And thanks everyone for being here. Paul, I knew your reputation as an
administrator for many years and a musician and those were both confirmed
during the two summers of thrill to work here with you students, faculty
or a go at Illinois University. And Racine told me about your early
support for the symposium. Um Another helpful individual to me was Jane
Hathaway currently in the School of Music and of course, kudos also to
reaching for this initiative and preparing to fruition but especially
finding special r. Congratulations for extinguished supposed honorees. It
is an honor to participate in supposed if Doctor Hard I met you last night.
Congratulations.
Unlike the other Latino speakers, I am not a world music special that and
the fact that I am privileged to speak first led me to decide to
generalize, to attempt to place the world music in some kind of context
and to speculate about an important potential that is world music
participation and pedagogy as a means of bringing together some of the
disparate groups in our world today to harmonize them if you will, it
appears that musical practices have been universal throughout the history
of mankind. Most likely all human cultures have practiced music just as
all humans have have spoken, had spoken languages based on the apparent
evolution of brain structure and other circumstantial evidence. It is
reasonable to conclude that music could well have predating blackness
along the way, music was probably displaced by language as the primary
communication mechanism. And at that point, music shifted to secondary
communication roles be that as it may, humans are hardwired for both music
and language and what emerges in each culture is at least one spoken
language and at least one performed type of music, this seems to happen
regardless of whether or to what extent different cultures learn from each
other. Anthropologists tell us that there have been many thousands of
cultures and many thousands of languages and undoubtedly there have been
many thousands of types of music as well in the western hemisphere alone.
A relatively late cover in terms of regions of human habitation.
Estimates for the total number of languages over time runs as high as 1000.
There must have been a great many types of music as well. Today. Only a
few 100 languages survive in the western hemisphere. And many of those are
being capitalized, at least partially through artificial needs. In other
words, languages appear to have become less diverse over time and that is
likely true for music as well. Now in modern times, music seems to be
moving in the direction of Wardo or at least certain musics are being
disseminated, which results in more people having more access to more
types of music than ever before. Of course, world music is part of all
this in the long, long run, becoming more diverse, may end up being
fortuitous for music in general and for world music in particular,
working against this diversity and types of music in modern times is the
domination. Some say encroachment of Western largely American based
popular music. The same is said about the English language. If all this is
true, then why is it that music's unlike languages may be becoming more
more diverse. One reason is the inherently abstract nature of music.
Another is the explosion in availability of technological delivery systems
over the past century and a quarter related to availability is the
increasingly wide range of roles music plays in society today today,
arguably more roles than during the pre electronic age. Undoubtedly,
people today have far more exposure to music than at any time in history
and the extent of that exposure continues to increase. This is true.
Despite concerns about the lack of participation in music today, music is
now such an important part of the larger environment from shopping to
television, to film sports, to homes, to bopping Dale street, that it is
probably safe to predict that music will become even more pervasive in our
society in the future. I will stick my neck out, it will become more
diverse as well for the same reasons, other commodities become more
diverse and, and numerous. Uh over time. In other words, it is likely that
diversity of music will increase while diversity in languages which
function less like but consumable than music will continue to decrease. I
want to focus today on a specific subset of diversity in our world, racial
and ethnic diversity, something I do know a little about and something we
can probably agree is an important aspect of world music. The variables of
race and ethnicity can be
and often are used as proxies for other variables related to diversity. So
much. So that what we may say about racial and ethnic issues related to
world music could be said about several other characteristics as well.
Among other things, I will argue that while world music reflects some of
our human diversity and like all music, it could be used to divide people
, it can also help bring us together that is, it can bring harmony to our
world and to us our flawed but diverse inhabitants. So let's back up and
talk about where all this human diversity came from. The best thinking
today is that human species evolved first in Africa, starting about
200,000 years ago and over the next 100,000 years, groups immigrated from
that continent. Some ended up in what we call the Middle East Europe and
eventually the east coast of Egypt and so forth. By the time those parts
of the world became populated enough. Some of these groups by by then had
been separated from other groups. For many thousands of years had
developed what came to be known as racial characteristics. Of course, the
psychological, the of the psychological of the physiological differences
among the groups were and remain biologically superficial, as evidenced by
the fact that humans and all the racial groups can reproduce with humans
in any and all other groups. And today, we have additional evidence in of
the superficiality of alleged racial differences in the form of a molecule
called DNA.
