music. He has been teaching that class for 20 years now and those discussions have always included conversations on diversity in the profession. This year that topic is no exception as the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism will be part of those discussions.

Professor Tadeu Coelho has added the following to his flute performance course syllabus:

“When planning recital and master class performances, students must choose diverse repertoire, in terms of genre, region, and works by BIPOC composers. Students should plan to perform at least one work by BIPOC composers each semester."

Flute students must research the repertoire they perform, covering everything from the composer’s biography and other works, as well as recordings, analysis, and performance issues associated with the work and the composer. They present program notes at every master class in which they perform. Special emphasis has been placed on the representation of underrepresented composer groups and inclusion in these repertoire choices and their presentation in recent years.

Additionally, Demarre McGill, principal flutist of the Seattle Symphony,  will present a master class for flute students on March 29, with all woodwind students in attendance.

Guitar students are learning and performing composed repertoire by nonwhite and non-European composers every week. Often it represents a majority of the repertoire they study. Students are all learning and performing jazz repertoire in the jazz improvised tradition. Jazz music is considered by many to be a uniquely African American-generated art form. Recent years have all seen nonwhite and female-identifying guest artists visit the program We expect to continue this initiative and increase this type of representation.

Professor Joe Pecoraro said:

“The lack of diversity in the classical guitar world has always been problematic for me. Fortunately, the guitar is woven deeply into countless musical traditions, including those representing just about every demographic. As a product of my time, I come naturally to a love and respect for many if not all of these forms of musical expression, and this informs my teaching.  

“Certainly, the bulk of America's musical contribution to world culture is a result of the fusion of African traditions with European models, from blues and jazz to rock and hip-hop. Preparing my students for careers in the contemporary music scene, as well as imparting a full appreciation of our heritage, involves studying examples from these diverse traditions. While rock and hip-hop are generally beyond the scope of what we do here in the guitar department, blues and jazz are extremely pertinent. My students will be introduced to the contributions of great guitarists such as Charlie Christian, Blind Blake,T Bone Walker, Grant Green and, Wes Montgomery, as well as great composers such as Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane and Bud Powell. Each term all of the guitar students prepare a piece from the jazz/blues tradition for an informal combo recital with alumni and local musicians John Wilson and Matt Kendrick.  

“Latin America has provided a lot of the most popular music in the classical guitar repertoire. Works by composers Agustin Barrios, Antonio Lauro, Jose Luis Merlin, Manuel Maria Ponce and Heitor Villa Lobos, to name a few, are part of every student's repertoire. I also love introducing students to the great guitar music from Africa. This music has become much more familiar to guitarists in the past decade or so thanks to a South African guitarist named Derek Gripper, who has created beautiful solo guitar arrangements of kora music in the griot tradition, mostly notably played by Toumani Diabate. I am also a student of Indian classical music, having studied traditional raga for a few years on the sarod. I draw from this tradition in my teaching and try to open my students’ ears to the remarkable sophistication of this music.  

“To summarize, I am fascinated by the different emphasis on aspects of music in different traditions (harmony in Western music, texture and rhythm in African music, melody in Indian music) and I enjoy living in a time when we have such easy access to all of it. As a teacher, I try to impart an attitude of respect and curiosity toward all kinds of artistic expression. I present a wide range of music to my students and encourage them to forge their own artistic voices from these examples in a way that is uniquely possible in this age of technological connectivity.”

Weekly Professional Profiles: Each week, students are asked to research featured horn professionals and share their findings in horn master class discussions. Professor Maria Serkin draws from a diverse list of horn professionals, including hornists from historically underrepresented groups. They explore and discuss their careers paths, recordings, video tutorials and interviews. David Byrd-Marrow was invited to appear on an online horn master class in October. He is the solo hornist with the International Contemporary Ensemble (NYC) and the assistant professor of horn at the University of Denver.

Oboe Professor Jaren Atherholt is passionate about equity, diversity and inclusion in the arts and in the world. She encourages her students to seek, discover and perform works by BIPOC, female-identifying, and nonbinary composers for their repertoire for class recitals, juries and other school performances. The Oboe Studio hosts a minority composer showcase each fall where new works can be performed for the first time in preparation for larger performances later in the semester. This expands their repertoire, the school's library, and promotes works from underrepresented composers to the oboe community at large. She herself also actively researches and performs works by historically underrepresented composer groups on faculty concerts, requesting purchases by the school of solo and chamber works written by minority composers. In 2020 Professor Atherholt recorded Valerie Coleman’s Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano with faculty --  the first ever recording of the piece --  and worked closely with Coleman in preparation for the recording project. She then gave the New Orleans premiere of Coleman's Trio at the University of New Orleans. She has coached Coleman's woodwind quintet, Afro-Cuban Concerto, in UNCSA chamber ensembles over several years. Prior to the pandemic, Atherholt organized an off-campus trip for the quintet to hear and meet Imani Winds at Duke University.

