Watching Adam Neely’s video, my perspective was widened concerning the options we have in how music theory is taught, and made me more aware of the standard way it is being taught today. I learned that music theory is not limited to what European musicians from the 18th Century created, but there are other types of music theory from around the world. Through this video, I also realized that musicians have been studying the same classical works for decades, and have failed to branch out into studying compositions written by musicians in our day.  Adam Neely’s video explained the problem with solely studying the same musicians for decades, arguing that we are taking opportunities away from musicians in the 21st century to have their work showcased and appreciated. After gaining new perspective from Neely’s video, I realize how much we study the great European musicians from the 18th Century, as well as how our curriculum lacks perspective on music of other cultures. I believe that studying music should first involve the necessary/popular curriculum, and then could delve into other cultures ways of making music. Composers fro the 18th Century created the basis for the form of music we study today, therefore I believe it is essential to have knowledge of this before diving into other ways of making music. It seems that music education in University is based off of the famous composers such as Mozart and Beethoven, because they are the “tried and true” musicians- the musicians whose music has stood the test of time in its skill and popularity. However, this simply cannot be true of only these musicians, as there are so many other talented composers/musicians with old and new material. The 1800’s in Europe was a time buzzing with new musical potential and ideas; I wonder if we have had a time as fervent with new musical ideas since then? Perhaps we study music from composers of the 18th Century because they birthed these fundamental music ideas that we use to write new compositions even today. Watching Adam Neely’s video, I do agree that in order to be more well rounded and knowledgable about all kinds of music, we must study music from different cultures, however, I think it is important to honour the composers who really began the age of musical excellence. In University curriculum, I would like to see an option to study music from different parts of the world, including modern music and musical theory from other cultures. I mention the word option, as I personally love studying the classical musical style of the 1800’s; perhaps this is because it is all I’ve ever known. However, as a singer, it would be nice to see teachers giving students the option to practice/perform songs from other cultures, in case they are interested. Regarding core courses, I would suggest that we still include musical theory from the 1800’s, however in addition to this, adding a class that explores music from the 1950’s, and more modern music would be awesome.

Regarding the aim of dismantling the white racial frame of music theory and history, as educators, we need to take an initiative to incorporate music from different races. I believe that this is the only route that we could take to achieve this. Our world is recognizing and finally taking action to address racism, which brings new options to the table to explore more of these cultures music. I believe that if as musicians, we take the initiative to incorporate different cultures music into the learning process, this will tackle the “white racial fame” of music theory, and bring about diversity and a deeper understanding into how diverse music truly is.