In addition to physiological differences, all manner of psychological and
social differences between groups also evolved during those long periods
of separation differences that align more with what today we call ethnic
characteristics. And of course, some of the racial and ethnic
characteristics overlap. All these differences. Notwithstanding we were
and remain one species albeit with racial and ethnic subgroups that
evolved during the thousands of years of separation.
Most educated people today understand all of this including the serious
doubts entertained about the legitimacy of race as a construct, but it
bears repeating because we humans are exceeding with slow words where
racial and ethnic issues are concerned.
We will return to this theme of slow learn in our quest for harmony among
all this diversity and perceived diversity. It is important to take into
account the substantial recent an anthropological quest
that human history was far more quiet than researchers believe human
generation. We are a tribal species and it appears that human tribes have
always competed with each other for food and other resources. Much of that
competition involved violence in or near most surviving prehistoric human
habitation sites that have been studied by anthropologists by piles of
stone that anthropologists believe will gather for throwing it in. And it
appears that wolves may have been domesticated as dogs because they bark
to alert their owners to the presence of intruders. According to one
recent estimate, 25% of prehistoric adult males died of wounds inflicted
by other humans. Since that estimate is based on evidence of skeletal
wounds only. And since undoubtedly, some fatal wounds did not affect
skeletons. The death rate from warfare and other virus must have been
higher than that. Such races and violent death are unheard of in modern
times. By some estimates, the largest modern war World War two result in
the death of the 10% of the population of some of the most affected
countries and an estimated 2.6% of the world's population at the time. And
upon historians and evolutionary biologists also make it clear that
humanity has improved and measurably not only in reduced tribal warfare,
but in most ways, over time for primitive tribes, violence and other non
cooper behavior may have been adapted to their environment and therefore
necessary. But over time, it's becoming increasingly maladapted. In modern
times, most individuals and groups experience more success when they
co-operate more and fight less both within and among groups. Today, we
tend to think of human progress mainly in the realms of medicine and
technology that we have improved as a species in virtually every,
everywhere. The critical realm of cooper operation being one of the most
notable and likely one of the most important.
There is a widespread assumption today that invading aliens from outer
space would either enslave or destroy us the human inhabitants of this
earth. This belief is understandable given the history of human group
encounters. But some evolutionary biologists believe that any civilization
can enough to reach earth through outer space would be so involved that
invaders would not want to dominate or destroy it earthly. But instead
would seek to cooper with given that the nearest star or the solar system
is 10.5 light years away. That's 100 trillion kilometers. This is probably
a safe bet, regardless the idea that evolved civilizations fight less and
cooper more is also based on our history Bureau on Earth. In this case,
the evolutionary improvements in relationships among and within groups
throughout history. The spread of self governance in the form of democracy
, a partial democracy since the late 18th century is a notable
manifestation, cooperating behavior even given the shortcomings in to
those political systems today, with the world's population increasing at a
rate and total number. Well beyond anything in the past, as far as we know
and given the destructive power of weapons in the nuclear age, we really
don't have viable choices about whether to co operate or fight.
Nevertheless, the news media and even historians tend to concentrate on a
conflict because it is more interesting than cooperating behavior. Despite
all the negativity of hand wringing our overall project, there is less
warfare and more trade and other types of sharing among groups than ever
before. And there are better social conditions, including less crime
within and among groups as well. We have seen enormous population
increases but also enormous improvements in cooperating behavior even
within our own life. Apparently, we have learned that cooper operation is
adaptive behavior adapting to the world in which we live. This is
important because so far we lack alternative places to live. We can't very
well just decide to vacate our earthly neighborhood in terms of race
relations. The United States is a nation that was founded on the
enlightenment principles of equality, but its original constitution
legalized slavery and, and denied the right to vote to those slaves, to
all women and even those non slave males in recent times, much has been
made of the fact that the country elected and re-elected a mixed race
rather to identify it as a member of the african-american minority. And
this truly is an extraordinary achievement of which Americans can take
justifiable problems. I don't know an instance in history of a major
country electing a member of it was formerly despised, repressed
minorities to such a high office. President Obama's historic first
election took place in November of 2008. Some 145 years after President
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves but only 42 years after my high school
admitted its first African American students.
