InfoGuides: Diverse Voices in Music Scholarship and Repertoire: Getting Started

General Resources

The following guide outlines the research challenges confronted while searching for marginalized voices within problematic information systems and highlights resources that start researchers on their journey:

Finding Diverse Voices in Academic Research
by Teaching & Learning Team Last Updated Aug 20, 2021 444 views this year

The following guide provides general information and research resources on anti-Black racism, anti-racist learning and practice, the Black Lives Matter movement, and related activist movements:

Anti-Racism, #BlackLivesMatter, and Civic Action
by Teaching & Learning Team Last Updated Mar 10, 2023 186 views this year

General Search Strategies

To do general research on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and anti-racism in music, you will want to brainstorm keywords. Here are a few examples of search queries:

diversity AND music teaching

anti-racism AND music theory

LGBTQ AND music education

Queer musicology

perceptions women composers

Other keywords:

Diversity: equity, marginalized, inclusion, underprivileged groups, minorities, anti-racism, racism, sexism, white supremacy, heteronormative, ableism, neurodiversity, neurodivergent, decolonization, etc.

Music: musicology, ethnomusicology, music educators, orchestra, musical ensembles, music scholarship, music students, choir, choral, music literature, composers, music therapy, etc.

Key Music Resources in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Anti-Racism

Here are a few key resources to get you started on challenges faced by marginalized musicians and scholars and DEI in music scholarship and performance:

Confronting Racism and Sexism in American Music Theory
After writing his scholarly paper, "Music Theory and the White Racial Frame," Phillip Ewell, professor music theory at the City University of New York , wrote this 6-blog post series to discuss dismantling institutional racism and sexism in music theory.
Decolonization for Ethnomusicology and Music Studies in Higher Education, by Luis Chavez and Russell P. Skelchy
This article interrogates how the word decolonization has been used by ethnomusicologists in previous publications and argues that a discourse of de-colonizing music studies and ethnomusicology should not propagate the term as a descriptive signifier while overlooking key issues.
Marginalized Voices in Music Education, by Brent C. Talbot
This book explores the American culture of music teachers by looking at marginalization and privilege in music education as a means to critique prevailing assumptions and paradigms. It shares diverse stories in a struggle for inclusion, with the goal to begin conversation in music teacher education.
Music Theory and the White Racial Frame, by Phillip Ewell
This paper is a critical-race examination of the field of music theory, positing the existance of a “white racial frame” in music theory that is structural and institutionalized. It argues that only through a deframing and reframing of this white racial frame will we begin to see positive racial changes in music theory.
Pedagogical Resources for Antiracist Teaching
The purpose of the Columbia University Music Department Antiracist Pedagogy Resource Page is to provide teachers of undergraduate courses about Western music with a starting point for applying equity-based antiracist approaches and perspectives in the classroom in an accessible and adaptable format. This resource is intended for incorporation into existing courses and in the development of new courses.