Workshop at SMT 2021: Diversity and Inclusion in the Pedagogy of Contemporary Music Analysis
Robert Hasegawa
This workshop and discussion will examine issues of equality, diversity, and inclusion in teaching the analysis of contemporary music, framed as part of a broader reexamination of the Eurocentric canons and narratives characteristic of the discipline of music theory as a whole. While many histories of music composed after 1945 have focused almost exclusively on white, male composers from Europe and North America, this period in fact offers numerous opportunities for the inclusion of composers from more varied demographics; arguably, the field of music composition is more diverse today than ever before.
In this workshop, we will consider the possible impacts of an increasingly diverse repertoire on the ways that we teach the theory and analysis of contemporary music at the undergraduate and graduate level. How might we define a more inclusive pedagogical canon of post-1945 music? What concepts, tools, and techniques are most essential to equip students for the analysis of music being created today?
This workshop will pick up on issues addressed in March at the Eastman School of Music Graduate Forum on Diversity in Post-Tonal Pedagogy (organized by Zachary Bernstein with Michael Buchler, Robert Hasegawa, and Judith Lochhead), archived on YouTube. Materials for discussion will be posted on Humanities Commons in advance of the November 2021 workshop.