Perspectives on Cultural Appropriation in Classical Piano Music: a Brief Analysis of Select Works Spanning the 17Th to the Early 20Th Centuries

Home , The Little Nigar, Vogue (dance)

Perspectives on Cultural Appropriation in Classical Piano Music: A Brief Analysis of Select Works Spanning the 17th to the Early 20th Centuries

Mikhail Johnson, M.M., M.M., BSc.

A DMA Document

Piano Performance

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for The Degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

Approved

Dr. Nataliya Sukhina Chair of Committee

Dr. Carla Davis Cash

Dr. Christopher J. Smith

Dr. Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School

May 2021

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express tremendous gratitude to Dr. William Westney for his graciousness, support, expertise, counsel, instruction and guidance to definitively selecting this topic.

Secondly, sincere gratitude to Joseph Williams for his generous support.

Providing documents and articles of recent and evolving discourse, which became central to this document.

To the committee members, Dr. Nataliya Sukhina, Dr. Carla Cash and Dr.

Christopher Smith for their patience and guidance in ensuring that the arguments of this document are precise and fully supported, congruent to the goals it ought to achieve.

Finally, I would like to extend thanks to all those who have showed any form of support throughout this process and have contributed in any way to making this process a successful one.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………………. ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….. iv LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………….. v 1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………. 1 2. CULTURAL APPROPRIATION AND ITS NUANCES………………………. 3 Review of Literature……………………………………….. 9

3. ANALYSIS OF SELECTED WORKS AND THEIR CONNOTATIONS TOWARD CULTURAL APPROPRIATION...... 12

SCARLATTI- Sonata in D minor K. 141………………………….. 12 Analysis…………………………………………………….. 12 Appropriation Implications………………………………… 17 MOZART- Alla Turca from Sonata No. 11 in A major K. 331…… 20 Analysis……………………………………………………. 23 Appropriation Implications………………………………… 28 DEBUSSY- Pagodes from Estampes……………………………… 33 Analysis……………………………………………………. 36 Appropriation Implications………………………………… 42 Debussy on the other end of the cultural advocacy spectrum- Golliwog’s Cakewalk and The Little Nigar…….. 44 Analysis……………………………………………………. 47 Appropriation Implications ………………………………... 50 Perpetuation of the appropriation narrative ……………….. 53

4. HOW TO RESPOND TO CULTURAL APPROPRIATION…………………... 56 5. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………….. 66 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………. 69 iii

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

ABSTRACT

In the industry of classical music, the discourse surrounding cultural appropriation has been negligible to non-existent or reduced to mere exoticism; a fascination with the

‘Other’. Only in recent years, many of the modern-day composers have been receiving the brunt of reprimand when their acts of appropriation have led to poor cultural advocacy.

This paper analyzes of select piano works spanning the 17th (1600) to early twentieth centuries (1910). I will explain where cultural appropriation has occurred in these works, its nuances and repercussions. Reviewing Scarlatti and Spanish flamenco music, Mozart and Turkish Ottoman mehter music, and Debussy with Javanese gamelan and African-American ragtime, we find Scarlatti on the side of good cultural advocacy,

Mozart on the poor side of cultural advocacy, and Debussy on both sides of this continuum. Also discussed is how poor cultural advocacy affected minority musicians of the 20th century and beyond.

This document reveals that while not all appropriation is bad, it has been occurring for centuries. We must acknowledge appropriation is all its forms and should no longer support the narrative that cultural borrowing is mere exoticism. It must be addressed alongside appropriation. Although we may not be able to change the past, through three thematic principles: Acknowledge—Decenter—Care, pianists, composers, and pedagogues can utilize anti-racist methodology to move forward. Facilitating the dissemination of piano music that is not only of high artistic merit, but most importantly, safeguarding the highest degree of cultural advocacy toward the affiliated cultures.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

LIST OF FIGURES

1. Sonata K. 141 (mm. 1-5) ………………………………………………... 13 2. Sonata K. 141 (mm. 33-36) ……………………………………………... 14 3. Sonata K. 141 (mm. 153-157) …………………………………………... 14

4. Sonata K.141 (mm. 23-39) Andalucian cadence (shown with Roman numerals) and the chromatic hovering (circled) ………………………… 15

5. Sonata K.141 (mm.47-52) ……………………………………………….. 17

6. Sonata K.141 (mm.71-82) call (dashed) and response (solid) prose …….. 17 7. Mozart K. 331 (mm. 1-12) ……………………………………………….. 23 8. Mozart K. 331 (mm. 1-4) re-arranged ……………………………………. 24 9. Rhythms used by the Mehta: top staff represents the nakkare rhythm and the bottom staff represents two versions of the rhythm used by all the other percussion. ...……...………………………………………………... 24 10. Mozart K. 331 (mm. 25-32) ...……………………………………………. 25

11. The formal structure of the Alla Turca movement ...…………………….. 26

12. Mozart K. 331(mm. 40- 53) ...………………………………………….... 27

13. Mozart K.331(mm. 109-116) ...………………………………………..…. 28 14. Debussy Pagodes (mm.1-6) ...……………………………………..……... 37 15. The tuning of the Slendro scale compared with the tempered tuning system ..…………………………………………………………………... 37 16. Debussy Pagodes (mm. 7-12) countermelody shown by arrow …………. 39 17. Debussy Pagodes (mm. 16-22) …………………………………………... 39 18. Debussy Pagodes (mm.22-30) …………………………………………… 40 19. Debussy Pagodes (mm. 35-43) …………………………………………... 41 20. Debussy Pagodes (mm. 81-85) …………………………………………... 41 21. Bertha Upton’s illustration of the Golliwog doll with two rose-cheeked wooden dolls clothed in the stars and stripes of the American flag. …….. 46 22. Debussy Golliwog’s Cakewalk (mm.1-14) …………………………….... 48 v

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

23. Debussy Golliwog’s Cakewalk (mm.58-72) ……………………………... 49 24. Debussy The Little Nigar (mm. 1-18) …………………………………….. 50 25. Debussy’s own cover illustration for his suite Children’s Corner ………... 52

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

It was George Santayana that said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!”. Over the course of the late 20th to 21st centuries, there has been growing discourse as to what is considered cultural appropriation in the general popular music industry. However, in the classical music industry, this discourse has been negligible to non-existent or reduced to mere exoticism; a fascination with the ‘Other’. Only in recent years, many of the modern-day composers have been receiving the brunt of reprimand when their acts of appropriation have led to poor cultural advocacy. How did it get to this point where appropriation seem so commonplace? Because many of the historical acts of music making for the past two hundred years have not undergone scrutiny for potential appropriation, the generations that followed were doomed to repeat it without fail, or fear of reproach.

The purpose of this research is to delve into the classical piano repertoire and investigate the past for these instances of cultural appropriation, the nuances therein (good and bad), bring them to light in a concrete way, and to make clear that this trajectory of appropriation has been centuries in the making. This research also seeks to edify present- day composers, performers, and pedagogues to engage, navigate and respond to these matters in a nuanced, careful, informed, and intentional way. This will ensure classical music that utilizes elements from other cultures, are disseminated not merely on high artistic merit, but most importantly, are elevating the represented cultures with authenticity

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 and integrity. As a result, safeguarding the highest degree of cultural advocacy toward these cultures moving forward.

Throughout this document I will employ terms and language, particularly in the section on Debussy, which would be highly inappropriate if used in any other context outside of this document. However, since the document seeks to address the myriad and most nuanced circumstances in which cultural appropriation occurs and their repercussions, as the author who is of African-Caribbean descent, it is imperative all content be expressed and quoted in their original forms. This is to acknowledge and emphasize unequivocally the highly racist connotations and dispositions of these appropriative instances contextually.

What this document will highlight is that cultural appropriation is very complex.

Within the 21st century classical music industry it ought to be recognized that appropriation has been built into these art forms for centuries. As public artists, in the 21st century, we must acknowledge and deal with this appropriation with intent and great care.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

CHAPTER 2 CULTURAL APPROPRIATION AND ITS NUANCES

The topic of cultural appropriation is a very complex, nuanced and wide ranging one. It primarily involves a person or a culture extracting and utilizing intellectual and cultural property, the expressions of these properties, their artifacts, history and ways of knowledge, that is not from their own culture.1 Notwithstanding the topic’s complex nature, the music examples analyzed in this document, will show three main thoughts as identified by Bruce Ziff and Pratima Rao:

1. Appropriation concerns relationships among people

2. There is a wide range of modes through which it occurs and

3. It is widely practiced.2

In this chapter I will address the nuances that result in cultural appropriation from a general viewpoint, and then specifically within classical music. But first, what is cultural appropriation?

The root of the term comes from the Latin verb appropiare which translates “to make one’s own.” This implies that the premise for appropriation is “to gain power

1 Ziff, Bruce H., and Pratima V. Rao. Borrowed power: essays on cultural appropriation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

2 Ziff, Bruce H., and Pratima V. Rao. Borrowed power: essays on cultural appropriation, 3. 3

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 over.”3 Consequently, the topic of cultural appropriation seems to default to the controversial and negative propensities; the demonstration of a parasitic symbiosis between a dominant culture and a subordinate culture. Here the dominant culture appropriates the subordinate culture that is deemed to have no control over its representations or products.4 This context suggests the element of coercion, within which colonialism and oppression play a vital role in the exchange of these cultural goods. This, however, is not always the case. It is also possible for cultural goods to be exchanged by non-coercive means. But the denial of this possibility gives rise to a greater issue, one which I would argue stems from a dominant culture refusing to acknowledge and accept their wrongdoings toward minority cultures, both past and present.5 So it is understandable that acts of appropriation are frequently contested, as there is a looming accusation of the perpetrator taking control of another’s property. Thereby, having agency over said property’s meaning.

While this definition acknowledges the links between cultural appropriation and power, those on the receiving end of cultural appropriation express more pressing concerns, namely:

3 Ashley, Kathleen M., and Veronique Plesch. "The Cultural Processes of "Appropriation"." Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Duke University Press) Volume 32, no. No. 1 (2002): 3. 4 Ashley, Kathleen M., and Veronique Plesch. "The Cultural Processes of "Appropriation".

