Music Theory and White Supremacy
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- Опубликовано: 1 июл 2024
- Thanks to Phil Ewell and his paper:
mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.2...
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0:00 Introduction
2:53 Part I - The White Racial Frame of Music Theory
8:28 Part iim - North Indian Theory and Perspectives
16:52 Part IIIm7b5 - Alternative Perspectives to Western Theory
22:04 Part IVmaj7 - Music isn’t a Universal
28:24 Part V7(b9,#9,b13) - Heinrich Schenker
36:16 Part vim - Responses to Phil Ewell
40:19 Part viio - Coda
(⌐■_■)
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Adam
It would be a great feature if youtube showed what percentage of the video you watched beside your comment.
**skips to last 3 seconds before commenting to trick the system*** /s
what's your favourite ice cream flavour
@@iambeepbop2452 I personally really enjoy Ben and Jerry's "Watch the full video before making dumbass comments" with almond
That or you can only leaves comments once you have finished 100% of the video. A lot of ignorant folks misrepresenting Adam’s position. But that was inevitable whenever you suggest racism is more than just bad words.
As someone who disagrees with the video, let's add the feature, I'm for it.
In high school I used to compose music heavily inspired by Japanese video games. When I showed my piano teacher, she said "it's not supposed to end on a chord like this" "there are certain rules you need to follow" this video helped me gain a new perspective on what that could have meant because she definitely didn't explain lol
That's a very dogmatic understanding of music, even with music theory. It's the THEORY of music and now the LAW of music for a reason. Also, Japanese video game OSTs aren't that compositionally different from _"`18th century European"_ compositions. She's being ridiculous. Other genres diverge in composition MUCH more.
@@urphakeandgey6308 ya she pretty much killed my passion for composition but I hope to get back into it one day. Thanks for understanding
Music theory, (Yes, the White, Eurocentric kind) helps to illuminate and explain patterns and rules of thumb. These rules can be broken in creative, musically pleasing ways, if you find a way to pull it off. It’s not “Laws” of music.
Fuck rules
I always felt composers like Yuki Kajiura and Shigeru Umebayashi had firm foundations in "classical", but they always had their own "groove" if I can say it like that. That makes them so much more approachable imo.
i think what really grinds my gears about music theory is that they laud composers that broke the rules of the time (like Beethoven, Stravinsky) or had immense talent (Bach, Paganini), but we in the modern day under formal tutelage cannot break any of the rules ourselves because then it won't sound "correct", despite it being a more genuine expression.
None of them broke the mathematical basis underlying musical theory. Maybe that's the problem with musicians who comment on this without any knowledge of the mathematics. No matter how you try and crowbar race into the issue, the mathematics are quite clear. Black people greatly contributed certain aspects to music but the greatest examples of this fusion were mixed with western musical theory. Basically the music claimed by black people would not exist without western music theory. And once again this is based in mathematics.
Why can't we just accept the beauty is in the combination instead of trying to claim it belongs to one race or the other?
@@laughingachilles applying an objective science like math to a subjective art form like music seems like only half the battle to me personally. yes, there is a lot of math in music, i'm aware of that myself, but subjective taste and objective data are so far removed from each other-- you can call a piece "wrong" but calling it "bad" leaves a bad taste in my mouth. that's my problem, not race. assuming any particular template to be "superior", white or black, is my problem more than anything.
@@basedokadaizo
Here is the problem with your response...all of these systems involve mathematics! I would argue it is incredibly racist to suggest any system is outside of mathematics when they all follow maths in one way or another.
Or do you believe that only westerners are capable of mathematics?
@@laughingachilles i... i literally just acknowledged there's math in music? i said my problem with the modern methods of music education boil down to restriction versus true expression? brother i dropped race at the door and wanted a GENUINE discussion about the flaws in modern music education, what the fuck is wrong with you?????
@@laughingachilles for real i am NOT letting this discussion revert after dropping my actual honest opinion on the issues of music education you are NOT doing that shit to me this time this is the ONE topic i go absolutely ballistic over
Learning how to improvise for jazz taught me more about music theory than AP Music Theory. The way chords are identified and labeled has helped me with everything from understanding Claude Debussy to transcribing my favorite pieces from video games. Like any other form of theory, it's just a tool, and it might not work for everything.
Anyway looks like I've got some music theory channels to check out. I've been looking to learn more about non-eurocentric styles of music ever since I got a taste of their structures.
Jazz does suck and so does this racist video.
This politicizing of this issue strikes me as petty cultural jealousy. European civilization found ways of making things work systematically, and though the systems that resulted were not perfect, they at least established that such systems were possible. Aristotle invented logic (with some guidance from Socratic dialogues), and established that there were structures of thought that just didn't fly and weren't valid (there are no true contradictions). Newton "invented" gravity, that is, he invented the isolation of gravitational force as a conceptually distinct entity (which it is not as it exists in the real world), so he could mathematize it, though his frequent references to gravity as a "property of matter" (and hence inherent in matter) showed some awareness that he was erecting an artificial framework for the sake of rendering something existentially ambiguous into a more intelligible form. Rene Descartes "discovered" subjectivity, at least in terms of a way of articulating subjective aspects of human experience in a way that later thinkers could sink their teeth into. (Unfortunately he opened up a can of worms that has led to today's intellectual dark age of postmodernism, with solutions yet to be found, that has led to the proliferation of anti-truth ideologies like feminist theory and critical race theory, among others).
-- Mathematics is more multi-sourced, with major accomplishments coming from India, the Muslim world, and Europe. And STILL, postmodernist morons push the idea that the field needs to be "de-colonized."
-- Some ideologies are just crappy ideologies that amount to intellectual infantilization. The politicization of music theory as a tool of white supremacy falls into this category.
@@grizzlygrizzle I'm afraid I don't understand what my personal experience with using jazz theory to understand music and being open to listening to all kinds of music has to do with the "politicizing of this issue."
@@papercraftcynder5430 -- RUclips generally suppresses the comments I post, so I stick them in the replies instead. Sometimes it's hard to find a comment to reply to that is directly appropriate. I was replying to the video.
@@grizzlygrizzle Usually RUclips comments are sorted chronologically. The number of likes might also play into it, too, so it's not RUclips deliberately suppressing your comments. Like with your reply to my comment, you probably just find the videos long after they've been posted, so your comments end up near the bottom because they're more recent, and because most people watch a video within the first day or so after it's been posted, you also miss the surge of people who could potentially give your comments the likes that could have pushed it closer to the top.
I'm a guitar player, and this is a great excuse for me to continue the guitar player tradition of not learning stuff
No let’s just make our own music theory of 0-3-5 and bendy notes
Im more of a metal/rock guy,made a full song in Japanese scales (Joshi Iwato) Why? Because idk its weird and cool
Basically today u have everything its not fun to just play scales and notes fast,we miss creativity and passion
Ah, so anarchists are the guitar players of leftist ideology.
I'M STRONG IN MY CONTINUATION TO LEARN NOTHING!
@@thomaswhite3059 the far left is spewing from this attempt to explain "why?". White people could read and write. We know the past, but don't blame the past on us in the presence.
@@TheeRocker You could easily just write 'I didnt watch the video'
In Uganda we don't really have a word equivalent to "music". Rather music is defined by how one dances to it. Studying it therefore invariably means studying the dances.
pretty cool!! i like that.
@@fast1nakus he's literally just a troll with nothing better to do with his life lmao
Supreme LC bro just shut up and change your diaper already
That is so cool that the dance aspect is so entwined in the very concept of music. Now I want to learn more about Ugandan music!
Amazing. I wish it was more like that in Europe.
This is touchy
I spent some intimate time learning what we all generally call “music theory,” and I have grown to love it. But I love your new name for it (the harmonic style of 18th century European musicians). That’s accurate and helps to place it as its own individual contribution to music as a whole. Truly there has been so much development in music around the world, and sadly many of us didn’t study those contributions and styles ☹️
How is it touchy?
Is there another transcription system that works better than Western Tonal Harmony for sharing ideas across time and distance for the widest range of instruments and styles?
@@masterofpuppers7963 I here that. It’s a well-developed system that clearly still influences a lot of music today. I guess really I’m just lamenting how little we learned as whole about other music development elsewhere. But you’re right, the theory we studied of how European composers handled harmony is great and super applicable
@@joshuadaviddavis Well, good news for you then. There's nothing to lament. It's just a system of measurement and recording. It doesn't influence music, how you and I use it does. It's just a toolbox. Now if you want to go learn more about raag or Tibetan polyphonic chanting or shakuhachi solos, get all the way after it.
@@masterofpuppers7963Ever consider that its that way not because it's inherently better but because it's creators have put themselves in the context of social hegemony ?
@@micayahritchie7158 No, because that would be making excuses to whine about nothing. Just like I don't make excuses to whine about Imperial Standard vs. Metric because I'm not Roman or French. I just use whatever system is appropriate for the box of wrenches I'm using. If I'm reading or writing for piano or guitar, I use the Tonal Harmony system. If I wanted to learn to play tabla, I'd use the raag system. Simple as.
I am 77yo, played by ear most of my life, but decided to learn music theory since everyone said this was a must know for song writers like me. Jazz was my main inspiration because being able to improvise is what motivated me to play for over 60 years. Music theory is not bad, but it does limit your music to a European based music. I like all kinds of world music because music they sound nice and do not stick to western rules.
This
I disagree. It is true that most people who will teach you music theory will often use western musical ideas to communicate the information relevant to what you're learning, but music theory itself and its concepts remain what they were always meant to be. A tool to codify and communicate musical ideas. If you can learn to codify and connect the sounds of a particular musical genre or culture to the appropriate concepts and notations present in music theory, then you will be very able to effectively use music theory to compose and play any type of music. The sounds have always existed. Creating a language around them did not change that. Every person, including you, playing any type of music has their own version of music theory. Their own set of concepts and ideas which they turn to when they need to navigate with their instrument.
