Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Reframing Conservatory Education Through Africana Studies

12/09/2024

Reframing Conservatory Education Through Africana Studies As Berklee's Africana Studies Division grows, so do learning and mentorship opportunities for Boston Conservatory at Berklee students.

By

Sarah Godcher Murphy

September 11, 2024

Africana studies student Caden Burston (BM 25, violin) performed works by Black composers at Symphony Hall in February 2024.

Liz Friar

Studying technique helps performing arts students answer the how questions: how to play staccato bowing on the violin, for instance, or land a grand jet . But it is context-historical, social, cultural, and personal-that helps them answer the why.

Berklee's Africana Studies Division provides Boston Conservatory students with essential context for the study of Black creative expression in dance, music, and theater. This learning process sheds light on systemic inequities that have shaped the performing arts landscape as it exists today, and it offers a platform on which to build a more inclusive future.

We really are focused on providing the social and cultural contexts of the art forms for which students are training, says Dr. Mike Mason, chair of the Africana Studies Department. We want to provide those contexts for students so that it's part of their overall education in terms of not just learning the technical side of things but also, where did this come from? And what/who were some of the influences?

Mason's department is housed within Berklee's larger Africana Studies Division, which offers courses rooted in the African diaspora-including a minor in Africana Studies-to both Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music students. In the spring 2025 semester, the division will add its first-ever course at Berklee Online, Black Creative Expression: Introduction to Africana Studies. The division also oversees the Africana Studies Center, which serves students in myriad ways: providing mentorship, encouraging culturally responsible scholarship, and supporting special event programming for all students.

Since Mason was appointed as the inaugural chair of Africana Studies in 2023, the department has been expanding its curricular offerings with Boston Conservatory students in mind. In the 2023-2024 academic year, for instance, it partnered with the Conservatory to design a new course on African American classical composers. And now this fall, the department is launching its biggest endeavor to date: a bachelor's degree in Black music and culture available to all Berklee College of Music undergraduates. Although the major is for students at the College, it's still great news for Boston Conservatory students, who are now able to enroll in Africana courses-and earn credit towards an Africana Studies minor, as well as fulfill some of their liberal arts and sciences degree requirements.

That was a huge plus for me, knowing that I could study Black traditions here while I'm also obtaining my violin performance degree. I feel like that's an opportunity that students don't have at other conservatories.

-Caden Burston

Interpreting a work of art requires an understanding of the context in which it was made, Mason says, pointing to choreographer Alvin Ailey as one example. To perform Ailey's choreography in a meaningful way, dancers should know where he came from-why his upbringing in the segregated South, paired with his nuanced perception of Black popular dance, led to the creation of his own company, the now-legendary Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. With this context, students can recognize that forming the first Black repertory dance company in 1958 was more than a personal artistic achievement-it was a triumph of the civil rights movement.

The impact of the Africana Studies Division can be felt by all Boston Conservatory students, not simply those who choose to declare the minor. For music students in particular, it has played a role in reshaping core music history curriculum and broadening repertoire selection for ensembles. Since 2022, all Music Division students have taken a new required course, Music in Context, which places Western classical music within the broader framework of global traditions from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Caden Burston (BM 25, violin) began their studies at Boston Conservatory before the expansion of the music history curriculum. In the years since, they've seen a change in the repertoire that fellow students are choosing to perform in recitals. I've noticed a cultural difference at BoCo, ever since the extra [music history] semester was added. More people are playing works by composers that are Black, and works by Latino composers, Burston says. All of a sudden, I saw so many recital posters with composers that I thought nobody else knew about.

In major ensembles as well, Burston has seen more inclusive repertoire selection, along with greater care given to providing personal and historical background about Black composers whose works were largely overlooked in their lifetime. Our conductors were actually talking about How do we play this music with the right knowledge to be able to express it correctly?'-in the same way that they would talk about playing Beethoven's sixth before rehearsing it, Burston says. I feel like all of the composers and all of the pieces are receiving equal attention. And in turn, the programs were more thoughtful and more historically put together.

