String instruments in the approximate form of the modern guitar have existed for over 3 millennia.
music notation
No.
Dozens cultures came up with this on their own, independently. The Babylonians (Iraq) did it first.
That aside, the video is still fucking stupid in its assertion that this is 'white supremacy' - it would have been much more accurate to have simply said 'music theory teachers are basically fucking grifters trying to apply their theory to every new style of music in order to keep their jobs and never have to retrain when anything new comes along'
It's not 'white supremacy', it's a fucking grift, simple as that.
All that's happening with these guys is that they're moving their grift is moving from pretending you're teaching something other than classical music, to teaching cultural marxism. It's basically the new group of grifters attacking the old group of grifters!
This video is actually really infuriating me because it's not wrong in its observation of how utterly static the official, mainstream, academically taught 'music theory' is in the west, but this whole 'racism' and 'whiteness' schtick they're layering over it is just such. fucking. bullshit. And fucking offensive, too because it implies everyone who isn't German, isn't white.
So should Western students not learn the basics of Western music theory? Should they learn Babylonian notation instead?
This also smacks of cultural relativism. 12 tone equal temperament was a great scientific and musical achievement. Other music systems have no mathematical backing. Some sound objectively worse.
This is a real quote from some African guy on that page that got a heart from Neely:
In Uganda we don't really have a word equivalent to "music". Rather music is defined by how one dances to it. Studying it therefore invariably means studying the dances.
So should western students not learn the basics of Western music theory?
Well... that's the thing.
It's not the basics of Western music theory any more. It hasn't been since the 1930's, if not earlier. Arguably, it never was, unless 'western' means 'German'
Almost no western music is produced in that style these days other than orchestral film scores, and even those largely went out of style 20 years ago. Those articles saying '<insert pop song> is a success because it follows music theory!' are cherry picked bollocks.
It's not a theory useful for rock, metal, industrial, electronic, trance, dubstep, irish folk, english folk, britpop, country, or any other of the litany of western musical styles that of moved in and out of fashion over the past 50 years.
I've got no problem with people learning it - particularly if they want to compose something classical and orchestral, which almost nobody does these days, and even fewer make any money doing, but that doesn't change the fact that for most composers alive today, most of it's archaic and few want to listen to it, meaning that at it the end of the day, knowing it is about as useful as a social studies degree.
"b-b-but why we gotta learn about the mayo monkeys???"
No.
String instruments in the approximate form of the modern guitar have existed for over 3 millennia.
No.
Dozens cultures came up with this on their own, independently. The Babylonians (Iraq) did it first.
That aside, the video is still fucking stupid in its assertion that this is 'white supremacy' - it would have been much more accurate to have simply said 'music theory teachers are basically fucking grifters trying to apply their theory to every new style of music in order to keep their jobs and never have to retrain when anything new comes along'
It's not 'white supremacy', it's a fucking grift, simple as that.
All that's happening with these guys is that they're moving their grift is moving from pretending you're teaching something other than classical music, to teaching cultural marxism. It's basically the new group of grifters attacking the old group of grifters!
This video is actually really infuriating me because it's not wrong in its observation of how utterly static the official, mainstream, academically taught 'music theory' is in the west, but this whole 'racism' and 'whiteness' schtick they're layering over it is just such. fucking. bullshit. And fucking offensive, too because it implies everyone who isn't German, isn't white.
So should Western students not learn the basics of Western music theory? Should they learn Babylonian notation instead?
This also smacks of cultural relativism. 12 tone equal temperament was a great scientific and musical achievement. Other music systems have no mathematical backing. Some sound objectively worse.
This is a real quote from some African guy on that page that got a heart from Neely:
Doesn't that just say it all?
Sound objectively worse... to us.
Not to everyone.
Each culture needs its own traditions. But, this requires they separate.
Well... that's the thing.
It's not the basics of Western music theory any more. It hasn't been since the 1930's, if not earlier. Arguably, it never was, unless 'western' means 'German'
Almost no western music is produced in that style these days other than orchestral film scores, and even those largely went out of style 20 years ago. Those articles saying '<insert pop song> is a success because it follows music theory!' are cherry picked bollocks.
It's not a theory useful for rock, metal, industrial, electronic, trance, dubstep, irish folk, english folk, britpop, country, or any other of the litany of western musical styles that of moved in and out of fashion over the past 50 years.
I've got no problem with people learning it - particularly if they want to compose something classical and orchestral, which almost nobody does these days, and even fewer make any money doing, but that doesn't change the fact that for most composers alive today, most of it's archaic and few want to listen to it, meaning that at it the end of the day, knowing it is about as useful as a social studies degree.