The Bulletin OF THE S OCIETY FOR A MERIC A N M U S IC FOUNDED IN HONOR OF O S C A R G . T. S ONNECK Vol. XXXV, No. 3 Fall 2009 The Current State of Canadian Music Studies By Robin Elliott American music studies doctoral program • American music exists; Canadian music anywhere). Canadian music studies, by does not. By this I mean that the phrase Dale Cockrell has observed that of contrast, have not advanced beyond the “American music” has a distinct profile and a concrete meaning for Americanists all the musicology positions advertised second of those seven steps. There is in a way that “Canadian music” will never in the United States in 1984, only one no single, stand-alone scholarly society have for Canadians. “American music” was reserved for an American music spe- for Canadian music, there is no peer- may not mean the same thing to all cialist (“Can American music studies reviewed journal dedicated to Canadian Americanists, but at least it means some- develop a method?” American Music 22.2 music scholarship, there is little discussion thing for most. After more than 25 years [Summer 2004]: 272-83). In 1984, with of curriculum development in Canadian of research into Canadian music, however, the creation of the Chalmers Chair in music, and the number of specialist fac- I have come to the conclusion that we may have music in Canada, and lots of it, Canadian Music at the University of ulty members in Canadian music remains but we don’t have any Canadian music. I Toronto (first held by John Beckwith), miniscule, percentage-wise. These are all for one do not lament this fact – indeed, Canadians enjoyed parity with Americans steps that American music studies have I find it liberating that no one musical in terms of dedicated positions. Cockrell achieved, while this Canadian, at least, tradition exerts hegemony over others further noted that in 2001, 22 out of 59 has looked on enviously. musicology and ethnomusicology posi- Despite our marginalized position and continued on page 38 tions advertised in the United States were our disciplinary infancy, Canadianists are reserved for American music specialists. a productive group, albeit one often I don’t have to look up the comparable focused on detail rather than the big statistics for Canada in 2001, because national picture. My bibliography of in this issue: that was the year that I applied for the all Canadian music research published Chalmers Chair, which remains the only between 1996 and 2004 listed 895 items; The Current State of 37 permanent university position reserved only 15 of the 895 items provides any sort Canadian Music Studies for a Canadian music specialist. As a of an overview of Canadian music, while result of this lack of specialized university the other 880 deal with regional issues, positions, Canadian music research is very specific organizations or institutions, and NEH Summer Institute 39 much a part-time labor of love for most individual musicians or compositions for Teachers on “Dvořák scholars rather than the primary focus of (Institute for Canadian Music Newsletter, and America” their academic life, and it is rarely tied vol. 2, no. 3 [September 2004], available to teaching duties. So we Canadianists online at http://www.utoronto.ca/icm/ Monterey Jazz Festival 40 seem to be much more marginalized than vol02no3.pdf). Speaking to this phe- Collection Site Launched Americanists in terms of our position in nomenon in her survey of Canadian and relation to musical academia. music research published recently in Cockrell also outlined seven gestational Ethnomusicology (50.2, Spring/Summer Looking Ahead to 38 steps as a topic develops from a subject 2006): 324-36), Beverley Diamond noted Ottawa 2010 area to a fully developed scholarly disci- that Canadians in general have a hard pline: 1) subject definition; 2) method- time coming to a consensus on any issue, Horace Boyer, Wilfred ology development and expression; 3) and she surmised that this may be why we 42 scholarly society formation; 4) scholarly Canadians tend to distrust grand narra- Mellers, and Mike Seeger publications; 5) curriculum development; tives and focus instead on microhistories. Remembered 6) specialist faculty; 7) doctoral pro- I would like to put forward for con- grams. He found that American music sideration three ways in which Canadian studies had reached the sixth step, but music studies differ from American music Reviews 45 not the seventh (as there is not yet an studies. continued from page 37 stripe—music librarians, musicologists, doing the studying. Addressing this issue ethnomusicologists, and composers alike. to allow for broader participation in the in Canada. In my opinion, the lack of a This is in part a reflection of the different field of Canadian music studies is a matter musical tradition