5 Young, James O., and Conrad G. Brunk. The ethics of cultural appropriation. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell 2012), 226-227.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

1. How this power can induce harm toward the community of which the culture

is directly affiliated.

2. The anxiety of how the community will be represented. Will it be with

integrity, and with means that positively support the community’s identity?

3. How will appropriation impact the cultural object itself?6

These concerns are evidenced in the appropriation of folk music, a cultural good that has been transmitted via the oral/aural tradition for centuries by the members of the affiliated community. These members fear their culture and identity being transformed for the worse, eroded or even destroyed.

Moreover, if the appropriator thereafter becomes the representative of these cultural goods, the appropriator could be deemed as more credible because of this power dynamic.7 This leaves the onus on the members of the affiliated culture to debunk and rectify misinformation. Voices which could have otherwise been used to promote the riches of their culture. This power dynamic is on full display when the appropriators occupy commercial fields, thereby benefiting financially through misappropriation from the cultural goods, to the detriment of the exploited community. Simultaneously, because

6 Ziff, Bruce H., and Pratima V. Rao. Borrowed power: essays on cultural appropriation. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press 1997), 8. 7 Young, James O., and Conrad G. Brunk. The ethics of cultural appropriation. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell 2012), 280.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 appropriators occupy these powerful spaces, they in turn limit access of the affiliated community to analogous platforms.

The identity of a culture’s community, according to Charles Taylor in his book

Multiculturalism, “is shaped partially through recognition by others and partially through misrecognition and nonrecognition.” The latter facilitates a “form of oppression,” that imprisons the community in a “false, distorted and reduced mode of being.”8 I will expound on other nuances pertaining to cultural exchange through this “recognition by others” construct. Also, how this paradigm may result in appropriation or misappropriation.

A. Kori Hill acknowledges that “without the exchange of creative practices and ideas, music can neither be created nor sustained.”9 The pieces analyzed in this document are a testament of this exchange, introducing musically rich and diverse sounds from other cultures into the piano canon. However, this raises the larger question of who is capable of or permitted to ‘represent’ a culture? One prominent viewpoint suggests that an individual must be a direct member of the cultural community to employ the affiliated culture’s music style with integrity, and in a way that positively promotes the culture.

Outside of this prerequisite, the musical work produced according to James Young will

8 Taylor, Charles. Multiculturalism and the politics of recognition. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 1994), 25. 9 Hill, A. Kori. "Out of Context #10: A Reflection and Call to Action." I Care If You Listen. October 28, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/10/out-of-context-10- reflection-call-to-action/ (accessed January 10, 2021).

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 have evident aesthetic flaws.10 I will define aesthetic flaws here as the incorrect utilization, uninformed recreation of, or insufficient implementation of the cultural elements in the new musical work resulting in misrepresentation of said culture.

Albeit an understandable philosophy, it portrays the community as not welcoming to cultural exchange, which in my opinion, would not be a fair assessment. I present another possibility. It may be possible that an outsider can become inducted into a cultural community by exposure over time. Such a possibility suggests that cultural exchange can occur when the outsider acquires cultural experience by living in the culture.

Such a perception suggests that, outsiders may be equally capable of creating works with minimal artistic flaws. Anecdotal evidence suggests many examples of outsiders being able to produce culturally sound representations of works from other cultures, and these will be a significant topic in the balance of this dissertation.

Indeed, it can be argued that an outside perspective on a culture may shed light upon interpreting and understanding a culture in a way that an insider may find impossible. This generates new and innovative avenues to explore and positively represent a foreign culture.11 However through this experience, one may be able to

10 Young, James O. "Art, Authenticity and Appropriation." Frontiers of Philosophy in China Vol. 1, no. No. 3 (September 2006): 457. 11 Young, James O., and Conrad G. Brunk. The ethics of cultural appropriation. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell 2012), 276. 7

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 understand the limitations of an outsider perspective, and also become more sensitive to the internal boundaries set by the community’s own values.

It is also possible for an individual to borrow from a culture and create new innovative content that has no explicit indication of the original material. James Young’s example of this is the work of Picasso which was influenced by African carvings.

Notwithstanding all that has been mentioned, it is equally important to recognize the complex conflicts between contrasting cultural priorities. Looking specifically within classical music, Ralph P Locke for example, suggests that a single given stylistic feature cannot carry a cultural association on its own, but rather in combination with certain other specific stylistic features.12 Locke listed ostinato rhythms, pedal points, surprising modulations, meter changes and modal scales as some examples of potential stylistic features. I understand this list was only to provide a point of musical reference and is by no means an exhaustive list. However, I will be intentional in this context to broaden said list to include all the specifics of a given culture. Locke also claims that the representation of a culture can be achieved through extra-musical features. This is particularly true for example opera, in which words, costumes, sets, dance and dramatic characterizations further explicate the music. Therefore, even if the music does not portray the cultural inspiration, the extra-musical features will undoubtedly become the

12 Locke, Ralph P. Music and the exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart. (New York: Cambridge University Press 2017), 18.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 vehicle for projecting these cultural ideas, stereotypes and even misappropriations to the audience.13

In the context of a purely instrumental work, the evocations of a culture through extra-musical features would be made through the title. The title can encourage both the listener and the performer to perceive those traits as “indicating” the place or people in question.14

It cannot be understated that cultural appropriation is very complex. One must be aware and respectful of the cultures they are inspired by, and through respect seek appropriate counsel to utilize these features with integrity and care. Throughout this document I will analyze classical piano works that exemplify either good or poor cultural advocacy toward the cultures they sought to evoke, and the repercussions therein. While I may label these specific works as being of good or poor cultural advocacy, this is on the premise that cultural appropriation exists on a continuum. Therefore, it should not by any means be interpreted as a strict dichotomy, but as a labeling that takes all the determining factors into account for each specific case.

Review of literature

Much of the current research on cultural appropriation examine topics of intellectual property, politics, and religion. Fortunately, the discourse about cultural

13 Locke, Ralph P. Music and the exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart. 19

14 Locke, Ralph P. Music and the exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart. (New York: Cambridge University Press 2017), 22. 9

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 appropriation is an expanding topic in the field of classical music performance and some of the most recent commentary, specifically the Out of Context Series by the American

Composer’s Forum, is the most relevant.

Books that do discuss cultural appropriation address a vast array of issues from the exploitation of historical remains and artifacts in foreign museums, to reclaiming indigenous land, appropriation of ancient remedies, folk songs and jazz. James Young and Conrad Brunk’s the ethics of cultural appropriation, informs this discussion and expounds on ethical issues surrounding these exploits. However, these contributions fall short in making explicit correlations to cultural appropriation in classical music. There is one instance where appropriation is being addressed more intently in the classical music genre through Ralph Locke’s book Music and the exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart.

The operative word being exotic, which pervades classical music in addition to appropriation; any redress of these problematic connotations needs to address both. The addressing and acknowledgement of appropriation therein, is where this book is found wanting. The genres explored in this book are mostly oratorios, dance music and opera.

The textual and narrative focus of these idioms makes their depiction exoticized Others more evident, and thus more readily recognized. Nevertheless, as a pianist and composer, this contrast to my interest and focus upon piano compositions of the classical repertoire.

There are dissertations and journal articles that have addressed cultural influences in the works selected for this document. But most fail to make explicit correlations to cultural appropriation. Two exceptions to this omission are Elizabeth de Martelly in her

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 article Signification, Objectification and the Mimetic Uncanny in Claude Debussy’s

“Golliwog’s Cakewalk” and Ann McKinley in Debussy and American Minstrelsy.

This document therefore seeks to contribute to bridging the gap. Correlating in a concrete way the cultural influences utilized in the classical piano music repertoire. I will indicate where appropriation has occurred, the authenticity of the cultures evoked, and the nuances that contribute to positive and/or negative representations. Positive representations do not perpetuate stereotypes, or any way demean the members of the community from which the cultural evocations are affiliated. While negative representations have the capacity to do so. Thereby constituting good and poor cultural advocacy respectively.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

CHAPTER 3

ANALYSIS OF THE SELECTED WORKS AND THEIR CONNOTATIONS TOWARD CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

SCARLATTI

Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian native born in Naples in 1685. By 1729

Scarlatti moved to Spain, following his prodigious keyboard pupil, then Princess Maria

Barbara and soon to be wife of the King of Spain. Scarlatti remained there till the end of his life.15

During that time, he travelled with the court to Seville, Cadiz, Granada and other various cities surrounding Andalucia.16 It was in these places that he heard the various folk music of Spain being played. Many of these influences undoubtedly made its way into his keyboard sonatas, composed for the learning pleasure of Maria Barbara, Queen of Spain.

Analysis

Scarlatti’s Sonata in d minor K.141, commences with a vivacious opening phrase.

The chords within this phrase offer a very audible traditional chordal progression. Its distinctness, however, lies in the seemingly dissonant added notes in these chords (see

Figure 1). According to Ralph Leonard Kirkpatrick, these dissonant added notes are

15 Kirkpatrick, Ralph. Domenico Scarlatti. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1981), 205. 16 Kirkpatrick, Ralph. Domenico Scarlatti, 205. 12

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 indicative of Scarlatti imitating the guitar open strings being strummed (perhaps incidentally) with the chords creating a form of internal pedal point.17

[> >] [> >] [> >]

Figure 1. Sonata K. 141 (mm. 1-5)

Interestingly, the repeated notes forming the melodic line in this opening phrase evoke several forms of imagery. The first being the unique techniques used in melodic flamenco guitar playing. Here repeated notes imitate a guitarist finger plucking with finger alternation; the picardo technique. The alzapúa technique, in which the thumb nail is used to strum up and down the single-line notes, could be another possibility.18 The second imagery is the imitation of auxiliary instruments such as castanets and tambourines. The third imagery, I would argue, is the imitation of the flamenco dancer tapping their shoe on the floor in rhythmic prose. These instances produce viable interpretational implications in which intermittent duple rhythmic accents (shown in squared brackets) may occur within a triple meter.

