Jordan Brown has been a musician for most of her life. “I started learning the drums when I was little, probably 5. Around third grade I picked up the viola and ended up taking that pretty seriously, playing competitively until my second year of undergrad. Somewhere in the mix I also picked up tenor sax for jazz band.” In high school, Jordan fronted her own band and founded an a capella group, an activity that she continued participating in during her undergraduate years. “At the University of Virginia (UVA), a capella is a huge thing…I joined an a capella group my second week there and it quickly became my life.”
After completing her undergraduate degree in 2020, Jordan had a difficult choice to make. “Going into my master’s and choosing ethnomusicology was a big deal for me.” She says, “I had also gotten into another graduate program for performance and composition at the same time, and so having to make a choice between the two initially felt like my childhood dreams were being split in half. I wanted to find a way to bridge my academic life with my love of performance, and I found that in ethnomusicology.” Ultimately, choosing to study ethnomusicology at Florida State University set her on the path to Harvard University. “I came [to Harvard] because of the atmosphere. The Music Department is absolutely wonderful and the people in it are even more wonderful. The ethnomusicology program in particular has a lot of scholars who study African and African American music, and doing a graduate degree here allowed me the ability to pursue a secondary field in African and African American Studies. It has been really reassuring finding people who not only believe in what I do, but also have connections to my field.”
“I’m looking at underground music, and gender and sexuality, and I’m interested where that comes to a head where aesthetics start to mesh with music.”
Currently preparing for her third year at Harvard, Jordan’s main academic interest is pop music, although her interests are evolving and expanding rapidly. “Initially, pop really grabbed my attention,” she explains “but since then I’ve veered off academically into answering the question of ‘What is alternative Black music?’ Ultimately, it’s so arbitrary and I think it’s tied in with identity politics.”
“I’m trying to understand the phenomenology of Black alternative music and trying to box it in by saying explicitly what it is not.“
“I think my dissertation will evolve into a discussion or genre study about what Black alternative music is, and how it’s come to be a catch-all term, similar to the way R&B is used. In this moment, if something doesn’t fit into the heteronormative narrative of R&B or Hip Hop, it gets shoved into this “alternative” category. We’re left wondering ‘What is this big mesh of things?’ At the same time, I’m also interested in understanding why, if I go to an alternative R&B show, I end up meeting people who are part of the same affinity groups as me. What does it mean to be able to implicitly recognize these aspects within each other?”
“Even though I’m looking at [alternative music] in the West, I’m trying my best to involve other areas of the diaspora – it’s important to me that this is a multi-site project.” Even in the early stages of her work, Jordan already has collaborators across the globe to call on. “That’s where my performance background ties in especially well. My intellectual partners, especially those abroad, are also my musical collaborators. I’ve been working with an arts collective in South Africa called The Black Power Station (TBPS) since I was an undergraduate. The founder of TBPS is actually going to be a feature on my upcoming album. Some of the people who are part of the diaspora, the people I love talking about intellect with, are also the people that I’m sharing more artistic moments with as well. It’s been really fun navigating this endeavor and I want to highlight it in my work.”
Outside of academics, Jordan spends her time performing with her band, Jordan and the Boys. The alternative R&B group, including Brown herself, are all multi-instrumentalists, and their musical arrangements complement their versatile grouping. With two members at Harvard aside from Jordan, the band is a powerhouse of talent and ambition. Jordan says, “One of our guitarists is at Harvard Law, and our drummer is doing a Ph.D. in Physics; we have someone who’s thinking of applying for a Fulbright. Everybody is very much encouraging of each other’s professional goals.” Despite their busy lives, the future for the band looks bright. “Recently we’ve started to get an idea of what we’re capable of as a group. It’s a nice feeling, knowing that if we want to tour or play more gigs, all we have to do is put our foot on the gas a little and we can have it.”
Although Jordan has a full schedule of academics and other pursuits, she understands the importance of finding balance. For her, that happy medium comes in part from surrounding herself with the right people. “Cultivating community is so important. I know for certain I wouldn’t have the amount of support that I do without a strong network of people. It’s a mutual thing too – I love to pour into this Department as much as it loves to pour into me.” Her best piece of advice though, is to give yourself the same support you give others. “Invest in yourself. Invest in yourself because nobody is going to celebrate you more than you. It’s very easy to get caught up in filling things out and checking boxes; your achievements are worth celebrating, no matter how small they seem.”
Jordan Brown is an Ethnomusicology Graduate Student in the Department of Music at Harvard University. She received a B.A. in Music and Statistics from the University of Virginia in 2020, and a Master’s in Ethnomusicology from Florida State University in 2022. Her upcoming single Hold On comes out September 20, 2024. Her album is due out in early 2025. For more information visit jordanrbrown.com.
This feature was originally published in the Summer 2024 Newsletter. Click here to view the full newsletter.