Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Anti-Colonial, Cross-Cultural criticism, Culture, Decolonialism, Diversity, Global Music, History, Nationalism, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Post-Colonialism, Research, World Music

Orchestres anti-coloniaux : une réponse culturelle à l’impérialisme de la musique classique occidentale

So thrilled that my piece, “Anti-Colonial Orchestras: A Cultural Response to Classical Music Imperialism,” has been translated into French by Liko Imalet and Luc Le Maignan of AMECAS (Amicale des Etudiants Caribéens Africains et Sympathisants) at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne!

AMECAS

L’un de mes projets de recherche les plus longs consiste à retracer l’évolution des orchestres dans le monde. Pas seulement l’orchestre européen, mais tous les orchestres du monde, y compris les grands ensembles des peuples autochtones, les orchestres de personnes esclavagisées, les orchestres folkloriques d’Europe de l’Est, et plus largement les groupes que je commence à appeler les orchestres anti-coloniaux.

Les orchestres anti-coloniaux sont des orchestres qui se sont formés souvent immédiatement après les indépendances, ou bien en opposition directe à l’impérialisme culturel de la musique classique occidentale. D’une certaine manière, cela fait écho à l’objectif des orchestres folkloriques soviétiques (ainsi que des orchestres folkloriques d’autres États communistes). Mais ils diffèrent en ce que beaucoup d’entre eux n’étaient pas nécessairement des groupes parrainés par l’État ou du moins pas des groupes forcés de se former pour contrer directement l’impérialisme occidental. Cet arcticle offre un petit échantillon de certains de…

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Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Anti-Colonial, Cross-Cultural criticism, Culture, Decolonialism, Diversity, Global Music, History, Nationalism, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Organology, Post-Colonialism, Research, World Music

Anti-Colonial Orchestras: A Cultural Response to Classical Music Imperialism

One of my longest research projects is tracing the evolution of the orchestra. Not just the European orchestra, but all the orchestras of the world including indigenous large ensembles, slave orchestras, Soviet folk orchestras, and groups I'm starting to refer to as Anti-Colonial Orchestras. These are orchestras which formed often immediately after independence, or in … Continue reading Anti-Colonial Orchestras: A Cultural Response to Classical Music Imperialism

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.

Orchestra Ethiopia
Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Education, Audiences, Cross-Cultural criticism, Decolonialism, Diversity, Education, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Post-Colonialism, Race, Racism

Colonialistic Diversity: Decentering Eurocentric Orchestras and Normalizing *all* Composition

As I get into the second month of #NotBeethoven tweet thread, you may have noticed a couple things. First is that I occasionally feature composers outside of the Western Art Music (WAM) tradition(s). Second, the natural consequence of this is I have to highlight Composers of Color and Non-Eurocentric Instruments and Ensembles.1 A couple of … Continue reading Colonialistic Diversity: Decentering Eurocentric Orchestras and Normalizing *all* Composition

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Education, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Decolonialism, Diversity, Nationalism, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Post-Colonialism, Race, Racism, Women's Studies, World Music

White Males Orchestras and America’s Other Orchestras

A couple years ago I discovered a series of pieces title "America's Other Orchestras" at Arab America and it helped me to solidify some thoughts I've been having about how we have discussions, and the narratives we create, about Orchestras and Classical Music. These are thoughts that were percolating at least since I first wrote … Continue reading White Males Orchestras and America’s Other Orchestras

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Funding, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Decolonialism, Diversity, Orchestra Reform, Orientalism, Post-Colonialism, Race, Racism, Sexism

Diversity in Classical Music vs Diversity of Classical Music

Diversity in Classical Music has been a hot topic lately, especially given the recent announcements of upcoming seasons of organizations and the pushback many are getting recently. With the introduction of the Women Composer Database and the Composer Diversity Project, therea a push for aggregating disparate lists of composers to decenter the White Male Canon … Continue reading Diversity in Classical Music vs Diversity of Classical Music

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Diversity, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, World Music

American Orchestras that already regularly play music by POC

So there's been a lot of chatter about diversity (or lack thereof) in Classical Music and Orchestras the past few weeks. Just some examples: Holly Mulcahy's piece about diversifying orchestra audition excerpts; Eric William Lin's discussion (with wonderful interactive graphs) of NY Phil's rep over 175 seasons; Rob Deemer's unveiling (in a little more formal venue) … Continue reading American Orchestras that already regularly play music by POC

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Decolonialism, Diversity, Fragmentation, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Post-Colonialism, Racism, Sexism

The Invisible Hand of the Great White Male Musical and Artistic Canons

In my previous post I discussed how ridiculously easy it would be to avoid the Art of Monstrous Men, and the post before that discusses how to Decolonize the Musical Mind. The past couple of days I've come across some interesting pieces about diversity in the arts (or lack thereof). The first was a piece … Continue reading The Invisible Hand of the Great White Male Musical and Artistic Canons

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Education, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Diversity, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Resources, State of the Arts

