Any classical music fans out there? September is Classical Music Month, and it was made official in 1994 under Bill Clinton’s administration. It honors the contributions of those in the classical music genre. The average individual is familiar with classical giants Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, or Mozart, but in this post, I challenge readers to research non-Western composers.
For African American composers in this genre, I suggest William Grant Still, Florence B. Price, Samuel Coleridge Taylor and Francis “Frank” Johnson to name a few. Most have heard the music of Scott Joplin even if they don’t recognize him as the creator of the melody. His song, The Entertainer, was a defining piece for the syncopated rhythms of ragtime and became released around 1902. Latin American classical composers were equally as talented but largely overlooked as well. Some notable names to consider are: Manuel Ponce, Heitor Villalobos, Carlos Chavez, and Gabriella Montero. As an undergraduate student, I studied the piano works of Alberto Ginastera and was quite fond of his music. Ginastera incorporated Argentinian folk melodies with western classical music conventions and was a prolific composer of his time.
Those of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage have contributed greatly to classical music. The music of Nilo Alcala, a Filipino American composer, is simply beautiful and written mostly for voca
l ensembles. He was a recipient of the Aaron Copland House Residency award. Other composers to investigate are Siddhartha Khosla and Queen Lili'uokalani. Happy listening!
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