Note that I do not deny the fact that the way we learn music theory, as well as the way we teach it, influences the way we and others play. My point is strictly that music theory itself does not do that to you.
jazz literally uses western music theory. jazz originated from americans trying to imitate classical music, thats how we got ragtime. Also the western european music theory is very versatile, you just have to learn the rules before you break them.
may i ask how did you learn to play by ear without music theory?
@@Ha-uu4bm i did the same growing up it's just a thing
I'm so glad you specified NORTH Indian music. Lot of people aren't aware of the stark difference of cultures throughout all India and Asia!
No kidding. As an example, Middle Eastern music has nothing to do with the music of Japan, which has very little to do with the music of India, which is different from Mongolian music, and it all encompasses Asia. There's a literal world of music out there that we now have access to.
He kinda generalized Africa though ':D not sure if there is a reason for that or not
Anyway, i don't wanna be a nit picker, this video is asesome and informative and i wanna go talk to my old music teacher now
@@catherine6427 Probably because it's a specific subset of west African music that made its way to the United States, and going over all of it just in that region would be a video of its own.
yep, including adam and the other guy. they really like to gush over musics and cultures they know nothing about
So then, how about whenever TODAY’S MODERN MEDIA extols some big contemporary BLACK music figure like Michael “King of Pop” Jackson or Aretha Franklin or Beyonce or Whitney Houston or Tupac Shakir or Stevie Wonder or Little Richard or Snoop Dawg or Gladys Night or Diana Ross or James Brown? .. . THEN are THEY promoting BLACK “supremacy”.
Hi, I am an Indian. While it's nice to see you highlighting the fact that we have our own theory and a very elaborate grammer divided into multiple scriptures. I would also like to point out that our music theory doesn't do harmony very well. It's mostly about the mood of the melody. Raag's even have their own catchy tune written inside the raag. But for an outsider trying to learn western music the traditional method did provide a good framework (credit where it's due). Also I can't fathom the fact that people actually believe that there is only one music theory.
I dont think its that people think there is only one type of music theory, but in western culture it is the most relevant to us (not to say Indian music isnt relevant) but for me as a white westerner i will mostly play white music with the exception of a few African American artists from the 40s/50s
@@jamieapeck Yeah &That DOES NOT make you a "White Supremacist" either.
There are literally older comments that are shocked by the idea. I think your comment is also misleading, because nowhere does Adam say that you shouldn't use Western Music Theory, only that you shouldn't ONLY use Western Music Theory. (And as he mentioned, it isn't even the only Western Music Theory made). But official schools and idiots like Ben Shapiro act like there is only one type of theory, made by people 300 years ago in a small part of Europe, that applies to everything.
@@nunyadambidniss And no one is saying that it does. But that's beside the point.
I am south american, our musical history is deeply culturally mixed, we've got african, middle-eastern and european styles mixed with our own indigenous styles. And even with that rich culture AND an enormous interest in music, I've never even thought about the existence of a music theory other than the european one - why's that? Think, why in all of our history is the european way of analysing music the only one widely known?
That is the supremacy part.
@@jamieapeck yeah it's western music theory for typical western instruments
While I have been a great admirer of your channel for several years and have been inspired by your insights into music, I have not been compelled to express by admiration of your work until viewing this video. I am a black man, with a doctorate in music composition, who taught jazz theory and improvisation over twenty years ago at an "illustrious" institution that only with great trepidation indulged my passions. I say trepidation, but also great resistance to changes in music curriculum that I represented and which most of my colleagues viewed as unfortunately necessary. Viewing your video brought back some pain and anguish that I thought I had "gotten over," but it would seem had only repressed. Alas, that I didn't have the presence of mind and the calmness of spirit to express back then what you have done with such passion and aplomb. I salute you!
Jazz does suck and so does this racist video.
Don't be a an absolute d*nce. Jazz couldn't exist today without the bedrock of European harmony that it was built on. There's nothing to rebel over when it comes to teaching the foundations of our music. This video is an embarrassment. Be smarter than him at least, Mr. "I have a doctorate."
did you just have a stroke mid racist tirade?@@wearethewearethewearethhe
@@morejazzplz5746 I don’t think I had a stroke. I think you saw those two sentences and your brainwashed mind got triggered. Then, you had to come up with some sort of story; anything that would make you feel like you are superior. So I guess the story your mind generated was that I had a stroke…..Enjoy not having a working brain.
The fact that Chevalier got ignored by the music loving scene (even the figure skating one!) despite him being an aristocrat from royal France and being a legit composer is....very telling. I've always loved Chevalier, and seeing people discover him and his work through a long overdue movie is gratifying af lol
Saint Georges ? he was ignored in the US ? Because he was quiet popular in France (didn't saw the movie though).
@@thomasdupont7186yeah from an American culture war perspective, the story of Joseph Bologne is almost too perfect as a mixed race Renaissance man, contemporary of Bach, kept from positions of high esteem for purportedly racist reasons. Even tangentially tied into the French Revolution I think
cuz the movie was shitty looking. also in the fricking trailer they portray mozart as some uptight aristocrat which he was the opposite of and every classical music lover knows that.
@@madtheorist1856 Well yeah he was a high ranking soldier (a colonel I think) and a revolutionary first (for French historians at least but that's their problem I guess), he was born as a slave too. As well as a high level fencer, a enlightment enthusiast, a violinist virtuoso AND a recognized composer. And I do agree with you: that guy kicks ass regarding the context. Even if there is other cases of mixed race soldiers/artists during this period in France. There is parts of his life that stayed obscure to this day though.
Calling him an aristocrat is a bit complicated, seeing as his status fell a bit after his white father passed away. He was born to an aristo dad and a slave mom who had a real and caring relationship -- very unusual for that day (both the racial and the caring parts). His life was wrought with not knowing where he belonged. He's a type of hero today (I love his story and his music), but he lived a tragic life and was discarded after the French Revolution. The movie about him is pretty good, except for the cringy first scene with Mozart.
"Western Classical Music theory". That's what it's called here in South Africa, there is clear line here say between, cape jazz theory, and western classical theory
That's pretty good, I think, because it doesn't simply replace "Western classical music" with "music"
Problem solved, lol.
@@billpeel4408 yeah no of course. When I started my degree (in 18th century European music theory😂) there was alot of heavy focus in the first year of our Musicology module on thinking outward about musical interpretation down to the tiniest pieces of information. And it was made perfectly evident that "music theory" is a euro-centric term, just as "World" music is a heavily Western biased ideology, amongst other topics
Its the same in Kenya.
ayooo this is literally what i used as a replacement as well, good to hear other South Africans having the same idea
I didn’t even think that there are other “musical theories” but now I don’t understand why such an obvious thought has never came in my mind
EXACTLY! Why have I never second guessed this?!
Just one more bit of evidence on how a supremacist culture actually works - by eliminating options, even from the thinking of intelligent people.
Exactly. It just happens that the most used one in music industry is european (mostly italian and german) music theory, but each ethnic group has some level of music theory, and some are very advanced like indian music theory or chinese music theory.
I honestly thought music theory was like math before this video, that being that it is constant across cultures. Now I know how wrong I was :/
@@ProvenScroll You're so easy to convince, that's a sign of dumbness
I feel very lucky that in my school (Higher School for the Arts, department Music and Technology, Netherlands) we are being taught "music theory" in a different way. I started last year, about to start the second. I had a significant basis in understanding western harmony and had trained my ears passionately. When we started going to these theory classes, I was surprised to see that we were not only going over the origins of western theory (think Gregorian singing, unison, that kind of thing), but also traditional Indonesian instruments, composing with it, playing it, and even synthesizing it to make it playable with al the weird temperaments included. Furthermore Balkan music, clave rhythms, Jamaican and Caribbean rhythmic composition made the rounds and it felt new and refreshing, comparing what I already knew and understood about western music to this new thing I hadn't heard of before.
Edit: "... with all the weird temperaments..." is not the right thing to say.
Let's change it to "... with all these - in western - uncommon temperaments
Where and how to I sign up
That's so gay lol
@@StoicDivinityif god invented gay people I’d starting praising him
@@chosenone-cs9vm God created people, he didn't "invent" them. He didn't create gay people, he created people, everyone is born with their own sin, it's up to the individual to renounce their worldly (material, fleshly, base etc) desire / will, in favor of the Divine Will of God.
Crazy you don't understand nuance.
@@StoicDivinity based
"Beethoven was an above average composer"
Understatement of the century
that's the joke
The speaker is a radical ideologue trying to shoehorn his personal biases into the well-established structure and logic of music. This is precisely the reason this sort of nonsense is damaging to progress. Trying to artificially construct an alternate reality only results in confusion, dysfunction, and the deterioration of academia. You cannot relegate Beethoven to B- status without eroding music education.
@@emo-sup-sock It's not a joke, the guy is just not very bright.
Facts, if you know the lore behind some of his later pieces (or have even listened to them), it’s honestly just amazing that he was able to accomplish all that shit while either nearly or completely deaf.
Interesting... A Shame the woke approach
“Works of art make rules, rules do not make works of art.” --Claude Debussy
Perfect summary imo.
@@kwyman986 I don't think you understood the comment
And he was right
Kevin i’d say many people don’t hold a degree in music...
YaassSS
Interesting. We in Korea learn three kind of music theory in a school. Classical music(old European), practical music(contemporary African American) and Korean traditional music.
Makes a lot of sense
VERY interesting
That sounds incredibly well rounded.
omg gimme your music theory class rn I neeeed more non-western music classes
don't get me wrong, European composers slap, but lemme learn some Japanese folk songs and pentatonic scales pls
That explains a lot of K-pop lol
I remember learning music theory in high school. It was interesting because somehow they taught me that figured bass was antiquated and not worth learning until college, if at all. BUT somehow when I wrote a piece for an exercise that resolved from a V7 to a IV to a I, I was wrong because that couldn't happen. Except, of course that I had learned it from blues and blues-based rock, where it's the most common resolution. In other words, traditional music theory doesn't even explain blues and classic rock very well (even ignoring neutral 3rds and 7ths). And forget about explaining something as harmonically sophisticated as bop or modern jazz. How can it be universal?