Thank you will bow and cotton for near Memphis, Tennessee. And I, well
remember not only the racially segregated schools but also segregated
restaurants, hotels, churches, swimming pools, restaurant rooms, funeral
homes, water fountain, park benches, even partition cemeteries. The racial
integration of my high school began during my senior year, 1966 1967
when two seniors from the town's black high school enrolled in our white
school for their final year in graduation. The next school year, the
regional Army National Guard battalion deployed to Memphis in the
aftermath of the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior,
a unit I later trained and served with for subsequent domestic issues.
What remains of legal segregation in the United States crumbled during
those years after college, I taught at a school in South Mississippi in
the second year of full integration. We have come a long, long way in a
relatively short period of time.
On the other hand, however much the situation has improved, racial
prejudice is still pervasive in the US and many other parts of the world.
Today. 21st century, we still tend to stick together in our respective
tribes as in birds of a feather flock together. Anthropologists tell us
that such tribalism was adaptive behavior in a primitive world when tribes
competed with each other for resources.
But in our densely packed complex modern world, such discrimination of
Saneness and otherness has become counterproductive or ma adapting as a
civilization, we're trying to absorb and apply these lessons. But
throughout most of our known history, progress has been at best and
agonizingly slow. However, the pace has picked up in recent decades, so
much so that despite the revenue of our individual life relative to
evolutionary history, the fact that all of us have personally witnessed
progress on some so many human relationship fronts. Demonstrates the
increasing pace of our collective understanding. That's the good news. And
I see w the world music phenomenon as an emerging and potentially integral
part of this increasing positive interaction and collaboration among
groups, racial and other words, indeed, that world music is already
bringing us together is yet evidenced by the fact that so many of us
traveled so far to participate in this IPO which is being hosted by a
respecting respected academic institution. But questions still remain such
as why aren't we humans in a better place in terms of cooperating and
non-discriminatory behavior? And how can we close the gap between where we
are and where we aspire to be? Some of the answers to these questions are
emerging from clues provided by evolutionary biologists, clues that point
to reasons for our resistance to more thorough acceptance and assimilation
of different types of people. Uh Edward O Wilson, one of the world's most
renowned biologists explains that humans are one of only 20 species,
including certain types of insects that are eusocial organizations defined
to those that cooperatively reared their young across multiple generations.
There are these 20 new social species are hugely successful among the 8.7
million species that inhabit the earth. The success is measured in terms
of collective body weight, in the case of insects and dominance of the
planet in the face of human. Now, Wilson believes that the evolution of
humans as a new social species require social exchanges that expanded with
the shift to a meat eating diet among our humanoid ancestors. About 2
million years. This in turn resulted in the evolution of a huge brain to
store the knowledge necessary for survival, much of it involving cooper
operation. It also explains the strong urge to be part of a clan or tribe.
This means that humans evolve to become adapt at identifying members of
their own clan as opposed to members of other clans during that period,
disability and strong urge to identify with and cooper within groups was
adapted.
Researchers believe that while the propensity to distinguish or
discriminate between members of one's own tribe and members of other
tribes is so fundamental to our social and psychological structures that
for practical purposes, it is innate
in other words, racial prejudice is rooted in the tools people use to
quickly classify people, objects, even ideas into categories of good or
bad. And these characterizations discriminations if you will happen
automatically,
such rapid characterization is adaptive. Such as when we learn to assume
that all mushrooms are poisonous and all lions want to eat us and so far
so good. But the troublesome part i whom we draw on what it's likely that
cars and wire having the essentialist style to make those judgments,
cognitive assess of the style wrestle too problematic assumptions for that.
Everything in a given category shares common essential qualities. And
second, that these qualities are unchanging, immutable and therefore
essential, essentialism is problematic for race is concerned because the
idea of fundamental differences has been round and debunked by scientists
, even person, even people who have some sense of the problems associated
with essentialism, categorize race, gender, age and other self
identification characteristics in the same ways, usually instantaneous and
beyond the realm of cons.
So it isn't a matter of whether a given individual or group discriminates
or categorizes. In the words of one scholar, the capacity to learn us from
them is fundamental to the human brain. Instead what matters is how
strongly these beliefs are held and how long and how and what we do in
response to it. Again, this tendency is reinforced by the strong need to
identify with the group. In part because there are safety in numbers.
