In her article published in 1986 and titled “Is Western Art Music Superior?” Judith Becker disputes the long-standing doctrine held by some musicologists that Western European music exhibits superiority to musical systems. Many scholars have even proceeded to use the term primitive when referring to music from Melanesians, aboriginal Australians, American Indians, and Africans. The key highlight from this dogma is that Western art music is complex and inherently interesting while other musical origins require social context to command thoughtful attention.
Specifically, the conceptual basis of this theory of Western music pre-eminence can be discussed from three major maxims. Firstly, it appears that Western music is anchored in the natural audio laws where the overtone series offers a connection between man and nature as well as the phenomenal world and culture. The remarkable intrinsic naturalness offers a metaphysical and physical base that should guide all music. Secondly, it asserts that Western music is structurally more multifaceted compared to other musical systems. The complexity is manifested in the musical architectural orders, which entail tonal associations and well-elaborated vocal syntax. Thirdly, it is believed that Western art songs are more expressive and pass a wide range of human cognition and emotions, hence more meaningful and profound than other musical systems in the world.
While it is agreeable that Western art music is more natural, multifaceted, and profoundly meaningful to its audiences and composers, it is appalling to deny these characteristics to other musical systems in the world. The dogma of the dominance of Western music is the musicological form of imperialism. Despite all assertions to the contrary, to repudiate equivalences of musical systems in terms of naturalness, intricacy, and relevance to other peoples’ music is barbaric and despicable.