Date
5-16-2024
Department
School of Music
Degree
Doctor of Music Education (DME)
Chair
Rebecca Watson
Keywords
Black folk music, American folk songs, elementary music education, song repertoire, minstrel show music, decolonizing the music room
Disciplines
Education | Music
Recommended Citation
Yarbrough, Ashley, "A Basis for Removal or Retention of Black Folk Songs in Music Education According to Black Americans in the Music Community" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5515.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5515
Abstract
Despite the contribution of a large body of musical literature by Black Americans from the late nineteenth century forward, few musical contributions of Black American slaves have been properly attributed from the centuries prior, and many were credited to White Americans. In recent years, cultural sensitivities and misinterpretations toward the early music of Black Americans have created a movement to remove many of these songs from circulation and in particular, music education repertoire. In this study, the folk music created by Black Americans from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century was explored in order to determine the motivational factors according to the perspectives of Black Americans to remove or keep songs in the repertoire. Folk songs created and sung by Blacks throughout American history were identified and credited to them for their contribution to the canon of American folk songs. Using a qualitative method design, ten Black Americans with diverse musical perspectives were interviewed about the place and importance of Black folk music throughout the time of slavery. Further, this study sought to determine the value of either keeping or removing songs included in minstrel shows within the current music repertoire. The purpose of this study was to honor the culture and creation of music in Black American history while maintaining the historic accuracy and intention behind the music now labeled as culturally inappropriate by a select few.