17 Kirkpatrick, Ralph. Domenico Scarlatti. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1981), 205. 18 Anafarta, Orhan. "Flamenco Guitar Techniques." atrafanaSchool. 2021. https://www.atrafana.com/techniques.html (accessed February 21, 2021). 13

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Expounding on the imitation of auxiliary instruments, Scarlatti enhances the rhythmic tremolo of the castanets or tambourine by a punctuation of the dance rhythm via a trill or embellishment as seen in measures 33-36, 142 and 153-157 (see Figures 2 and

3).

Figure 2. Sonata K. 141 (mm. 33-36)

Figure 3. Sonata K. 141 (mm. 153-157)

Measures 153-157 could also represent the guitar left hand ornamental effect called the

Ligado technique (i.e. hammer-ons and pull-offs).19

19 Richter, Jonathan. "Flamenco Guitar Techniques and Definitions." Learn Guitar Today. 2021. https://richterguitar.com/flamenco-guitar/flamenco-guitar-techniques-and- definitions/ (accessed February 26, 2021).

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

The harmonic development in measures 23-30 is indicative of a less overt version of the “Andalucian cadence.” Albeit not a true cadence, this term refers to a diatonic

Phrygian tonality tetrachord (with their chords moving parallel) descending stepwise. In this context it is a i-VII-VI-V because of its minor modality (see Figure 4). 20

i VII

VI V

Figure 4. Sonata K.141 (mm. 23-39) Andalucian cadence (shown with Roman numerals) and the chromatic hovering (circled)

20 Manuel, Peter. "From Scarlatti to “Guantanamera”: Dual Tonicity in Spanish and Latin American Musics." Journal of the American Musicological Society (University of California Press) Vol. 55, no. No. 2 (2002): 313. 15

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

This progression is embedded within the traditional harmonic guise of a circle of fifths sequence. In conjunction to this compositional device, Scarlatti adds another feature specific to the Andalucian folk music - a chromatic hovering of a to b-flat for four measures before a resolution to the dominant (see Figure 4).21

In measures 51-2 and 122-23, Scarlatti uses a feature called the bien parado (see

Figure 5). Here rapid passages are brought to an abrupt stop followed by a pause of one or more measures. According to Donna O’Steen Edwards, this evokes the imagery of the dancers clicking their heels, while building to an intense climax, only to abruptly stop.

The dancers halt their positions, with one leg slightly forward, bent at the knees and turned outward, with the body fairly twisted back with support of the other leg.

Meanwhile, one arm is held arched over the head and the other is crossed in front of the chest.22 The bien parado feature in the context of the folk music itself could indicate the conclusion of a section of the dance or the conclusion of the dance altogether.

21 Clark, Jane. "Scarlatti and Spanish Folk Music: A Performer's Re-Appraisal." Early Music (Oxford University Press) Vol. 4, no. No. 1 (1976): 20.

22 Edwards, Donna O'Steen. "Iberian elements in the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti: a lecture recital, together with three recitals of L.V. Beethoven, J.S. Bach, J. Brahms, and selected works of other composers." Dissertation, North Texas State University, Denton, TX, 1980, 45-46.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figure 5. Sonata K.141 (mm.47-52)

Measures 72-80 and 143-151 evoke a feature that is prevalent in many a folk culture: call and response (see Figure 6). One possibility could be that the call is made by the melodic guitar and the response is made by the accompaniment guitar or other instruments.

Another possibility could be a dialogue between dancers, or a dialogue between instruments in which dancers respond gesturally thereafter.

Figure 6. Sonata K.141 (mm.71-82) call (dashed) and response (solid) prose

Appropriation Implications

Throughout this analysis we see that Scarlatti utilized not just one, but several stylistic features throughout this composition that speak directly to the Spanish folk

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 influence. For the non-musical feature, that is the title, Scarlatti only named these works sonatas with no other extra musical reference (compared to the works of his contemporary Rameau, for example). This choice evades implicit bias that would encourage the listener and the performer to perceive those musical traits as “indicating” the place or people potentially evoked as Spanish. Nonetheless, I would argue that the features within the work were truthfully represented.

It must be noted the musical features explicated in this analysis are found in at least twenty other Scarlatti’s sonatas in conjunction with other Spanish folk music features, including but not limited to the use of folk songs, dance music, and even the evocation of the atmosphere of Spanish dance festivities. This suggests that Scarlatti dedicated time to explore and implement in his works the many facets of Spanish culture.

It is indicative of how his works sought to bridge the gap of the courtly music and the music of the common people at the service of the Queen Maria. Fostering and fortifying a connection to the people she presided over.

Scarlatti an outsider, became to a certain degree a member of the culture over time via living in Spain. Through that membership he was able to create successful works that implemented with integrity the mechanics of its music.23 Albeit being a member is not a prerequisite, in this context, it was surely beneficial.

23 Young, James O. "Art, Authenticity and Appropriation." Frontiers of Philosophy in China Vol. 1, no. No. 3 (September 2006): 457. 18

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Manuel de Falla acknowledged Scarlatti’s contributions to the exploration of Spanish music by stating:

The guitar as popularly used in Spain represents two distinct musical effects: that of the rhythm which is apparent and immediately perceptible, and that of harmony. The former, in conjunction with certain forms of cadence, has been for long the only effect employed in more or less cultivated music while the importance of the latter—the effect which is tonal, harmonic—has hardly been recognized by composers, except Domenico Scarlatti, until recent times.24

I conclude that Scarlatti’s intent, context, and diligence presented in his sonatas produced a set of works that were not only of high artistic merit, but also of high cultural advocacy. In no way do they demean, undermine or stereotype any cultural minority group or its music. Instead, the composer sought to perpetuate and even preserve a cultural heritage whilst advocating on behalf of the common musician by bringing the folk music to the royal courts.

24 Trend, J. B. Manuel de Falla and Spanish Music. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1929), 31-32.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

MOZART Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. By 1781

Mozart had asked to be released from his post in Salzburg and moved to Vienna in pursuit of his ventures as an independent musician.25 It was in Vienna where he composed and premiered his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) in 1782, as well as his 11th Sonata in A major K. 331, published as opus 6 along with sonatas K. 330 and K. 332 in 1784.26

Sonata in A major K. 331 gained huge popularity and has been reprinted in separate editions by several publishers throughout Europe, in addition to numerous manuscript copies in circulation. Its famous third movement Alla Turca, labeled by

Mozart himself, was almost immediately arranged for various instruments and soon published separately.27 The title translates “in the Turkish style” and affirms the influence of the Turquerie era (1650-1750) when all things Turkish were in fashion and made waves throughout Europe. It was in this period that Europe interacted with one of

Turkey’s most cultural assets: The Ottoman’s military band, called the mehter, or in the

Western vernacular the Janissary band.

25 Sadie, Stanley. "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart (accessed March 5, 2021). 26 Seiffert, Wolf-Dieter. "Preface." In Piano Sonata A major K. 331, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 2015. 27 Seiffert, Wolf-Dieter. "Preface." 20

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

The mehter provided music during the war and was the symbol of majesty, might and the temperament to fight. 28 Edmund A. Bowles explains that the mehter in conjunction with the ensign, are two components indivisible to the Ottoman military force. Bowles further explains that the mehter performed adjacent to the headquarters of the commander-in-chief or the Sultan, both reflect the power of the sultanate and to generate martial enthusiasm and maintain morale among the troops.29

The mehter consists of the following instruments in two categories:

► Melodic instruments:

▪ zurna- a loud double-reed instrument that draws similarities to the

oboe

▪ boru- a form of trumpet

► Percussion instruments:

▪ davul- a large cylindrical bass drum

▪ nakkare- a pair of small kettle drums

▪ zil- a pair of cymbals

28 Bowles, Edmond A. "The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries." Early Music (Oxford University Press) Vol. 34, no. No. 4 (November 2006): 534. 29 Bowles, Edmond A. "The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries."

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

▪ çevgen or çağana- a Turkish crescent ensign from which bells are

hung30

Between the two categories this instrumentation produced a very straightforward melody and accompaniment dynamic, and the music possessed the following features:

► The melodies were always played in a monophonic texture and

characterized by fast ornamental patterns

► The modal systems used superficially sound like shifts between minor and

major modes; however, because there are no harmonic underpinnings to

the melodic lines, the resulting modal shifts were highly complex and

varied

► The davul would play on the main beats, while the nakkare would

improvise on the subdivisions of the beat

► The zil was always used to accent the davul or other beats

► The çağana always accented the davul.

► The meter could be either duple or irregular

► The music always started on the beat, with the initial rhythm of the

melody being three notes played at the basic pulse

30 Bowles, Edmond A. "The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries." 22

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

► The structure of the music was in a rondo-like form with many repeated

sections; new themes always alternated with a return to the main theme.31

Analysis The third movement of Mozart’s Sonata in A major K. 331 opens with a florid melodic figuration representing the melodic instruments of the Turkish mehter (see

Figure 7).

Figure 7. Mozart K. 331 (mm. 1-12)

The passage begins on an anacrusis, which would not be the case in the context of the mehter that traditionally start their melodic material on the beat. If the first four measures were to be re-arranged with the melodic anacrusis on the beat, I could content it would undoubtedly present itself as more authentic mehter style (see Figure 8). Measures 5-16 explore more harmonic territory in the melody which is not a feature in the mehter

31 Bowles, Edmond A. "The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries." Early Music (Oxford University Press) Vol. 34, no. No. 4 (November 2006): 534. 23

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 melodic playing.

Figure 8. Mozart K. 331 (mm. 1-4) re-arranged

The left-hand accompaniment of Figure 7 represents the percussion section of the mehter. All these percussion instruments would sound simultaneously on the main beats.

The nakkare would also improvise creating sound on the subdivided beats. The bottom staff of Figure 9 gives a clearer idea of the prose the cymbals (zil) would follow. I would speculate based on the contour of the accompaniment, as seen in Figure 7, the single note would represent where all the percussion would play simultaneously, and the thirds would represent the nakkare playing the subdivisions. It must be mentioned that many of the mehter music utilizes the rhythm indicated on the top staff of Figure 9 for the nakkare, which Mozart has simplified to all eighth notes.

