Soul Food for Thought

We’re coming up on MLK Jr. day so it is time to reflect on what I’ve been doing the past couple of months.

I have been home for the better part of two months now working on my new studio (more about that later) and catching up with the family, so one thing has been coming to the fore – Soul Food.  As most people know I am a food junkie, and as anyone who knows me well and has been a guest in our house knows I am a master of soul food.  I have been indulging my passion for Black-eyed Peas, Greens (Mustard, Collard, etc.), Smothered Snake (if you don’t know you’re not going to find out here), Candied Yams, Chitterlings (pronounced Chit-lens to you Yankees), Cornbread (pronounced Cone-bread to you Yankees), etc.  When I’m on the road conducting I obviously don’t get a chance to cook much so when I get home – look out!! Papa Bill is in the kitchen!

And that previous paragraph is the most profound bullshit you will ever read this year.

Here’s the truth – I was born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y.  I was surrounded by Italians and Central Europeans.  I specialize in Asian and Mediterranean food.  What I know about Soul Food could be painlessly engraved on my left eyeball by a white hot laser without the benefit of anaesthesia.  The only reason that anyone would have taken that Soul Food rant seriously is……….. yes, you guessed it – I’m Black.

Actually, like Barack (and most Black folk), I’m a mutt.  St. Patrick’s Day I always celebrate, and I have cousins somewhere in both the Cree and Cherokee Nations.  But society insists that I’m Black.  Hell, Barack is truly bi-racial and there is no one around who doesn’t call him “the First Black President.” The politics of this country lag behind the times but as we all know the politics of Classical Music lag even further.  Perhaps it is time for a radical thought – if this country can elect a “Black” President without constantly pandering to racial stereotypes, mayhaps the classical music business should roll over and admit that the MLK Jr. concerts that everyone is so fond of are a complete and utter waste of time.  There … someone said it.  Just like the renewed talk about race in politics it’s time for a renewed thought about race in classical music.

I have mentioned that these MLK Jr. concerts seem like a waste to more than one person in the business.  The response I get is always along the lines of “we are trying to reach out to the African-American community and we think this is an essential part of that effort, and it is also an essential part of our our commitment towards Arts Education.”  Sorry folks, it’s just not true. Despite my better judgment I have been roped into a couple of these concerts myself and they all share a few things in common:

• Held on or around MLK Jr. Day – because that’s the obvious time to hold them
• Feature Black artists
• Gospel music
• Black composers
• Orchestras insist that African-Americans are inspired to come back for other concerts by this MLK Jr. concert

This approach makes about as much sense as putting me in the kitchen and telling me to cook a Soul Food dinner for 12.  I might get really really lucky once and put out a passable meal, but God help you the second time around. Just because I’m Black (according to society) it doesn’t mean I know squat about Soul Food, and just because an orchestra plays the music of George Walker it doesn’t mean that Black people are suddenly going to take an interest in what is on your next Masters concert. We won’t even get into the horror that is an orchestra trying to play gospel.  Why do we even think this is possible?  Gospel choirs don’t sing Mozart, do they?  The problem with the MLK Jr. concerts is that the effort on the part of the orchestras comes way too late! Let me explain –

Here is the reality for many Black folk growing up today – outside of the random TV commercial, or (if you are very lucky) the two or three orchestra kid concerts you are forced to attend, they will never actually sit down and give classical music a second thought.  The majority of the Black community has not been exposed to Classical Music for almost 50 years because of a very important social movement – The Civil Rights Movement.  This led to two things – Jazz (and its subsequent forms) became the music of the civil rights movement.  When even the Wall Street Journal, that bastion of Right Wing lunacy, admits something then it must be true.  But add to this something else – White Flight.

Concurrent with the Civil Rights movement is the White Flight movement out of the big cities.  Suddenly suburbs were the rage, and I don’t think anyone reading this is naïve enough to have to ask why.  The effect this had on the urban public school system is obvious.  The public schools were starved of cash, students, parental involvement, and political support.  Within the White middle class that did stay in the urban areas private schools were suddenly the rage. Because the schools were deprived of their sociological lifelines – white, middle class children – they fell into crisis.  In a crisis it’s the Arts programs that are the first to go, and they have never recovered.

Starting in the ’60s the rate of exposure of Blacks to classical music dropped precipitously because 1) the opportunity wasn’t there – those who on the sociological level were most apt to fund and support classical music had hightailed it away from the minority inner cities as fast as possible; and 2) Jazz and its offspring became the musical equivalent of Black Pride.  Jazz, Funk, Gospel, R&B, Rap – those are the dominant musical forms of Black expression in America.  James Brown said it best: “Say it loud! I’m Black and I’m Proud!”  I’m sorry to say that classical music is now looked on with intense suspicion.  It represents one of the last true bastions of segregation in America, whether that assessment is true or not.  It’s the perception that is most important here.  On a personal level is you sat me down and asked me to describe one truly racist incident that has happened to me in this business I’d most likely stare at you blankly.  I can’t think of a one.  But on a sociological/societal level the perception of this business in the Black community is quite different.

Here we are almost 50 years later and I would wager this year’s salary that if you took a survey of the Board, Administration, and Members of the major orchestras of this country the vast majority would be: 1) of European descent (or otherwise considered “White”, whatever that means); 2) living in the Suburbs; 3) and had sent their children to private school.  There are obvious exceptions such as New York City where it’s just hard to actually live in a suburb, but I bet the rest applies.  Even amongst those who live in Urban areas I’m sure #3 is the norm.  What hope do we have to reach the African-American population with our music when the most fundamental aspects of Arts education are not taught in the schools and/or are not readily available in the immediate community in which they live?  One concert a year in the middle of January is not going to address this problem no matter how well intentioned.

People tend to support and listen to the music that they hear from a young age.  I came upstairs two weeks ago and heard my 5 year old singing along to some song.  I asked him who it was and he replied: “Edith Piaf!!” He knows her because the part-time nanny we had is into Broadway and related music.  My youngest son knows more musicals than I do.  My 8 year old is on a B-52’s kick because he heard it on my iPod.  Suddenly it’s all about Rock Lobster and Planet Claire.  This is alongside all the classical music they hear because they play instruments and their parents are professionals. What is important here is that they were exposed to the music by people who love it and who can nurture in them an interest in it at a young age.  To expect that an MLK Jr. Concert can have any sort of real impact on a community when the average age of the audience for that must be north of 40 is wishful thinking. It’s TOO LATE!!! We have to get their interest when they’re young. There is a famous quote:

“Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man”

If the classical music business wants to make serious inroads with the African-American population then perhaps it is time to actually put our money where our mouths are and support public education, fight for public education, send our kids to the local schools, and realize that we cannot segregate ourselves from this population and expect them to take an interest in our music because “it’s beautiful.”  Frankly, they’re not going to care.

Oh, and for the record – both of our kids go to public schools.