
Music Theory and White Supremacy [video] - kbob
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr3quGh7pJA
======
ksaj
I have a music theory book from India that has English translations after
every paragraph. It never once says "Indian Music Theory" even though so much
of it doesn't connect well with "Western Music Theory." It just says "Music
Theory." I suspect the same is true for Chinese, Japanese, etc. since their
music theory would also be different than for the West. It just seems unlikely
that any culture will refer to it as "something other than Western music
theory," and will just call it "music theory" with an apparent audience in
mind.

One thing I thought was interesting is that the book states unequivocally that
classical guitars are not appropriate instruments for "professional music,"
and are even inferior because they are "out of tune" all the time and cannot
be played in any particular key. Is this Indian Supremacy at work? It could
come across that way, but really they are speaking to a specific group of
musicians that simply aren't playing Western music.

Whenever the book refers to guitar in a positive way, it is always the steel
string slide guitar played on the lap, since they are capable of hitting the
"right" notes and accommodating the "correct" techniques.

------
rbecker
When did focusing on one's own culture become "white supremacy"? How often is
this standard, this demand for cosmopolitanism, applied to other cultures?

~~~
eesmith
The comments are - surprisingly - on topic and cogent!

They suggest that you and I need to watch the video, where your question will
be answered.

It appears to boil down to how "music theory" is described, vs. what it
actually does.

One comment: "As an outsider to music theory, this is kinda mind blowing. I
assumed that music theory was like linguistics but for music. A field of study
that attempts to explain the structure of all types of music from around the
world. Now music theory seems to be more like teaching Spanish and then saying
you know everything about all the languages."

That is, what's called "music theory" should be called something like "Western
Classical Music theory" (as one commentor says it done in South Africa).

Another writes: "As I commented on that 12tone video, this really reminds me
of freshman seminar discussions of the literary canon, and efforts in the
60s-80s to open it up. It would seem that music in the academy is going
through a lot of the uphevals that other humanities disciplines went through
in the last century. "

~~~
rbecker
> That is, what's called "music theory" should be called something like
> "Western Classical Music theory" (as one commentor says it done in South
> Africa).

In Italy, Italian restaurants are just called "restaurants".

So Music Theory doesn't differ much from how History or Geography or
Literature are taught all over the world. I agree that when speaking to a
global audience, some clarification would be nice, but that's a very low bar
to call it "white supremacist".

The comparison with literary canon is apt. The one I was exposed to in school
was composed in great part of works that are completely unknown to English-
speaking audiences. Yet we didn't feel the need to call ourselves supremacist
for focusing our studies on our own culture.

~~~
eesmith
I don't understand why you write that it "doesn't differ much from how History
or Geography or Literature are taught all over the world"

The history courses I took in school in the US weren't called "history",
except maybe in elementary school. In high school I took "World History" (8th
grade), "American History" (11th), and "European History" (12th).

In elementary school geography I remember doing reports on Iceland and
Ecuador. My college geography course also wasn't limited to geography, though
it focused more concepts like Chisholm's hinterland theory and orographic
rainfall. I also remember learning about using mapping of extant fruit trees
on one of the Caribbean islands to infer the locations of vanished homesteads.

I didn't take a literature course. My high school English course readings
included Zora Neale Hurston and Chinua Achebe, which was part of the then-
trend of moving away from a dead white male western european focus.

So if "Music Theory" has that name, but excludes music theory for other
musical traditions, then it seems _unlike_ the three fields you listed, based
on my own experience.

Amusingly, [https://www.italiarail.com/food/italian-restaurant-names-
ita...](https://www.italiarail.com/food/italian-restaurant-names-italy-eatery-
guide) says that "A “restaurant” in Italy is more upscale and pricier than a
trattoria or pizzeria, with a menu that often isn’t limited to typical Italian
food."

~~~
rbecker
Your US experience differs from my non-US one, at least regarding how courses
are named. Even when they focused on, or dealt exclusively with, our corner of
the world, they were called just "History" or "Geography".

Though I didn't mean to imply the rest of the world wasn't covered in them,
but it was covered in far less detail. As ksaj noted, in other countries,
Music Theory also has a local focus. The only difference is those countries
don't feel a need to represent the whole world, or guilt when they don't.

And trattoria just means something like "small restaurant", so it would again
need an "Italian" prefix to distinguish it from other kinds. But since it's in
Italy, and with an Italian name, they don't feel the need to do that. And
while restaurants (often) aren't _limited_ to typical Italian food, their
menus would often earn them the label of "Italian restaurant" outside of
Italy.

~~~
eesmith
Sure, but you wrote "all over the world".

What culture do you come from? I have a hard time thinking that past primary
school a history course is simply called "History".

Are you actually responding to the video? If so, could you explain what points
you are responding to?

Or are you responding to my half-baked interpretations of YouTube comments?
Because if so, it seems like a waste of your time and mine.

FWIW, "white guilt" seems more often used to silence white support of non-
whites than be an accurate description.

