Northwestern Community Ensemble 50th Year Commemoration

Pinto’s ethnography is aimed to describe the culture and philosophy of the Northwestern Community Ensemble (NCE) and to understand the role of singers’ racial and religious identity in their participation in the ensemble.  The findings suggest gospel music is the unifying force that connects all elements of participation in NCE—music experience, racial identity, religious identity—and helps foster a sense of belonging and spiritual growth. These findings highlight the importance of social identity-based music ensembles for marginalized racial/ethnic groups at predominantly White institutions. Pinto’s talk is part of Bienen School of Music’s Northwestern University Music Education series, “Current Research on Issues of Race, Gender, and Disability in Music Teaching and Learning.”

“The Power of Black Music,” lecture by Dr. Alisha Lola Jones, Assistant Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, Thursday, April 15 from 5-6:30 pm (CST).

Inspired by Samuel A. Floyd, Jr.’s 1995 book, THE POWER OF BLACK MUSIC is a performance lecture that takes us on a journey to explore postcolonial non-religious music that forms the aesthetics that we observe in popular culture today. From the transatlantic slave trade to the present, debates have raged among scholars and practitioners concerning the lines of demarcation between sacred and secular forms of African American music. Utilizing an ethnomusicological perspective, which foregrounds the significance of culture in the formation and expression of musical values, this performance lecture will explore those inter-and intra-cultural dynamics that define the sacred/secular continuum in African American music.

The lecture will feature performances from Angela M. Jones, Patrick M. Dailey, and W. Crimm Singers. The program will also include words from NCE alumni L. Stanley Davis, WCAS’74 Comm’97 and Adrienne McGowan, SPS’02, and current ensemble member, Diego Pinto, Music graduate student. This event is co-sponsored by the Department of African American Studies and the Department of Religious Studies in celebration of NCE’s anniversary. Special thanks to Professor Mary Patillo, Marlon Millner, and Seth Bernstein.