Dominique-René de Lerma: Regarding College

REGARDING COLLEGE

Dominique-René de Lerma

            Midway through my teens, I looked forward to the monthly mail delivery of Musical America, a journal that introduced me to concert life and even now, more than 80 years later, is still a vital source on the subject.

            In keeping with the fall season, it recently published a directory of music schools – evidently only those who also placed advertisements – with abstracted data.  My perusal immediately sought listings of Black schools, but these were all missing.  Following is an effort to compensate for that hiatus.

            To consider only the HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) schools is not sufficient, nor is the term accurate.  Better they should be identified as schools that historically have not discriminated.  During my years at Morgan State University I had students, not just Black American and from Africa, but Asians and Caucasians who sought an education with a Black perspective.   And it should be noted that the integration of schools resulted in racial mixtures, responding not only to the earlier matter of quotas, but enriching the orientation of the non-Black students with the advantages of cultural diversity.

            Recent political thought has brought up the question of why government-sponsored education should terminate with the twelfth year.  A modest proposal suggests that two-year community colleges should be tuition-free to qualified enrollees, but the thought has been advanced that this would be extended to state-supported four-year universities.  That concept might be regarded as creeping socialism by some, whose anxiety might be eased with an awareness that the result would include a boost in tax revenue, but such a move would be viewed with horror by the private universities (whose tuition is already substantially more than state-supported schools).

            Among those listed below are conservatories that are accredited to award graduate degrees and have thus allied themselves with an established university that already had a graduate school.  Among the Black schools offering graduate degrees in music currently are Morgan State University and Howard University.

            In the past one expected a conservatory to provide instruction in performance nly, while a university’s music school gave emphasis to academic studies – music theory and history – and avoided instrumental and vocal studies, but this concept, patterned after European practice, is no longer valid. 

            Potential students might wish to base a selection on a curriculum that includes Black studies.  Those non-HBCU institutions below, so Musical America reports, offering work in jazz are so indicated.  To determine which offer comprehensive examination of the history one needs to consult the annual directory of the College Music Society.  While ethnomusicology is listed, one cannot be sure that a Black music history class would give note to minstrelsy, Grace Bumbry, Jelly Roll Morton, and George Walker.  Perhaps the time is passed when a school would not allow independent research on Adolphus Hailstork or the inclusion of Tom Turpin on recitals.

            Schools with a predominately Black student body appear in italics.

            What is yet needed is a directory identifying Black professors and their areas of expertise, allied with schools where they are or have been engaged.

ALABAMA

Fairfield

Miles College

Gadsten

Gadsten State Community College

Huntsville

J. F. Drake State Technical College

Oakwood University

Mobile

Bishop State Community College

Montgomery

Trenholm State Technical College

Selma

Concordia College

Selma University. 

Talledega

Talladega College

Tuscaloosa

Shelton State Community College. 

Stillman College

Tuskegee

Tuskegee University

ARIZONA

Tempe

Arizona State University, School of Music…jazz

ARKANSAS

Little Rock

Arkansas Baptist College

Philander Smith  College

Shorter College

Pine Bluff

University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff

CALIFORNIA

La Miranda

Biola University, Conservatory of Music…jazz                    

Los Angeles

Colburn School

University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music

San Francisco

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

CANADA

Toronto

Royal Conservatory of Music,Glenn Gould School

CONNECTICUT

Hartford

University of Hartford, Hartt School…jazz

New Haven

Yale University, School of Music

DELAWARE

Wilmington

Delaware State University 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Washington