that we proudly claim status that these various musical traditions of the most urgent priority. Only if and as our own, allows any type of music to hold in the two countries, and in part when this happens will music scholar- flourish and to be researched in Canada a reflection of the contrasting nature of ship in Canada begin to be an accurate on its own terms, rather than by an explic- academic music studies north and south reflection of our many and diverse musi- it or implied comparison with a dominant of the 49th parallel. cians, who tend to regard any controlling musical culture. The logical outcome of • Canadians preach diversity; Americans borders, be they political, cultural, sexual, racial, or any other kind, as at best porous. this factor is that we Canadians must practice it. Canada is demographically study the music of other countries, in diverse, and Canadians generally seem Canadians use a factor of ten to one particular the music of the United States. to accept that this is a good thing. To when comparing American achievements The history of our jazz and of much of cite just three examples, Canada was the to Canadian ones. We have roughly one- our popular music, to take two examples, first country in the world to adopt an does not make sense in isolation, and so official Multiculturalism Policy in 1971; tenth the population (though spread out must be examined in a North American aboriginal self-government was enshrined over a land mass somewhat larger than context. This is why Canadian music will in the Canadian Constitution in 1982, the USA), so we should be able to accom- always be a frill rather than a necessity and same-sex marriage was legalized in plish one-tenth of what Americans do, or for Americanists, but studying American 2005. We like to boast that Toronto is so the reasoning goes. This ratio applies music is a necessity, and not a frill, for the most multicultural city in the world, whether the factor being compared is Canadianists. ahead of New York and London; the city GDP, winning Olympic medals, or any • Canadians and Americans do not agree absorbs over 100,000 new immigrants each year from all over the world, and other aspect of human achievement. It is about what music is most worth studying. clear that in terms of national music stud- The weight given to the study of different nearly half of the city’s current popula- musical traditions and repertoires is very tion was not born in Canada. But turning ies, however, Canadians are nowhere near different in the two countries. The schol- from these worthy facts to a consider- measuring up to Americans, even by the arly study of Canadian jazz, for instance, ation of what Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr. (The tithe standards usually applied to cross- is so marginalized that it is virtually Musical Quarterly 85.1 [Spring 2001]: border comparisons. Quantity aside, we 1-52) has memorably termed the “musi- non-existent. A handful of scholars (John are also not yet matching Americans in Gilmore, Gene Lees, Jack Litchfield, and cological skin trade” in Canada, I find that the demographic diversity of Canada terms of the diversity of the music being most notably Mark Miller) have contrib- studied, or those doing the studying. uted outstanding work on Canadian jazz, is not at all reflected in the microcosm of but they have almost all done so outside of Canadian music studies. We don’t seem to Closing the quantity and diversity gaps the institutional framework of Canadian be making any great efforts at improving remains an urgent priority if the field of music studies, as loners and individualists our diversity, either. There are no initia- Canadian music studies is not only to rather than as part of academic Canadian tives in Canada similar to the committees measure up to American music studies, music studies. The study of Native North to address diversity issues that have been set up by the AMS, SEM, and SAM. I but also and more importantly if it is American musical traditions in Canada, to remain a vibrant and relevant field of on the other hand, has always been central find much greater evidence of diversity in to the interests of Canadianists of every American music studies, both in terms of study in the future. the repertoires studied and those who are Looking Ahead to Ottawa 2010 by James Deaville cultures in North America in general is a city’s leading performers will participate Local Arrangements Chair first for the Society, inspired by our gath- in the concert, which will also feature ering in an officially bilingual city on the one or more works by noted Québec Where can you find the world’s largest border of Québec. composers Claude Vivier and/or Pierre skating rink (in winter)? the world’s larg- While the LAC has yet to work out Mercure.