Music Theory is Racist

Some sources/resources for future reading

Phil Ewell’s Scholarship

Music Theory and the White Racial Frame​ (Philip Ewell)
20.3: Ewell, The Parameter Complex​ (Philip Ewell)
Confronting Racism and Sexism in American Music Theory​ (blog)
5 Questions to Philip Ewell

Anuja Kamat’s YouTube Channel

(go watch it!)

Racism in Music Theory​ (wikipedia)

PERSPECTIVES OF JAZZ MUSICIANS

George Russell, Composer Whose Theories Sent Jazz in a New Direction, Dies at 86​ (NYtimes)
George Russell The future of jazz interview [excerpt]​ (youtube)
Jazz Literature on the Career of Composer-Arranger George Russell
The Mathematical Musician​ (The Washington Post)
Barry Harris - The 6th Diminished Scale

NOTE: Barry Harris videos are incredibly frustrating/fascinating to watch sometimes, because
he alternates between sounding like a lunatic and a totally lucid master of music of the highest
order from one moment to the next. It’s hard to parse his system from any one video, but there
are some other YouTube videos which people break down his theories more systematically, but,
IMO, far less captivatingly. There is only one Barry Harris, and you can’t beat the master.

The Western Canon

The Myth of the Canon’s Invisible Hand
Canon and Gender (/race) neutrality
How Forgotten Was Bach?
The Rediscovery of Florence Price​ (The New Yorker;Alex Ross)
WHAT WE CAN LEARN ABOUT PHILOSOPHY’S DIVERSITY PROBLEMS BY COMPARING
OURSELVES TO MUSIC THEORY​ (Robin James -​ the epistemology of ignorance​)
AP Music a Course

Feminist critiques/perspectives
Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality​ (Susan McClary) the seminal Feminist critique
of music theory
Life Outside the Canon? A Walk on the Wild Side​ (Ellie M. Hisama)
Gendering Musical Modernism: The Music of Ruth Crawford, Marion Bauer, and Miriam Gideon
(Cambridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis)
Importance of Dance

Structural Analysis or Cultural Analysis? Competing Perspectives on the “Standard Pattern” of

West African Rhythm​ (Kofi Agawu)
Dance, Music, Meter and Groove​ (W. Tecumseh Fitch)

The Universality of Musical Values

Music as a (Science as a) Liberal Art at Princeton​ (Aaron Girard)
The Structure and Function of Music I​ (Milton Babbit)
Jazz's 'musical value is nil' (1918): An editorial we regret​ (​The Times-Picayune Editorial Board)
Music Theory and the Epistemology of the Internet; or, Analyzing Music Under the New
Thinkpiece Regime​ William O’Hara

SCHENKERIAN RESOURCES

Reddit FAQ on Schenkerian Analysis​(FANTASTIC Reddit post!)

Schenkerian Analysis Playlist​ (Jacob Gran YouTube)
“Elephants, Crocodiles, and Beethoven: Schenker's Politics and the Pedagogy of Schenkerian
Analysis.” ​(Carl Schacter)
Schenker the Regressive: Observations on the Historical Schenker​ (Leon Botstein)
Schenkerian Analysis and Anglo-American Music Criticism in the 1930s: A Quest for
“Objectivity” and a Path Toward Disciplinary Music Theory
Letter to Felix von Cube praising Hitler​ (Schenker Documents Online)

The Backlash

The Journal of Schenkerian Studies Volume 12 ​(lol)

Open Letter to Antiracist Actions within SMT
Music faculty at Texas college stokes ire for suggesting music theory isn’t white supremacist
(FOX NEWS BABY WE MADE IT TO THE BIG TIME)
At the University of North Texas, the Mob Comes Calling for a Music Theorist​ (Samantha Harris)

SOME CRITICAL RACE THEORY ​(​warning​, Anti-American!!!)

Music Schools and White Supremacy with Loren Kajikawa
PROMOTING EQUITY: DEVELOPING AN ANTIRACIST MUSIC THEORY CLASSROOM​ (new
music USA)
Declarations of Whiteness: The Non-Performativity of Anti-Racism​ Sara Ahmed
Music education has a race problem, and universities must address it​ (news article)