But if you do V7 IV6 IV I, it should be "legal" and you can argue that it is for it to sound more religious, heh
I’m proud to say I was taught to think for myself as a music major at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson, CA. I learned so much there that I have used in my life; whether it musical or not. I learned the foundation of many theorys of music, and most importantly that it was simply just that; a theory. Or a way of understanding these noises we make with our voices and other devices (instruments). It’s all just sound pressure waves that we can translate into anything. The most important thing is how we connect them together to convey what we are trying to express. The rules of how we notate or understand are just guidelines of something much bigger and clearly not tangible. This is my “theory” of why certain people chose to make music more universal. Because innately there is something more universal and primal about it. Something uniquely human.
OGs remember when this video was titled "Music Theory is Racist"
Edit: I don't want arguments about white genocide and scientific racism under a dumb and lazy comment I made in a less than a minute
OG's also remember when Adam had a twitter
kek
@@Knight_Astolfo lol
When I saw the title, I thought to myself "huh, I recently saw essentially the same video with a different title - I wonder if this is a follow-up."
tbh i think the old name was catchier
@@eyx9421 It was. It was also a blatantly false statement. You might as well claim the major scales are anti-Semitic. Now the title aims at the real target at least.
Adam, I would definitely pay top dollar to see you debate Ben Shapiro’s MUSIC THEORIST father who went to music school.
It wouldn't be a debate. It would be a murder.
It would only work if Ben's Grandfather was there... "My dad said..."
mUsiC hAs 3 eLemEntS: hArmOny, RhyThm anD MelOdy Rap OnLy sAtiSfieS 2 of tHeM
To be fair rap definitely requires the least talent next to pop
@@pessim1st681 Yeah? Try to rap.
You can't
i love this so much man, i did a school projecy on scott joplin in 4th grade and when i heard ragtime my first thought was “this was the inspiration for foundation of the beginning of american music” but i never saw it acknowledged, this is gracious
I was fortunate enough to be trained in acting, dancing and music and I never really got what the huge differences between those three things was. Each requires rhythm; each requires a deep understanding of emotions; each requires harmony between multiple parts, each is a form of storytelling, and each is a performance art! I'm always dumbfounded when people go, "oh wow! That's really incredible. You have so many talents!" to me, growing up, they were kind of the same. I was never good at music school because I couldn't separate them. I would sing, dance, all the time. I could not understand how other students were making music if not by living it through your body as much as possible!
the essence of music is sound.
"You can have the pentatonic scale without the bending."
*blues has left the chat.*
Pentatonic without bending should a crime lol.
Pianists can't bend notes xD
@@Tsharkeye just bend the piano
Thomas van der Burg Well yeah, but that’s why they do turns right?
@@Tsharkeye wanna bet?
Music theorist here (I actually have a degree in music theory pedagogy, if you can believe that's a thing!). This is a conflicting video for me and I want to try and lay out a sort of middleground (pun intended). I'll do this with some general observations:
1. I think the idea of diversifying the music theory canon of composers and genres is a noble pursuit. The issue mainly stems from the difficulty in teaching Western classical music theory. It is a very complicated and deep subject that contradicts itself in many instances and students have a hard time wrapping their heads around a lot of the concepts, even fundamentals. Theory is often taught from this perspective because it is referencing the kind of music that a conservatory musician is most likely to engage with throughout their careers and, contrary to a few points in this video, is actually applicable past the Western classical canon (more on that later). But we are making progress here (also more on that below). I think we also forget how diverse the classical music canon actually is... compare the music of Bach to the music of Mahler to the music of Debussy to the music of Prokofiev and I dare you to say that it is appropriate to put those composers under the same label.
2. I think this video does a huge disservice to the endeavors and work of many American music theorists who have diversified their curricula. When Adam says "the harmonic style of 18th century European musicians," this is at best reductive and at worst misleading. Any American music theory curricula worth its salt covers Western music from as early as the 1500s and as late as the present. For example, my alma mater has a 5-semester undergraduate curriculum which begins with fundamentals and ends with post tonal analysis with the last few weeks covering more modern trends! A diverse set of composers and styles are covered anywhere from the Renaissance to Jazz to 18th century Western classical to minimalism to Broadway to Rock, etc. This curriculum is filled with examples from as many relevant styles and eras as possible and MANY theorists are actively trying to diversify their rep and the topics they cover. (Example: lament bass as a harmonic/bassline concept. The examples given include its Renaissance origins, its use in Baroque music, Classical music, Romantic music, and also in songs like "Hit the Road, Jack" or "Hotel California.")
3. Music from other cultures should definitely be more represented, but this takes time to do properly. I've been adding as much as I can to my own curriculum but it isn't easy when the theories are as complex as they are and students are already struggling with the basic concept to begin with (i.e. what the difference between A major and C major is or what their parallel and relative minors are... everyone starts somewhere and even this "simple" concept takes time to internalize). I completely agree that teaching these concepts can be made even more interesting with the inclusion of comparison to Indian music, for example. Theorists just need to finish learning these things themselves PROPERLY. At the very least, citations and resources should be made available to students who are interested and wanting to learn more. More classes should be offered for student who are interested in these things and they should be taught by experts! Once a better grasp is attained by teachers, then it becomes much easier to diversify.
4. Schenkerian theory is used outside of its intended group of composers all the time. Schenker lists 12 composers, but there were far more composers who were writing in the style that he was interested in whose work can be understood better with his theory. Schenker doesn't list Wagner or Strauss for example, but their music still can be analyzed with this theory, albeit with some additional challenges/considerations. There are theorists who apply his theory to Debussy and Scriabin as well, composers who most would think have NOTHING to do with the theory. Useful information can still be gleaned from using it though. Schenker himself did an analysis of Stravinsky's piano concerto! True, he did it to explain why he though it was bad music, but we all know Schenker's own ideas about what is good and bad aren't really relevant. What matters is that he himself used it on music that it wasn't intended to explain.
5. Another Schenker point: the graphic notation itself is immensely useful outside of its intended purpose! One can use it to more effectively explain more nuanced elements of any piece of music. The ursatz and urline do NOT need to be implemented to use the graphic notation itself. It is, however, important for someone using this theory to understand its intended use so they can use it elsewhere, just like how Adam suggests using a much more modern theory to understand Chopin (something Chopin certainly never would have thought of himself).
6. As someone who studied how to teach music theory specifically, I can tell you this conversation is not new at all. We have been talking about the textbooks we use, the examples we cite, and the issues we face for years. Adam uses Aldwell/Schachter as an example, but this textbook is one of the oldest that is still used. Take a look at something like Clendenning/Marvin. This is a much more diverse (more and more) source of Western music theory knowledge. An effort is made to include women composers, American composers, and more than just the Bach to Brahms canon in the pursuit of teaching Western music theory. I myself don't use textbooks, but have studied many of them to understand useful pedagogical models. This gives the freedom to teach a more diverse rep while also having a tried and true model of teaching.
7. Figured bass has uses outside of preparing a student for Schenker. The most relevant and useful is that it helps with improvising in the Western classical style. Understanding the basis for this style and the method of thinking is obviously useful if a student wants to improvise! It's basically like having a lead sheet and, once learned, opens up a wide variety of possibilities for any student who is looking to improvise stylistically. Improv as a pursuit is becoming much more relevant in conservatory training and figured bass is really needed in order to do this! We also use it as an addition to Roman numeral analysis which is a relevant method of analysis for music spanning almost 300 years.
8. Final point. It is a little worrying that a field that is already thought of as "boring" or "a waste of time" is being labeled "racist" by such a high profile figure. I can speak from experience that the VAST majority of the students I have taught for the past 7 years have had nothing but positive things to say about their experience with music theory. Again, this sort of reductive label of "racist" is ignoring all of the progress theorists are actively trying to make in this field. This is tearing down instead of looking to the ones who are trying to rebuild. New voices in the filed are added every day, more and more we are diversifying. Yes, CALL OUT the individuals who are promoting German or classical music as superior. But please don't label the entire field this way. Don't give a voice to ignorance. I want to be clear that I have 0 desire to defend the opinions of Ben Shapiro or Schenker (and other problematic figures mentioned) regarding music. But I want to make it clear that many of us are trying and are implementing as much as we can. Let's keep up this trend and show how amazing MUSIC is! The best theory teachers teach theory because they love music. Not because they want to prove some music is better, but because they want to give more people the tools necessary to start somewhere and grow as musicians, no matter what their interests are.
As a current classical music conservatory student, this was very cool to read about. Thanks for sharing!
+++
Adam should have invited someone like you to present your ideas. A video about music theory without a counterpoint (pun intended) is lazy
Thank you for your comment. I hope more people will be able to see this. Your number 8 is the most important thing anyone should say when replying to this video. 99% of people watching this video have not and will not have any experience with music theory their entire life,however, by watching such a big RUclipsr calling music theory racist, it’s doing a huge disservice for all of us musicians,theorist, teachers etc, trying to make the industry more inclusive and better everyday. Thank you again.
This sounds exactly like the word salad an NPC would say. GJ
Just watched it, and it's still up to date. Great job !
Jazz is the antithesis of "the style of 18th century western composers" and probably the BEST understanding of music "theory" in my opinion.
Jazz was invented in the US, and is based on European music theory combined with African rhythm. There would be no jazz as we know it if there was no harmonic and melodic structure that jazz chords and modes provide.
jazz originated when americans tried to imitate classical music, thats how we got ragtime for example. jazz also uses western music notation and language to communicate dynamics, and to teach music theory. so in other words you're dead wrong
@Samuri_Jack_Enjoyer jazz was a term used to describe the way late 19th century composers from Louisana would blend western classical with African music. I considered it an "antithesis" to the videos subject matter because of the way jazz took the ideas explained in this video and did something deemed extremely unconventional at the time by blending the strictness if western classical with the free forming rhythms of west African music.
