ABSTRACT
In considering the transformation of the undergraduate music major, the study of music as a world phenomenon is inarguably a central feature to be worked into the curricular weave. In the spirit of diversity and equal access by all to understandings and skills that are what William P. Malm refers to as “different but equally logical,” new foundational thinking can bring about a rebuilding of the music curricular core that performs an inclusionary approach befitting the demographic realities of our times. Music majors in preparation for an array of professional activities ahead benefit greatly from embracing diversity as it relates to knowing the structures, functions, and meanings of music as a global phenomenon. Not only do students gain tools that directly inform the evolution of their creative voices as improvisers, composers, and performers, but they also-as thinkers and well-attuned analytical listeners-expand their awareness of the scope of music’s sonic and structural possibilities, as well as grow in an understanding of music’s powerful role across a wide spectrum of human life. The Manifesto calls for musical engagement across as wide a cultural expanse as is possible, and sounds the alarm for “culturally narrow horizons of music study” that are “nothing short of a social justice crisis” (p. 60). Coincident with the convictions of my coauthors Ed Sarath and David Myers, and in full alignment with the Manifesto, I approach diversity as key to understanding music and human learning locally and across the world.1
