Possibly the most important philosophical divide in music education, and we rarely discuss it outside of echo chambers. A deep dive into the claim that Classical Music is “hegemonic” or dominant.
Some music academics operate as if “classical music” sits at the center of cultural power, imposing itself on everyone else in an oppressive way that snuffs out other ways of making music and acquiring musical knowledge. This idea is ubiquitous in music education scholarship, literature and online discourse. But, when we dig in just a bit to this idea, we find a plethora of shifty definitions of “hegemony” and even of “Classical Music itself.
When you zoom out from the music buildings and campuses many of us inhabit, and look at the musical world people actually live in, the claim of “hegemony” collapses instantly.
What the data actually shows is something far less dramatic and far more important:
Classical music is not dominant. It is fragile. It survives only because institutions choose to preserve it.
That is not cultural hegemony.
That is crucial stewardship.
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