Diversity in Music

African Americans have had a profound impact on the development of music in the United States. Afrocentric Voices focuses on classically trained American singers and composers of African descent and on the vocal music forms they influenced, especially opera and art songs–including Negro spirituals composed for concert performance.

Presented here is an extensive bibliography of books and other research resources. There is a small–but growing–list of biographies of vocalists and composers, such as Marian Anderson, Harry T. Burleigh, Leontyne Price, with most recently added biography on Jules Bledsoe plus others. Most of these biographies now have video playlists of these musicians in performance themselves or of others performing their works, as well as photographs, music score examples, and links to resources related to their lives or careers.

Additionally, Afrocentric Voices has a chronology of major events and accomplishments by African American vocal musicians and a list of libraries and research centers that house significant collections of resources by and about African American musicians. The Afrocentric Voices Portrait Gallery features African American singers and classical composers of vocal music who have established international musical careers.

A Database of ALAANA (African/Black, Latinx, Asian/South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Native American), Women, and Gender Non-Conforming Composers

Rich, culturally diverse songs, videos, and lessons you’ll love to teach. Includes Musical Explorers Program, Videos and Lesson Plans, Audio Tracks, Student Activities, Concert Experience, and Professional Development.

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Center is designed to provide practical and helpful insight, advice, and a path to greater diversity and inclusion in every part of your organization. Hundreds of free resources — including two pioneering diversity studies published by the League — are available to help you better understand and create a deeper connection with your community.

A scholarly resource of recordings, including CD quality audio, liner notes and essays from New World, Composers Recordings (formerly Composers Recordings Inc./CRI) and other important labels.

Eileen Southern and the Music of Black Americans is a digital exhibit centered on Eileen Jackson Southern (1920-2002), an extraordinary scholar whose landmark book The Music of Black Americans (W. W. Norton, 1st edition 1971) inspired the academic subfield of Black music studies. In 1976 Southern became the first African American woman tenured in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In both research and teaching, she confronted racial and gender biases, yet she persistently pursued the work she believed in.

This exhibit highlights archival materials from the collection that Southern left to the Harvard University Archives, and it introduces visitors to Southern’s life and legacy.

The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online is a comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. Each volume contains an overview of a geographic region, a survey of its musical heritage, and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances. Articles include detailed photographs that show musicians, musical instruments, and the cultural context of dances, rituals, and ceremonies. Other images include drawings, maps, and musical examples for further study. Contains the full text of the 10 volume print encyclopedia (originally published in 1997), which is searchable all together for the first time.

The Great American Songbook Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to inspire and educate by celebrating the timeless standards of pop, jazz, Broadway and Hollywood, otherwise known as the Great American Songbook.

Founded in 2007 by five-time Grammy® Award nominee Michael Feinstein, the Foundation advances this rich legacy by curating physical artifacts of its creators, performers and publishers in the Songbook Library & Archives; operating a multimedia exhibit gallery; overseeing the Songbook Hall of Fame; offering programs for the public and research opportunities for scholars and artists; and providing educational opportunities for student musicians, including the annual Songbook Academy® summer intensive. The Foundation is a Cultural Affiliate of the Los Angeles-based Grammy Museum®.

The Institute for Composer Diversity, winner of the 2018 ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Media/Internet Award and housed at the State University of New York at Fredonia, is dedicated to the celebration, education, and advocacy of music created by composers from historically underrepresented groups through online tools, research-based resources, and sponsored initiatives.

Music by Black Composers (MBC) is dedicated to helping to bring greater diversity to the ranks of classical music performers, composers, and audiences by making the music of Black composers available to everyone. MBC’s Living Composers Directory is designed for those seeking to commission; for performers, conductors, and concert programmers seeking existing music; and for other researchers and scholars of contemporary classical music.

Established in May 1999 by founder and director Laura Hassler, and registered as a charitable foundation in 2000, Musicians Without Borders is the world’s pioneer in using music for peacebuilding and social change.

Eileen Southern’s book The Music of Black Americans: A History represents a monumental achievement for its author. Prior to its publication in 1971, American musicology had focused on European music, and studies of American music had not considered Black composers and performers. The book's research was the work of a lifetime for Professor Southern, who had scarcely any existing bibliography to draw on and thus conducted most of her research from primary sources. It is important, deeply appreciated and rich in detail. But it was intended for a wide readership, and so offers few direct citations for its many musical excerpts. It obliges replication of Professor Southern's research process, following titles or composers to library catalogs or search engines.

This site is a project of the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library at Harvard University. It offers the first organized, openly accessible inventory of the musical examples in the first edition of The Music of Black Americans, and provides full-text open access to the complete scores of almost all of these examples, from sources in the collections of Harvard Library and other institutions.

For almost a century, the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. has been a champion for African and African-American music and musicians. Our organization is concerned with the performance and preservation of uniquely African-American music, while acknowledging and providing opportunity to the Black composer and performer. Our membership ranges the full spectrum of interest in music: performers, educators, students, administrators, and enthusiasts. Find out more information about our "Pride in a cultural heritage."

Naxos Music Library is the most comprehensive collection of classical music available online. It includes the complete Naxos, Marco Polo and Dacapo catalogues of over 85,000 tracks, including Classical music, Jazz, World, Folk and Chinese music. Whilst listening, you can read notes on the works being played as well as biographical information on composers or artists in Naxos's extensive database. All these can be accessible from computers in academic libraries, home or office. Naxos Music Library and all of its contents are owned by Naxos Digital Ltd., part of the Hong Kong-based Naxos Group of Companies. Naxos Online Libraries YouTube Channel

Founded in 1955, the Society for Ethnomusicology is a global, interdisciplinary network of individuals and institutions engaged in the study of music across all cultural contexts and historical periods.

"The Spirituals Database offers searchable access to recorded track information for over 3,300 Negro Spiritual settings performed by solo Classical vocalists. The resource contains a selection from more than 90 years of historic and contemporary recordings produced on compact discs, long-playing (33 1/3 rpm) albums, 78 rpm records, 45 rpm discs and audio cassettes, as well as demonstration recordings from musical score collections of Spirituals."

The Kassia Database is a resource geared toward aiding singers, instructors of voice, pianists, researchers, and music lovers to discover and celebrate art song by women composers. The database includes songs from the Baroque period through the 21st century, and have been categorized by level, voice type, language, composer, and composer dates. Related information includes range, tessitura, piano accompaniment, vocal line, and links to available scores. The analysis is intended for singers from beginning high school through the collegiate level and professional career. The database leads you to find the unique voices and expansive styles of each individual composer, with the hopes to increase performance and advocation of each woman's often overlooked works.

Why are there so few female composers? But are they really so few? Welcome to Donne: Women in Music! A new space dedicated to female composers! We would like to invite you join us in this fascinating journey, which we hope will help to get historical and current female composers on the map. There's lots of long overdue debate about the roles and opportunities for women in classical music too.