These tendencies operate even when the criteria for group membership are
arbitrary when the criteria are based on relatively obvious
characteristics, problems often arise and persist to say the least
today. There are two major downsides to this identification behavior. One
is racism, which is a way to distinguish between tribes. Another major
downside is religious bigotry, which stems from the need to adhere to
collective beliefs held by the tribe and to reject individuals who do not
hold some some beliefs. And of course, it is in the realm of beliefs,
religious and otherwise that ethnicity comes in because much of what can
be said about race can also be said about religion and ethnicity in the
way they relate to tribal identification. Finally, although evolutionary
scientists focused on antiquity in the modern era, it is, it is clear that
nationalism as a mechanism and expression of tribal identity overlaps a
great deal with race religion and perhaps especially with ethnicity, we
have seen innumerable, negative consequences of racial and religious
bigotry in the form of tribal rivalry throughout history. And of course,
we have experienced manifold negative consequences of excessive
nationalism. Since nation states evolved, we humans have retained our
highly developed and propensity to discriminate group membership into our
modern age despite being potentially maladapted. And this constitutes a
serious flaw in the modern human species. We can mitigate these tendencies
in ourselves and in society, but we cannot make them disappear completely
and there analyze our flawed nature. Again, though, this law could be
fortuitous, the music in general and the world music in particular,
because both can and do bring harmony to groups based on differences of
various times. So long as we can use music and musical activities to help
bring people together and to mitigate against our inherent flaws, we
should be in business for the foreseeable future.
Today, in the most democratic countries, um, social structure based on
race is no longer codified by law and it's typically illegal. However,
traditions and unwritten exacerbated by our fundamental propensity for
discrimination still result in stratification and discrimination by race,
ethnicity, religion, nationality. And at this point, we should probably
consider gender and gender identity, social class A I Ds and other
characteristics on which to discriminate for good or, and of course, these
traits tend to overlap with each other and are frequently used as proxies
for other traits with discrimination based on one trait sometimes used as
a big league to cover or obscure discrimination based on one or more other
traits.
To take a modern day example, there can be various, valid, even socially
acceptable reasons to oppose, oppose immigration to one's country from
other countries. And some of the current opposition to immigration may
indeed be based on legitimate concerns. But in North America and in Europe
, much of it is rooted in opposition to the other. Indeed, race has been a
millstone around the neck of the United States since colonial times, two
centuries later, during the first century nationwide, Ralph Waldo Emerson
, Herman Melville wrote passionately and bravely about racial issues in
the United States and the country's most destructive war was fought over.
I agree with those who consider racism. The Achilles heel of the United
States of America throughout our history and extending to the present as
for Europe in modern times, slavery has not been permitted, but Europeans
were the original slave trader between Africa and the western hemisphere.
Today. On the European continent, some of the world's most modern
progressive countries are experiencing considerable unrest over the issue
of immigration. Much of it based on a mismatch of nationalism, ethnicity,
race, religion and race, as well as economic
in Europe as in North America and many other places, groups of people who
bear visible signs of differences such as skin color or attire, which can
signal religion, social class or both seem to draw the most opposition
researchers have identified racial prejudice among doctors treated
patients
in hiring the judicial system and both charging and convicting suspects,
legislators and responding to constituents management and the department
of leasing and automobile renting professors are selecting research
assistants and music teachers in evaluating student performance. These
studies span several decades and are overwhelmingly convincing in their
totality. Similar work has been done on gender discrimination and on age
now, racial and other types of prejudice can't have negative consequences
on many aspects of people's lives and society at large. It indirectly the
fact one of the things we try to do in music education which is teach or
at least foster creativity. Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel
developed tests that estimate the extent of people's essentialist thinking
defined as associating racial differences with the abilities and
personality traits. They found negative correlations between essentialist
thinking and creativity and concluded that the correlations may be causal
that based bias thinking may inhibit creativity.
The good news is that essentialist thinking can be modified at least in
the short term. The same is ring. Researchers had another sample of
students who read essays that describe races as either a fundamental
difference between people which is in
or as a construct. It reflected nothing more than skin differences, which
is a non essential
subjects who read the non-essential essay score 32% higher on the
creativity test and then did substitute r the Essentialist essay. The
authors concluded that essentialism appears to exert its negative effects
on creativity, not through what people think but through how they think.