Figure 9. Rhythms used by the Mehta: top staff represents the nakkare rhythm and the bottom staff represents two versions of the rhythm used by all the other percussion.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

With regards to harmony, Mozart begins the movement in the key of A Minor, then abruptly shifts to C Major in measure 8, returning back to A Minor in measure 13.

Such device permeates throughout the movement and seemingly alludes to the shifting modality characteristic of the mehter melodic prose. However, Mozart attempts to represent this modal concept within the conventions of the galant style and Western harmony. In the context of the mehter, given its monophonic nature, there are no harmonic associations and consequently the modal systems utilized are more complex and varied, providing the mehter music its distinct and undisputed character. Hence,

Mozart’s compositional prose projects a rather big reduction of all that complexity to comply with the Major-Minor tonality conventions of Western classical music.

Measures 25- 32 utilize melodic writing in octaves, which is a more forthright representation of the expected monophonic texture, coincidentally a first appearance of such texture in Mozart’s keyboard works (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Mozart K. 331 (mm. 25-32)

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

These measures also possess an overt expression of the percussion writing in the left hand, previously mentioned implicitly at the beginning of the movement. The ornamental gestures provide dramatic effect in a manner similar to all percussion playing simultaneously.

The work’s formal structure is where there is an overlap. The rondo form is formal structure that Mozart knows very well and is also found in the music of the mehter. Although Mozart does present the movement with all the sections repeating, as would in the music of the mehter, I would argue this structure is closer to that of the sonata rondo. The thematic trajectory is presented in the following manner (see Figure

11):

A | B | C | D | E | C | A | B | C’| Coda

Exposition Development Recapitulation

Figure 11. The formal structure of the Alla Turca movement

Whereas the mehter would present a stricter rondo form, with its main thematic material constantly returning (i.e. ABACADA etc.) and all sections repeat.

In the development section, which occurs from measures 32-64, the melodic material in right hand shifts to a continuous movement of sixteenth notes without much respite (see Figure 12). In the context of the Turkish style that is most unusual, as this kind of melodic prose does not occur in the traditional mehter music.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figure 12. Mozart K. 331(mm. 40- 53)

I would speculate that here Mozart is inserting more of his signature writing style- a form of variations on the theme, common for his many other compositions. On the other hand, following the ‘recreating the ‘other’’ line of thought, it could be speculated that this prose presents a striking resemblance to Verbunkos, the folk music of the

Hungarian regions. My rationale for this distinction is contingent on the following factors: instrumentation and context. For the mehter, the music phrases in a specific way that frequently allows intermittent pauses for the double-reed and brass instrument musicians to breathe. Moreover, this passagework would not be conducive for a military band performing in the open lands for war, and thus requiring tremendous projection. For the Verbukos folk music, however, this is quite normal prose since it traditionally was performed by a fiddle, or another string instrument. They could execute long passages effortlessly, without need to pause for air. Furthermore, these passages appear more festive and dance-like in lieu of a march, which makes it plausible to argue that Mozart may have possibly merged two different folk forms. 27

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Another instance of true Mozartian fashion is the insertion of the Alberti bass figuration (see Figure 13), for only six measures (109-115). This is a very unusual choice, provided that the rest of the work is written completely in the march-like rhetoric.

Figure 13. Mozart K.331(mm. 109-116)

Appropriation Implications

As a result of years of Turkish militant presence throughout Europe via battle and regional siege, by the turn of the 18th century Turkish culture (Turquerie) was very much in vogue.32 Cultural exchange was inevitable; the Ottoman was in the psyche of the West through its military forces, and subsequently transported with them goods, ideas, music, instruments.33 Furthermore, as with any culture in which appropriation is likely to

32 Bevilacqua, Alexander, and Helen Pfeifer. "Turquerie: Culture in Motion 1650-1750." Past & Present (Oxford University Press) November 2013, no. No. 221 (November 2013): 76-77.

33 Bevilacqua, Alexander, and Helen Pfeifer. "Turquerie: Culture in Motion 1650-1750," 75. 28

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 happen, the superficial fascination came with underlying aversion of the minority culture in disguise, likely out of fear of retaliation or invasion.

Between 1650 and 1750, the era of the Turquerie, the Turkish art, mehter music and traditional garments made their way into royal court weddings, festivals, parades and pageants of Hungary, Germany and Austria, among other European nations. Within this period the Ottoman and its sultans, once depicted as uncivilized and barbarous warriors, have been elevated to a status of refinement and patrons of magnificence.34

This was however short lived. Before long, the courts no longer made an effort in hiring mehter musicians to perform. Instead, they solicited their own court musicians dressed as the mehter musicians, using contemporary Western instruments to imitate

Turkish sounds. 35 Over time, the endeavors to keep appearances disintegrated. Except for costumes and subject-matter, the efforts of making anything else genuinely Turkish declined, as long as it was “Turkish enough” (including the mehter music).36

This context sheds light on how Mozart approaches the implementation of

Turkish themes in his music. The analysis illustrates that his implementation of Turkish

34 Bevilacqua, Alexander, and Helen Pfeifer. "Turquerie: Culture in Motion 1650-1750." Past & Present (Oxford University Press) November 2013, no. No. 221 (November 2013): 78-79, 89. 35 Bowles, Edmond A. "The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries." Early Music (Oxford University Press) Vol. 34, no. No. 4 (November 2006): 543-544.

36 Bowles, Edmond A. "The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries," 543-544. 29

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 devices and style is rather loose. Whilst many of the percussion elements are presented faithfully, albeit simplified, many of the melodic elements appear questionable.

Altogether, the mehter music style has been holistically coopted to fit within Mozart’s style, and by extension the galant style and the Western classical music convention of the time.

Mozart labeling the movement “Alla Turca” (in the style of) could be interpreted as the truthful declaration of no intention to present strict authenticity of the folk genre in the composition. Nonetheless, his treatment of Turkish material in some previous compositions reveals much more about his intent of using the Turkish genre. One such composition was Mozart’s 1781 opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), which is set in Turkey and has a main character by the name of

Osmin. In Mozart’s letters to his father Leopold in 1783 he mentions, that when Osmin’s words changed from mere cursing to verbal threats, he also created an abrupt shift in musical style to reflect this distinction. As Mozart puts it, “Osmin’s sudden descent into unfiltered rage is rendered comical because the Turkish music is added to it.”37

According to Ralph Locke, the phrase “Turkish music” primarily referred to usage of percussion instruments: the triangle, cymbals and bass drum; European equivalents to the standard mehter instruments.

37 Locke, Ralph P. Music and the exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart. (New York: Cambridge University Press 2017), 26.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

I would venture to conclude that this revelation is salient in capturing Mozart’s possible intent for this Alla Turca movement in his piano sonata - a final hurrah for a comedic effect. This translates throughout the composition implicitly, since not all of the features of the mehter music were utilized consistently. Coupled with some questionable material posing as part of the genre, this diminishes the Ottoman and the Sultan’s symbol of majesty and martial enthusiasm during war to a form of joke. It renders the Ottoman people as weak, and furthermore, it returns to and perpetuates the originally thought rhetoric that this “Other” music is as primitive and barbaric as its people. According to

Charles Fonton’s essay Essay sur la musique orientale (1751), all Ottoman music was “a confusion of instruments in agreement, of voices without harmony, of movements without grace, of song without delicacy.”38

Entering the 19th century, many publishers sold the last movement as a separate publication to boost sales because of the sonata’s constant rising popularity via this single movement. Hence, not only was the movement arranged for a variety of instrumentation, but some of the publishers sold it under the title “Turkish March” in lieu of “Alla Turca.”

A subtle but very salient adjustment, implying that this work was no longer presented as an homage to Turkish style, but rather as an authentic Turkish mehter march. This is very misleading and problematic. Changing the name of the work for dramatic effect to advance sales of the work emphasizes that profit is more important than the accurate

38 Bevilacqua, Alexander, and Helen Pfeifer. "Turquerie: Culture in Motion 1650-1750." Past & Present (Oxford University Press) November 2013, no. No. 221 (November 2013): 89.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 representation of the composition. This misleads the purchasers and promotes implicit bias to the listener and the performer about the music they are about to engage with.

Indeed, this is a misguiding phraseology that perpetuates and concretizes stereotypes thus eroding the imagery and significance of the foreign culture and the people attached to said culture.

I conclude that this analysis presented more nuanced circumstances regarding appropriation. Not all composers reveal their true intent when composing a work utilizing other cultures. Interestingly, when these intents manifest themselves in other forms, be it in writing or verbally, they subsequently influence the way one views a composer and his works involving the minority culture in question. In Mozart’s case, his intent was of poor cultural advocacy and consequently overshadowed the artistic merit of the work, instead amplifying its artistic flaws. Additionally, this analysis reveals that entities outside of the composer, in this context the publisher, can also contribute to and/or perpetuate cultural appropriation of poor advocacy.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

DEBUSSY Claude Debussy was born in 1862 in France, in a town called Saint-Germain-en-

Laye. At the age of 10 he was accepted into the Paris Conservatory, where he studied piano and composition.39 The year 1889, is a year of great interest for this research. That year signified the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution and was commemorated with the construction of the Eiffel Tower and of Paris Exposition Universelle. This World

Fair displayed cultural exhibits from all over the world and was frequented by Debussy.

There in the Javanese pavilion he witnessed gamelan music and its accompanying dancers.40 The composer’s encounter with gamelan music was a pivotal moment that inspired him years later to recreate these sounds in his own composition Pagodes, one of three movements from the piano suite Estampes (1903).

The gamelan ensemble is a prominent instrumental group found throughout

Indonesia. It may be considered as a percussion orchestra, since most of the instruments are metallophones.41. In the context of Debussy’s visit of the gamelan exhibit, the orchestra he saw consisted of the following instruments:

39 Lockspeiser, Edward. "Claude Debussy." Encyclopædia Britannica. March 21, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Debussy/Evolution-of-his-work (accessed March 25, 2021). 40 Parker, Sylvia. "Claude Debussy's Gamelan." College Music Symposium Vol. 52 (2012): College Music Society. 41 Parker, Sylvia. "Claude Debussy's Gamelan."

