The juniors recently completed their ethnomusicology papers, in which they were to research the music of their ancestors. They could either choose two composers who shared their ethnicity or country of origin, or they could research the folk or art music of that culture. I read almost 40 papers and learned a great deal in the process about composers and traditions that don't always appear in the standard music history texts. Here is my accounting of the cultures represented:
Russian 7
Irish 5
Hungarian 4
Jewish 3
Polish 3
German 3
Italian 2
Norwegian 2
Danish 2
South African 1
Japanese 1
British 1
Ukrainian 1
Swedish 1
and one paper about the Pilgrims who came to America on the Mayflower!
As usual, there were a lot of papers about Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich, but I also learned about Takemitsu, Nielsen, and O'Carolan, as well as Norwegian hardingfale fiddles and Nguni singing. Students mentioned talking to grandparents, and some admitted not knowing much about their heritage before writing this paper. I hope they enjoyed their research as much as I enjoyed reading their work. (I know, I know, but teachers can always dream, right?) I know I would have had a very difficult time deciding which of my roots to write about, being mainly English, Portuguese, French, and Greek, with family legends of Choctaw and Cherokee ancestry as well. I could have written about Vaughan Williams and Holst, Portuguese fado music, Debussy and Lully, or Greek bouzoukis!
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