Now. Why is that? Well, it's because they said stereotyping and creative
stagnation are rooted in a similar tendency to over rely on existing
category attributes. Again, such essential stinking may have helped early
humans on the Savannah, but it can be counterproductive in today's world.
Researchers have also devised high tech tests to measure individuals
reaction to different types of people and situations. The test measures
the reaction time in milliseconds, the photographs of people of different
races and different situations. Some of these tests are now available free
of charge on the internet. Like most people in the US who have taken it, I
exhibited a slight tendency to favor my own race. I recommend taking one
if you haven't done. So these results hold pretty much across the age
spectrum with individuals over 65 of A I DS testing slightly more
prejudiced and those in middle age, slightly less prejudiced than people
in other age get women tested slightly less prejudice than men. And
holders of phd degrees exhibited less prejudice than holders of other
degrees or no degrees. Holders of the MD degrees positions show the most
pre of all types, the degree holders, no
other tests which are not available to the public, to my knowledge,
measure the propensity of different groups to shoot or not shoot a gun
when shown photographs of young men, some black and some white holding
guns in their hands and some holding wallets. This setup is intended to
commit a recent incident in New York when police shot and killed a young
black man who was holding a wallet, not a gun that they thought on these
tests, people tend to make decisions and shoot at black subjects more
quickly than black subjects. But regardless of the gun versus the, the
researchers attributed this to the evolutionary tendency to distinguish
group membership and to project situations involving non group members as
dangerous. In one study, these results held true for officers from the
Denver, Colorado Police Department as well as for general volunteers.
However, the police officers were much more accurate in their in in
general than the general volunteers in their discrimination between the
gun versus private condition. They were also less affected by the race
fair. So they were put to shoot regardless of race or the weapon, no
weapon condition taken together. We have historical and anthropological
evidence. We have scientific evidence from experimental studies and we
have our own personal experiences and observations. When we synthesize all
these efforts, it appears that the human species is indeed flawed and that
everyone is prejudiced against the other. Now, this pro propensity is not
caused by genes but by evolutionary history. So what does all this mean
for music educators who want to teach world of music? I think we should
consider the likelihood based on the various kinds of evidence and
exposure to world music and some of its content in educational settings
probably help students become more accepted, less prejudiced and more into
that as well as more knowledge about people and racial and ethnic groups
other than their own group. And let's add different national religious age
, gender and gender identity groups. The goal of increased empathy to
become increasingly because despite the obvious progress we've made in
some of these areas in many parts of the world. Recent events demonstrated
a need for a great deal more understanding and tolerance. One worrying
contrary trend, we can believe the research on the topic is that
university students in the current millennial generation are testing about
40% lower in measures of empathy than their counterparts from 20 to 30
years ago. One scholar speculates that this is because social media has
replaced face to face encounters that we may be quote foregoing the whole
body experience of nature or a flat screen version of unquote, findings of
reduced empathy are frightening given our need locally and worldwide. For
more understanding, all these different types of evidence and more suggest
that world music programs in schools and universities could make a real
difference in participants' lives and in society at large. But wait if we
can accept that the premise that world music programs could result in such
changes unless they even bigger and hypothesize that world music could
become a driver in the sea change. Move toward a significantly more
harmonious, harmonious world community. Does this sound far fetched Grandy
Oaks for ma? But given that many parts of the world are becoming more
diverse, racially and ethnically and in other ways as well, using all our
available available tools, music among them is becoming not just something
nice to do, but more and more of an imperative. What should world music
programs in schools and universities look like? Well, most of you have
more experience and insights about this than I. So this morning, I'll
stick to a few observations and caveats related to music education in
American schools, especially high music classes in these schools are
elected by students because there are few if any requirements in music,
this means that world music, like other music, opera must compete with all
other classes, both music and nonm music. It is a great dream for some
American music educators to see all secondary school students in
standardized music classes, music for general students in other. But at
only one time in American history, did that occur on a widespread basis?