Improvisation, polyrhythms, swingtime, and all those other characteristics that came from jazz and ragtime are the result from straying from and bending the extremely strict conventional "laws" established by 18th century western composers, hence my comment. I don't believe I'm wrong for that assumption given amount of musical genres conceived by straying from said ideas on the video.
@@dmessy91 Chopin mixed different polish traditional music like the mazurka and polonaise with classical music. So did Liszt with his Hungarian rhapsody's and Greig with Norwegian folk songs. Also Beethoven, bach, Mozart, Liszt and all of the greats were incredible improvisers on their instruments and you are very respected if you can improvise classical music. I will admit that improvisation isn't taught enough for classical musicians and I will admit that during the classical period(1750-1820) music wasn't respected as an art form but rather entertainment- this meant that composers weren't bothered to revolutionize music or to try anything different less they displease their patrons. And that's where Beethoven comes along and people start to gain more respect for musicians and their craft. What I'm trying to say is that we no longer live in the classical period and we aren't burdened by the strictness of their rules, however you have to learn the rules in order to break them. Impressionist composers like debussy, ravel, Scriabin etc... all were trained classically but chose to break the structures and forms they learned to create an entirely different genre. And those composers are borderline worshipped by classical musicians.
I’m constantly perplexed by how you manage to cover ...several dissertation’s worth of material in each video. So awesome!!
I love your channel Nahre! Nice to see you here😀
beautiful playing!
Adam is a Legend
You’re one to talk Nahre! Big fan of your content and the way you approach it!
Did you and Adam purposefully choose a piece for you to play that only uses white keys?
Adam: You can't dance to Bach's chorales
Me: You haven't seen me drunk
adam: you can't dance to Bach's chorales
Hilary Hahn: crank up those moves old man
I was an Uber driver and I once had a very drunk backseat passenger shout at me to CRANK IT UP!!! when I had classical radio on. It was very surreal.
BWV 10 has me feeling some things let me tell you
I can and do dance to EVERYTHING. The don't much like me at the Symphony these days.
You: You haven't seen me drunk.
Me: I haven't seen you drunk...yet.
6:46 wait until Adam finds out how mandarin taught in Taiwanese high schools keep using thousands of years old text as teaching material
We use Music both as a form of community cohesion, such as dance, music, or music that tells a story, but also as a serious art form in which the listener is challenged and surprised, and taken on a new adventure. It is the second form that “rules“ are frequently broken, and the structure of the music is opened up into new areas.
2. There is more than just rhythm and chord, progression and tone. There is also the space that arrest can take up.; There’s consistency of style and intentional lack there of.; references to other musical styles and individual songs, etc. and I’m sure there are more elements than I can think of.
3. Western 16 -18 century music of the court (and possibly other traditions) was often a civilized rendition of folk tunes, some of which came from Hungarian or Spanish gypsies, folk music, and probably other influences, giving evidence to the idea that this music was classist at the very least.
Let me shorten your comment
"Im fine with racist musical ideology"
@@sagvjc2525 your comment tells me that you didn’t read my comment. The difference between a critique and an insult is that critique provides reasoning, while the insult is a string of words that are intended to attack the emotions. Please consider rereading my comment. An open mind can grow, not enclosed mind.
The best music genre and tradition, in my opinion, is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater & Underground soundtrack.
True unity has been found
bahahahaha yessssss
Goldfinger and the Vandals forever!
@Sergeant NPC Well, it's something that white and non-white people enjoy together, and we can't have that, because then we'd all recognize our common interests and start calling for a wealth tax, the cancelation of student and medical debt, campaign finance reform, a breakup of the big media monopolies and tech companies, and then, worst of all, an end to endless wars and illegal military interventions.
Honorable mention: Jet Set Radio
I took AP music theory in high school, and my awesome teacher always made it clear that "AP music theory" was one approach to music and that outside the confines of the course, the rules of 18th century baroque and classical did not apply to "all" "music" (both in quotes because each word in the term is loaded). Lead to me filling my uni's diversity credits by taking classes on American music and non-Anglo world music, and while I'm a very amateur hobbyist I noticeably write better music because of it.
Not from the US, but I was going to take our "AP music theory" course after 4 years on a music scholarship. I believe the only genre studied in the main course was classical, and for two years, at that. There was a similar course that was Jazz/Blues-focused, but my primary instrument was flute, so I was directed into the 'classical' course, instead. So glad I didn't waste my time on it and chose Biology instead. Although, the racial ideologies in music only just followed me in the form of Charles Darwin instead, and the many other "enlightened" of the 19th century.
@cyotee doge ???
I had AP Music too--what a waste! It did get me college credit however. Money well spent.
@cyotee doge the fuck are you saying lol. Just because there is one example of progress doesn't mean "ohp, the problem actually isn't real, stop making shit up video >:("
@cyotee doge Uhhhh????
Bach and the Bird One of them created the system we used to make music with. The other one didn’t even know scales or keys existed. Both the greatest improvisers of all time, probably. I bet my bottom dollar if Bach was alive today, he’d be making better rap music than the kids today do. Put that in your pipe and smoke it
It makes absolute sense that portamento should be a “natural” part of lullabies, as most originate in mothers humming rather than singing.
who was here when the title was "music theory is racist"
Me lol what happened
Yup
Me
I guess he figured that the spicy title was making ppl react angrily without hearing out the content of the vid. Idk I liked the provocative title
@@emptymeasure17 Adam must have realized after reading the comments that that was a bad title
The most important thing I ever learned about music theory is that "if it sounds good, and theory says it is wrong, then the theory is wrong."
@@kuruptlive8874 you've misunderstood the use of the word theory
@@kuruptlive8874 Right! I think one of the main points of the video is that theory never stops changing. So why then do our educational theory books still revolve around one sect of one culture from one era of music? Awesome to hear that a lot of your theory teachers use more modern and diverse examples to teach theory btw.
@@kuruptlive8874 You still don't understand what the word theory means in this context. A Theory is just a set of organized ideas used to explain something. So, music theory explains how music works.
You're are confusing the word theory with the words hypothesis or conjecture.
Theory is describing the building blocks for you to create what ever fuck you want.
Like you learn about wood, nails, hammer and a simple blueprint to practice on. When you know how the tools works and what the material is for you can build what ever fuck you want.
If you wanna build something ugly, you build something ugly. If you wanna build something beautiful, you build something beautiful. If you wanna build something crazy, you build something crazy.
For instance, theory doesn't urge you to follow the exact layout of a structure. You are free to modify it in your unique way. But you need to have something to start practise on and theory gives some examples of some nice working structures for you to work with.
Only an idiot thinks that you cannot create something outside the working frame of this theory.
Like if you go to a construction school and you learn how to build a simple house. That doesn't mean that you are not allowed to build something different or something that doesn't even resemble an house. That isn't what theory is all about.
You learn how to use the tools to build after a simple blueprint. Now you are free to create what ever fuck you want. That is what theory is for. Now you have to be creative. And if you find something that works which the theory didn't cover - thats great! Maybe they will add it to the theory.
Once you learn the rules you learn the best ways to break them ;)
Thank you! Years ago, my wife and I were driving in Ireland and listening to Irish National Radio. The DJ was playing some Duke Ellington and followed that up with Beethoven, and the lightbulb went on in my head - we in the U.S. have Jim Crow radio. I have been ranting about this to whoever would listen ever since. Most people think I'm crazy so thank you for putting this video together.
But, it isn’t evident that European music by European musicians like Bach, Chopin, rachmaninoff, Beethoven and so on was made with race in mind.
How stupid are you?
Something can be talked about and used in a racist way regardless of how racist its original creator was.
You can't say that shooting a black person isn't a racist hate crime just because the manufacturer of the gun didn't make it with racist hate crimes in mind.
(By the way, there were plenty of 'classical' musicians who definitely were racist)
To americans it is because in america everything is about race (and about america)
this never said it was - and odds are, it wasn't!
this is specifically addressing THEORY
PROTIP: make sure the piano and the 18th century musician are in the same key.
Thx, bruh
Nothing isn't racist wee gay it.
major oof
John Pots exactly
Same race*
I remember stumbling across the limitations of western theory when an Persian guy tried to commission me to write some iranian-style music for his film (that sadly never got made, couldnt get funding to move out of preproduction) and I thought "OK this is a challenge, I'll try" (Also, this was well before the current popular understanding of appropriation, it just wasnt on the radar) , and after about 3 weeks I had to call him and cancel out. Other than his fairly specfic requirement of the style of Iranian from a village in the north his famly comes from, the theory is just lightyears away from ours. The microtonal adjustments required to replicate the scales was fine, but the rest was absolutely alien to me. I found out there was a Turkish professor who specialized in "middle east music" at the conservatorium so I made an appointment with him and he just straight up said "Dont do it. *I* wouldn't attempt it and I learned my theory in the country next door to Iran." He pointed out that even within Iran, a person from one area would be learning completely different styles and rules to a guy in a village 100km away. Even more, musicologists have actually struggled to understand the persian music families in any sort of analyical framework that can be translated into english concepts. Even saying whats *different* has proved a struggle. So a 20yo amateur composer with no experience of Iranian music outside of cab driver radios had no chance. I mean I could have faked it and come up with something that sounded to ME like "Iranian music", but anyone from that region would have found it offensive, or at best embarassing, and I just dont wanna be THAT guy. My turkish contact gave me a contact for an actual Iranian composer which I forwarded onto my guy.
And I think this is all excellent ,because its a reminder that music is a language, and languages are always historically and spatially practices, filled with excesses of meaning and filled with implication, explicit and implicit. All of which is part of why music has been such a powerful expression of the human condition.