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

► rebab - a form of violin with two strings and is the only melody playing

instrument in this context

► gambang - a form of xylophone with wooden keys

► saron-barong - a xylophone with metal keys

► bonang-ageng - a large metal gong resting on stretched ropes and the largest of a

series of gongs42

Other instruments found in the gamelan ensemble include:

► suling – a bamboo end blown flute

► celempung – a multi-stringed plucked zither

► slentems and genders – other forms of xylophone with wooden keys

► kendang gending - hand drums

► ketuk, kempul, kempyang, kenong - all smaller gongs of varying sounds, shapes

and sizes

► gong- The largest of the set of gongs43

All instruments can be divided into two categories: loud and soft. The former category includes instruments made of metal (i.e. saron, bonang ketuk, kepul etc.) and the latter

42 Bird, Catherine. "The influence of Javanese gamelan on selected works of Claude- Achille Debussy." Thesis, Faculty of Humanities ,College of Music, University of Cape Town, 1982, 18, 24, 32-38. 43 Bird, Catherine. "The influence of Javanese gamelan on selected works of Claude- Achille Debussy," 18, 24, 32-38. 34

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 category includes instruments made of wood and singular melodic instruments (i.e. gambang, suling, celempung, slentems, genders).44

Each instrument within the ensemble is given a fixed task and the instruments are grouped according to the function of said task. The designated functions are as follows:

► Playing the main melody of the composition, referred to as the nuclear theme45 or

in Western terms the cantus firmus (executed by the demung—an instrument of

the saron family)

► Paraphrasing the main melody. Their functionality is in two parts:

▪ Those that stay close to the theme and

▪ Those that vary the theme providing filler and ornamentation of the

thematic skeleton

► Playing a counter melody independent of the main melody

► Colotomic function- an interpunctuation that causes the composition to be

subdivided into longer or shorter phrases (executed by the gongs)

► Agogic function- controls and signal the tempo; leading, slowing down,

accelerating or maintaining tempo46

44 Parker, Sylvia. "Claude Debussy's Gamelan." College Music Symposium Vol. 52 (2012): College Music Society.

45 Bird, Catherine. "The influence of Javanese gamelan on selected works of Claude- Achille Debussy." Thesis, Faculty of Humanities ,College of Music, University of Cape Town, 1982, 35.

46 Bird, Catherine. "The influence of Javanese gamelan on selected works of Claude- Achille Debussy," 40. 35

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

These functions give rise to three distinct textural stratification of sound in gamelan:

Strata I: Gongs and drum rhythms on the lowest level

Strata II: The main theme and counter melodies in the middle register

Strata III: The ornamentations and paraphrases of the main theme on the upper

level

NB: If the functions of Strata II are played in the upper register, then Strata III

will occupy the middle layer. 47

Analysis of Pagodes from Estampes

The first two measures commence pianissimo with a gesture that suggests the imitation of a gong being struck. The perfect fifth interval in the bass register symbolizes the fundamental strike, and the remaining chords imitate the consequent resonance produced. By measure 3, Debussy inserts chords in the middle register in a pulsating fashion, evoking how the gong’s resonance pulsate as its sound develops. In the case of the piano, this pulsation facilitates a form of consistent sustained resonance supporting the fifth on the lower register that would inevitably decay (see Figure 14).

47 Bird, Catherine. "The influence of Javanese gamelan on selected works of Claude- Achille Debussy." Thesis, Faculty of Humanities ,College of Music, University of Cape Town, 1982, 40. 36

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figure 14. Debussy Pagodes (mm.1-6) Above the pulsation lies the main theme, which in the context of the gamelan would be performed by the saron. This main theme utilizes the piano’s black-key pentatonic scale starting with the notes G# C# D# F# G#. This pentatonic scale simulates approximately the gamelan’s five-note scale called the slendro. Its difference relying heavily on the gamelan’s tuning being much wider than the tempered tuning of the piano (see Figure

15).

Figure 15. The tuning of the Slendro scale compared with the tempered tuning system

It must be noted that Debussy indicated in measure 3 délicatement et presque sans nuances which translates ‘delicately and almost without nuance’ (see Figure 14). This is an indicator that no single part should be prominent in the texture, but instead become an

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 equal contributor to an ocean of sound; very true to the principle of gamelan—the communal contributions from the members of the community. Also, throughout the work there is the indication of a ritardando at the end of phrases, as seen in measures 4 and 6

(see Figure 14). This is indicative of the agogic function in the main theme that is signaled by the kendang gending drum to the other gamelan musicians. Furthermore, each iteration of the long-held bass notes (gong) represents a rhythmic punctuation and signifier of the end of all phrases no matter how long or short. This colotomic structure is a very important structural concept to the gamelan, because here the endings provide the most important rhythmic events, and in context, it repudiates the downbeat as we know it in Western music. Interestingly, Debussy himself was not entirely immune to the Western music stronghold as he refused to realize some of the gong iterations on the fourth beat of the measure. Instead, he only preempted the gong strike on the fourth beat, or a subdivision thereof, and then fully realized it on the first beat of the next measure (see

Figures 14 and 16 [mm. 4-9]). Perhaps this was his solution in making the structure of the composition discernable to audiences.

A countermelody makes its appearance in measure 7 surrounded by the pulsating chords. Then in measure 11 all three strata are fully realized without the pulsation (see

Figure 16).

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figure 16. Debussy Pagodes (mm. 7-12) countermelody shown by arrow An accompaniment figuration emerging with the main theme in chords in measures 15-18 arguably could be Debussy’s way of maintaining gamelan resonance while varying the texture. Furthermore, the dissonances that occur in the chordal version of the main theme, appear to be another creative solution Debussy uses in evoking the sonorities that arise as consequence of the gamelan’s tuning system. The counter theme takes over the upper register in measure 19, the resonance figuration still buoys underneath, and the gongs make a reentry (see Figure 17).

Figure 17. Debussy Pagodes (mm. 16-22) 39

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Measure 23 is where the paraphrasing and embellishment begin to unfold. Still in strata I and II, the main theme is on top, and the counter theme is in the middle, the rhythms of strata II are beginning to morph into more active material. We arrive with all three strata present at measure 27. The ornamentation/paraphrasing of the main theme (strata III) in the upper register, the counter melody underneath (strata II) and the gongs (strata I) complete the stratification in measure 29 (see Figure 18).

Figure 18. Debussy Pagodes (mm.22-30)

The intricacy starts increasing toward the end of the piece. By including tuplets and shifting their rhythms over several octaves to maintain material idiomatic for the pianist to execute, Debussy simultaneously creates the sonic illusion of the gamelan’s layered sophistication amid the stratification (see Figures 19 and 20). This complexity is evocative of the increasing virtuosic texture of an amalgamated result of the gamelan collective.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figure 19. Debussy Pagodes (mm. 35-43)

Figure 20. Debussy Pagodes (mm. 81-85) 41

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Appropriation Implications

Debussy’s choice of title Pagodes certainly could allude to the architectural temple structures that he may have seen at the Javanese pavilion of the World Fair exhibits. The title could be misleading to some audiences, as one would readily associate the pagodas with the Chinese culture. However, in Thailand many of these similar structures are derived from a predecessor called a stupa. Therefore, I would content this title does not pose problematic connotations, since the musical context would clarify the geographical location of the pagodas Debussy is referring.

In musical context, Debussy was able to further manifest his compositional interests by breaking the traditional harmonic conventions he was taught while at the

Paris Conservatory. Additionally, the honing of these unique compositional tools afforded him the capacity to create a superb rendition of Javanese gamelan on a Western instrument. Debussy, a composer who is not affiliated with the gamelan culture, was able to incorporate scales, timbre, textural stratification, and the structural idiosyncrasies, all intricate to the principal realization of gamelan’s essence.

It must be stated that many examples in modern compositions seeking to evoke the lands of the Asian East (and very poorly so), merely rely on one of these features: scales. The single black-key pentascale would become the one-size-fits-all remedy to the absence of all the other features vital for providing a holistic picture of the culture being evoked. Such mode of operation produces cultural harm, erosion, stereotyping, and ultimately poor cultural advocacy.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Debussy, on the other hand, is a solid example of genuine fascination by a culture that is not his own being equally matched with intentional learning and understanding of that culture. This understanding was expressed in many ways which have been written.

One in particular is in his article Taste (1903) he writes:

There used to be - indeed, despite the troubles that civilization has brought, there still are - some wonderful peoples who learn music as easily as one learns to breathe. Their school consists of the eternal rhythm of the sea, the wind in the leaves, and a thousand other tiny noises, which they listen to with great care, without ever having consulted any of those dubious treatises… Thus Javanese music obeys laws of counterpoint that make Palestrina seem like child's play. And if one listens to it without being prejudiced by one's European ears, one will find a percussive charm that forces one to admit that our own music is not much more than a barbarous kind of noise more fit for a travelling circus.48

The final product was a work not only of high artistic merit and cultural advocacy, but a respectable, honorable and yet evocative representation of Javanese gamelan, sealed in Debussy’s signature impressionist language.

48 Bird, Catherine. "The influence of Javanese gamelan on selected works of Claude- Achille Debussy." Thesis, Faculty of Humanities ,College of Music, University of Cape Town, 1982, 29. 43

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Debussy on the other end of the cultural advocacy spectrum- Golliwog’s Cakewalk and The Little Nigar

While Debussy was able to achieve the highest praise for his work with gamelan, these praises will soon become bouts of disappointment. His Golliwog’s Cakewalk from the six-movement suite Children’s Corner (1908), and The Little Nigar (1909), are two works that position Debussy on the poor end of the cultural advocacy spectrum.

Children’s Corner was written for and dedicated to his daughter Claude-Emma

Debussy. Four of the six movements bear the names of toys that Claude-Emma herself owned, one of which was a Golliwog minstrel doll.49 The Little Nigar on the other hand, was a commission by piano faculty member of the Paris Conservatoire, Theodore Lack.

This work was to be include in Lack’s Méthode de piano that was published in the same year.50 These are the only two works in Debussy’s oeuvre that are titled in English.