Additionally, Professor Atherholt has also been engaging with alumni in discussions about racism and white privilege. In her creative work outside the university, Atherholt’s nonprofit organization Lyrica Baroque is committed to and passionate about addressing racial equity in the arts. The organization is committed to and continues striving toward sensitivity, compassion, thoughtfulness and awareness surrounding the concepts of race, gender and interpersonal relationships at every level of the organization, including board and advisory board membership, programming, performing artists, staff and leadership. This perspective is present throughout her work at UNCSA as she engages students regularly in conversations about inclusivity in each part of their own creative and academic work.

Professor Timothy Olsen will require organ students, both here and at Salem College, to learn a piece this year by a BIPOC composer, and encourage research into more repertoire by underrepresented composer groups. Professor Olsen has also added works by BIPOC composers to his organ literature class. 

The Organ Studio hosted Nicole Keller, organ professor at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, to talk about Florence Price’s organ works, and perform one of her pieces. Additionally, Professor Olsen performed a work by African American composer John Wesley Work on his Sept. 11 recital.

During Percussion Studio class, students watched and discussed the way artists respond to society using Anthony McGill's "Take Two Knees," an Elon University student's jazz/rap recording, the World Band Song of Hope project for Ryan Anthony, and a graduate student's recital from last year that was themed as his response to what he saw was the state of the world in 2020. 

• Anthony McGill, “Take Two Knees”
• “Broken Boxes”
• Freeman Recital
• Song of Hope World Band

When the class discusses ragtime xylophone music from the 1920s they will dive into the history of minstrel shows and vaudeville, followed by the integration of jazz groups in the swing era and Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall concert. Additionally, the video examples Professor John Beck posts for students are/will be balanced between artists of diverse backgrounds and gender identity. And West African and Afro-Cuban Drumming in percussion ensemble are, by their definition, representative of non-European music by people of color.

In the 2020 fall semester, the Percussion Ensemble performed traditional West African music and in the 2021 spring semester they will focus on traditional Brazilian Music.

Professor Dmitri Shteinberg has included works by Chevalier de Saint-George in his piano chamber music literature syllabus. He has also inserted text in his piano performance syllabi encouraging the study of piano works by BIPOC composers, including a list of suggested works.

As part of weekly master class, Professor Dmitri Vorobiev has given his students weekly listening assignments presenting works by African American composers with the intent to encourage students to research and perform this repertoire.

In Professor Robert Young’s saxophone repertoire and pedagogy course, the first several weeks have focused on researching music for saxophone composed by African American, Latino, and Indigenous composers. The discussion is centered around challenging the current traditions of concert programming. 

As part of lesson instruction, students have been given listening assignments and will participate in discussion groups throughout the semester composed of music by racially diverse composer groups. 

• A student chamber ensemble will play an important work by Carlos Simon.
• Professor Young will perform three works by African American composers on his November faculty recital as well as a work dedicated to Paquito D'Rivera (Cuban American clarinetist/composer)
• Professor Young will record a work by Chicago composer Evan Williams

“My goal through my performances is to set an example that challenges my students as they think about how they program their concerts and choose their repertoire.” – Robert Young

As part of the weekly trombone master class, Professor John Ilika will use time to discuss anonymity requirements in the orchestral audition process. Professor Ilika has worked as an orchestral personnel manager acting as a proctor on stage during auditions, as well as a candidate in more than 30 auditions. He will relay real experiences of how it should and should not work focusing on the avoidance of racial bias in the American orchestra audition process.

Two of our six current trombone students are Black, and one is of Asian descent. One, still in high school and Black, is a talented arranger in addition to studying trombone. The Trombone Studio will play some of his arrangements in the studio class, some of which have already been posted to Facebook. Additionally, a current graduate trombone student will perform the George Walker Trombone Concerto for one of his recitals. 

Professor David Dash has created an assignment for all trumpet students this semester. Described below, they are to make a report on a composer or composition from the resources below, and perform the piece. Those students who are presenting recitals this year are encouraged to include something from this repertoire as well.

Underrepresented BIPOC Composers Presentation: Choose one of the composers below; find sheet music, recordings and biographical information. For those with recitals approaching, consider programming one of their works. Here are some options:

• Directory of living Black composers
• Ulysses S. Kay: “Tromba” (sonata, multi-movement)
• Adolphus C. Hailstork: Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (3 movements)
• Regina Harris Baiocchi: “Miles per hour” (solo trumpet or duo)
• Charles Lloyd, Jr.: “The Crucifixion” 
• Jazz idiom: many performers/composers, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard and Clifford Brown
• Other resources: DMA dissertation, A Study on Prominent African American Orchestral Trumpet Players

Professor Seth Horner will lead one discussion each semester with his students on diversity, equity and representation in the field of tuba and euphonium. This will include discussing historical barriers to opportunity for BIPOC players as well as opportunities to amplify minority voices and create opportunities for players who are people of color. The goal would be to create improved awareness for students who are not members of these underrepresented groups, and to create a forum for students who are people of color to discuss their experience if they choose to do so.

