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Title
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Interview Clip: Importance of the African American Music Symposium
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Description
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Recorded in Studio 2 (The Berg) in the Dance Building at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.
[00:00:00] PATTERSON:
And I organized the African American Music Symposium.
TOPPIN:
Which people still talk about, 1985, that symposium, the impact of the multi-day symposium that brought the top names, Undine Moore, Ollie Wilson, all these people came. And they still, as I see some of them, they still talk about something that happened in 1985 because it hadn't happened before, and it gave space for all of these black intellectuals to talk about the music and to talk about their experiences and the future of this music that really was not getting any, um, that was not being appreciated or valued, yes, or evaluated and included in the curriculum.
[00:00:59] It's a thing that people continue to fight for is, why is there not space for this black music to exist in every classroom, in every, along with all the other music that we learn. It is Western European music. It just happens to be written by Americans. I mean, it's Western music, it's not European music.
[00:01:20] But your work cannot be understated because those of us who had the opportunity to work under your tutelage learned from you. As I'm on a million committees each year, people have often said, “why are you on so many committees?” And I, you were the model for that, that, if you want to make a change, you have to be in the space. And if you don't show up, then you can't complain that nothing is happening.
[00:01:49] You have to step in, and, um, you still warn me about over-committing, but part of that is that, is that we hold you on such high esteem for the work that you did.
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Identifier
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PattersonToppininterviewclip4
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Creator
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Louise Toppin; Willis Patterson
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Date
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07/25/24
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Subject
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scholarship; expanding the repertoire; BIPOC platforming
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Type
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moving image
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Format
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mp4
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Relation
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—
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Source
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, & Dance