And that was in the late 19 twenties to the 19 thirties. When required
secondary school classes and music appreciation were required. These
classes utilize radio broadcast and sets of commercial recordings produced
by photograph companies. Those general depreciation classes were not
popular enough to be sustained. So they disappeared during the World War
two. Meanwhile, elective classes in the form of performing ensemble
expanded during the same period and since to not only survived but
flourished. The curricular model of music in American high schools today
is still elective and consists mainly of performing ensembles. Why? And
that those kids like universities offer performing ensembles for the same
reason. Popularity and to prepare free teacher to lead ensembles in the
school, jazz education, high schools through the existing band programs
and world music programs will probably need to do something similar to
flourish in this environment. World music will have to appeal to students
and accommodate them in large enough classes to render the programs
efficient. Tombo size groups are not efficient term future time and space
utilization.
But the most important important factor of popularity. The main reason we
have music in secondary schools is the popularity of students, parents and
the public. This may not be true or as true in countries with more
centralized education systems and less local control.
However, regardless of the power structure, I don't know of a country with
substantially widespread music programs in high schools for general
students that is required of all students in countries with distributed
systems like the US and to lesser extent, Canada Germany and Australia.
For example, if the music program and secondary schools were not popular,
they would largely disappear. Most university music programs prepare
students to work in these popular public school programs. In many
universities, music education is the only music major and even large
university music schools with doctoral program to prepare a professor to
teach in smaller and mid-sized universities, most of which are in the
business of preparing teachers. Thus, one could make the case that the
curricular music education in the United States rests on a foundation of
popular support in public school music programs. If I can be granted one
wish about the music education professor in this country would be for
leaders and would be leaders come to understand the popularity of the one
essential feature of music education. It is for this reason that
hypothetical compulsory general music program, no matter how well
intentioned or how well thought out in terms of philosophy content liber
are unlikely to replace popular elective offerings
until such time as curriculum is dictated completely by some higher
authority. It is astounding to me that the national standards for music
education make no mention whatsoever of students enjoying or even
appreciating their music classes or activities. Not to mention the music
itself.
This is probably because the proponents sense that learning is the
affective domain would not be measurable in what were even over 20 years
ago, the increasing of test oriented industrialized school.
But so far, the testing movement is largely bypassed and this is a mixed
lesson. But let's double down on doing the things we've always done well,
including providing opportunities for kids to enjoy music and music
classes, gain skills and knowledge and grow in ways that research tells
parents value to them social skills such as all this needs to be
successful in the public school environment. World music offerings will
have to entice students and their parents to elect these classes.
Realistically, this probably means largely offering larger performance
based classes, world music and the ways it is taught can be very enjoyable
and can enhance skill knowledge and certainly social skills at both the
individual and group levels. Already, we have enough world music
activities in secondary schools and universities to allow us to conduct
research studies on the results. Possible areas of research and world
music might include experimental studies to determine whether and in which
ways subjects exposed to certain kinds of world music would become more
accepting of those of respective cultures or at least less prejudice
against them. Once I prejudice studies mentioned early different forms of
exposure to the to could be performance experiences and learn information
about the respective cultures that produce the musics. After all. If
reading a story is a affecting certainly performing a couple of reading,
discussing listening and watching videos about world musics, cultures
would increase understanding and empathy. Someday society will get smart
and to the extent possible let high school and university students learn
what they want to learn and how they want to learn from that point on
ideologies about music and music education. Notwithstanding
students will elect what they value and want and when our, and and when
our and and and when our already popular secondary school music programs
will flourish even more world music program based primarily on performance
, but including other features can become part of that package of
offerings on a widespread basis. I can't think of a better way to bring
about genuine positive mixing among groups and peoples than through
exposure to different kinds of music. After all, we, as we contemplate the
potential positive effects of world music instruction and participation,
we could recall that music is already done more than its share in very
different groups together, modern popular music throughout the synthesis
of music produced by different groups in the Appalachian mountains and
cotton growing regions of the American South has become arguably the most
important music in the world today. Ultimately, it was the juxtaposition
of these groups and the with both American European and African roots that
grew into the music worldwide of Indian, major social economic and
technical forces made modern popular music possible, but they did not in
and of themselves actually produce it.