Both pieces utilize the ragtime, a popular African-American music genre that had just started making waves abroad. John Sousa was one of the carriers of this music, when he brought his band from America to perform at the Paris Exhibit in 1900.51 I would

49 Martelly, Elizabeth de. "Signification, Objectification, and the Mimetic Uncanny in Claude Debussy's "Golliwog's Cakewalk"." Current Musicology (Columbia University ), no. No. 90 (2010): 7.

50 McKinley, Ann. "Debussy and American Minstrelsy." The Black Perspective in Music (Professor J. Southern) Vol. 14, no. No. 3 (1986): 250. 51 Martelly, Elizabeth de. "Signification, Objectification, and the Mimetic Uncanny in Claude Debussy's "Golliwog's Cakewalk"," 24. 44

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 speculate that Debussy could have discovered ragtime music there in similar fashion to the 1889 exhibit, where he encountered Javanese gamelan.

The characteristic features of the African-American ragtime include:

► Duple meter

► Highly syncopated rhythms in the melodic part which includes the following

motif: and its permutations

► A steady bass figuration in the accompaniment

► Three or four contrasting sections, each being 16 or 32 measures in length52

Ragtime is usually played on the piano or banjo. The style of playing, as depicted in the characteristics, results in the music being in “ragged time,” hence the name. 53

The golliwog doll was hugely popular in Western European households. A description of the doll was given in 1895 by Florence Kate Upton and Bertha Upton, as a character in their book The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls. They described the doll as a

“grotesque creature, with very dark, often jet-black skin, large white-rimmed eyes, red or

52 "History of Ragtime." Library of Congress. 2021. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035811/ (accessed March 25, 2021).

53 "History of Ragtime." Library of Congress. 2021. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035811/ (accessed March 25, 2021). 45

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 white clown lips, and wild, frizzy hair.”54 Furthermore the doll had paws for hands and feet compared to the other dolls, as illustrated by Bertha Upton (see Figure 21).

Figure 21. Bertha Upton’s illustration of the Golliwog doll with two rose-cheeked wooden dolls clothed in the stars and stripes of the American flag.

From these novelists, we can sense the preconceived ideas of the doll in its character depiction, which by extension expresses hidden feelings toward the people the doll potentially represents. Moreover, it was after this book’s success that esteemed European toy manufacturers commenced mass-production of the Golliwog dolls.55

54 Martelly, Elizabeth de. "Signification, Objectification, and the Mimetic Uncanny in Claude Debussy's "Golliwog's Cakewalk"." Current Musicology (Columbia University ), no. No. 90 (2010): 11.

55 Martelly, Elizabeth de. "Signification, Objectification, and the Mimetic Uncanny in Claude Debussy's "Golliwog's Cakewalk"." 46

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

The cakewalk represents a pre-ragtime dance form that was popular until about

1904. This dance was also a form of contest, with cake as the prize for the most elaborate moves. Many of the early rags were used as the music for cakewalks.56

Analysis

Children Corner suite was inscribed with the following dedication: "À ma chère petite Chouchou, avec les tenders excuses de son père pour ce qui va suivre" (To my dear little Chouchou, with her father's tender apologies for what will follow).57 This inscription peeks an interest to inquire what is it that Debussy could possibly have done to warrant an advanced apology to Claude-Emma?

Debussy utilizes the features of the duple meter, employing the rhythmic motif throughout and the steady bass in eight notes (see Figure 22).

56Ragtime. (2007), https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/r/Ragtime.htm#:~:text=The%20d efining%20characteristic%20of%20ragtime,anticipate%20or%20follow%20the%20beat. . 57 Martelly, Elizabeth de. "Signification, Objectification, and the Mimetic Uncanny in Claude Debussy's "Golliwog's Cakewalk"." Current Musicology (Columbia University ), no. No. 90 (2010): 8. 47

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figure 22. Debussy Golliwog’s Cakewalk (mm.1-14)

The piece is in an A-B-A formal structure, with B section hosting a very peculiar melody. This melody is a quote from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, which have been broken up by chordal interjections (see Figure 23).

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figure 23. Debussy Golliwog’s Cakewalk (mm.58-72)

This is a very specific choice of melodic material, provided Debussy’s Wagnerian inspiration had waned as he developed new and innovative sounds, which would inevitably concretize his compositional style. This explains the sort of distance Debussy placed between himself and Wagner, a form of detachment from the Wagnerian status quo. Hence, this interpolation serves to declare that Debussy has broken free from the

Wagnerian shadow.

The little Nigar, is quite straightforward. It possesses the same ragtime features with a formal structure of A-B-A-B-A (see Figure 24).

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figure 24. Debussy The Little Nigar (mm. 1-18)

An interesting observation is that the B sections of both works seems to solicit more expressiveness, compared to their A sections.

Appropriation Implications

Based on the findings through this brief analysis, Debussy may have used the

Golliwog’s cakewalk movement as a vehicle for much more than innocent storytelling for his daughter. One may speculate two reasons for the preempted apology in the inscribed dedication. The first reason being Debussy using the Golliwog’s cakewalk, a piece written for his child as a vehicle for his personal vendetta against Wagner. The second

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 reason, I would speculate, is his understanding of the racist connotations of utilizing the

African-American ragtime and affixing that to the Golliwog doll. Both rationales create the double-edged sword.

The title alone solicits implicit bias that music presented is expected to evoke the characteristics of the doll. The specific use of the African-American ragtime as the music’s source adds further confirmation to the audience regarding the specific ethnic demographic that represents the doll. Had Debussy opted to utilize original material in his impressionist style, it would give a more ambiguous depiction open to listener’s interpretation, even though the implied bias from the title would still be there.

Furthermore, the attribution of the ragtime music and the cakewalk dance, both African-

American artistic forms, is telling that Debussy is connecting both forms and tapping into a history of racist portrayals of black people and their music. Debussy’s other work, The

Little Nigar, explicitly referring to a black child, also uses the ragtime genre as its musical source. This confirms the consistency of my theory.

Where Debussy had the opportunity to create new musical material for the B section of the Golliwog’s Cakewalk, he opted to use the melodic material from Wagner’s

Tristan and Isolde. This signifies the quotation was intended to be a mockery of Wagner.

By including it in a work with ragtime, “Wagner, an institution of refinement, is debased and trivialized to the level of a popular and “‘primitive’ trifle.”58 This is a highly

58 Martelly, Elizabeth de. "Signification, Objectification, and the Mimetic Uncanny in Claude Debussy's "Golliwog's Cakewalk"." Current Musicology (Columbia University ), no. No. 90 (2010): 23. 51

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 problematic notion, as Debussy is hereby calling the African-American ragtime primitive and lowbrow music. In doing so he is degrading the music’s cultural creators. Debussy even created his own illustration for the cover of Children’s Corner which involved the use of the head of the Golliwog as a balloon attached to an elephant (see Figure 25).

Figure 25. Debussy’s own cover illustration for his suite Children’s Corner

All these factors do not aid Debussy’s case in pleading ignorance on his part for these transgressions. All these factors stipulate a thorough understanding of the racial underpinnings of these connections and their weight. Also, of all his compositions, why were these connotations expressed through pieces for children? The little Nigar was a commissioned work for a method book. This commission could have been a grand opportunity for a person of color to compose a work that represented their community with integrity for children to experience. Alas, given the time this would not have been afforded. Consequently, Debussy now became the voice on behalf of the minority group to pedagogues and children; a voice of poor cultural advocacy, as all his images demean

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 and perpetuate stereotypes of all forms, thereby dissociating the African-American cultural community from their art and making them no more than objects solely for

“aristocratic” entertainment. Through the dolls, his cover illustration, and the music itself,

Debussy has opened a gateway to teaching the next generation implicit biases toward other cultures and minority ethnic groups, creating a hierarchical cycle from society to individual.

The consistent alignments within these two works are by no means coincidental.

A racist disposition toward this minority group is unequivocal. This shows how musicians who do not exercise proper care in all cases of cultural interaction can fall into appropriation that results in poor cultural advocacy.

Perpetuation of the appropriation narrative

The above analysis relating to African American music and its community, has led me to make the following observation. This is geared toward the manifestation of cultural appropriation over the 20th century and beyond. The two works analyzed were manifestations of a dominant culture’s silence and suppression of unresolved cultural problematic issues toward a minority culture. With relation to African-American culture, it comes as no surprise that this suppression has resulted in oppression and the dissociation of the people to which the culture is directly affiliated. It explains why in

1900 John Sousa, a Caucasian male, was able to travel and promote African-American music with his band and have zero African-Americans take a part in it. Sousa did all the arrangements of ragtime music and marches, and consequently the artifacts of African-

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

American culture through music have been presented on an international platform filtered through the Caucasian lens.

Meanwhile, in America many years later, jazz of all forms permeated the city streets. The music that was deemed low brow, or brothel music has been taken up by

Caucasian musicians. They then transformed the music to make it palatable to their audience and ended up taking credit for the black innovation. Numerous opportunities were at their disposal to present this music. Simultaneously, they were able to satisfy their fascination while dissociating themselves from the people the music came from.

This silence by not giving due credit leads me to further exemplify my observation specifically in classical music using the two composers, George Gershwin and William

Grant Still circa 1930.

Amid the debate of who inspired whom, what remains without question is the two composers have crossed paths and have witnessed each other’s musical offerings.

