Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Funding, Blogging, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Culture, Decolonialism, Education, History, Music, Music Education, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Organization, pedagogy, Post-Colonialism, Projects, Research

US Orchestras and Large Ensembles

The Orchestra as an institution is constantly evolving and taking many different forms all around the world, but like the White Male Classical Music Canon, we tend to only see canonical ensemble types and treat them, like the repertoire canon, as universal and neutral.

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Education, Bibliography, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Culture, Decolonialism, Diversity, Education, History, Intersectionality, Music, Music Education, Orientalism, Post-Colonialism, Race, Racism

Colonialism, White Supremacy, and the Logic of Exclusion of Colored Bodies in Classical Music

As I'm working on this bibliography of white supremacy and colonialism in classical music, I've come to a few things that has helped me understand the logic of exclusion of colored bodies in the field. Here are a few main takeaways. 1) Sources for information about Slave Orchestras are in formerly colonized countries or mémoires … Continue reading Colonialism, White Supremacy, and the Logic of Exclusion of Colored Bodies in Classical Music

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Education, Ballet, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Decolonialism, Economics, Education, Global Music, History, Music, Musicians, Nationalism, Operas, Orchestras, Orientalism, pedagogy, Performance Ethics, Post-Colonialism, Race, Racism, World Music

Classical Music and its Slave Orchestras

It was just five years ago that Dr. David Hunter revealed his discovery that Handel repeatedly invested in the Royal African Company, a slave trading company in Britain. A year later, Musicologist Hannah Templeton wrote that some of Leopold Mozart's patrons were likely slavers or heavily invested in plantations in the West Indies. In that … Continue reading Classical Music and its Slave Orchestras

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Education, Cello, children, Cross-Cultural criticism, Culture, Decolonialism, Diversity, Education, Local Culture, Louisville, Music, Music Education, New Albany, Post-Colonialism, Psychology, Racism, String Playing Careers

Made in Thailand: Composed in America

Last week on Monday I was over at mae's1 house helping her clean out her kitchen while we were listening to the late Suthep Wongkamhaeng2 (สุเทพ วงศ์กำแหง), one of mae's favorites. As I was drying dishes, a song came up in the playlist and mae said she used to sing it to me as a … Continue reading Made in Thailand: Composed in America

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Education, children, Cross-Cultural criticism, Culture, Decolonialism, Diversity, Education, Global Music, History, Intersectionality, Music Education, Nationalism, Orchestras, Orientalism, Post-Colonialism, Race, Racism, World Music

Diversity, Inclusive Programming, and Music Education (part 4): Immigration

This is the fourth of a nine part series about Diversity, Inclusive Programming, and Music Education. Many of the ideas and themes here build on past pieces of this series, so reading them is suggested (for series overview, visit this link. part one: Intro; part 2: Postcolonialism; part 3: Assimilation). As this piece follows up … Continue reading Diversity, Inclusive Programming, and Music Education (part 4): Immigration