After attending a majority-Black performing arts high school in Columbus, Ohio ( It's called Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School, if you want to shout them out, Burston says), they chose to attend Boston Conservatory, in large part, because of the prominence of the Africana Studies Division. That was a huge plus for me, knowing that I could study Black traditions here while I'm also obtaining my vi
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/reframing-conservatory-educat...
See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

20/08/2026

NEP's Summer of Soccer Didn't End at World Cup: 1,100+ Domestic Productions Follow the Final

From host-broadcaster and rightsholder support in June and July to MLS, NWSL, US...

20/08/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 27: San Jose Sharks' Emily Garner - Production Tales From the Shark Tank

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: Veritone To Showcase Enterprise AI and Media Supply Chain Automation

At IBC this year, Veritone (14.A56) is bringing two connected themes to the booth: architectural independence in enterprise AI, and the automation of the media ...

20/08/2026

Telestream and ScorePlay Partner to Connect Live Sports Ingest with Media Management

Telestream and ScorePlay have announced a partnership combining Telestream's...

20/08/2026

Grand Slam of Curling and Rock League Sign Multi-Year Deal with ESPN

The Grand Slam of Curling and Rock League have announced a three-year agreement with ESPN, bringing more than 300 hours of live curling coverage to U.S. audienc...

20/08/2026

Nielsen Announces Measurement Enhancements Ahead of Fall TV Season

Nielsen has announced a series of enhancements to its Big Data + Panel currency measurement methodology, taking effect August 31. The updates were developed in ...

20/08/2026

ORF Deploys Net Insight Nimbra Platform for Nationwide IP Contribution Network

Net Insight has been selected by service provider Big Blue Marble (formerly ORS Group) to provide its Nimbra platform as the core media transport solution for a...

20/08/2026

2026 US Open Launches Fan Activations Across New York City

The 2026 US Open will bring a series of free fan activations across New York City ahead of and during the tournament, which runs August 23-September 13. We...

20/08/2026

Bridge Technologies Adds TS Playout to VB330 and VB220 Monitoring Probes

Bridge Technologies will announce a transport stream (TS) playout feature for its VB330 and VB220 compressed monitoring probes at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71). The fe...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: ENCO To Showcase AI and Automation Solutions

ENCO will demonstrate solutions across captioning, translation, AI production tools, automation, and virtual production at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A34, Amsterdam RAI, ...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: MultiDyne MRMC To Exhibit for First Time as Part of MultiDyne Organization

MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will demonstrate camera robotics and mot...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: Chyron Showcases Newsroom Workflow Solutions

Chyron will demonstrate news workflow solutions at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A23), marking the company's 60th anniversary. Highlights include updates to PRIME HTML, ...

20/08/2026

Spectrum SportsNet LA Now Available to Customers in Former Cox Markets

Spectrum SportsNet LA, the exclusive television home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now available to Spectrum customers in former Cox markets following the clos...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Launches Expanded SRT Distribution and Native Multicast Services

swXtch.io will unveil expanded Global SRT Distribution and native multicast tran...

20/08/2026

Transformation Church Deploys Riedel Artist Intercom System

Riedel Communications has announced that Transformation Church in the United States has deployed a communications system built around the Artist intercom ecosys...

20/08/2026

Apple at 50: Author and CBS Sunday Morning Correspondent David Pogue on How a Tech Giant Became a Media Powerhouse

The bestselling author and longtime Apple observer explores how product launches...

20/08/2026

Orlando Magic's David Storm Reflects on the Franchises First Year With Its New ST 2110 Control Room and Massive Center-Hung Videoboard

The Orlando Magic entered last season with a dramatically upgraded in-venue prod...

20/08/2026

Indiana Pacers Name DAZN Exclusive Streaming Home Beginning 2026-27 Season

Pacers Sports and Entertainment has announced a partnership with DAZN, making it the exclusive streaming home of Indiana Pacers basketball. A team-branded strea...