So then, how about whenever the TODAY’S MODERN MEDIA extols some big contemporary BLACK music figure like Michael “King of Pop” Jackson or Aretha Franklin or Beyonce or Whitney Houston or Tupac Shakir or Stevie Wonder or Little Richard or Snoop Dawg or Gladys Night or Diana Ross or James Brown? .. . THEN are THEY promoting BLACK “supremacy”.
@Shayne
Well, obviously you didn't study hard enough to learn about everything there is to know, and you didn't acquire wisdom beyond human comprehension.
In the meantime there shouldn't be a "music theory" book, on the basics from Europe, about "very specific persian village music from a village located beyond the giant rock shaped like a priests hat, when the wind blows 20° off towards the west".
You know you sound like nutcases, when you talk about this, right? They teach EUROPEAN music in white countries. Unbelievable, I know, but hear me out: "You go to Persia / Iran to learn about persian music".
But go figure: People can write books. Imagine that: books. Could you write one, maybe, and stop this whining?
@@sloancostella2772 This was the slippery slope that shone out from the video, at some point extolling any one music type comes to be seen as disproportionately favoring that one type, at the expense of any other. It's the same problem even a kind and empathetic parent has if they don't manage to deal out their kindness and generosity equitably among the kids. Moreover, isn't it precisely through such extolling/favoring that each type of music rose to such preeminence that it became integral to, and emblematic of, its particular culture/sub-culture in the first place?
In a similar vein, oughtn't the very good point about the limited reliability of Wikipedia, given the even more unreliable and considerably more limited sources available to anyone living centuries ago (including you and me, if we'd been there) to have been put forward as precisely the reason why these historical figures should be cut considerable slack?
We are all privileged to be granted a world view through the internet, more then a hundred years of recorded music- most of it available free online, to say nothing of the passports, visas, prosperity, plastic money, wide-bodied-jet affordability of travel etc that have better informed our views.
Irrespective of any supremacist or relativist notion, the bigger question , I suggest is, to what extent your culture and exposure to its music inadvertently either enables or constrains your capacity to appreciate music conceived in a different cultural milieu? One glance through any RUclips comments thread confirms that, although music is often vaunted as a universal language, "It 'aint necessarily so".
@@ext274 duuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
@@sloancostella2772 Watch the video- saying that black music is popular doesn't disagree with it, it furthers its point
I’ve actually been interested in better understanding the structure/language of music for a while now. Having seen this, I think I’ll look beyond the usual western “music theory”. Thanks for the tip and all the insightful info. :)
No way someone asked " does joel use music theory" you cannot NOT use music theory, making music IS music theory
Nahre Sol trying her best to calm us down
The absolute truth. This video is triggering as fuck.
Will Pogue I do t know about common sense, lol. I just know that as a musician, this video hurt. I’m not saying it isn’t true. It just hurts acknowledging its truth because I’ve built my music teaching career on it. I’m wrestling and grappling with these truths. I’m glad he acknowledged that he too, is finding this a jagged little pill. It just hurts.
Nahre just instantly calms me tbh
what song did she play
Will Pogue our experience of the material was different. It is what it is.
In my swedish middle school which specialised in choir music, we were taught that we shouldn't say "classical music" but instead we should say "västerländsk konstmusik" which translates to "western musical arts" or "western art music". Our choir teacher made it very clear that what we were learning was only but the tip of the iceberg of the great wide world of music.
do you share swedish and english as a first language?
Your choir theacher lied. You must have been disapointed when you found it was the major part of the iceberg.
Gotta love Sweden.
Helt rätt av lärarna :) var/när gick du?
In france we were told to call it "musique savante occidentale", which means "Occidental intellectual music", and some teacher strongly repeated that it's only a part of what music totally is, but sadly only a few did this. Many had a very closed mind set about what music is, kinda in a Ben Shapiro way of seeing it
This was surprisingly eye-opening. Thank you!
In my Advanced Analysis class we supposedly were learning Schenkerian analysis, but to be honest, I did not learn anything nor do I care to now several years later. To me, music theory is about studying the elements and building blocks of any type of music, from any culture. That's how I was consistently taught in high school (I did not take AP Music Theory as it was not offered at the time) and in my college music theory classes. In high school music theory class we even had ethno-musicology units covering India, Middle East, Far East Asia, music from different parts of Africa, and South America.
I die laughing every time I hear Ben say "my music theorist father, who went to music school."
"I'm not a charlatan, but I play one on the internet."
“Well, I understand better than anyone that music is taught by music in the music of music at music.”
@@impish_snake3526 To be fair, though, while some nominal majority of music scholars with more advanced academic qualifications than Ben Shapiro's dad would probably be compelled to disagreee with Ben Shapiro's dad, Ben Shapiro does have a point: none of those people is also Ben Shapiro's dad.
@@joshuabroyles7565 True enough.
What does that mean?
When I suggested that Schenker was valuable but "not the be-all-end-all," as this video also suggests, I was eliminated from consideration by Carl Schachter for a position on the Queens College music faculty. That was over 25 years ago. I guess I was ahead of my time, so to speak.
Was Schenker really considered fundamental? Was it thought essential to understanding Bach-to-Brahms music in this country? In the 90's? Thought only Germans were that crazy.
@@prgxl Schenker has left a far bigger footprint in American academe than in Germany. In the US, I get the impression that Schenker has been the go-to theory for understanding and discussing classical composition until fairly recently; in Germany he has never been taken all that seriously; in Europe, the UK and Finland are really the only places where you will find much work in Schenkerian analysis being done.
@@kospandx “in Europe, the UK and Finland”
Europe is a broad group of places. Which countries or regions do you mean? Finland is one of them but where else?
@@dntskdnttll Read as: in Europe, I am only aware of major Schenkerian research centres in Finland and the UK.
this goes both ways, and ur gonna find other places where their cultures version not the be all end all will get you kicked out, welcome to humans, the west isnt special
I never thought liking Mozart would radicalize me so greatly.
That's what this video was apparently made for.
Boomers do the same thing with Rock. They only recognize 1% of the music they are familiar with and overlook everything else. Certain artists dominate because all the other ones on terms of popularity.
Swear to god this title said music theory is racist.
EDIT: To all replying, he already mentioned this on his Twitter. He thought it was too clickbaity.
Yup.. still using fallacy to argue points, just decided to "White Supremacy" for some reason.
@@th3n3wk1dd what's the fallacy?
@@th3n3wk1dd let's see hear... if music theory, as most know and learn it in the Western world, was built around the proclaimed exceptionalism of white composers to justify a Germanic cultural supremacy I would say that means Music Theory = Racist.
@@MonsieurAuContraire and you don't see how that is a fallacy? I guess that is why you belong to the leftist religion.
I can proclaim anything.. no one has to follow it. There are general rules set in place as art evolves to see what MOST like.. That isn't racist. You are using identity to reach a conclusion rather than looking at culture where culture and skin color are not the same thing.
And that is why leftists don't understand the disparity fallacy.
I mean it seems like saying "music theory is racist" is kinda unconsciously buying into the same problem he's describing in this video, by centering western music theory as "music theory." Music theory isn't racist, just the way they teach it in the west. So yeah, it's a good title change
Speaking as an Indian learning Western Classical Violin,
My teachers did use some Indian Music Theory in teaching me, and it was hugely beneficial, both in understanding different musical traditions and appreciating their similarities and differences, and in innovation!
Indian Classical Musical Traditions( Hindustani, Carnatic and various others) are wonderful and deserve some more appreciation!
Quick question: how does the application of non-western music theory concepts such as classical Indian music theory translate to instruments of western origin, such as your own violin? I known there is such a thing as an Arabic violin, adapted to Arabic music concepts, so you could probably adapt it to other theories of music.
@@maxpieters7934 Different kinds of slides and intonation/tuning temperaments can be applied to most fretless string instruments such as the violin. Also, the style in which Indian classical music is played on the violin is slightly different. In general, there are a wider variety of slides which are more frequently used, some of which would require a lot of dexterity.
@@maxpieters7934 As Ananth said, fretless instruments aren't restricted to western tuning systems. Violin is in fact pretty extensively used in Carnatic music here and it's not unlike a kind of Indian fiddling in the way that it throws conventional tuning and even intonation out the window. As a piano player, I'm sadly a bit limited here.
Dude where can i find your music? You channel has no videos :/
Shreshth Adavi this is great. India has one of the greatest music traditions around the world. Maybe one day we will have universal music theory(if it is even possible)
I have a music degree in Jazz . I learned classical theory of course but specialized in Jazz theory and performance. So there is music theory and genres specific to other cultures.
It’s true about self expression and the rules of music. It is so stifling as an artist to have to follow certain “rules” when one can totally come up with their own styles and rules of expression.
im currently studying the harmonic style of 18th century european composers at a community college with that as my major and i was honestly really disappointed when i started and realized all they wanted us to do was classical music. i was trained as a rock/metal singer and it really does not work with my style at all which i find so frustrating. i also really hate all these music "rules" and have been trying to break as many as i can writing my own music lol. great video! really made me think.
Having watched the full thing, I just kept realizing that the problem is not the method of analysis or the naming of certain musical phenomena, but the implication that fitting perfectly within their box is 'genius'. It's okay to analyze any music with these methods, as long as we forget the idea of "pieces lending themselves to this method of analysis are objectively better'. Using music theory to name what you just played is a good thing, but saying that the name itself implies greatness is not
It’s a pretty nuanced and intertwining subject. It’s mostly about how we (or at least in the US) selectively hold a very specific music theory system as the objective truth, and this shows in various ways. Our outlook on what we call “music theory,” the extreme selectiveness of what is taught at music schools here, etc.
Fitting inside the box is the opposite of genius. Inventing the box might be genius, but most other composers who are considered genius are considered so because they either expanded the box or didn't pay attention to it and STILL managed to make music that is pleasing
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
@@PatrickGunderson that's why I put quotes around genius, because using the rules isn't really genius
except its not. he literally makes a case for guilt by association. have you even watched the video ?
