Mitigating European-Centric Bias in University Music Theory Curricula/Atténuer les préjugés eurocentriques dans les programmes universitaires de theorie musicale

The issue of European-centric bias in university music curricula is possibly most pronounced in the music theory classroom. This article focuses on specific strategies to confront lack of diversity in music-theory curricular design, first by giving an overview of relevant sources on colonialism in music academia, and secondly by showing some efforts to mitigate this problem used by Carleton University's music theory program as a case study. The paper then provides analytical vignettes from Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" to illustrate how one can employ non-classical examples to illustrate a wide variety of common-practice music-theoretical concepts as well as an introduction to alternative methodologies.