Therefore, I would contend that credit was not explicitly given on Gershwin’s part to

Still. This silence at face value may not seem like a big deal. However, given the racial climate of the time, it brought devastating repercussions - this silence pushed the narrative, that the compositional output of Still was inspired by Gershwin and not the other way around. Thus, Gershwin was lauded for his compositional genius while Still laid in the shadow of him. Still even got labeled as a knock-off version of Gershwin, and not as a composer in his own right and stature. This is a narrative that rippled throughout the century and beyond. White silence has left black talent subjugated to white comparison, the litmus test to musical competence and genius. In so doing minority

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 groups within predominantly white spaces are constantly compared, or forever lay in the shadows of their white contemporaries.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

CHAPTER 4 HOW TO RESPOND TO CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

Having explicated the many nuances that attribute to cultural appropriation for better or for worse may prompt one to question - who is even allowed then to be inspired by and utilize the many cultural riches that are not their own? I strongly believe that this allowance is for everyone. A. Kori Hill in her article A Reflection and Call to Action admonishes however, that when we address this exchange within cultures that are not our own, we have to ensure that our default privilege does not result in inequity or disrespect.59 This leads the dominant party to receive the praise and credit at the expense of the minority party. An imbalance of power is what is at the root of cultural appropriation.60

So how then should one respond to cultural appropriation? Implementing Hill’s three themes Acknowledge–Decenter–Care,61 there can be an established anti-racism methodology for composers, performers and pedagogues to engage intentionally in the

59 Hill, A. Kori. "Out of Context #10: A Reflection and Call to Action." I Care If You Listen. October 28, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/10/out-of-context-10- reflection-call-to-action/ (accessed January 10, 2021). 60 Benavides, Nicolas Lell. "Out of Context #8: Privilege and Creative Consequence." I Care If You Listen. August 26, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/08/out-of- context-8-privilege-and-creative-consequence/ (accessed January 10, 2021).

61 Hill, A. Kori. 2020. "Out of Context #10: A Reflection and Call to Action."

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 demolishing of cultural appropriation pillars. I will reciprocate on these three themes respectively.

ACKNOWLEDGE

In acknowledging one can respond appropriately to the cultural concepts and ideas that are not their own with respect and integrity. Anthony Tan appeals: “in the same manner we are taught to be critically aware of the use of classical forms, techniques, and styles, so too must we be aware of the traditional auras of the cultural musical objects we borrow.”62 In similar fashion a scholar cites their sources and is ever abreast of new scholarship to ensure the highest degree of accuracy in information, we too must acknowledge, credit and engage with the community of the minority culture and its members for the same reasons.

Anthony Tan expresses that “by recognizing a cultural music object’s intangible value and relationship to the source community, we create positive relationships that are both informed and respectful. This approach is not about policing their usage but allows for critical self-inspection of one’s power and relationship to these cultural musical objects, and respect for the source communities from which they derive.”63

62 Tan, Anthony. "Out of Context #5: Appreciation vs Appropriation of Cultural Musical Objects." I Care If You Listen. May 27, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/05/out-of-context-5-appreciation-appropriation- cultural-musical-objects/ (accessed January 10, 2021).

63 Tan, Anthony. "Out of Context #5: Appreciation vs Appropriation of Cultural Musical Objects."

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

DECENTER

Over the centuries, the narrative has been propelled that anything that does not adhere to European classical music methods of music notion, analysis and performance practice is deemed lesser than; primitive, unrefined, one-dimensional and consequently not of equally high artistic merit. The entrenchment of insisting solely on Western methodology has resulted in shallow execution of these cultural idiosyncrasies. We can see the opposite reflected in the minority cultures throughout the world that do possess wide and varied systems of music theory, notation, and performance practice outside of

Western systems, and/or incorporate aspects of Western culture without centering them.

This allows diverse themes and concepts to inform musical choices in both musical spheres.

Therefore, A. Kori Hill explicates that “the experiences of white people and

Western methods of knowledge production and interpretation cannot be the litmus by which all musics created in Western contexts are studied.”64 Indeed, the artists from these cultural communities are eager to share their work with many audiences. However, if we are to respect their work, the varied methods of musical production and comprehension that the people of color and Indigenous nations have built over generations and continue to build into the present day, need to be of a central focus.65

64 Hill, A. Kori. "Out of Context #10: A Reflection and Call to Action." I Care If You Listen. October 28, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/10/out-of-context-10- reflection-call-to-action/ (accessed January 10, 2021).

65 Hill, A. Kori. "Out of Context #10: A Reflection and Call to Action." 58

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

CARE

It has been taught in many a school of music that one should be familiar with the contextual details of the repertoire they perform. This contextual understanding can inform the performer’s interpretive stance which will subsequently translate to the audience. This occurs when one intentionally approaches the music with care. In many cases, this is easily achieved for the Western classical repertoire, yet somehow this concepts’ implementation is less thorough when learning works that are heavily influenced by cultures not directly affiliated with the performer. A. Kori Hill states “the practice of care–to care, to be careful, to handle respectfully–is essential in dismantling cultural appropriation practices.”66 One who practices this intentional level of care acknowledges that their performances are also education opportunities, especially for the audiences unfamiliar with the music, culture and communities being presented. By caring, one considers how their privileged position can worsen rather than redress offensive practices.67

With these three themes explained, one can identify their application throughout the following recommendations for composers, performers and pedagogues. It cannot be understated that these recommendations are for all intents and purposes an anti-racist approach to commissioning, composing, performance, and pedagogy. Composers

66 Hill, A. Kori. "Out of Context #10: A Reflection and Call to Action." I Care If You Listen. October 28, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/10/out-of-context-10- reflection-call-to-action/ (accessed January 10, 2021). 67 Hill, A. Kori. "Out of Context #10: A Reflection and Call to Action."

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 interested in utilizing cultural elements that are not their own should be working alongside personnel with direct connections to the culture in question.

The first point of contact could be through a well-known composer in the cultural region. These regional composers, having knowledge of the area, may be able to lead you specifically to authoritative leaders and members of the affiliated cultural communities.

There you could ask questions about what materials are appropriate to use, and how they should be used. It is vital that elements, musical ideas, texts and titles that have significant meaning (or not) are either translated correctly or are avoided altogether to prevent misuse or problematic connotations.

Furthermore, if the members of the cultural community refuse to grant allowance for their culture to be use in your work, you may plead your case on how you intend to treat these cultural goods in context and the benefits you intend to bring to their community in doing so. If they still refuse access, the decision must be respected.

However, do acknowledge that this refusal, though seemingly a dead end for you at the present, can manifest as a seed planted that will allow the cultural community to grant access to these cultural goods to other composers in the future.

If you have been granted access to use these cultural goods in your work, Shruthi

Rajasekar in her article supports that these cultural personnel must be at all times credited and given monetary compensation for their contributions to the construction of the

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 work.68 Where possible, they should be afforded as many opportunities to join the composer in lectures, conferences and other teaching and performing events, as means of providing a platform for them to advocate and promote their cultural heritage.

Composers who receive commissions from entities that request the use of cultural idiosyncrasies not affiliated to the composer, must be bold and facilitate the process of redirecting such commissions to composers who are. Again, bringing assistance to minority voices via creating and funding opportunities.69 If this is not at all possible, the recommendation of soliciting cultural personnel would be the appropriate course of action.

If performers and pedagogues are interested in commissioning works evoking a specific culture for performance or teaching, the first point of contact, if not only, should be to commission composers directly from that culture. Performers and pedagogues do have a responsibility of sending a message to composers, that harmful narratives perpetuated towards minority cultures will not be further tolerated. This can be achieved firstly via not programing composers that are consistently problematic toward minority cultures. Secondly, by not programing works that possess problematic titles, program

68 Rajasekar, Shruthi. "Out of Context #1: Diversifying Programming with Integrity." I Care If You Listen. January 29, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/01/out-of- context-1-shruthi-rajasekar-programming-with-integrity/ (accessed January 10, 2021).

69 Ziff, Bruce H., and Pratima V. Rao. Borrowed power: essays on cultural appropriation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 notes, musical material or in any other way perpetuate ill-intent or harmful stereotypes toward minority cultures and its people.

On the topic of programming works that possess cultures not of their own, I will suggest using the following guidelines of Indian-American composer and vocalist Shruthi

Rajasekar70 - an anti-racist protocol toward programming decisions that helps to ensure the chosen works come from a place where the music, its creator(s), and its context are studied with care:

1. When deciding to program a specific tradition’s repertoire, first ask yourself

why? Is it to engage a new audience or inform the community? Is it a

consequence of the reevaluation of problematic conventions of your repertoire

selection? If yes, then this is a step in the right direction. However, as we

ensure to acknowledge, decenter and care, one must ensure that their efforts

are thorough and do not run the risk of resorting to tokenized solutions.

On the other hand, if the reasons for programming the culture’s music is to

have something “rhythmic,” “light,” “fun,” as “encore material,” or “a

discovery,” is nothing but a reduction of that culture into something lesser

than yours. This rhetoric needs rethinking as it is both racist and uninformed.

It is not expected for you to become an expert in the subject. However, equal

70 Rajasekar, Shruthi. "Out of Context #1: Diversifying Programming with Integrity." I Care If You Listen. January 29, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/01/out-of- context-1-shruthi-rajasekar-programming-with-integrity/ (accessed January 10, 2021). 62

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

investment to the research of these unique idioms as you do your conventional

repertoire, will afford you agency to make informed repertoire decisions.

I will exemplify this repertoire selection, looking at a thematic set of piano works under the umbrella of Impressionism. Selecting works from three composers: Lili

Boulanger of the traditional French impressionism, Charles Griffes representing

Impressionism through the American lens, and Margaret Bonds representing

Impressionism through the African-American lens. Here you have a set of works that speak on impressionism through three diverse perspectives: the gender, the cultural experience based on locale, and the cultural experience based on ethnicity.

2. Once you’ve become familiar with the tradition you’re trying to incorporate,

you can choose your repertoire. For an individual not familiar to the culture’s

tradition, there is no way to easily decipher what is quality. With the

assistance of practitioners, you can be advised accordingly on how your

program can be structured. A second pair of eyes/ears can help to challenge

your implicit biases that may prioritize “serious” Western art music over the

other “frivolous” traditions.

I will exemplify how a second pair of eyes would have proven beneficial. A music conservatory hosted centennial celebrations via several concerts last year. The repertoire chosen for all the festivities were all traditional European standard repertoire.

Truly, a wasted opportunity that could have been redirected to lauding and promoting the many composers including those who were black, indigenous and other people of color

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 who attended the institution over those 100 years. An addition that would’ve spoken to their musical wealth as an institution, and to the diversity therein.

If these unconscious biases in concert programming are occurring at this level, it is certainly occurring where programming involves choosing works that possess other cultures. In ensuring quality of the works selected, we ought to be careful, that our selection neither favors works from merely the famous or popular composers, nor favors our assumptions of what the cultural evocations should sound like. A second pair of eyes can aid with this decision.

