Skip to Main Content

Music

Podcasts

Classically Black: Two Black classical musicians share their perspectives and centre Black voices and challenges ideas of what the field of classical music looks like.

Decolonizing the Music Room: Conversations that center the experiences and perspectives of Black, Brown, and Indigenous musicians. Aims to "disrupt the minimization and erasure of non-dominant cultures and identities in music education to build a more equitable future through our work."

The Score: Listen to White Fragility in Music Education for a discussion of how racial lines play a major role in the lives of educators.

Anti-Racism Resources in Music

In support of anti-racism, Queen's Library is expanding and highlighting collections by BIPOC musicians, composers, and scholars. Please offer resource suggestions to your liaison librarian. Please also see our Anti-Black Racism Reading List, offering resources on anti-Black racism and violence in Canada, Black resistance, race and health equity, and educating against anti-Black racism.

This page offers selected resources addressing anit-racism in music pedagogy and performance.  

Abbazio, J. M., Boddie, A., & Ogihara, E. (2022). Music Libraries and an Expanding Repertory: Suggested Strategies for Building Diverse Music Library Collections. Notes78(3), 353-379.

Attas, R. (2022). The Many Paths of Decolonization: Exploring Colonizing and Decolonizing Analyses of a Tribe Called Red’s “How I Feel”. Music Theory Online28(2).

Attas, R., & Walker, M. (2019). Exploring decolonization, music, and pedagogyIntersections: Canadian Journal of Music/Intersections: revue canadienne de musique39(1), 3-20.

Benedict, C., et al. (2016). The Oxford handbook of social justice in music education.

Bull, A. (2023). Voices for change in the classical music profession: New ideas for tackling inequalities and exclusions. (on order).  

Deguchi, Tomoko. Promoting diversity in the undergraduate classroom: Incorporating Asian contemporary composers’ music in a form and analysis course. Music Theory Pedagogy Online, 32 (2018).

Ewell, P. (2020). Confronting racism and sexism in American music theory,” musictheoryswhiteracialframe.com. Examines how institutional structure, underlying ideologies, and aesthetic value systems of music theory perpetuates gender and racial oppression in the field. 

  1. The Myth of Race and Gender Neutrality in Music Theory
  2. Racism, Sexism, and Their Intersection in Music Theory
  3. Music Theory’s Quantitative and Qualitative Whiteness
  4. Beethoven Was an Above Average Composer—Let’s Leave It at That
  5. New Music Theory
  6. Music Theory’s Future

Jacque, K., & Waterman, E. (2019). The Long and Narrow Road: An Inuit Student’s Journey Through Post-Secondary Music. Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music/Intersections: revue canadienne de musique39(1), 123-136.

Morrison, M. D. (2019). Race, blacksound, and the (re) making of musicological discourse. Journal of the American Musicological Society72(3), 781-823.

Eidsheim, N. S. (2019). The race of sound: Listening, timbre, and vocality in African American music (p. 288). Duke University Press.

Rastas, A., & Seye, E. (2019). Music and anti-racism: Musicians’ involvement in anti-racist spaces. Popular Music and Society42(5), 592-610.

Ross, A. (2020). Black scholars confront white supremacy in classical music. The New Yorker14.

Stevens, D., & Yoon, S. (2020). Beyond Western Shores: A Dialogue. Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy8.

Stimeling, T., & Robinson, D. W. (2020). Ten Anti-Racist Strategies for Music in Higher Education. Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy8.

Thiessen, A. L. (2021). Examining Whiteness in the Royal Conservatory of Music History Curricula.

Walker, M. E. (2020). Towards a decolonized music history curriculumJournal of Music History Pedagogy10(1), 1-19.

Woolfe, Zachary, and Joshua Barone (interviewers). "Black Artists on How to Change Classical Music." New York Times, July 16, 2020.

SelectedTItles

Blogs and Organizations

Decolonizing the Music Room: centres Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian voices in music education by providing training and content to educators.

Brown, Danielle (2020). An open letter on racism in music studies: Especially ethnomusicology and music education. My People Tell Stories.

Molk, David (2020). Embracing a transformative pedagogy: Music departments and white supremacy.I Care if You Listen.

Musicounts: Kanata: Contemporary Indigenous Artists and Their Music -- #BlackMusicMatters