Howard University 

University of the District of Colombia 

ENGLAND

London

Royal College of Music

FLORIDA

Boca Raton

Lynn Conservatory of Music

Coral Gables

University of Miami, Frost School of Music…jazz

Daytona Beach

Bethune-Cookman College

Jacksonville

Edward Waters College 

Miami Gardens

Florida Memorial University

Tallahassee

Florida A&M University

GEORGIA

Atlanta    

Clark Atlanta University

Interdenominational Theological Center

Morehouse College

Morris Brown College

Spellman College                                                                      

Augusta

Paine College

Fort Valley

Fort Valley State University

Savannah

Savannah State University 

GERMANY

Berlin

Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler…jazz

INDIANA

Bloomington

Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music…jazz

ILLINOIS

Evanston

Northwestern University, Bienen School of Music…jazz

KENTUCKY

Frankfort

Kentucky State University

LOUISIANA

Baton Rouge

Southern University and A&M College 

Grambling

Grambling State University

 

New Orleans

Dillard University

Southern University-New Orleans

Xavier University of Louisiana

Shreveport

Southern University-Shreveport

MARYLAND

Baltimore

Coppin State University 

Johns Hopkins University, Peabody Conservatory

Morgan State University

Bowie

Bowie State University

Princess Anne

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston

Bard College, Longy School of Music

Berklee College of Music…jazz

New England Conservatory…jazz

MISSISSIPPI

Coahoma County

Coahoma Community College

Hinds County

Tougaloo College

Holly Springs

Rust College

Itta Bena

Mississippi Valley State University

Jackson

Jackson State University

Utica

Hinds Community College

MISSOURI

Jefferson City

Lincoln University of Missouri

Parksville

Park University

Saint Louis

Harris-Stowe State University

NEW JERSEY

Princeton

Rider University, Westminster Choir School

NEW YORK

New York

Columbia & Barnard Colleges, Juilliard School

Manhattan School of Music

New School, Mannes School of Music

New School, School of Jazz…jazz

Purchase

State University of New York-Purchase, Purchase College Conservatory of Music

Rochester

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music…jazz

NORTH CAROLINA

Charlotte

Johnson C. Smith University

Concord

Barber-Scotia College

Durham

North Carolina Central University

Elizabeth City

Elizabeth City State University 

Fayetteville

Fayetteville State University

Greensboro

Bennett College

North Carolina A&T State University

Raleigh

Saint Augustine’s University

Shaw University

Salisbury

Livingstone College

Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem State University

                                                                                                   

OHIO

Columbus

Ohio State University, School of Music

Oberlin

Oberlin Conservatory of Music…jazz

Wilberforce

Central State University

Wilberforce University

OKLAHOMA

Langston

Langston University

PENNSYLVANIA

Cheyney

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania

Chester County

Lincoln University

Philadelphia

Curtis Institute of Music

Pittsburgh

Carnegie Mellon University, School of Music

SOUTH CAROLINA

Columbia

Benedict College

Denmark

Denmark Technical College

Voorhees College

Kittell

Kittell College

Orangeburg

Claflin University

South Carolina State University

Rock Hill

Clinton Junior College

Sumter

Morris College

TENNESSEE

Nashville

American Baptist College

Fisk University

Meharry Medical College

Tennessee State University

Knoxville

Knoxville College

Jackson

Lane College

Memphis

Lawson State Community College

LeMoyne-Owen College

TEXAS

Austin

Houston-Tillotson University

University of Texas-Austin, Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music…jazz

Dallas

Paul Quinn College

Southern Methodist University, Meadows School of Music

Denton

University of North Texas, College of Music…jazz

Hawkins

Jarvis Christian College                                                              

Houston

Texas Southern University

University of Houston, Moores School of Music

                                               

Marshall

Wiley College

Prairie View

Prairie View A&M University

San Antonio

Saint Phillip’s College

Terrell

Southwestern Christian College

Tyler

Texas College

VIRGIN ISLANDS (U.S.)

Saint Thomas

University of the Virgin Islands

VIRGINIA

Hampton

Hampton University

Lawrenceville

Saint Paul’s College

Lynchburg

Virginia University-Lynchburg

Norfolk

Norfolk State University

Petersburg

Virginia State University 

Richmond

Virginia Union University

WEST VIRGINIA

Bluefield

Bluefield State College

Institute

West Virginia State University

WISCONSIN

Madison

University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Music…jazz