Curtis also began to study the music of African tribes and in published Songs and Tales from the Dark Continent, in which she notated the written example of what is known as the standard pattern in ethnomusicology, and triple-pulse son clave in Afro-Latin music In she had married artist Paul Burlin ; they moved to France, where she died in a traffic accident in Reviews of her work appeared in such magazines as well as in standard scholarly journals of the day.
Curtis Burlin may be considered among a small group of US American composers who used native American material in her own compositions. She composed about 15 short, original works, many based on native American or African American themes.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. American ethnomusicologist. This article is about the ethnomusicologist.
For the photographer, see Ian Curtis. Retrieved Roosevelt and Indian Music: A personal reminiscence". She studied both Native and African American figures. While she did a great deal of work and preserved a good amount of Native and African American music, she also maintained some dated ideals on racial equality.
That is what makes her work particularly controversial. She was often applauded for her work because she approached it from a different vantage point than most male ethnographers. Curtis was born in New York City to an upper-class family in She was a pianist and composer. After a visit to the Southwest in she became fascinated with Native American music.
She ended up collecting over two hundred musical works across 18 different tribes. Her work on Native Americans eventually led her to Hampton Institute where she developed the same fascination with African Americans. Though she helped to preserve the culture and folklife of these two marginalized populations, she is rarely remembered in modern history, which is particularly interesting.
Often she is dismissed for being too sentimental or unscientific. However, she is also disregarded because of her views on race. Michelle Wick Patterson.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, Very interesting story. You mentioned that her work was delegitimized because it was viewed as too informal for recognized research.
As someone who is doing oral history research this summer, I can relate to that sentiment because for a long time oral history was disregarded as informal historical research because it was not viewed as scientific enough to put legitimate clout in, but it is good to see these less codified modes of historical research being given value, especially for what they can reveal about human experience, particularly of marginalized groups, across time.
I am interested though in how her status as an upper class white woman might influence her research, and what kind of research did she do besides simply collecting music, or is that what she did for the most part?
Best of luck as you continue looking into this important figure! Photo from : www. Comments Maddie Hamborg says:. August 1, at am.
Sarah Rodriguez says:. August 7, at am.