I respect your point of view, Ben, but I want to restate my point that confronting these problems is best done by participating and using one’s privilege and power, rather than ceding it.

For me—and this point of view stems from asking mentors who are BIPOC in our field—is that we can help the field by participating in it more than we can through absence. I respect the act of leaving as an act of protest, but at the same time it means that many others particularly contingent, junior, and BIPOC scholars, are left to do the wor…[Read more]

Thanks for keeping this conversation going.  I strongly agree with Garrett that it’s up to us white folx to help dismantle white supremacy, which to my mind makes the topic of whiteness all the more crucial in the very-white SMT, particularly sub-disciplines that focus on black music.

If we do decide to invite BIPOC from outside our discipline…[Read more]

I’m glad that we’re beginning this discussion and like both suggestions.

I’d like to suggest that we have a session on the critical race concept of “whiteness” and its historical/continuing role jazz studies and jazz theory.  I think it might be a good time to turn the mirror inwards into our sub-discipline.  I’m open to other ideas for our m…[Read more]

A couple of quick thoughts (between marking finals):

You could…

• present a complete ensemble transcription of a representative performance from the 1940s/50s (from the back of Berliner’s Thinking in Jazz, for example), and ask them to comment on solos, ensemble roles, and/or interaction.

• ask for an analysis of transcription of  impr…[Read more]

Please reply here so that we can contribute!