Professor Kevin Lawrence helped facilitate the November performance and residency of his former student Jessica McJunkins. She performed a violin concerto by Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges with our string orchestra on Nov. 17, when Chancellor Brian Cole presented her with the 2020 Artrepreneur Award.

Additionally, Professor Lawrence is working with a student on the William Grant Still Suite for chamber music credit. 

Professor Ida Bieler has created a project which develops performance opportunities over the winter break for her students which draws solely from music written by BIPOC composers throughout all historical periods. The project is guided by Professor Bieler and Professor Janet Orenstein. There is also now a requirement to perform repertoire with this perspective as part of the students’ recitals.

“I would like to see special scholarship/financial help initiatives put more clearly into place in making recruitment bids toward young musicians of color and diversity. (Such an initiative would be) standing on its own, away from the intricacies of our competitive merit scholarship situation. Many institutions have this opportunity and I feel it would be a real and convincing incentive toward winning young musicians for UNCSA.” – Ida Bieler

Marilyn Taylor and Steven LaCosse have arranged for mezzo-soprano Tichina Vaughn to teach a series of vocal master classes. Vaughn was last year’s Fletcher Artist-in-Residence and will work with each Voice Studio and the Fletcher Fellows in February and March. After completing her studies at UNCSA, she began her career as a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and made her European debut as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at Staatstheater Stuttgart where she was awarded the title Kammersängerin. Recent successes include her Staatstheater Hannover debut as Begonia in “The Young Lord,” Filipyevna in “Eugene Onegin” at Spoleto Festival USA, her Teatro alla Scala debut as Maria in “Porgy and Bess,” as well as Clytemnestra in “Elektra,” Witch in Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” and “The King’s Children,” and Ice Queen in “Schwanda the Bagpiper” at Semperoper Dresden. Last season she sang the roles of Herodias in “Salome,” the Mother in “Il prigioniero” and Brigitta in “Die tote Stadt” at Semperoper Dresden, her role debut as First Maid in “Elektra” at the Metropolitan Opera and debuts with English National Opera and Dutch National Opera as Mariah in “Porgy and Bess.” Vaughn will be the James Allbritten Distinguished Guest Artist in Opera as well as the Witherspoon and Wilder Guest Artist in Voice.

Professor Phyllis Pancella organized a viewing for all voice students of "Jessye Norman at 75." Kenneth Overton (co-creator and co-producer of the feature documentary “Black Opera: The Film”) hosted the event, which was a crash course in the difficult and triumphant history of Black artists on the operatic stage. 

As part of Professor Pancella’s effort to expand the horizons of composers that voice students directly experience through repertoire assimilation, she has asked each student to learn a piece by a female-identifying composer this semester. Her student Andre Peele will perform Three Songs for Baritone and Piano, Op. 41 by Robert Owens and "Dead Fires" by Carlos Simon.  

Students of Professor Glenn Siebert will perform repertoire this year chosen from the rich body of work by Black song composers that Professor Siebert has in his personal library. He will assign at least one song by a Black composer to each student. Composers that they will focus on include Harry T. Burleigh, Margaret Bonds, Reginald Rison and Hal Johnson. They are also putting an emphasis on historical female-identifying composers, including Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beech and Cécile Chaminade.

In her master class, Professor Jodi Burns will discuss readings from literature including, but not limited, to:

• It's Our Music Too: The Black Experience in Classical Music
• Readings in Black American Music
• From Spirituals to Symphonies: African American Women Composers and their Music
• Media and Minorities: The Politics of Race in News and Entertainment

Professor Burns will offer articles from various sources that discuss the African American musical experience, and students will listen to and discuss music by BIPOC musicians across genres. In addition, Professor Burns will include the works of African American composers and art song based on the poetry of African American poets in students' repertoire. This includes lyrics of hip-hop and rap as poetry.

Professor Burns will be studying a book entitled: “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students” and implementing the teaching strategies, as well as offering relevant information to her students. 

“My plans for incorporating the music and stories of minority composers/performers include a cross-genre curriculum. I am excited that this platform in teaching offers the opportunity to highlight those from the classical world, but also from jazz, rock 'n’ roll, hip-hop, etc. ….  

“I think this is important work for those of us at higher ed institutions, as our students are not all here to explore only classical or jazz, but to be informed on the whole scope of musical opportunities that exist in the modern world, and those musicians and thinkers who have shaped the current musical sphere.” - Jodi Burns