Annotated Bibliography of African American Carillon Music

Abstract

This comprehensive annotated bibliography lists carillon scores by African American composers and/or based on African American music. While most of the items are published, a few are unpublished but in informal circulation, or are pending publication. Carillonneurs are invited to use this resource to identify music to perform and teach. Despite the length of this bibliography, there is currently only one published original carillon work by an African American composer. The vast majority of items are arrangements by White composers, and most of these arrangements are of spirituals, revealing an essentialization of African American music that omits major genres (ex. jazz, soul, and rhythm and blues, to name a few) and freezes musical development in the nineteenth century. These imbalances point to a serious need for the commissioning of original works by Black composers.