When I took AP music theory, my teacher basically said up front: "this is an introduction to the way classical european composers made music. We will not be learning anything else in this course. College Board has decided that this is what you need to know, so that's what I'm teaching."
accurate
We need more teachers like that
I mean at least she's honest. My university music theory teacher just went on about how Bach literally invented music itself and acted as if the 20th century just never happened. Except for some reason she liked the Beatles, but whenever she used them as an example in class she would always insist that they got their musical ideas from Bach. And I'm like, girl, maybe George Martin listened to Bach but John Lennon was definitely taking his queues from black musicians.
Woah! Cool teacher! 😁
@@locker199601 Haha, I do get the sense that that is not an uncommon experience; however, Bach did "invent" an astounding amount of modern music, in a way! His chorales were constitute much of the study of four-part harmony since his "rediscovery" by Mendelssohn. The sheer quantity and depth of his oeuvre is quite literally unmatched in many respects. Not to over-deify him or justify his usage in discounting modern influences, but he was a God.
Fantastic. I have a graduate degree in music theory from Eastman and your video is absolutely on point. Keep fighting for real music and an open approach to everything all peoples have made on this planet!
All people’s? Ok racist!!!!!
Diversity is a destroyer of nations. A destroyer of genius. A destroyer of beauty. A destroyer of creation.
When he says "the harmonic style of 18th century musicians" he just completely skipped all Renaissance and Baroque music 💀
Renaissance music is not taught within the umbrella of “music theory”
@@AdamNeelySome pieces by William Byrd do follow a system of tonality
@@AdamNeelyHmm, when I studied musicology at university we learned all kinds of theories and approaches--including the Renaissance and the Middle Ages. That's why I was a bit confused with the video. I think what you meant is "the type of music theory you typically learn in high school"?
Another big part of musicology is ethnomusicology/music anthropology, that studies music outside of Europe and folk music traditions within Europe. That's where we learned a bit about other music theories as well.
As an indian, seeing you talk about Indian music theory shook me because I rarely hear about all this in my own country. There are so many music classes that aim to teach music through the western lens and others through the Indian lense, but never got any satisfactory understanding of either. It scares me. I should watch her.
But why? Why are they so into western music in India?
@@aniketpathak5679 Ah ok, so i take it Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Rachmaninoff.. not very popular
Sadly, white supremacy is a ideology not held exclusively *by* white people…
Incredible but credible since this commente work as an example of "systematic".
Yeah, that's because it's really a minute and small sub-culture of your people
"here's me eating Fritos....
...in the harmonic style of 18th-century European musicians"
My goodness if I could see the dislike ratio again.
theres browser addons for it. currently at 151k to 24k
@@AclibButLikeTheRealOneThis racist video deserves far more dislikes.
As a person of Middle Eastern ancestry I don't view it from a Woke perspective but rather by laziness and professors not willing to leave their confort zone and they pass it on from generation to generation. + traditional music theory is cheap to teach: you only need paper and pencil, almost no material nore instruments needed. To improve music theory investment in material and teacher training is needed and many schools cannot afford it.
"But he was a relatively obscure composer in his day, and rarely performed after his death."
I picture Bach with a portable electric keyboard playing on special occasions when important people visit his grave.
He must be de-composing!
@@spyguy318 boom!
Glad I'm not the only one who was thrown by that phrasing.
He *was* a composer, and (was) rarely performed after his death. Sigh...
Even in heaven he's out of job
12:12 "...and rarely performed after his death" im sorry but it took my brain a moment to realize that you meant his MUSIC was rarely performed. It sounded to me like you were saying HE rarely performed after his death, which, in fairness, is the case for most musicians,
lol Phew I thought I was the only one who made that error
That would be one hell of a performance
A Tupac-esque hologram show with Bach would be sick
@@warnergrantham3019 Bach featuring Eddie van Halen
The only musician to play after death was Michael Jackson, of course.
So one thing this video exposed is how unbelievably lucky I've been with my music teachers. Day one of my Music History 1 class, for example, lesson one, in fact was, "what is music?" The answer? "If someone, anyone, says it's music, then it's music shut the f*** up." And the rest of the class was very much concerned with how the language of music became an intentional cultural battlefield for the Germanic empires, specifically in regards to ancient disputes that started with Pope/Anti-pope disputes. If you study any European History, you'll find that at some point, a German or an Austrian has pretty much ruled almost every country at some point, and in many cases, at most points. Particular cultural influences like English and North Germanic, let's say, sure seem to have a big part to play in American History too, don't they?
So yes, when I started watching this video, I confess I thought this was a bit critical race theory-ish, but it turns out I just A) never studied THAT much music theory, apparently, and B)had responsible teachers who pointed out the cultural, religious and political motivations of baroque, classical and romantic composers, and were also big ol' Baby Boomers and thought George Harrison was just the absolute coolest (I mean he is.) But once the textbook excerpts and "critical" responses to Prof. Ewell's paper, yeah you totally convinced me. The utter Germanness of the asserted pantheon of music geniuses is just a little....ew. Sure, Mozart was the most prodigious prodigy to every prodigize, but was Haydn? Really? Are you SURE???
God bless you for making this video ... the algorithm has sent you my way a few times, and your content is always terrific. I was pleasantly surprised to see the depth of your cross-disciplinary acuity, here.
It's not even "the harmonic style of 18th century European musicians" - it's more "the harmonic style of 18th century Western European musicians". There's a rich tradition in Greece, for instance, of Byzantine music theory which is wildly different to classical western music theory. The 8 modes of Byzantine chant (and however many sub-modes within them) express a broad and deep variability that I haven't seen mirrored in western music (though to be fair to western music, it seems to have converged on a tuning which allows for a lot of flexibility in the colour of the melodies).
The Byzantine scale is one of 72 pitches (called Moria), and each mode and submode is a scale which uses a different set of 8 subdivisions of those pitches - for instance, the Plagal 2nd mode is divided among the 72 moria like this: 6-20-4-12-6-20-4. For some modes the subdivision changes depending on the directionality - you might flatten a particular note if you're going down in the scale. There are also particular runs and accents which are specific to a mode. In old Byzantine notation they would have a few symbols which indicate an entire run, though more contemporary notation tends to just write out the run explicitly. Byzantine notation is also quite cool; instead of expressing the note on an image of the entire scale, the notation tells you to move from the point you're at - so there's a symbol which means "go up 3" or "stay on the same note", etc. This has (I reckon) led to a different emphasis - Byzantine music tends to jump around the scale less than western music. Though this is likely also because it's a vocal music tradition, not an instrumental one.
The influence of Byzantine (and Turkish theory on western theory can be seen in the more recent prominence of microtonal compositions - though even there, the way western composers use microtonality, in my experience, doesn't really mesh with eastern theory. Eastern microtonality still aims for that concordant feel of being within a certain scale, and we have the concepts which allow for that. The western microtonality that I've heard feels more discordant, as though the entire point is to move away from classic western tonality, and not necessarily to embrace the particular feel of a new tonality. But still, it's cool and I look forward to seeing the evolution of western microtonality. It's definitely an interesting variation on the classic western tuning which always has the same pitch subdivisions.
they are so beautiful, that is why they influence so much the greatest composers
Very interesting and illustrative that different musical traditions are made up of different raw material. Western music is bound by the equal tempered 12 tones and the study of music theory is understanding common practice in that particular system. It has no racial component except what humans ascribe to it.
@@jaykavanaugh8975 exactly
what desesperated hipocritical millenials socialists with iphone and widely monetized by youtube ascribe to it
Microtonality is either: artificial, or natural, and if it's natural it's not microtones, simply mathematically correct tones
The tempered western scale is nice to compose vertical brainy music and change tonalities, but that's about it.
Bach rarely performed in the years after his death
Interesting
I think he said "was performed" or at least that's what I think I heard
His compositional style was seen as outdated.
@@Macakiux haha I figured that was the intended meaning but only after I thought about it for a minute
@@MR-gz9lm actually, that's not what Adam said. He didn't say that he was rediscovered, just that Mendelssohn went through a great deal of effort to perform the major works of Bach that the public hadn't heard or cared about. Musicians knew Bach because his Well-Tempered Clavier was common for pianists to learn, but Bach's mass and other great works were almost forgotten in the public eye. Please listen more carefully and be more informed about what you say. This video's title is quick to provoke a response, but the content of it is informed, factual, and applied well.
Bach been real quiet since his death huh
I’m 3/4 through the video and the more I listen the more it sounds like 🐂💩🤨
What does being “mixed race” have to do with music composition?
Context, music is made by human beings who live in the world, human beings are greatly effected by the social construct of race.
As a North African aspiring musician, since I started learning theory, I started with western, Indian, and Middle Eastern. Many people told me that I should stick to one but I didn't listen. I think I have a lot better understanding of theory than they do.
Yeah, I also find it really helpful. All of these musical traditions are valid, but they're also all subjective, and I think there's a lot to be learned by studying many traditions. It helps to get at what music *is*, and what things are really fundamental, vs what things are stylistic choices
Take from everything/give to everyone
Things are just things until you make them something that they were not intended to be
Fuck hate and fuck those that look to inject it where it does not belong
I love North Africa
I hope whatever music and everything you do explodes and helps color my artistic pallet
God Bless
Studying all the elements and sides of a subject is one of the best approaches. You are absolutely correct.
What do you play? Do you do any composing? I’d love to hear you perform.
Finding therein a unique combination that "speaks" to your listeners can be a huge pathway to great music and potentially fame. Think Desert Rose by Sting as an example.
There are obviously still huge untapped areas within any musical style or genre, but there are WORLDS of unimagined music that crosses those lines.
My mentor DANILO PEREZ went to Senegal, Congo and other African countries. He told me something that changed my life for ever: in Africa, drummers FOLLOW the dancer's moves.
That, combined with "no one who can't dance will get a music degree"... Booom
Danilo Perez!! 👏🙌👍
It is the same in Flamenco.
