Code-Meshing in the Music History Classroom

Connecting Repertoire, Writing, and Assessment

Abstract

Musical works that demonstrate varied modes of expression can be used to teach students not just about music and its cultural context, but also about how their choices as writers can cross or conform to existing linguistic boundaries. In this article, I argue that examining works like the stylistically hybrid jazz-classical ballet The River by composer Duke Ellington and choreographer Alvin Ailey and its mixed, racially coded reception encourages students to think critically about how the language they use to express themselves leverages, upholds, or challenges established power structures in the academy and the broader world in which they live. To give students the opportunity to investigate and experiment with the modes of written expression they choose to employ, I also advocate for the adoption of antiracist assessment strategies developed by writing instructors in which grades are determined based on the completion of work rather than an (ultimately subjective) assessment of quality as traditional academic writing.