Problems in Music Conservatory Education: 2. Cultural Capital and Diverse Musical Tradition in America

Music conservatories should reconsider not being conservative in their cultural capital, which is focused on traditional classical music, because current social organizations and music education systems in America are closely connected to the music of diverse immigrants. According to Peter McLaren, cultural capital explains the “ways of talking, acting, modes of style, moving, socializing, forms of knowledge, language practices, and values.” are unique to each place. In the United States, multi-cultural educational systems have generated a diverse musical tradition. Throughout the 20th century, especially since the 1960s, most major American cities have had significant immigrant communities that have retained their own distinct subcultures, rather than entirely assimilating into the mainstream of American culture. For example, there are various kinds of music in New York City, such as Euro-American music, Latin, the Caribbean, Asian, and Middle Eastern.
In the same manner, Henry Kingsbury, a conservatory-trained pianist and music educator, has criticized the curriculum of an American music conservatory compared to a non-Western musical culture. In his research, he recognized that the concept of the western notion of “talent” and its cultural characteristic is different from those of non-western societies and evaluated the curriculum of music teaching and the nurturing of musicality in the conservatory, such as the dynamics of orchestra rehearsals, master class, the characteristics of solo recitals.