MyBrownEyedView.com: 'Check out AfriClassical and get yourself a different source of knowledge and pride.'

AfriClassical is happy to excerpt a post found on “From My Brown Eyed View”:

http://www.mybrowneyedview.com/
Friday, January 1, 2010
“In All Of Your Getting Of Knowledge – Get Yourself Some AfriClassical”
“AfriClassical is a blog that I've been following for about a month. I discovered while doing some research on African Americans in the field of Classical Music. It is definitely all that, in my opinion. It is a treat to read and believe me, you will learn some historical facts that are worth knowing.

“It is well written and informative. I think that it is definitely a blog worth visiting. Even if you don't like classical music, that does not mean that you should not become familiar with the subject matter. I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you'll discover on this site.Check out AfriClassical and get yourself a different source of knowledge and pride.”

Jeffrey Pettijohn's Blog Added to AfriClassical's Favorite Blogs

AfriClassical is pleased to add the blog of Jeffrey Pettijohn to its Favorite Blogs List:
“Hi, my name is Jeffrey Pettijohn. I am the President-Elect of the Seattle Music Teachers Association and have recently started blogging. After having viewed your site and enjoying it very much, I was wondering if you might be interested in exchanging links.
Thank you for considering my offer.
Sincerely,Jeffrey Pettijohn
Pianist, Composer and Teacher
President-Elect Seattle Music Teachers Association”
http://jeffreypettijohn.com/blog

Comment by email
You are most kind, William. I look forward to visiting your site often. African music is some of the best in the world, I think. I love that music is community and community is music in so much of African music. Thank you very much, Jeff

CBC Radio 2 Blog: “Africlassical, Musicians & Technology, Arts Education”

AfriClassical is honored by this post from Canada's CBC Radio 2, a network which has long brought classical music to Canadians, and also to millions of nearby listeners across the U.S. border:
CBC Radio 2
Posted by Li Robbins on July 15, 2008 at 11:30 AM

Possibly the best thing to come out of the proliferation of blogs is the exploration of specifics. For instance, a blog like Africlassical, which is a companion to a website devoted to the "African Heritage in Classical Music."

Or Hugh Sung's blog, all about "helping musicians adopt technology to enhance their art and lifestyle."

And Dewey21C, a brand new blog about arts education.

It's dedicated to "the belief that the arts are part of our genetic code. That the arts are in the DNA of every child, and that our job as teachers, parents, mentors, advocates, and administrators is to provide quality, sustained arts learning pathways for every child to develop fully as a human being. "

Hear hear. And that's just what emerged from the wide world o'bloggin' this morning.

Blogged.com Editor's Review of AfriClassical is 8.0 'Great'

The website Blogged.com rates blogs to help readers “find better blogs”:

“Editor reviews are provided by professional editors who evaluate a blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style.

Blogged gives AfriClassical the rating 8.0 'Great'.

AfriClassical Stars on Wikio Classical Music News

Wikio.com is an online news service. We visited its Classical Music page on Feb. 16 and were amazed to find that 15 of the first 30 stories were from AfriClassical! By the time we scrolled through 90 headlines, we found 27 had originated on AfriClassical. We are gratified by Wikio's evaluation of a great many AfriClassical posts as newsworthy.

Our Michigan: Classical music not all whites in wigs

"It isn't right for people to grow up thinking that classical music is all white men in wigs." These are the words of Bill Zick, who wants people to know that minorities played an important role in the history of classical music.

Zick's AfriClassical.com website documents the history of minorities composing and performing classical music. His work combines a love of classical music with a commitment to racial equality.

A retired administrative law judge based in Ann Arbor, Zick has created an internationally recognized education resource on African heritage in classical music. The site contains biographies and audio samples of 52 composers and musicians and spans 500 years of music history. Last year, departments of education in 15 states used the resource.

"People of color have always been a part of classical music and that should be public knowledge," said Zick. In creating and maintaining his blog and website, Zick's main goal is education. "I want people to know the history of blacks in classical music. I want them to know that Henry VIII had a black trumpeter. I want them to know that Beethoven wrote his most challenging sonata for a black violinist," said Zick.

Although racial minorities have a long history in classical music, they are still under-represented among professional symphony orchestras. According to the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based advocacy and education organization, less than 4 percent of symphony orchestra members in the U.S. are African-American or Latino.

Zick, a white American, began his lifelong interest in civil rights in his youth. "I grew up with the sense that there was a great societal wrong about the way people of color were treated," he said. "My father was a fan of jazz and knew about racial inequality." His father would attend segregated jazz concerts in the 1930s in Flint. Zick said that after the white bands would play, whites were required to leave and then black performers could take the stage. He said his father would hide in the theater "because after midnight when the black musicians were allowed to play, that's when the music really got good."

He also had an early awareness of racial violence. "I grew up hearing my parents talk about living in Detroit in 1943. During the riots, my mother witnessed a mob of whites chase a black man, catch him and beat him," Zick said. "She is still haunted by what she saw and has always feared that the man was killed." During World War II, racial violence erupted in Detroit among factory workers. It arose from the stresses of a housing shortage, racial tension and inequality among workers who migrated from the south.

Zick hopes his efforts will lead to fair treatment of minorities by raising awareness of their accomplishments. "Regardless of your race, the more you learn about this history, the more basis you have for respecting people of color," he said.

The website gets over 100,000 visits per year, but not all are from educators or supporters of the work. Zick says that some white nationalists have visited the site and left disparaging remarks -- evidence of the persistent prejudice he seeks to mitigate. (Posted on Our Michigan by Celeste E. Whiting, November 21)

[AfriClassical previously posted a link to this article on Nov. 20, when it appeared in Michigan Messenger. Today we present the complete text of this piece as it appeared on Our Michigan].