Classical music institutions in this country have been brought to their knees by a global pandemic and are in the midst of existential crises as they finally wake up to their complicity in systemic racism. We have a unique opportunity in this moment, and our next steps will determine how much radical change we are willing to embrace.
Once protected by its feudal lords, classical music in a capitalist society has struggled. While it is currently sustained through charitable donations under “non-profit” status, it is still forced to compete with organizations that have more tangible, visible, and measurable outcomes for the community. Outside of its non-profit status, it competes for ticket sales. The question for a long time has been, “classical music is dying--how do we save it?” Traditional solutions have focused on accessibility to young people via ‘cool/alternative’ venues, availability of alcohol, and dreary, half-hearted, one-off education concerts.
How do we justify the resources it takes to maintain the cultural significance of this tradition? What is the cultural significance of classical music in our modern day society?
Many people who have written on this subject claim that music education is where we need to focus our resources-- that education is the cultural currency we haven’t yet tapped into. There are so many discussions of the applicable skills it provides to children, particularly in communities of color; the “community building”, the “lives it saves” ..…….
Politicians and public policy are blamed for failing to understand the ‘intrinsic value’ of classical music and failing to expose young people to it. Successful musicians who have little interest in performing education concerts or working with green music students are also blamed.
I would argue that, while I agree school music programs are desperately underfunded, standardizing classical music education is tragically misguided. The after-school orchestra program models have been tested, and have failed. Frankly, I have found many of these programs to be akin to colonizing missionaries. Think White Savior Barbie. Yes, classical music is for everyone, but why classical music above all else?
Why does Beethoven take center stage in grandiose concert halls in America, whose prideful narrative is one of a multicultural society that was once a safe haven for immigrants and refugees? How do we justify continued Eurocentrism as multiculturalism, black lives, and immigration are politicized?
Yes, orchestras and presenters are actively grappling with these questions, but most of the solutions have remained tokenistic and do not address the very center of the problem.
My alma mater, Manhattan School of Music, recently announced they would include works by black artists on every concert this next season. While that is considered progress in many eyes, I believe that our bar is set too low. Will these concerts actually reflect the multicultural diversity of New York? While I don’t know what these programs will actually look like, I hope they won’t consist of a short Florence Price piece overshadowed by Brahms and Rachmaninoff and Beethoven. I hope that we are not content with a marginalized presence rather than complete erasure. Yes, there are many black and brown classical composers. Yes we need to play and teach their work. But I still do not think that is enough.
Classical music in the USA has demonstrated an inability to divorce itself from European colonizing traditions. While people of color have been historically excluded, a few of us are being used to justify the orchestra’s existence, and only because it has become socially and politically expedient to do so.
Additionally, arts organizations are forcibly indebted to a handful of heavy hitting wealthy donors who have also funded climate change denying movements and “broken window policing” policies (ex. Kovner Foundation; see American Enterprise Institute, Manhattan Institute), which disproportionally affect communities of color. Marketing efforts are centered around a sleepy white older generation who are resistant to change, and our justification for resources is dependent on upholding the racist and classist narrative that has distinguished classical music as “high art” from all other musical mediums.
Please take a look at who your board members are. Who holds your organization accountable?
Who is in charge? Who makes the artistic as well as business decisions?
Who are your programs for? Who are you serving? Who is your community?
Where does your money come from?
We need a cultural revolution. We need our “high art” to reflect our community traditions and stories, while responding to political and cultural movements. The watered-down statements against racism don’t count, because the organizations are still racist in both tradition and practice. We can’t save classical music, but we can change what it means to be a not-for-profit, community collective of musicians. We can challenge genre, tradition, and status-quo. We need to use our black and brown spaces to be creative and dream, rather than beg for assimilation.