APPENDIX E: SAMPLE (OPEN) LETTER TO A MUSIC TEACHER ASSOCIATION
Dear Music Teachers Association of California,
In the spirit of striving to address systemic racism in all of our society’s endeavors, including music education and the music teaching profession, including piano lessons, I did a little research into our Certificate of Merit program’s repertoire lists (for piano). Here are some things I found and some recommendations I have that we should implement as soon as possible for going forward.
Of the (appx.) 665 composers listed in the section of Composers for Repertoire Selection in the CM Handbook, I could only find six (6) Black composers. (It’s possible I missed some; I tried to be thorough). 6 out of 665 is less than 1% of all composers. Here are the six composers:
Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
Ulysses Kay (1917-1995)
Charlie Parker (1920-1955)
Florence Price (1887-1953)
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
Of these 6 composers listed in the general index, I could find only one (1) of them, Scott Joplin, listed in the Required repertoire list.
Also, although composers on the big list come from all over the world, including USA, Canada, Europe (including Eastern Europe), Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Asia (e.g., Japan, China, Taiwan), Australia, Mexico, Cuba, and South America, I was unable to find even one composer from the continent of Africa.
I would like to recommend that we add some of the great, ingenious, often prolific, and innovative Black composers – many who changed the course of classical music and/or created new musical genres and styles, to the repertoire lists. What follows is a short, partial list of possibilities. Each of these men and women made contributions that should be celebrated by our community of music and piano professionals, and they all have wonderful stories to tell. I begin the list with some of my favorite ragtime composers and then go from there (in no particular order).
Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941)
Joseph Lamb (1887-1960)
James Scott (1885-1938)
Louis Chauvin (1881-1908)
Arthur Marshall (1881-1968)
Scott Hayden (1882-1915)
Lucky Roberts (1887-1968)
James P. Johnson (1894-1955)
Eubie Blake (1887-1983)
Fats Waller (1904-1943)
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799)
Francis Johnson (1792-1844)
George Bridgetower (1778 – 1860)
George Walker (1922-2018)
Samuel Coleridge Taylor (1875-1912)
Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)
William Dawson (1899-1990)
Undine Smith More (1904-1989)
Hale Smith (1925-2009)
W.C. Handy (1873-1958)
Will Marion Cook (1869-1944)
Blind Tom Wiggins (1849-1908)
Hall Johnson (1888-1970)
David Baker (1931-2016)
Zenobia Powell Perry (1908-2004)
Julia Perry (1924-1979)
J. Rosemond Johnson (1873-1954)
Coleridge Taylor Perkins (1932-2004)
Clarence Cameron White (1880-1960)
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
Marian Anderson (1897-1993)
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
Miles Davis (1926-1991)
Howard Swanson (1907-1978)
John Wesley Work III (1901-1967)
Frederick C. Tillis (1930-2020)
Arthur Cunningham (1928-1997)
Thelonious Monk (1917-1982)
James Reese Europe (1880-1919)
Bob Cole (1868-1911)
Julius Eastman (1940-1990)
John Coltrane (1926-1967)
Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017)
Nina Simone (1933-2003)
Billie Holiday (1915-1959)
Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993)
Artie Matthews (1888-1958)
Willie “The Lion” Smith (1893-1973)
Wynton Marsalis (born 1961)
Some of the repertoire from Black composers should also be included on the required repertoire list.
For music from composers on the continent of Africa, perhaps a start would be to look at this 5 volume collection, and other works. More research likely will be required.
Piano Music of the African Diaspora (Oxford University Press)
https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/p/piano-music-of-the-african-diaspora-african
Thank you for reading,
Dennis Frayne