The Identity Crisis of Classical Music

Author: Daniel Bukin

I serve at Easton Elementary in the music classroom for 5^th and 2^nd grade classes. One of the things that the music teacher and I try to do regularly is expose the students to great examples of music with well-known musicians/groups in all genres (classical, jazz, rock, etc.). During this process, I have started to become more aware of a problem classical music in particular is facing. For the vast majority of this genre, we seem to be stuck about 50 years in the past (sometimes even a full century depending on the orchestra). This is both in terms of representation of the musicians, and the music they choose to play.

It is no surprise that the top tier orchestras in Europe (i.e., Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, etc.) are filled entirely with white musicians. Additionally,  the vast majority of music they program are works that were written by dead white men. Now there is nothing wrong with playing masterworks for classical music since they are such great examples of high musicianship. The problem emerges when that is the onlytype of music you play. Back in the 1700’s and up through the mid 1800’s, yes, classical music remained pretty much stationary in Europe, and so nearly all the people participating in the composition, production, and performance of classical music were white. But now, in 2019, classical music is everywhere! Nearly every major city in the world, in every country, on every continent has at least one professional symphony orchestra (maybe even more) as part of their local community. Classical music belongs to everyone now, so why are we still treating it like it still belongs to white men from Europe?

Thankfully, there are also a number of musicians and ensembles to draw from that help to diversify the representation in the genre, and I make an active effort to show those examples to the students in the classroom I serve (most of whom are either African-American or Latinx). Such as:

• The Sphinx Symphony Orchestra is an ensemble comprised of entirely African-American or Latinx musicians. They also host a youth string concerto competition for young African-African or Latinx musicians.
• Black Violin is a violin duo that performs a fusion of classical and hip-hop music.
• Composers such as Joseph Bologne de Saint-Georges or Florence Price are good examples of musicians of color from a much earlier time.

Making sure that young musicians first getting exposed to classical music hear an equal amount of well-known masterworks as well as music composed and/or performed by people of color will make it far more relatable to a huge population of young people whom otherwise don’t see any relevance to classical music in their life.