Examining Representation in Wind Band Music
“I try to implement songs from different cultures around the world and different languages just to break down an English-centric and Eurocentric mindset. Like singing in a different language, there’s so much power to that.” – Connor Bowman
Meet Connor Bowman, a Library Associate in Youth Services at the Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) in Wisconsin. Connor grew up in the small town of Salem, Illinois. He developed a passion for music at a young age, which promoted him to pursue music during his undergraduate studies at Illinois State University. During his studies there, Connor befriended his music librarian who mentored him and introduced him to the work of music librarianship. And so his professional story in libraries begins.
Connor recently obtained his Master’s degree in music history from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He used an equity model to audit a radio show named Wind and Rhythm for his thesis. Connor was interested in understanding what was being programmed at concerts, specifically within wind band music, and the amount of diversity featured. He tracked composers being featured on the radio show and matched it with several composer databases to see if there was proportional representation among the composers and songs selected. Databases used to backup his thesis included the Institute of Composer Diversity, Wind Repertory Project, and a Google spreadsheet of collected information on women composers, queer composers, and composers of color. The results he gathered were disappointing. There is a huge lack of cultural and racial representation not only on the radio show but within the wind band community as a whole.
As Connor develops various youth programs at MPL, he applies what he has learned from his thesis to select diverse music and critically examine other music genres and resources. Tune into this podcast episode with Connor Bowman, where he discusses his thesis findings and path to music librarianship. Music is similar to books. We need to listen to music and see musicians we identify with. We need to hear different tunes from various cultural music traditions to expand our understanding of the world. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Connor Bowman at cobowma@milwaukee.gov.
***After Connor completed his thesis, an article came out challenging the Institute of Composer Diversity’s sincerity and quality of work. In a follow up conversation with Connor, he said, “The article does a wonderful job of noting the mistakes and harm that the Institute of Composer Diversity and its director, Rob Deemer, has done. It also offers suggestions on how the Institute of Composer Diversity can move forward. I love the author’s thoughts on DEI leadership and what that should look like.” For those interested, the article is linked below along with other resources mentioned in the podcast episode.***