The Tragedy of Exclusion

The common practice period, in the history of European art music (broadly called classical music), spanning the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, lasted from c. 1600 to c. 1900.--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_practice_period

It is not that there is a problem with teaching art music from the Common Practice, after all it is certainly great music. The music has withstood the test of time and comes from a part of the world that is established, having fought through wars, experienced bloodshed, built castles, and refined itself. Unlike other parts of the world where people are still battling each other, nature, or themselves, much of Europe finds itself in the enviable position of being a continent of well-established nations. They have endured much and come out smiling, holding in their hands great works of art, music, literature, and theatre. From these countries we still enjoy the music of the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Classical, the Romantic, and music of today. This music forms what musicians call the Canon of great music literature, and it is from this great literature that we grow as artists, writers, performers, and historians. Our music programs derive great benefit from music of the Common Practice and it is hoped that this approach never goes away. At the risk of sounding elitist and with just a tad of snobbish selectivity, I believe every music student should know something of the music of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Stravinsky, to name a few examples.

The problem lies not in what is being taught, but rather what is not being taught. When we target one type of music from one general geographical region from a limited time period, we are addressing a small body of music literature in relation to the rest of the world and all of history and culture. Great music no doubt and certainly worthy of study, adulation, and emulation, but is it the only music worthy of such? How did we land on music of the Common Practice as our primary focus for music study in our colleges and universities? Did we look around and find the most advanced civilization, the culture that has attained artistic heights and choose the heritage of that civilization as our standard for study? If so, we chose well for there is no question that the music of the Common Practice from Europe continues to be deemed as high art and deserving of its rightful place in the curriculum.

By emphasizing music from the Common Practice and refusing to acknowledge other music, what are we leaving out in the process? As mentioned earlier, we are ignoring the popular music world which includes a plethora of styles such as jazz, rock, pop, folk, hip-hop, rap, country, film, and Broadway. We are also providing very little exposure to music from around the world including Asian music, Indian music, South America, Africa, and the list continues. In the field of education, we dabble in music for children and we give the occasional nod to music for school-aged ensembles such as band, choir, and orchestra. At the applied level of music study, we are exclusively Common Practice oriented and rarely get out of the time periods prescribed by the music curriculum. Certainly a horn player should know the Mozart Horn Concertos--great music for sure and still performed often, but a horn player should also know something by John Williams, Oliver Messiaen, Douglas Hill, or Tom Varner.

The tragedy occurs when a student graduates from college with a music degree only to realize that his value as a musician is to perform music that very few want to hear. He rarely or even never again has an opportunity to sing an art song or play a concerto or perform a sonata in public. His education has been solid, well-grounded in the classics, but the lack of relevancy makes him vital for a previous world that no longer exists. His value as a musician is limited and he either progresses into a relevant model, playing music that people support or he simply gives up his musicianship quickly recognizing that his skills are not beneficial. Some graduates use their foundational knowledge about music to transform themselves into vital musicians with a purpose in today's world. But for most, they are not sure how to proceed and flail around in a world where less than 5% of the population find meaning in classical music from the Common Practice.

When we exclude vital music from the educational process, we do no favors for our students. The value we are trying to create for them is old and outdated. It is time for us to make sure that we are not teaching our students how to write on a Big Chief tablet when the world is computing on a modern tablet. I am not advocating abolishing the curriculum, but I am recommending we take a serious look at how to augment the knowledge to include music that is vital today.