He's awesome piano player!
In James Brown's band everybody better follow the drummer, or else he'll make some changes in people's lives.
That's fair: no legs, no degree.
Funny that you mention Spanish. As a Chicano that speaks Spanish, I was in Spanish class in high school. We were taught European Spanish, which is totally different from the Spanish we speak in US. It is a common consensus that Castilian Spanish is the more h8gh culture Spanish, as compared to Spanish spoken in Latin america.
I live in Canada and we are taught Parisian French instead of Quebecois French. So weird.
I just caught the dance bit. My alma mater had us take eurythmics in our freshman year, literally a bunch of us dancing around a stage to music for exactly the purpose you and the West African experts you quote here say - mind/body connection with rhythm is a great way to improve understanding of meter. I just assumed that was a thing everyone did.
But that's just a theory, a _harmonic style of 18th century european musicians!_
bravo
Your Snoke _a harmonic style of 18th century european musicians_ sucks!
… a GAME theory! Thanks for watching
Aaaaaaaannddd,,,
FINE!!
You are obviously not academic
Was here when the title was more ‘clickbait-y’, in comparison.
I feel like the new title is more accurate and nuanced. People think of many things when they hear “racist” and they’ll often dismiss it immediately if it is disagreeable to them. I told a family member about this video and he immediately scoffed at the original title and was not open to the ideas presented afterwards. Better to use less loaded language.
JarredWrightMusic completely agree. I shared with someone who checked out during the 4th minute, when Neely suggests that folx find European composers superior to black American composers. Many will not be able to let their guard down long enough to appreciate the historical, cultural, and theoretical nuance sprinkled thruout the vid.
@@RyanOManchester care to elaborate?
@@RyanOManchester he expressly pointed out that we should do cross cultural comparisons and the video made it very clear that its a two way street. It was also made clear in the video that at no point was anyone suggesting dropping the existing (Schenkarian) tools of analysis, or appreciation for the mostly German composers of the canon.
This video really only suggests that we broaden our education to include a wider definition of musical theory and draw from musical traditions beyond the narrow framework currently defined as music theory within the west. This just means expanding our concept of Quality to include more diverse sources. You don't need to stop loving Bach just because you also appreciate Charlie Parker.
@@RyanOManchester These are some of the thoughts I was having while listening as well. I guess some of it just plays, to my ears, as if we're blaming one culture for something that is universal (framing music theory on your culture's experience). When he was, at 7 minutes, comparing it to studying "300 year old Spanish", I kept thinking, yes, you go even further back than that often, its called studying Latin, which is extremely helpful for understanding ALL of the romance languages, giving you a way to give meaning to root words and see the evolution. Yes, we need to diversify, but I do not believe there is as conscious an effort to stymie that progress as some of the video makes it out to be. It's a natural progression of globalization that is happening as we speak. Fantastic video though, not meaning to criticize it, this is a very nuanced thing, music theory! I'm glad he changed the title to reflect that. Love it.
Everyone who says mathematics are universal doesn't know mathematics.
Ofc 1+1=2 but there are different ways on calculating things. Eg you could use written addition you coul just learn it and there are different ways.
Yes but they're universal. The different ways to do things are also universal and remain true. They don't create wrong outcomes in other cultures
Fair point but what does this have to do with white supremacy? Why are so many people dissing on classical recently? Please listen to music from everywhere and like what you like.
Nope, he isn't dissing on classical music. If you've watched the first minutes of the video, popular culture (and even in musician culture) often likes to make the adherence of the musical style of the 18th century europeans as some "mark of musical genius". There's more to this video than the concept, so putting out conclusions without having watched at least a few minutes is sort of unfair, isn't it?
When I was in college studying music theory, a professor once chastised me for listening to Indian music. He said the micro-tones are unhealthy! LOL! Thanks for another amazing video Adam.
I hope you told your professor that Pythagoras says the 12th root of 2 is unhealthy.
... 😳 wow!!! 🤦♂️
Yeah those micro-tones will go straight to your hips haha
@@AlexAlex-hs2sp mmm.... hips....
Music is music mannnnnnnnn 🚬🥱 fuck that professor's ideology
37:34 i've been scrolling through the comments for a while now, how on earth is no one talking about the fact that Adam says he didn't include a wikipedia source, yet when you go in to the source document there clearly is one, and it turns out to be a rickroll article? XD
Because the meme stopped being funny 10 years ago.
@@Lykyk "Every party needs a pooper that's why they invited you"
Because (almost) nobody actually reads the source document.
@@axelpuff7594 lmao fuck the RRL
I have BA and MA in music education. This is a fantastic video and I can’t wait to share and discuss this with my peers.
Learned this basically day 2 of harmony at my HBCU lol
I stumbled across this "lost in translation" issue with music when I was talking to a colleague. I learned most of my music theory through the lense of jazz so when I mentioned that I used the circle of 4ths for developing solos he had no idea what that was. When I showed him it he told me "oh, you wrote the cycle of 5ths backwards."
It's always made more sense to me as a circle of 4ths.
If there's a musical element, you can turn it backwards (or however you want to) and get something else.
@@thewhiteshadow6098 The fifth is the first division of the octave. In fact it is the mean average of the base frequency and the same note an octave higher: (f+2f)/2. The third is the mean of the 5th and the base. The minor seventh is the mean of the 5th and the octave above the base, though TET tuning approximates this one poorly. These divisions were seen as fundamental because they equate to fretboard distances and such ratios sounded pleasing in harmony. From this point of view the 4th is merely derived from the fifth as an inversion. If you were dividing up a fretboard you would come upon the fifth first, and would probably consider it the next fundamental interval after the octave.
The circle of 4ths is pretty standard in Western Classical theory as well. In standard progressions the circle of fifths is more emphasized, however.
The circle of fifths is closer to the root of theory - the most fundamental division of the scale based on the mean of the octave frequencies - than is the circle of fourths. The circle of fourths is more of a tool of improvisational practice - progression patterns, resolving towards the root, shifting modes, chromatic substitutions and such - than is the circle of fifths. At least prior to George Russell.
We have so much to gain by expanding music theory education to include more approaches from the ground up. I wish that dancing and singing was emphasized as much as harmony when I was first learning. Luckily, I’m not dead yet, there’s still time to learn! Thanks for this illuminating video and I’m glad I could contribute in a small way!
Ben Show - (Learning how to dance) when
Ben is lucky because he is still a child inside.
Your contributions to this amazing video really made me more aware that the RUclips music theory 'scene' is not only a force for good - it's a very interconnected one. Love your work
No one limits your education man, Marty Friedman (a guitar player) started exploring the Japanese music composition and found a unique sound for his music - his hard search paid off, so you can do just the same thing, it's a free world
Ben, ethnomusicology has been doing exactly that for a long time now, dancing included. And I love that you feel the same about dancing as I do.
Thelonious Monk said, “you can’t make anything go anywhere, it just happens”. Most artistic expression “chases” or honors the socioeconomic model from which it was originated.
2:38 Just wanna be that one guy to tell you right now that Mozart was, in fact, born in what we call Austria today, not Germany.
Yes but that was considered part of a german state back then, hence Mozart called himself a german in his writings. Even the lands of today's Austria were called 'german austria' (as opposed to the non-german parts) within living memory.
As a teenager my family lived on a Marine Corps base on Okinawa, and for a while I got really into traditional Okinawan folk music. My mom didn't like it so we never played it on car rides 🤣
Same kinda thing happened at church. My family is Russian Orthodox, which generally uses very westernized music. On the rare occasion we had to use the eastern, Byzantine style tones (common among the Greek and Antiochian churches, among other) my mom would get frustrated, as conducting the choir using such an unfamiliar style was really difficult for her.
Edit: not a dig at my mom, she's a wonderful lady. Just pointing out how a perception of one style as "standard" can affect your enjoyment of other styles.
I enjoyed Kunkunshi, listening to Sanshin. Much of what I heard them play was in B major or C major anyway, with the occasional added half step. Their unique vibrato was also really cool too.
I envy you, always wanted to visit Okinawa because of the Karate Kid movies lol
This is why BTS is leading the way out of the moribund pop world after the A&R teams assassinated Concept Rock in 1977. They control their PR, so aren't whipsawed by the greed of the Labels. In the west, the growth of Indie has done the same thing - it's only because the corporate channels are still associated with restrictive practices that the dinosaurs of The Voice etc survive. What will be interesting is what emerges from the wreck of acappella in the UK.
It's also to be noted that John Taverner and his schoolmate John Rutter are/were both devotees of Orthodox cantoral, which has also inspired the bottom bass community in AC - the likes of Castellucci and Froud. That in turn relates to Jewish cantoral extempore.
Strange place to bump into a fellow Japanese Orthodox! Does your family still live in Okinawa?
@@AwesomeWholesome Nope, most of my family is in Texas. I'm on the East Coast
I'm going to sonic hell but why not. "You mean Indian musicians have a whole system for Raag Time?" I'll see myself out.
I’d give you 10 upvotes if I could.
Brent Johnson make 10 channels using the same account smh
Bruh. There are times and periods. Secondly , there are even days on which music is suited. There are songs for rain, for sun, for the wind. It's pretty cool tbh
take my like and leave
Take my like and stay. Sonic hell is closer than what you think.
I can't remember the title but there was an old 'Fugue Manual' that warned student not to take Bach's fugues as models for "not being typical enough" or something while Bach is widely considered the highest point of the genre and one of its inventors
Mozart was Austrian, not German....
Mozart was ‘Salzburgian’, Salzburg was independent from Austria in his time. However, he considered himself German.
Having it be called music theory rather than something like western music theory is like calling it language instead of English.
EXACTLY
In my public, US education, I never had an "English" class until my junior year of high school. Up until then it was "Language Arts" despite only covering English literature. It's always bothered me.
Okay that's true but let's keep in mind that western music theory is spread all around the globe and it's the most used one. That's why we call it just "music theory" and not "western music theory".
