Oxford: Classical music is too white

Beethoven and Mozart are now “canceled”

Oxford University wants to “decolonize” the curriculum and call, for example, classical music “white music of the slave era,” as the Telegraph reveals.

The Telegraph has examined internal documents of the oldest English-speaking university in the world, according to which lecturers criticize the curriculum for “complicity with white nationalism.” The lecturers criticize the music of Mozart, Beethoven and other classical composers as “white music of the slave era” and part of the “white supremacy”. The grading system had to be reformed because it was part of the “colonialist system of representation”. Musical notation that has “not shaken off its connections to the colonial past” is a “slap in the face” for some music students.

Classical musical skills such as playing the piano or conducting should no longer be compulsory, as they “structurally favor white music” and therefore “cause great suffering to colored students.” It is also criticized that the “overwhelming majority of music teachers are white men,” reports the Telegraph.

Lecturers complain that “the structure of the curriculum promotes white supremacy”, that the faculty is “almost pure white” and “therefore privileges white music”.

 The reform proposals include a focus on “the music of Africa and the African diaspora”, “world music” and “pop music”, as well as hip hop and jazz.