tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471857416619574489.post7759424082974873..comments2024-03-15T07:55:23.083-07:00Comments on Not Another Music History Cliché!: You can’t change the canon…or can you?Linda Shaver-Gleasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18113845749216374555noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471857416619574489.post-46450370418972368742016-06-29T08:20:56.847-07:002016-06-29T08:20:56.847-07:00Thanks for the "shout out" here! Talk of...Thanks for the "shout out" here! Talk of the canon always makes me question what it is that we should be teaching in music history classes. I think the vast majority of professors would say that we are teaching style recognition, chronology, and repertoire. But is that really the best outcome we can hope for? How about teaching inquiry and critical analysis? I've decided to upend my survey classes and instead of teaching "The Canon" by way of "The Anthology" I've decided to teach questions central to all kinds of music making. These questions include, What is notation? How do you make money with music? How does power and patronage shape music making? How is music distributed and consumed? What is a genius, and what does it mean when we talk about composers and geniuses? These questions can be used as lenses into any musical practice and hopefully they can help flatten the inequalities between the bogus categories of High Art/Low Art, Western/Non-Western, etc. Thoughts?Sara Haefelihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13523825046923396531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471857416619574489.post-86210035878592117702016-06-20T15:59:35.422-07:002016-06-20T15:59:35.422-07:00PS - this is Bob Fink. Can't manage the interf...PS - this is Bob Fink. Can't manage the interface yet...Bob Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14699313976919016471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471857416619574489.post-67278007111281501652016-06-20T15:58:49.507-07:002016-06-20T15:58:49.507-07:00Well done! One interesting fact I always like to e...Well done! One interesting fact I always like to emphasize in this context is that when the "classical" canon arose in the 19th ct., it specifically excluded a lot of music that was "popular" at the time, but that we now unproblematically lump in with it. For instance, Chopin's piano music and other salon favorites; Italian opera; bravura concertos; and avant-garde "new" music by guys like Berlioz and (gasp) Wagner.Bob Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14699313976919016471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471857416619574489.post-91520251736975617402016-06-20T14:10:19.331-07:002016-06-20T14:10:19.331-07:00Excellent insight as always, Linda. One other way ...Excellent insight as always, Linda. One other way the canon remains entrenched is through pedagogy at all levels -- and here too it's a complicated matter, because even when textbook authors feature works and/or composers designed to expand / shift the canon in new editions of their texts (or in new texts designed specifically to provide alternatives to established canon repertory) there can be pushback from instructors who have learned particular narratives or works and expect to convey those to their students. <br /><br />Regardless this is a crucial contribution to public discussion of this topic, so thanks again!ADAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06147461706807764093noreply@blogger.com