Programming

I assume you’re here because you are inclined to learn the original contexts for the music that you play, and to explain those contexts to your audiences and students whenever possible. If there are holes in your knowledge about the social purposes of various musics around the globe, I recommend Excursions in World Music as an introductory textbook, Resonances: Engaging Music in Its Cultural Context for information about Euro-American genres, and Music as Social Life and Hungry Listening as deeper dives into music’s social role, especially in colonialist encounters.

Consider this as motivation to learn: if you discuss with students or audiences the context of one type of music (West African, for instance) but not another (European, for instance), you will imply that one music has a particular history while the other is free of history—one music is specific to a culture while the other is universal and possibly then universally appealing. “One music needs an explanation to help you appreciate it; the other does not,” a listener might think. If you’re going through the work of programming a variety of styles, the implication of European universality probably runs counter to your goal, so be sure to give repertoires equitable treatment.

Programming Tips

Audience/Performer Participation and Non-Performance

Like many other sorts of music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (and today), some of the music examined here was not performed for a quiet audience; it was participatory, or it was presented in a setting in which silence was not expected. People sang or clapped along, talked, or danced. (Johnson’s Listening in Paris, Southern’s The Music of Black Americans, and Epstein’s Sinful Tunes and Spirituals all explain these practices from different perspectives.) In these sorts of situations, music wasn’t really performed as much as it was co-created.

So, first, I want to emphasize that you do not have to perform eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Black music in order to have a meaningful experience with it. You can simply make, rehearse, and discuss it. [See Creating a Space of Belonging]

But there are ways to facilitate a “co-creative” space, should you choose to present the kind of music discussed here in a more traditional performance space. Here are three approaches:

Simply say these things out loud:

Singing along is a type of active listening.

It’s a way of showing someone you’re present and tuned in. Further, as I’ve discussed elsewhere here, blended, 100% coordinated presentation is not always the goal.

A participant doesn’t have to be exactly “with” the group.

In fact, melodic, rhythmic, or timbral independence of voices is true to some eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Black performance styles as best we can tell. It may take a mental shift to hear the sound of individual voices singing simultaneously (but not in sync) as beautiful and meaningful, but I think that’s a valuable shift for you, students and/or audience members, should you choose to present this music in performance.

Ensemble members can model audience participation.

Anyone who’s not playing or singing can dance or clap along.

Restructuring a concert’s physical space can encourage an audience to reconsider their role as inactive listener.

Seat the audience on stage. If it’s a small hall with no stage, erase the distinction between audience seats and performer’s seats. Is an audience member close enough to hear a performer breathe? That’s the kind of proximity that may change expectations on both sides and make everyone feel more like a unified community. The event becomes a space of co-creation rather than of an active-passive relationship.

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If you are presenting to an audience, in order to avoid jarring contrasts between different types of music or their cultural origins, I recommend programming according to function or original social context. Can you create a program or a set of dance songs? Of devotional songs? This approach also makes it easier to provide context efficiently. Even titling a program or set thematically can get your audience and students 50% of the way towards listening in a new way: “Global Dance Melodies,” or “Sacred Songs across the Atlantic” or “Upper Class Entertainment” or “Music with Stories.” (Not the most enticing titles, but you get the point..!) Many of you may already think this way, but I hope this short essay helps you understand how equitable explanations present more types of music on more equal footing to your community.

Further Resources: For classroom or group activities, Voices Across Time remains a useful resource with incredible depth.

Next: Creating a Space of Belonging, Safety, and Confidence »