20/08/2026

Ratings Roundup: Scotty Scheffler Win Tops the Week, ESPN Posts Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on Cable

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...

20/08/2026

NHL Announces Germany Expansion with FC Bayern Partnership and 2027 Global Series Games in Munich and Cologne

The NHL has announced two major developments tied to its Germany growth strategy...

20/08/2026

SoundBridges TURN server tutorial

Set up your own private remote collaboration infrastructure SoundBridge have recently put together a tutorial video that provides users with a step-by-step ...

20/08/2026

Neyrinck revive Avid D-Control surfaces

New V-Control Pro features restore basic functionality Neyrinck's V-Control software has long been keeping older Avid control surfaces compatible with n...

20/08/2026

ROSE AYLING-ELLIS BEGINS FILMING SERIES TWO OF ITVS BAFTA-WINNING THRILLER CODE OF SILENCE

TV, BritBox and Mammoth Screen have announced that filming is now underway on th...

20/08/2026

Nielsen Incorporates New Enhancements To Improve Its Data Measurement Leading Into The New Fall TV Season

New York August 19, 2026 Nielsen today shared a number of key enhancements t...

20/08/2026

FAST Sports Programming Surges at More Than Twice the Rate of Sports Channel Growth

New Gracenote Data Hub analysis finds sports program titles up 31.2% and individ...

20/08/2026

Charter Completes $34.5 Billion Cox Acquisition

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/08/2026

SubtitleNEXT makes a significant leap in localisation eff...

At IBC, Profuz Digital will showcase at stand 8.A88 the SubtitleNEXT platform delivering innovative AI transcription integrations and stunning new features boos...

20/08/2026

Transformation Church Elevates Production Communications...

Riedel Communications today announced that Transformation Church, one of the fastest-growing and most influential digital ministries in the United States, has d...

20/08/2026

QuickLink Showcases New 4K Capabilities Across StudioEdge and StudioCall at IBC 2026

QuickLink Showcases New 4K Capabilities Across StudioEdge and StudioCall at IBC ...

20/08/2026

The Boys Season Five Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

The Boys Season Five Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton August 20, 2026 0 Comments Colorist Siggy Ferstl uses Depth Map to bring a three ...

20/08/2026

Adobe Firefly expands its creative AI studio: generate music, speech, and sound effects in one place

Adobe Firefly expands its creative AI studio: generate music, speech, and sound ...

20/08/2026

Broadpeak launches Multiview as a Service to accelerate m...

Multiview available via SaaS for streaming platforms and operators through broadpeak.io, with live demonstrations at IBC2026 Broadpeak , a leader in streaming ...

20/08/2026

Techex Appoints Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer

Techex, a leading provider of live broadcast infrastructure solutions, has appointed Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer, further strengthening its executive...

20/08/2026

MediaCity Studios upgrades with Avid

Avid today announced that MediaCity Studios has upgraded its production infrastructure with an enhanced end-to-end Avid production ecosystem, including the dep...

20/08/2026

MS Now to Launch $7.99 DTC Service

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/08/2026

Nielsen Details Improvements to Audience Measurement Capabilities

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/08/2026

Study: 174 Billion Illegal Streams During FIFA World Cup 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/08/2026

Prasad Opens New 8K/4K Film Preservation & Restoration Center

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/08/2026

IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner C...

IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...

20/08/2026

Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment...

Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...

20/08/2026

Scripps Research scientist to receive $2.76 million NIAID New Innovators Award

LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...

20/08/2026

Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen

Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026 Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R) By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...

20/08/2026

How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex

How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex Brie Clayton August 19, 2026 0 Comments Hero image displays a student about to mix be...

20/08/2026

Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design

Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton August 19, 2026 0 Comments Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...

20/08/2026

Transformation Church Elevates Production Communications With Riedel Artist and Bolero

Wuppertal August 20, 2026 Transformation Church Elevates Production Communicat...

20/08/2026

The music between the notes

The music between the notes Coming together In the middle of 2026, as conversations around artificial intelligence continue to raise questions about how musi...