Instead, it was produced by people from. And it was the juxtaposition of
these different cultural groups, especially the different races
that resulted in the creation of these important new styles of popular
music. Most popular music arises from the disenfranchised left side of the
political spectrum. It was not only a major point of that is enhanced
contact between the African American and European American people in the
United States, but it has since also cross generational and geographical
lines. We can work to help world music take its place among other popular
music and educational and other settings. Keeping in mind that performed,
teaching, listening to and studying world music could very well make
people more empathetic with each other. Biologist Wilson argues, quote, it
is within the power of humanity and serious creative arts to within them
to express our existence in ways that began at last, at last, to realize
the dreams of the enlightenment unquote. I think the world music can and
already does serve as a vehicle for bringing different groups together and
closer to each other. And by closer, I mean, it can facilitate better
understanding, empathy and acceptance by reducing fears about the other. I
think we should start promoting world music education programs partly on
that basis, bringing research findings to bear on prejudicial behavior and
into the public consciousness is a hot topic for us much more so than that.
Even a year ago, when Ray Ching asked me to prepare this address,
interest has really taken off since the police shooting of an unarmed
black teenager in Missouri in August 2014.
And just two months ago, the Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the FBI made comments that seem to reflect his awareness of
recent research on prejudice. Yes, it has been a long wait, but it appears
that finally some are using the media to open up about this issue. So I'm
betting this is a tipping point much like we've had tipping points in the
area in the areas of civil rights, women's issues, child abuse, gay and
lesbian rights and others. We should apply the lessons to all forms of
prejudice against groups of people and take advantage of the general mood
to help secure a place for world music in our schools, universities and
communities.
Just last month, I was, I witnessed a large long-standing community music
group in Bursa Turk while they were working with my friend, Professor
Suzanne Suzanne. The player's identity characteristics were highly similar.
All were males ranging in age from 50 to 85 years. And apparently there
single nationality and ethnicity, except that is for a violin and a
clarinetist. Both highly skilled in the ottoman era. Turkish classical
music style. When I remarked on their ability, Suzanne informed me that
they were Roma gypsies brought in his ringers to help the group music. We
ignore this. I salute those of you who are working in this wonderful field
of world music. You deserve our support. Thank you
and moderate. So anybody have any comments or questions before we take our
break,
just like you presented this idea that bigotry almost like an allergy and
music is kind of like a medicine for it. And I thought that's just a
really cool idea, necessarily thought of it that way as far as this
prejudice and um and a automatic response to our system. Um But these are
conscious things that we can use our associate. I appreciate that. Thank
you. We need to get, we need to all get used to the idea that it's pretty
close to the date. You know, it's not just something that happened 200
years ago or in someone else's country, it's, it's something that we deal
with all the time and, and I think it's coming in consciousness like other
things have come into consciousness, I think now is the time. Um, I also
want to stress that I didn't stress enough in the, in the talk that I
understand very well, that music does update. This is something that
external with the music. I mean, it's not an aesthetic kind of thing, uh,
for those of us who work in the education here. Uh, this is something else.
I don't really like mythology.
Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
Bit more about more diverse.
Uh, I was afraid somebody might ask, I can't prove it and I understand
that that there is yet. Uh, but I do understand that there's a, there's a
feeling that it's becoming less diverse because of the dominance of the
media and, and a few media companies, uh, worldwide
other music out. Um, but I also believe that, I guess what I mean, I'm not
sure there's a, in the total, there's a,
but I think more people have more access, more different times than they
ever did before and that you can go on Spotify, get all kinds of music, uh
, that people didn't have to. Um, and, you know, when I was growing up,
they were only in, in, there were only three television section, two or
three networks and, and, uh, and that's how we act. And now I have, I
don't know, my wife get several 100 channels and so we have, I have access
to a lot more things and I have access to a lot more people. So, I don't
know, in an absolute sense that there are more musics than ever. I don't
know how we would determine that. But I think for practical purposes,
people have a lot more access to what extent people are diverse in their,
in their, uh, preferences. I'm not sure. Uh, it seems to me that most
people are fairly narrow in their preferences for music, um, including
some trained musicians. Unfortunately, you know, there's a feeling that
our musical training is limited us. I ha I personally like to why. But
most people don't, I can't prove it. I just believe that more people have
more access than ever. And some of them in a way are at least aware of it
and I can tell that about this conversation
and maybe we can do, maybe we can bring more if that's our job. Yes, sir.
Digitalization isolates people and teaching world musics, brings them
together. How does teaching world musics online come out? That's you, you
have to answer that question. I didn't, I didn't make money. No. But you,
you said that, uh,
looking at a screen is becoming more common than looking at a human.