On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 06:34:42PM -0400, Christopher Antila wrote: <snip thoughtful musicologist argument> The only comment I have about your argument is not a pro or con, but a situational awareness of what happens with similar arguments in a complex, global, FOSS community. The concern is that while looking to be inclusive of the wide world, we have to be careful not to alienate existing participation. That is, let's not let anyone working on sound themes feel they shouldn't be doing the great work they are doing. A nice, working, freed sound theme is a great contribution, regardless of which music type it is. Rather than get in to the political-side of this discussion, I'll acknowledge that Fedora is best when it strives for political neutrality. For example, a standing practice is *not* to use a national flag to represent a specific language. Nations are political entities and may have legitimacy under dispute, but a language is a usually a language. Part of your argument is political, and interesting, and probably on-topic for this music-oriented list (if you think the way I do.) But that part is also a lighting rod, and I think your point about seeking a broader range of sound themes stands on its own without invoking concern about Western music canon hegemony. There is another argument I think you are making, if the sound themes quickly fill up with Western "best of" music, it might make people outside of that niche feel their music doesn't have a place. "Oh, our cool local rhythms are all right, but not Great and Good like Beethoven, so I won't waste Fedora people's time with them." I do think that is a real concern, and applies to any area of participation in Fedora. > Basically what I'm saying is that, if this is to be the default sound theme > (or even just the first sound theme), then we as a collective Project must > decide whether or not we want to push the Western classical music tradition, > and therefore the achievements of Western society, as superior to the > achievements of all other cultures. Let's presume for the moment that your argument is worthy (which it does appear to be), could a resolution be as simple as, "Let's get some examples of world music, such as X, Y, and Z, as sound themes before we start pulling in the Great Canon of Western Music"? I wouldn't so much say that having Beethoven as a first sound theme is a bad thing, more that it is what you might expect given the cultural connotation. What can we do to encourage people to make themes from all over the world? - Karsten -- name: Karsten 'quaid' Wade, Sr. Community Gardener team: Red Hat Community Architecture & Leadership uri: http://TheOpenSourceWay.org/wiki gpg: AD0E0C41
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