Classical music has been at the forefront of racism for an incredibly long time. That’s right, it may surprise you that something traditional and beloved like classical music has been on the front lines of racism. But it’s true, classical music has quite successfully ignored the voices of minorities for\u2026like\u2026ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“But Tim, that’s just not true, classical music is for everyone! We encourage people of all backgrounds to cough together, as a team. We even invite children to attend if they’re completely silent, don’t move, and don’t touch their program books. And just check our standardized conservatory text books, they even have a<\/em> female composer and an <\/em>African American composer in them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our system is fucking broken and if you dare try to mention Hildegard von Bingen to me again, I swear to you\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a lot of incredible composers who identify as female from the last 841 years. Go listen to them. Just like there are a lot more African American composers beyond William Grant Still. Go listen to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “So Tim, you think they’re not important and that we should never perform music by the Lord our father Ludwig van Beethoven!?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n No you nitwit, I didn’t say that and don’t interrupt with stupid questions. That’s a stupid question. Are you also sponsoring hashtag All_Composers_Matter? You \ud83e\udd2c missed the point. I’m not minimizing any of these important composers. I am, however, saying that we could and should have been doing more for\u2026like\u2026ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I work in the arts, I’ve managed arts organizations. I know it is insanely difficult to convince audiences to buy into anything that’s different. Arts organizations were already on shaky ground before <\/em>the global pandemic. We’ve been losing audiences because we’re not relevant. But if we try to be relevant we lose our major donors. Those are facts. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve sat in those meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No, I don’t know have the answer. I’m just another fool on the internet, but I know that I haven’t done enough. There are a lot more voices to be heard besides the ones who have already been heard and heard and heard and heard (and keep repeating “and heard” for every orchestra that was going to perform a Beethoven symphony this year).<\/p>\n\n\n\n So please, knock yourself out in the comments section and reiterate how I’m a huge fucking hypocrite. I’m in good company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can do more. Need a place to start? Go listen to “The Last Seven Words of the Unarmed” by Joel Thompson if you haven’t already. After that, let’s do more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n