Category talk:African-American classical composers

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Um, this is ridiculous.

"Classical" music means one of two things -- music made in the classical era of a musical tradition (i.e. 1750-1820-ish in Europe), or it means, more generally "serious music written for the concert stage, in the lineage of the Western Art Music Tradition." I assume the latter in this case.

So why are Duke Ellington and John Coltrane and Charles Mingus not called classical composers? When white people innovate, it's considered part of the Western Tradition (i.e. classical). When black people innovate, it's put off in a segregated category, as though they are not a part of Western culture. This point of view is widely discredited and I can't believe it has been allowed to stand.

I can't find the prior debate on this subject. But this issue is very simple! Either consider this a "Serious Music" category and let Ellington / Coltrane join the club (as have the Journal of American Musicology, and Current Musicology, and Perspectives of New Music, etc. etc.!) -- no serious scholar discriminates against jazz any more! Or call it classical music and acknowledge that African-Americans were probably not deeply involved in the great era of Viennese chamber music. I mean, folks have claimed that Beethoven was 1/12 black, and that's an exciting discussion, but it's for a different article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Blcarson (talk • contribs) 05:10, 22 February 2010 (UTC)