3. In approaching discussions with members of the community within these

unique cultures, be aware that they are in a vulnerable position and may feel

awkward or even targeted because they are accustomed to tucking themselves

in to fit the dominant culture. Ensure that you are actively listening, share

your vulnerability of being ignorant, and show that you want to learn. Also, be

willing to act and remove a work from programming if members of the culture

have reported that certain work to you as problematic.

4. In similar manner to the composers, performers and pedagogues not affiliated

directly with a culture should seek to work along-side personnel directly

affiliated to that culture, with provided compensation.

One may query what should one do about the famous repertoire that has been entrenched in the music canon and frequently performed and taught? Understandably, we cannot change the past. Although I personally would prefer to not have these works performed or taught anymore, this may not be possible. Therefore, it is of great interest 64

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 that anyone intending on further performing and teaching these works, are doing so with great intention to educate and expose to the audience or pupil, the problematic and where applicable racist connotations these pieces possess. Also, how they result in poor cultural advocacy. I suggest these works be paired with or countered always with another work that is an example of good cultural advocacy. A teachable tool vital to bringing awareness to cultural disparities and appropriation and how to do better.

All these efforts, as extraneous as they may superficially seem, are a demonstration to those onlooking how to be respectful, sensitive, vulnerable, constantly humbled and actively and authentically engaged with the world around us.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

Cultural appropriation is a very nuanced concept and manifests itself in many capacities. It is evident that in classical piano music, cultural appropriation has been occurring throughout the centuries. The examples of cultural appropriation not only revealed poor cultural advocacy, but also showed that good cultural advocacy can occur and has been occurring from as early as the 17th century. Therefore, we should not be fearful for acknowledging cultural appropriation in all its forms. Furthermore, in the field of classical music, we should no longer accept the narrative of cultural borrowing being mere exoticism. Exoticism must always be addressed alongside cultural appropriation. By choosing to compose, perform and/or teach works that utilize elements of cultures that are not our own, we are automatically held responsible for how these cultures are represented. Ignorance concerning these matters should no longer be an excuse.

The piano has been one of Europe’s prized musical inventions. It prompted production of tremendous volumes of repertoire in the Western classical genre, which over three centuries held enormous gravity in shaping the varied philosophies of Western classical performance tradition. As the thoughts and ideas of non-Western cultures started making their way into Western classical music, the current performance philosophies were so engrained that it seemed inflexible to facilitate new techniques and nuances required for the proper execution of non-Western ideas. If we juxtapose the piano as an instrument that possess set tempered tuning, and a tradition of Western classical rules and fixed harmonic systems, with a myriad of non-Western instruments that possess a variety 66

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 of flexible tuning systems, scales and modes, we can see how this could be a daunting task to decipher. Nevertheless, I would advise that by decentering the piano as a Western instrument, we allow ourselves to not be confined to the devices of the Western tradition.

This can enable us to engage and broaden our scope into the realm of the non-Western to further inform our performance philosophies. Through intentional research, equal respect, sensitivity, vulnerability and acknowledgment of the sophistication of these non-Western cultures, as we do our Western music, we open the gateway for a more holistic view of the world around us and the many forms in which music manifests itself.

We should use this newfound knowledge to acknowledge the past, learn from it, and to respond positively and responsibly moving forward. A thorough approach should not be about only avoiding negative consequences—like disrespecting other cultures or minimizing the people in the community of said culture—it should be about actively creating new positive consequences.71 Therefore, what you choose to program, play, teach, or who you choose to commission is implicitly educating yourself, your pupils, your composer colleagues and your audience on how to treat these cultures and by extension the cultural riches that exist in the greater world around us. Treating all cultures with care in Western classical music will help make these music spaces respectful and

71 Rajasekar, Shruthi. "Out of Context #1: Diversifying Programming with Integrity." I Care If You Listen. January 29, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/01/out-of- context-1-shruthi-rajasekar-programming-with-integrity/ (accessed January 10, 2021).

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021 equitable. Not only will we build a culture of listening and learning but also reach out to the members of our community with authenticity and integrity.72

Only then will cultural appreciation manifest itself. A symbiotic relationship between the borrower and the community of the cultural source.73 In so doing we in our own way engage in scholarship, contributing significantly to the understanding, cataloging, preservation, perpetuation, and high cultural advocacy of a marginalized culture’s musical practices and heritage.

72 Rajasekar, Shruthi. "Out of Context #1: Diversifying Programming with Integrity." I Care If You Listen. January 29, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/01/out-of- context-1-shruthi-rajasekar-programming-with-integrity/ (accessed January 10, 2021).

73 Tan, Anthony. "Out of Context #5: Appreciation vs Appropriation of Cultural Musical Objects." I Care If You Listen. May 27, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/05/out-of-context-5-appreciation-appropriation- cultural-musical-objects/ (accessed January 10, 2021). 68

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

BIBLIOGRAPHY Anafarta, Orhan. "Flamenco Guitar Techniques." atrafanaSchool. 2021. https://www.atrafana.com/techniques.html (accessed February 21, 2021). Ashley, Kathleen M., and Veronique Plesch. "The Cultural Processes of "Appropriation"." Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Duke University Press) 32, no. 1 (2002): 1-15. Balacon, Maira. "Style Hongrois Features in Brahms’s Hungarian Dances: A Musical Construction of a Fictionalized Gypsy “Other”." DMA Dissertation, College- Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, 2005. Benavides, Nicolas Lell. "Out of Context #8: Privilege and Creative Consequence." I Care If You Listen. August 26, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/08/out-of-context-8-privilege-and- creative-consequence/ (accessed January 10, 2021). Bevilacqua, Alexander, and Helen Pfeifer. "Turquerie: Culture in Motion 1650-1750." Past & Present (Oxford University Press) November 2013, no. 221 (November 2013): 75-118. Bird, Catherine. "The influence of Javanese gamelan on selected works of Claude-Achille Debussy." Thesis, Faculty of Humanities ,College of Music, University of Cape Town, 1982. Bowles, Edmond A. "The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries." Early Music (Oxford University Press) 34, no. 4 (November 2006): 553-339. Brahms, Johnannes. Hungarian Dances for the Piano Book I. New York: G. Schirmer, n.d. Clark, Jane. "Scarlatti and Spanish Folk Music: A Performer's Re-Appraisal." Early Music (Oxford University Press) 4, no. 1 (1976): 19-21. Debussy, Claude. Etudes, Children's Corner, Images Book II and other Works for Piano. Mineola: Dover Publications, 1992. —. Klavierwerke, Band VI. Edited by Eberhardt Klemm. Leipzig: Edition Peters, 1975. Edwards, Donna O'Steen. "Iberian elements in the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti: a lecture recital, together with three recitals of L.V. Beethoven, J.S. Bach, J. Brahms, and selected works of other composers." Dissertation, North Texas State University, Denton, TX, 1980.

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Figgis-Vizueta, Inti. "Out of Context #3: Finding Tradition in New Music." I Care If You Listen. March 25, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/03/out-of- context-3-finding-tradition-new-music/ (accessed January 10, 2021). Geiringer, Karl. "Johannes Brahms." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Brahms (accessed March 25, 2021). Hill, A. Kori. "Out of Context #10: A Reflection and Call to Action." I Care If You Listen. October 28, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/10/out-of- context-10-reflection-call-to-action/ (accessed January 10, 2021). "History of Ragtime." Library of Congress. 2021. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035811/ (accessed March 25, 2021). Kirkpatrick, Ralph. Domenico Scarlatti. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981. Locke, Ralph P. Music and the exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Lockspeiser, Edward. "Claude Debussy." Encyclopædia Britannica. March 21, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Debussy/Evolution-of-his-work (accessed March 25, 2021). Manuel, Peter. "From Scarlatti to “Guantanamera”: Dual Tonicity in Spanish and Latin American Musics." Journal of the American Musicological Society (University of California Press) 55, no. 2 (2002): 311-336. Martelly, Elizabeth de. "Signification, Objectification, and the Mimetic Uncanny in Claude Debussy's "Golliwog's Cakewalk"." Current Musicology (Columbia University) Fall 2010, no. 90 (2010): 7-34. McKinley, Ann. "Debussy and American Minstrelsy." The Black Perspective in Music (Professor J. Southern) 14, no. 3 (1986): 249-258. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Klaviersonaten, Bd.2. Urtext. Edited by Wolfgang Plath, & Wolfgang Rehm. Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag, 2019. Parker, Sylvia. "Claude Debussy's Gamelan." College Music Symposium 52 (2012): College Music Society. Ragtime. 2007. Rajasekar, Shruthi. "Out of Context #1: Diversifying Programming with Integrity." I Care If You Listen. January 29, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/01/out-of-context-1-shruthi-rajasekar- programming-with-integrity/ (accessed January 10, 2021).

Texas Tech University, Mikhail Johnson, May 2021

Richter, Jonathan. "Flamenco Guitar Techniques and Definitions." Learn Guitar Today. 2021. https://richterguitar.com/flamenco-guitar/flamenco-guitar-techniques-and- definitions/ (accessed February 26, 2021). Sadie, Stanley. "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart (accessed March 5, 2021). Scarlatti, Domenico. Sonates Volume III K.104 - K.155. Edited by Kenneth Gilbert. Paris: Heugel, 1978. Schmidt-Jones, Catherine. Janissary Music and Turkish Influences on Western Music. OpenStax CNX, 2010. Seiffert, Wolf-Dieter. "Preface." In Piano Sonata A major K. 331, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 2015. Tan, Anthony. "Out of Context #5: Appreciation vs Appropriation of Cultural Musical Objects." I Care If You Listen. May 27, 2020. https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2020/05/out-of-context-5-appreciation- appropriation-cultural-musical-objects/ (accessed January 10, 2021). Taylor, Charles. Multiculturalism and the politics of recognition. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994. Trend, J. B. Manuel de Falla and Spanish Music. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. Young, James O. "Art, Authenticity and Appropriation." Frontiers of Philosophy in China 1, no. 3 (September 2006): 445-476. Young, James O., and Conrad G. Brunk. The ethics of cultural appropriation. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Ziff, Bruce H., and Pratima V. Rao. Borrowed power: essays on cultural appropriation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.