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Prof Suggests Calling Famous Composers by Their Last Names is ‘White Supremacy’

Prof Suggests Calling Famous Composers by Their Last Names is ‘White Supremacy’

“These canonized demigods became so ensconced in elite musical society’s collective consciousness that only one word was needed to evoke their awesome specter”

Does the left ever get tired of finding racism everywhere and in everything? Most people find it exhausting.

The College Fix reports:

Prof: Referring to famous composers by just their last names is ‘white supremacy’

A professor of music theory says that using only the last names of famous composers like Beethoven and Bach is a form of “white supremacy.”

Writing in Slate, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Christopher White wants everyone to “fullname” these musical masters so as to avoid the “habitual, two-tiered” method: Guys like Mozart get called just that, while women and minority composers are referred to by their first and last names.

“These canonized demigods became so ensconced in elite musical society’s collective consciousness that only one word was needed to evoke their awesome specter,” White says.

White points to a review of a performance by the Louisville Orchestra — it lauded the presentation of a Beethoven composition, but also a piece dedicated to Breonna Taylor written by Davóne Tines and Igee Dieudonné (emphasis added).

The assistant professor of music theory notes there has been an “explosive focus” over the last few months on white supremacy and “male-centrism” within music research. In his field, “working groups” have been established to “analyze and advocate” for marginalized composers, and they’ve created a bevy of “alternative” resources for music educators.

If a teacher has been making use of, say, Beethoven to explain a particular concept, he could also utilize the “Cotten picking” style of composer Elizabeth Cotten, for example.

From the article:

[I]nitiatives toward diversity and inclusion are placing new names on concert programs, syllabi, and research papers, names that might not have been there 10 or 20 years ago—or even last year. But these names are appearing next to those that have been drilled deep into our brains by the forces of the inherited canon. This collision between increasing diversity and the mononyms of music history has created a hierarchical system that, whether or not you find it useful, can now only be seen as outdated and harmful.

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Comments

I’m surprised he doesn’t change his last name.
If you don’t click on the link, his last name is White.

The Friendly Grizzly | October 26, 2020 at 9:12 am

Dear Professor White:

Shut up.

-signed- Student T G Grizzly

Student who attend college are white Supremacists.

    The Friendly Grizzly in reply to kjon. | October 26, 2020 at 9:36 am

    Even worse: students taking real majors.

    MajorWood in reply to kjon. | October 27, 2020 at 1:51 pm

    I have to admit, I went to Oberlin, with a pretty good conservatory, and yet I am not familiar with Elizabeth Cotten’s Ninth Symphony. I can pretty much hum Beethoven’s, though, from memory. And he wrote it while deaf. That would be like Stevie Wonder painting a masterpiece, just sayin.

This idiot clearly has way too much time on his hands.

50 years from now, no one will know or care who Christopher White was; and yet people will always know who Mozart and Beethoven were. Good music and idiocy on the left are timeless.

empiricallyobvious | October 26, 2020 at 10:39 am

Just a thought…those who teach the theory of music likely don’t have the talent to create it…thus they pontificate to feeble minded students.

    Assistant professor. Basically climbing the greasy pole of tenure and needs some damn thing to hang a publication on. Woke ideology provides an endless source of such content-free material.

Was the song dedicated to Breeona titled “My Boyfriend Done Got Me Shot?”

Now do Kanye, 50 Cent, Prince, Jimi, and all the others

What this professor is teaching is students to avoid him. Tenure must be abolished and higher education cleansed of idiocy.

    SophieA in reply to jjc. | October 26, 2020 at 1:18 pm

    I disagree. Tenure protects my conservative, political theorist daughter’s free speech. Her sound teaching and persuasive abilities change her badly-taught student’s perceptions of politics almost every day. Were she not tenured, she would most certainly be fired by the university’s liberal administration.

    Tenure protects her free speech at least for now.

Um…I’m pretty sure that the whole “using the last name only” thing came about because everyone knows who your talking about without using their full name.

Am I a white supremacist when I say “Obama” and expect you to know who I mean? or “Mandela”, or “Mugabe”, or “King” (which is a common enough name you might be mistaken, but if you use the moniker “MLK” everyone knows who you mean).

To paraphrase an enlisted shipmate of mine from years ago: It appears that his many years of academic study have educated Dr. White all the way up to stupid.

Well, I guess it depends on how much confusion use of the single name would cause. There is an amazingly talented bunch of musicians who share the name “Jackson.” So we need to clarify — are we referring to one of Joe’s kids (and if so, which one?), or to Jackson Browne or to my personal favorite JJ [“It’s All Right”]?

On the other hand, I only know of two who go by the name Beethoven, ol’ Ludwick and a large St. Bernard. I don’t think there is any confusion between the two, so using a last name only for Ludwick Van is ok.

What about the number of entertainers who use only one name? Is that OK in Prof. White’s mind? Madonna, Cher, …

And what about the global-wide practice of calling other very famous people solely by their last names? Is that racist also? According to this loon, ‘fame = racism’ apparently. Another fatuous moron trying to ride on the coat-tails of what used to be academe. Fire them all! There are plenty of knowledgeable people in love with a particular discipline who would love to have this guy’s job—without having to submit to SJW Party discipline.

Barry Soetoro | October 26, 2020 at 4:45 pm

Mandela. Obama.

    Barry Soetoro in reply to Barry Soetoro. | October 26, 2020 at 4:58 pm

    Ali. Angelou. Ellington. Franklin. Hendrix. Jackson. Jordan. King. X. Owens. Poitier. Pryor. Robinson. Tubman. Winfrey. Wonder.

Where do these stupid professors come from? These inane comments show how utterly stupid they are and should be the basis to fire them.

This person is very confused. Calling Ludwig van by just his last name is a sign of BEETHOVEN supremacy.

Christopher White?

Who?
.