Music Theory and White Supremacy

33 thoughts on “Music Theory and White Supremacy”

1. I’m pretty sure a lot of black musicians in America know music theory and if they don’t who cares how is that oppressing them.

2. Lmao is that Rudy Ayoub speaking 27:45

3. I like this dude…pause🤔

4. I guess I'm a Hispanic, white supremist, then. 🙂 Come at me, bro. My Tiger Kungfu…is better than yours…I don't think you're good enough…to avenge your master…

5. Ahh yes, cultures of European descent focus on the musical practices and great works of past European descendants because that's the basis of European culture. Yet, it's racist only for Europeans. Classic.
   You should go to Japan and complain that Ibuki Theatre is racist because its too Asian-centric and doesn't focus enough on other cultures, other cultures' theatre practices, and, most especially, have enough representation from marginalized groups.

6. European music is better if you’re European though 🤷‍♂️

7. As a beginning musician, I found this very helpful as I've been slightly puzzled by what music theory is on a fundamental level, and whether if there is a universal music theory. This only reinforced my suspicions of subjectivity of our current "music theory," thus making me more relaxed now that I know for sure that so called "music theory" is not absolute! Good to know this from the beginning. Amazing appreciation for this much effort, thank you Adam! <3

8. my one and only disagreement is that you make it sound like people are intentionally being racist when I dont think that is the case, otherwise amazing video!!!

9. I have been learning music theory on my own and have reached chapter 10 on harmonic progression and harmonic rhythm. I have been feeling some unease from around chapter seven on counterpoint about how music theory is not exactly a reflection of music as I know it. I ditched the book (Benward and Saker, 2015) just like Adam did I the video. Now that I can pinpoint what about it I was feeling uneasy about, I may pick the book back up, but informed as to what it can and can't do for me as a budding musician. Thank you immensely for bringing this standard of education to us Adam. 🙌

10. Rejecting classical music as harmonic style of European 18th century music is like rejecting Calculus (from which modern science sprung) saying this is only 18th century European mathematics and there are equally valid mathematical traditions around the world.

11. Alright, I admit I rolled my eyes at the title of the video, but I've been thoroughly convinced of your point already and I'm only 12 minutes in

12. Music theory is racist now? God damn how we have failed as a species

13. The guy with the blue america shirt is an arrogant, ignorant fool. This is clickbait for an otherwise really good channel.

14. This was an amazing video, I learned so much especially as someone who is currently applying to music school I is an eye opening discussion and I look forward to learning more about this through self study

15. I'm so glad you specified NORTH Indian music. Lot of people aren't aware of the stark difference of cultures throughout all India and Asia!

16. I'm a literate and educated musician, been through music college in the UK, play professionally and have an encyclopaedic taste in music. I'm definitely versed primarily in Western music theory though, unsurprisingly. But, since when was music theory ever "the harmonic style of 18th c European white musicians?". Also, since when doesn't "Music Theory" relate to rock/pop/country?? It does. The beauty of the music we all are familiar with is that shared common sense of Western tonality. Yes, a lot of its origins can be traced back to Bach etc., but that's not racist, unless you have an issue with bach being white, in which case you're the racist. Rather than dissing 500 years of great musical progress, which happens to be the very basis of your own career, why can't we incorporate other styles and theories together, share in our common language of music the world over, and continue to admire and learn from those with different musical backgrounds and styles like we've been doing for 100s of years? Basically, you are saying the piano is racist, are you not? with its equal temperament, you know, that white supremacist tuning system that ignores any other musicians of any other colour?? Ridiculous.

17. You all make me sick, Suffer ethno masochism much! You're all RACIST against your own people!

18. When people think that talking about white supremacy is "woke" lmao stop calling yourself out we know you're a racist sack of shit

19. Be wary of any thought framework that tells folks who wish to disagree with any part of said framework that a disagreement with the framework is a sign of a problem with those who disagree with the framework.

20. You can't compare the arts to languages, in something like art we look at old painters and old paintings all the time, because surprisingly in 300 or so years our eyes haven't changed, just like in 300 or so years our ears haven't changed

21. as myself being a musician and spanish speaker both before taking AP classes, what you said rings so true. it honestly feels like little being learned can be applied, and it just seems almost unfathomable to me that this hasn’t changed at all in so much time.

22. I unsubscribe. Adam is too white.

23. Even in high school (when I actually would use Wikipedia to write essays) I knew to cit Wikipedia's sources instead of Wikipedia itself

24. white folks bad

25. 27:44 Bingo Rudy Ayoub in a Adam Neely video that was the last one I need Lets goo

26. Pretending to be smart but usually using a civil cause makes you look smart. Bro bro hahaha

27. Your proposed method of teaching music theory reminds me of the tower of babel. Primarily teaching one music system is much like having a primary language. Not everyone can be multilingual. Sure you could teach multiple methods at once, but the more methods there are, the less advancement the student would make.

    I find Western music to be objectively better, but today people have the freedom to listen to whatever they want; It's a meritocracy. Yet Western music is exceedingly popular in other cultures. Not so much vice versa. Perhaps not everything is a grand scheme of racism?

28. I watched Doris Melton's video on this and she very clearly and reasonably addresses this non-issue. Adam Neely is a grifter trying to virtue signal his way out of his true racism.

29. Curious. Curious indeed.

30. You can most definitely dance to Bach!

31. The idea that the musical history and theory of other cultures goes ignored because it isn't being spoon fed to you by a professor is a joke. Passion for learning about art and it's creation is awesome and there should never be one approved way to learn it. Piece of advice. Leave the political bullshit out of educational material. Especially when it is presented only from the creator's opinion. Everyone should hate racism. Politicizing racism only hurts victims of racism. Example. When everyone and everything is racist people tend to let the worst racism slide because of the normalization of the use of the word racism. Painting people with broad strokes is a core cause of discrimination. If you truly believe that large sections of any modern day American political party are racists then you have lost a grip on reality. Turn off your phone and stop watching the news. Go out and meet real people that don't live their lives trapped in a news cycle.

32. Do you think maybe… just maybe… our culture emphasizes western music theory because it's a fucking western culture?
    Shall we likewise berate India for not appreciating ancient Japanese music theory? Should we go beat down the doors of maasi tribals because they fail to represent latin culture in their music? Let's hold the Aborigines accountable for not embracing Celtic ballads in their traditions.
    Just shut up and get your head out of your ass.

33. I really like the Spanish language analogy here because a lot of schools don't even teach MODERN European Spanish dialect, growing up I always learned Latin American Spanish, we were told about differences between the two (namely verb conjugation rules & such), but my teachers never stressed that we learn Spanish the way it's spoken in Spain & encouraged us to learn LatAm Spanish (ofc this could also have been a regional thing since we were closer to LatAm but this only further proves the point abour practicality)

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