In a bid to further promote the growing global diversity, it has been reported that the UK’s University of Oxford may decide to scrap sheet music, as professors seek to address the matter of “white hegemony” across music courses offered by the institution.
Concerned professors inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement believe Oxford University’s current curriculum is too complicit in white supremacy, and have recently suggested changes be made so that courses can be more focused on broadening musical teachings to students.
Some of the suggested changes include removing sheet music and refocusing classical art away from European composers, such as Beethoven and Mozart.
The board also wishes to address the use of musical notations, which professors say promote “white hegemony,” and can cause “students of color great distress.” Oxford officials have also described musical notation as a “colonialist representational system.”
In response to the reports, many netizens online lashed out against efforts and remarks made by instructors associated with the university.
The prestigious university, which offers non-Eurocentric music studies ranging from African and African Diasporic Musics to more modern day Global Musics, has sought multiple ways to reform its campus of damaging colonial references. Earlier this year, Oxford’s All Soul College removed Christopher Codrington, a Barbados-born slave owner, from its library name, where his memorialized statue still stands.
The reformation of Oxford’s curriculum has yet to be finalized, with some faculty members arguing it would be unfair to accuse professors who teach music predating 1900 of being concerned with music solely composed by white musicians. Additionally, critics believe that continued study of the works can add to ongoing debate over the ethnicity of some of the most prominent European composers.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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