The Alliance for the Transformation of Musical Academe (ATMA)

” r

Welcome to the

ALLIANCE for the TRANSFORMATION

OF MUSICAL ACADEME (ATMA)

An Initiative of Jazz Cosmos

Ed Sarath, founder

ATMA has been formed to usher in a new paradigm for music studies in 21st century America.

The foundational positioning of Black American Music–not as an add-on, nor as a replacement for existing genres, but in fact as an ethno-epistemological pillar that enhances and celabrates angagement with ALL MUSIC–is.a core AMTA premise.

For colleagues who are concerned that the ATMA vision might compromise conventional achievement, Christopher Small offers two important statements that –often overshadowed by confusion over his notion of musicking (see further ATMA commentary)–entirely flip the narrative from an oppositional/either-or to a win-win framework.

In 1987, in his landmark book, Music of the Common Tongue, he writes (p.4):

“By any reasonable reckoning of the place of music in human life, the African American tradition must be recognized as the major music of the West . . .” even as acknowledges the greatness of the European classical tradition that has been at the core of music studies.

Later, in Music, Education and Society, he identifies a key gateway principle for a Black-music centered (but not centric!) model in stating (p.48):

“The confluence of African and European traditions represents one of the most fruitful developments in the history of the world’s music.”

The point is not that these are the only two traditions that matter, but rather that, if an epistemological infrastructure might emerge that could harness the riches of what I call the “Afro-Euro synapse” (Ed Sarath, Music Studies and its Moment of Truth), music studies change discourse could truly move from decades of ornamental change efforts to the wholesale, paradigmatic overhaul needed.

In other words, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, or perhaps as reverse-hegemonic as it may appear (replacing one pedagogical/aesthetic center with another), a closer look at jazz’s epistemological roots reveals an unmatched network of connections-upon-connections that would not only align music schools in America (and elsewhere, as appropriate) with our nation’s own cultural roots, but actually transform Eurocanonic engagement (and engagement with the broader world) through creativity-rich, integrative, contemporaneous and transcultural foundations.

And now that ATMA is situated within the auspices of Jazz Cosmos, which is predicated on a jazz-inspired revolution in creativity and consciousness/spirituality, an even broader scope of change comes into view.

Key is Jazz Cosmos’ noetic, or soul-based understanding of consciousness and its link with creativity–inspired by the life and work of Turiyasanghitanda Alice Coltrane.

ATMA translates roughly as soul, or cosmic Self, coherent with the Vedantic notion of Advaita. Human consciousness is a manifestation of the universal consciousness that gives rise to all of creation. The principle of Lila, or universal creative play, takes the further step of illuminating human improvisatory activity as a manifestation of the cosmic improvisation in which all humanity is a participant.

Neither creativity nor consciousness/spirituality are educational luxuries, to be wedged in (at best) atop existing structures when possible; we are talking about primordial epistemologies–transcendent ways of knowing and being–at the interface between the human psyche/soul and cosmic wholeness.

But this calls for change discourse of newfound urgency, scope and courage.

Indeed, if reform deliberations were confined toward “only” rebuilding music studies atop jazz-driven creative foundations (a threshold that has yet to be reached), the case for moving beyond ornamental as opposed to foundational change would be nonetheless ovewhelming.

But with the noetic/consciousness turn, the case for the more expansive change becomes even more powerful.

And here is where music studies could then catalyze a wave of arts-driven creative/spiritual transformation that engulfs all of education and society.

In my 2012 book—Improvisation, Creativity and Consciousness—I planted seeds for the Jazz Cosmos initiative in the closing chapter, called “Planet Earth Takes a Solo”:

If there is reason for optimism that species homo sapiens sapiens will navigate the ever-expanding slate of challenges to its very survival, the 8-billion-plus member improvising ensemble called Humanity will need to function with the same coherence, adaptability and spiritual communion of a jazz quartet in peak performance.

A highly successful inaugural gathering at the University of Dayton, Sept 13-15 2019, followed by a series of conversations in subsequent years (ATMA/CMS Symposium for the Music School of Tomorrow in 2022, various online events, and presentations at national/international gatherings) gives reason for optimism about ATMA’s potential to emerge as a significant new voice in 21st century music studies.

After a short hiatus, the time is now ripe for those interested in what could be among the most far-reaching conversations in the history of music studies, if not education at large, to step forward and join the Jazz Cosmos/ATMA movement.

The world is waiting.