As the only African-American composer at this conference and as one of the very few attendees who has earned a living primarily through the profession of composing, I think that I might bring a distinctive perspective to this conference. This view emerges from composing, arranging and producing for the last 40 years in the recording, motion picture, and television industries, in addition to composing my concert music.
An African-American is the result of many factors. Among them are whatever continuities and discontinuities our ancestors brought with them as they were exported to the New World, and the eradication of tribal distinctions during slavery in a primarily European-American context with Native American touches. In adapting to a situation that was not made to work for them, African-Americans had to create novel ways of thinking and behaving to transform the situation so they could not merely survive but flourish here. Later cultural/musical manifestations of this thinking resulted in Ragtime, the Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Soul, Gospel, Rhythm and Blues, and Rap and Hip Hop.
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