What is Aesthetically Speaking Music

Online gatherings with people from all over the world, talking about Afican diasporic music and culture from all the parts, conducted by educators with academic background, deep musical knowledge, and years of experience in education.

Ralph M. Jones

“ASM was a spiritual thing to me. Because when the pandemic happened, people could not go anywhere. I wanted to bring this knowledge to people somehow.”

Professor Ralph M. Jones talking about when he came up with the idea for Aesthetically Speaking Music program.

About ASM

Aesthetically Speaking Music represents a series of sessions

about African diasporic music and culture. It is presented

through online platforms, with teachers from various locations

across the USA and Brazil. This program will present Great

Thinkers, their philosophies and challenges as creative

representatives of African diasporic musical traditions. We will

explore and examine the psychosocial, political and economic

aesthetics that give acknowledgment to creative endeavors,

that includes innovators, acknowledged and under

acknowledged, who have had a lasting effect on the world’s

listeners and lovers of African diasporic music. Through deep

listening, research, discussion and philosophical examinations,

we observe the evolution and contributions of community

scholars, vocalists, instrumentalists, instrumental groups,

recording labels, composers, arrangers and venues that served

as forums for the creative expressions of selected artists. #ASM

More than 50 sessions about black peoples's music around the world

“ASM is about connecting people and sharing knowledge”

The session has an expository part, in which the professors run through a playlist of videos of music, interviews and documentaries about a selected theme, and the discussion part, in which all participants are invited to make questions, comments, and exchange ideas among themselves. Since September of 2020, we've had more than 50 sessions about a variety of themes and artists. All of them are available to our participants who join them during our Zoom meetings.

How to participate

ASM is a 6 weeks program, who happens seasonaly, and with a free participation from our audience. Although all the sessions are conected by a general theme, each one is centered in a specific place, or artist, and the participants can appreciate each session separately without having to commit to the whole program.

The program works in the following structure:

Open House, Thursday: FREE for all participants.

Week 1, Tuesday and Thursday: $25

Week 2, Tuesday and Thursday: $25

Week 3, Tuesday and Thursday: $25

Week 4, Tuesday and Thursday: $25

Week 5, Tuesday and Thursday: $25

Week 6, Tuesday and Thursday: $25

Bonus Session, Tuesday: Free for all participants.

Cost for the full 6 weeks program: $150

Please contact us through ou email aestheticallyspeakingmusic@gmail.com to be a part of our community of seekers of knowledge, and for any other information you need. And check our calendar here to know when is the next module of ASM.