An Arizona professor is calling for a “national overhaul of the music curriculum” so that it includes fewer “dead white guys.” Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the professor published a database of viola pieces by underrepresented composers. The database is void of any pieces composed by white men, who are considered to be overrepresented.
Molly Gebrian, a music professor at the University of Arizona, recently came to the conclusion that White men are too often the learning subjects for viola students and decided to make a new database of viola pieces, excluding any white male.
Gebrian says that women and minorities are underrepresented while the classical music world “only performs music by dead white guys,” according to The Daily Wildcat. Gebrian believes this is potentially harmful to students of color who fail to see themselves represented in the musical world.
Gebrian created an entire database of viola pieces, composed only by women and people of color. With the help of her students and colleagues, the database now has more than 1,100 composers and compositions.
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