By Tyler White | Reporter
On Wednesday, the School of Music hosted a string chamber music celebration of Black History Month. Four faculty members from the School of Music performed various pieces from Black composers of different eras and styles, each bringing their own unique style and sound.
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges and Samuel Coleridge Taylor both composed elegant pieces that stay true to the classic orchestral and symphonic style, full of dynamic progressions and beautiful contrasts between the vibrant and the mellow. The modern composers, Florence Price and Frederick Tillis, bring a unique approach to the classical style, integrating cultural sounds such as African spirituals and roots influences.
Dr. Horace Maxile, Jr., associate professor of music theory, said the purpose of the concert was to bring awareness to the community on the understanding of music as a whole. He said most often, classical music is characterized by the perception that it comes from white European composers, but this concert provides a fresh perspective.
“The pieces that are often performed are definitely by composers that have been canonized, and they happen to be European male composers,” Maxile said. “But even in those European male composers, there are composers of African descent that are slowly moving from the margins of history into the actual pages of history books.”
One of the performers, associate professor of violin Patricia Shih, said the concert is an opportunity to break barriers on the idea of classical music. Through these beautiful and emotional pieces, she said listeners can hear how these composers helped shape the sound of classical music in their era.
“I think with this concert, we want to enrich ourselves and really highlight the amazing achievements of meaningful and really prominent progressive Black people, including the great composers, and we’re able to do that in this concert,” Shih said.
Throughout the performance, the subtle influences from each of these composers shined through their pieces. Whether it was a brief section of syncopation or a bluesy melodic section, every piece brought something new to the classical style.
Shih said these unique aspects should inspire people to begin their own journey to discover and understand the roots of American classical music. She said it’s important to appreciate these composers and look into their history and learn about the deeper compositions of classical music.
“It’s really important that we get together and break all the barriers and become unified, to enrich ourselves,” Shih said.
Maxile said this concert is a way to challenge assumptions about what classical music really is and the compositions that accompany it. He said it’s a way to appreciate these composers and their work and to celebrate what they’ve done in the history of this style.
“I don’t think they wrote a piece just to be known as a composer,” Maxile said. “They wrote music so it could be heard. So to recognize them as composers within a tradition is one thing, but to actually stage the works so that they can be heard is something else.”