@@heika_206 English is also the most spoken language in the world, should we call English class just "language"?
@@jaas0225 It's not the same thing
Im kinda hungover rn so my thoughts maybe incoherent, but as a Japanese person who was taught "music theory" I just kinda assumed that it will be Eurocentric. Like I don't know how to explain it, but this whole discussion feels extremely obvious - Western music theory will have Eurocentric bias based on the the context and the personal factors of contributors.
It kinda draws parallel to how medicine and medical sciences are viewed, as everything is in English and regional forms of medicine are small scaled compared to Western medicine. Idk this feels very weird to me that all of this is being addressed in the video when I just assumed everyone knew and kept in mind the flaws of dropping the "Western" from music theory. Western music is the largest field of music rn at least in academics, so it feels normal for me to just say "music theory" because we assume that it's Western (the majority) in the context.
This is America's soul being bared. We can apply the same logic of this video to this video itself. The American experience of racism in music theory.
How the heck did the west get everywhere in the first place?
@@sgttomas not America's soul, United States' soul. This is not the Bolivian soul or the Mexican soul we're talking about. That's another proof of how much "United Statians" think of themselves when approaching the world
I feel like the section of this video where Ewell faced a literal symposium of backlash for pointing this out shows why your assumption, though informed and good natured, shouldn't be applied to the entire field. Because it clearly isn't. And that's kind of Neelys and Ewells point. That for theorists like Schenker, the white supremacist "undertone" WAS the point. It was explicitly acknowledged. But in modern teachings, the white supremacy either is unaddressed or tacitly endorsed at the expense of other equally valid understandings and perspectives.
@@alemutasa6189 America is just a short hand for the "United States of America" in this context. No need to be obtuse.
Beethoven was an above average composer?
Einstein was an above average scientist?
Shakespeare was an above average playwright?
I just don't think that way.
As you’re saying, music isn’t a universal language. It is a learned part of a culture. Of course “western culture” would focus their theoretical understanding on the music of “white” men. And this sounds like a good place to start, if you’re growing up in a western culture. It would not make much since if you were growing up in India, or Syria. But I think it is logical to be thoroughly familiar with the music and it’s theoretical basis for your primary culture. Then as you are exposed or seek out music from other cultures, you have a baseline for comparison. NOTE - That is a “baseline” for comparison NOT a valuation system. As far as a valuation system goes in music, western music isn’t any better than that of any other culture. However, a thorough understanding of any culture’s music can take a significant amount of time and effort. Blending the learning of multiple culture’s music invites confusion or a shallow appreciation of that music. I for one think that the music of Debussy is beautiful, but it doesn’t really sound like Indonesian Gamelan (which he attributed to influencing him). So, even when we are exposed to different traditions, we’re likely limited in our conception of this new music by our primary musical enculturation.
The thing is, most models of music theory that were developed for classical music in Europe AREN'T actually a very good starting point for learning most music that gets made in america these days. As should be evident by the discussions of Jazz and Hip Hop.
@@AlixL96 That couldn't be more true. Jazz is very much rooted in this model in the way it breaks it apart and deconstructs it using african derrived elements. Without classical western music theory there would be no Jazz and many Jazz legends were classically trained
In most cases, music theory follows music practice. Even George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept, a major influence on Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue album, was based on Russell's own performance experience. In many ways the American music that we make today has come from a place of combining musical cultures. From around the 9th century, European ("white" musicians) undertook the challenge of developing a system of notating music. Meanwhile, many other cultures were aural based approaches ("playing by ear"/improvisation). That is not to say that European music did not have improvisatory elements, such as cadenzas, but that Europeans were trying to "record" music by notating it for posterity while other cultures were making music for the contemporaneous experience. "American" music combines elements of European and the other cultures in a way that challenges "theorist" to conceptualize into a unified theoretical approach (not sure that's even possible). By the end of the 19th century, composers were writing music that was passing the boundaries of tonality and in the 20th century, tonality gave way to serialization and cellular ideas of composition - this is where my opening statement's "In most cases" limitation comes from. Now we see a European music that places the theory before the practice.
So, who is responsible for developing a music theory for contemporary American music? What would the purpose of such a music theory be (to replicate music that we've already been making - I hope not). How about all of us that play the music make the "rules!" Where is the "good starting point?" Instead of starting with the major/minor scale system, would it be based on pentatonics and blues scales? Would it place more emphasis on rhythmic groove than on harmonic elements? It seems that the "white supremacy" of the university's music theory courses is because the theorist in those positions have not generated a system that unifies the way we make popular music.
Again, there are many musical traditions. They are all valid. If you are a musician and choose to attend a university you are making a choice and a values statement. The same can be said if you choose to enroll in a vocational music school, think Berkley, you're making a choice. Learn the theory you want to. But I would encourage you to recognize that you're on a lifelong learning adventure!@@AlixL96
the number of music profs who are about to be emailed a link to this video...
I am sure that they will have a great laugh , adam would have been even funnier with a full head of purple hair
😝🤣
IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!
Done and done
Literally thought about doing this 😂😭
Spanish major, here. You hit the nail on the head. I spent a semester studying picaresque novels and hundred year old short stories. It was like walking on a combination of hot gravel and broken glass. I got a better grasp of Castilian chatting with folks in the grocery store, bakery and local cafés.
If you were a music theory major, as opposed to a Spanish major, you would realize that the above video is nearly all BS
@@kainajones9393 devil’s advocate here asking a question: Why is it BS? What arguments do you have to sustain that affirmation? Not judging, just curious to hear the other side of the story.
Classical and Spanish philologist here! I loved reading and analyzing the Spaniard golden century, but man, even as a Spanish native speaker, it was tough. However when we were studying those texts, the professors helped providing a synchronic perspective of the language and how it shaped the dialects spoken in the Americas. Really interesting stuff
@@tobi1314 I procured an MA in music theory at SUNY during the 1990s. Here are some of the courses presently offered to graduate theory students at SUNY:
MUS 502, Proseminar in Tonal Analysis: Analysis of Tonal Music
MUS 504, Analysis of Music of the 21st Century: Analyzing Tonal Music from the 20th and 21st
MUS 507 Studies in Music History: Histories of Music Theory Centuries
MUS 534 Opera Studies
MUS 536, Area Studies in Ethnomusicology: Music, Belief, and the Black Experience in the US
MUS 539, Proseminar in Ethnomusicology: Ethnomusicology in the Colonial Frame
MUS 541 Topics in the Cross-Cultural Study of Music: BlaQueer Sounds-Queer Negotiations in Mus African-American Music
MUS 547 Topics in Baroque Music: The Harmonious Cosmos in Theory and Practice
MUS 555 Topics in 20th-Century Music: Ecology and Its Discontents
MUS 559, Topics in Analysis: The Music of Charles Mingus
Some white guy stuff, but not predominantly.
I think his opening comment suggesting replacing the term "music theory" with "the harmonic style of 18th century musicians." is specious and ill-informed at best, and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the study of music theory in academic settings. Music theory begins way before this, and proceeds far past it. However, if you want to understand the synthesis of chords, scales and modes, then you're gonna, as a theory student, study the theories of "white guys." at some point. Sorry...just the way it is. Nearly all great (black) jazz masters used chords, modes and scales innovated hundreds of years prior by, yup, white European dudes. Does that mean they’re superior..NO. Does that mean "white music" is better...NO. Does that mean they’re “white supremacists”…NO! What is he actually critiquing? Music Theory in academic settings? If so he got it mostly wrong. To suggest that a "standard" music theory, is put forth as some sort of rigid white regime borders on the ridiculous. Soon we'll be discarding Calculus, Quantum physics and Relativity, as I'm sure that Newton's, Einstein's and Plank's great sin was that they were white. The above video does a great job in creating numerous strawmen, red herrings, and cherry picking, I think it more should be titled: “A Little Knowledge is Dangerous” or "Yet Another Self Deprecating White Dude with a Chip On His Shoulder and Lots of Seemingly Important Things To Say"
@@kainajones9393 I understand your points. What I think you might be missing is the point of considering “Music theory” as only the European way of understanding music. The problem with music theory, according to the video is that it narrows the explanation for different types of music. Not everything can be fully explained through music theory, just like the Spanish example he provided, therefore, what ends outside MT(music theory, because I’m lazy), which traditionally can be understood as non western music, could be taken by some people with racist views as inferior. Also, this theorists who is very famous in the USA and also was very racist, despite his jewish heritage.
I mean, it’s a 30 minute video essay, quite complicated to comprise in one comment. TL:DR Music theory isn’t racist per se, what’s racist is the usage it has.
I started with just intonation in the 1970s while at the Boston Conservatory. I start from a question "how are musical systems created", In the 1980s, a friend of mine built a 256-matrix keyboard as a result of a conversation we had. What I have done since that time was to pare down my ideas so that my system would remove as many presuppositions as possible and proceed in a quasi-axiomatic path. "Quasi" since we are living in a highly impatient period of time. I wound up not only question our predominant music theory but also our predominant mathematical theory. You'd be surprised how much of what we learn in mathematics comes from the same core period as the core music theory you are discussing.
Really difficult. I am German and my music teacher at highschool explicitly told us, our notation and music theory ignores a huge amount of music from all over the world. She was very aware of the problem.
I think of it this way:
Imagine being an engineer, scientist, software developer or RUclips content creator not born in the USA or at least some other English speaking country.
You have to learn English as a foreign language and use that language very often, but no matter what you do, you'll never be at the same level as a native speaker. Try making a video about a complex topic like this one. If you make it in your native language your audience will be limited, if you make it in English it will be hard for you to make and many people will quickly switch to something made by native speakers.
I don't blame anyone. This is not an act of intentional surprission. Our American friends are just lucky in that respect.
Anyway, this is important and eye opening. Great video .
Greetings from Berlin
Very good explanation of the issue.
I agree.
When one comment makes more sense than an entire video full of woke-ism.