Orchestras in the US formed since 2000

Here's a link to my list of Symphony Orchestras and Chamber Orchestras in the US formed since 2000. It’s by no means an exhaustive list and should be viewed as a “work in progress” (much as my similar list of US Opera organizations formed since 2000). Currently, the list includes full sized Symphony Orchestras as … Continue reading Orchestras in the US formed since 2000

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Federal Music Project, Fragmentation, Nationalism, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras

All Orchestras are Ethnic Orchestras

One of the things that is striking about the early accounts of Classical Music is how provincial it was. Until the 20th century we didn't really conceive of Classical Music as one unified field. In other words, there was a lot of diversity in the genres and repertoire performed. This coincided with what we could … Continue reading All Orchestras are Ethnic Orchestras

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Aesthetics, American Classical Music History, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Culture, Diversity, Fragmentation, History, Non-Western Cello, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Post-Colonialism

The Other Orchestras (part 1): Ethnic Orchestras

There's such a problem with Eurocentric terminology when discussing analogues to a Western institution found in other cultures. That's no different than with orchestras. I've used the phrase "Ethnic Orchestras" in reference to large ensembles modeled after the European-styled Orchestra (e.g. Traditional Chinese Orchestras), but at the same time, some of these large ensembles are … Continue reading The Other Orchestras (part 1): Ethnic Orchestras

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Arts Education, Diversity, Economics, Experimental Cellos and Cellists, Improvisation, Musical Fluency, Musicians, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Post-Pop, Professional Development, Science, State of the Arts, String Playing Careers, Technology

Essential Tools for the 21st Century Musician: Technology

In my previous post about tools for the 21st Century Musician, I discussed improvisation as probably the most useful tool musicians can be using. In a way, technology is even more indispensable. Unless our voice is our primary or only instrument (and even then there are exceptions), then nearly everything we make music on is … Continue reading Essential Tools for the 21st Century Musician: Technology

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Composing, Economics, Improvisation, Orchestra Reform, Orchestras

The explosive growth of Soundpainting Orchestras

Soundpainting is a kind of live composing sign language created by New York composer Walter Thompson in 1974.  Designed for musicians, dancers, actors, poets, and visual artists, the Soundpainting language consists of roughly 1200 gestures that are signed by the composer/director who is known as the Soundpainter. Soundpainting differs from the late Butch Morris' Conduction (created … Continue reading The explosive growth of Soundpainting Orchestras

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ American Classical Music History, Arts Education, Arts Funding, Chamber Music, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Economics, Education, Live Entertainment, Local Culture, Louisville, Orchestra Reform, Post-Pop, State of the Arts, String Playing Careers, World Music

5 Things Classical Musicians should know about being in a Band

So, why aren't you in a band anyway? One of the things I think all Classical Music students (especially performers) should be required to do is play in a band.  No, this doesn't mean they should take up a guitar, bass, drums, or sing.  What this does mean is that it should become an integral … Continue reading 5 Things Classical Musicians should know about being in a Band

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Aesthetics, American Classical Music History, Arts Education, Audiences, Cello, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Economics, Local Culture, Orchestra Reform, Post-Pop, Psychology, Rock

Survivorship Bias: Why classical musicians might not want to think like rock bands

This is going to be the first in a series of posts exploring narrow ideas of "Success" in discussions from some Classical Music Crisis folks. Survivorship bias also flash-freezes your brain into a state of ignorance from which you believe success is more common than it truly is and therefore you leap to the conclusion … Continue reading Survivorship Bias: Why classical musicians might not want to think like rock bands

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Aesthetics, American Classical Music History, Art, Arts Education, Audiences, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Diversity, Orchestra Reform, Pop, Post-Colonialism, Post-Pop

Myth of the Monolithic Pop Culture

One of the many ideas that Crisis folks rely on is what we could call a Monolithic Pop Culture trope. The whole idea of Classical Music culture being rooted in the past (and therefore needing to "catch up" to contemporary culture) relies on this myth that culture has "evolved" (nevermind the problematic aspects of a … Continue reading Myth of the Monolithic Pop Culture

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Arts Education, Audiences, Classical Music Crisis Crisis, Cross-Cultural criticism, Culture, Diversity, Economics, Orchestra Reform

Crisis of “Populism” in Classical/Pop: Non-Public Performances and Audiences

While weddings in the US may be at historical lows after the recession, we're still looking at over 2 million marriages per year on average. The String Quartet format for classical musicians remains one of the primary ensemble types that are regularly hired to play weddings (either services, reception music, and occasionally party music) so … Continue reading Crisis of “Populism” in Classical/Pop: Non-Public Performances and Audiences

Jon Silpayamanant - โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ Orchestra Reform, Orchestras, Pop

“Trash-Metal” is not the future of Orchestras | Dave Mustaine and the San Diego Symphony

After hearing some of the bootleg vids (as well as one which purportedly takes sound directly from the board) of Dave Mustaine's recent concert with the San Diego Symphony. Ironically, the "trash-metal" title is from Greg Sandow's blog post criticizing the concert for sandwiching Mustaine between works by Berlioz and Dvořák (amongst other slights Sandow finds … Continue reading “Trash-Metal” is not the future of Orchestras | Dave Mustaine and the San Diego Symphony