Creating a Space of Belonging, Safety, and Confidence

The other sections here address questions about musical decisions. But what about a performer’s identity? Or an audience’s predominant identity? There is no avoiding the fact that there can be a range of reactions to discussing or (re-)making eighteenth- or nineteenth-century Black American music. Because some of this music was not originally made in front of an audience, putting it in that context might feel insincere or–worse–like a betrayal of history, even if these songs have been arranged or re-composed.

If you, your collaborators, or students feel uncomfortable performing the types of sources examined here, then listen to that feeling and stop or delay performance. Create a space to discuss, ask questions respectfully, and reach a state of sensitivity and respect, no matter the performance outcome. Explore the music only in a classroom or lessons. That can be even more meaningful for the performers themselves.

If performance is a goal but you’re not sure if it’s appropriate, then consider thinking in detail about this question: What do we want our audience and performers to get out of this performance? Here are some possible answers:

  1. An understanding of the general historical origins of your musical selection.
  2. A sonic experience of your location’s particular history. (This might apply especially to those in Southern states.)
  3. An experience of new/different performance techniques (in a way that does not exoticize the music or its context). Or: an experience of performance techniques typically associated with current popular musics put in a historical context.
  4. A specific understanding of music as protest/resistance.
  5. An experience of eighteenth or nineteenth-century Black music that puts it in meaningful proximity to some European musics of the same era (i.e., performed on stage, etc.).
  6. An experience of eighteenth- or nineteenth-century Black culture that puts it in the same space as European culture of the same era.
  7. An experience of Black suffering, because the performers feel it’s the time/place for that kind of thing. (see below)
  8. An experience of Black joy, because the performers feel it’s the time/place for that kind of thing. (see below)

“To those songs I trace my first glimmering conceptions of the dehumanizing character of slavery.”

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston, 1849, 14.

“If there were one impact I’d like my work to have, it would be that people would cease talking about African American history and culture in terms of deprivation or inadequacy and actually acknowledge its depth and complexity and beauty.”

Imani Perry, Interview in The Guardian (10 Feb, 2020)

What do we want our audience and performers to get out of this performance?

What’s great about answering this question explicitly is that the process tends to have an effect on your thinking about other repertoires and programming in general.

In your process of preparing music for any purpose, I encourage you to consider one particular charge: to quote Allison Wickens, Vice President for Education at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, what do you have a responsibility to bring forward? Of course, as discussed here from a multitude of perspectives, “bringing forward” can mean a host of different things, not necessarily performance. You are a musician, which means you have some kind of cultural authority within your community. What parts of history does your community need to hear about—literally, in a musical way? How can you use your authority—through programming or collaborations or teaching—to amplify some lesser known historical moments of Black authenticity?

Thank you for joining us. Please contact me with questions or comments through my contact page.

— Emily H. Green

 

 

Next: Reflections »