By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News -
After months of global unrest and rioting sparked by the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, universities and companies throughout the world have rolled out critical-race theory inspired programs.
Many of these initiatives, which are ostensibly meant to inspire tolerance, have come under fire for promoting extreme ideas, including anti-white racism.
Now, Oxford University has joined the trend, by launching a revamp of their music department in an effort to make the program “less white.”
According to a report from The Telegraph, professors are striving to make a number of dramatic changes to “decolonize” the department’s syllabi.
Internal documents seen by The Telegraph included a claim from the faculty that sheet music, also known as musical notation, has not “shaken off its connection to its colonial past.”
Sheet music can be linked to a “colonialist representational system,” the faculty alleged.
Continuing to teach sheet music would be a “slap in the face” for non-white students, the faculty wrote, so the practice should be dropped entirely.
The document suggested that by teaching European-focused music and fundamental practices like sheet music, the department was guilty of being “complicit in white supremacy.”
Although Oxford’s music department offers multiple courses focused on non-European music, faculty said the current curriculum focuses too much on “white European music from the slave period.”
Traditionally, undergraduate students pursuing a degree in music were required to take courses in practical application, such as learning to play the piano or conduct orchestras.
The faculty explained that these skills “structurally center [around] white European music” and cause “students of color great distress,” so they should no longer be required.
A spokesperson from Oxford told music website Classic FM, “We are exploring ways to enhance our students’ opportunities to study a wider range of non-western and popular music from across the world than is currently on offer, as well as music composition, the psychology and sociology of music, music education, conducting, and much more.”
