|
|
|
Ethnomusicology
| ||||||||||||||
|
History | Issues | Music Pages | ||||||||||||||
Ethnomusicology includes the study of folk music, Eastern art music and contemporary music in oral tradition as well as conceptual issues in society such as the origins of music, musical change, music as symbol, universals in music, the function of music, and the biological basis of music and dance. - Helen Myers [1992: 3] Defining a Dicipline
Universal to all human societies, music is a fundamental aspect of our daily lives. Far from merely a recreational activity, the human animal utilizes music for a variety of reasons ranging from spiritual worship to the celebration of a right of passage; the birth of a child and the death of an elder; the rebellion against and reification of societal norms; and the preparation for war and the return to peace. In every ethnic population we all have a unique way of "doing music" and from population to population, there is much variance. Ethnomusicology is a vast area of study which seeks to document the "human musical experience" globally. Characteristic of the discipline, ethnomusicology has been re-categorized and redefined so many times that it seems that if we were to reach a common definition for "what ethnomusicology is" it would be tenuous and precarious at best. As a result, many are left wondering if there really could be anything which ties the multiple definitions and approaches together besides the loose association under the term "ethnomusicology." Because ethnomusicology is so convoluted in it's multiple forms, it yields diverse "ways of knowing and understanding" the world. As a result, a more holistic view of the phenomena of the "human musical experience" becomes apparent. Different forms of analysis will reveal piece by piece the multiple layers of the onion we call culture. According to George List,
Ethnomusicology does more than just document the musical performances of non-western cultures; it seeks to answer questions which will help facilitate a better understanding of the cultural practice and life ways of the population being studied.
Helen Myers, Professor of Music at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, asserts that although there are few ethnomusicological studies of western music - this does not mean that such studies are not ethnomusicological. "Western art traditions are not ruled out, although few studies in this are have been conducted by . In general, music in oral traditions and living musical systems are the realms that have most appealed to ethnomusicologists." [1992: 3] This has not always been the case; during the early years of the discipline, the primary focus was exclusively held on non-western art and music forms. This initial narrowing of the discipline was probably a result of scholars trying to distance themselves from the term comparative musicology. Comparative musicology was once a discipline (performed by Western Europeans) to document the "exotic, non-European musical forms." Comparative musicology tended to be ethnocentric, often establishing the superiority of the complex, high cultures (primarily European) from the primitive, low cultures of the world (American Indian/African). "Jaap Kunst, dissatisfied with the term "comparative musicology" invented the new term "ethno-musicology." In so doing he [...] indicate[d] that the study was of the music of the races of man. However, his definition was restrictive in that the study of Western art and popular music was excluded." [List, 1979: 1] Kunst was thereby able to distinguish ethno-musicology as different from comparative musicology because ethnomusicology would not assess non-western music with western standards. In others words, non-western music can only really be understood if you have come to understand how the community values their music. It would be ethnocentric of us as cultural outsiders to utilize our musical standards to make judgements on non-western music. These people often have different cultural heritages, , religions, ect... than our own; thus, if we try to understand their music using our own "common (cultural) knowledge," we will err in describing the community in a meaningful way and may instead develop bias because of our own cultural proclivities. Curt Sachs proclaimed in 1961 that the term 'comparative musicology' had lost it's usefulness all together. "For at the bottom every branch of knowledge is comparative; all of our descriptions, in the humanities no less that in the sciences, state similarities and divergences. [...] All our thinking is a form of comparison." [Sachs, 1961: 5] Since these early years, Ethnomusicology has ballooned outward in the scope of it's study including also western and contemporary musical traditions. Field work is key to ethnomusicological research and is the strongest uniting factor in the discipline. Field work tends to be ethnographic with much participant observation. The work is very hands on, often times the researchers can only come to understand "the musical language" of the participants if they learn how to play the music themselves! In fact, learning to play the music of the community is largely encouraged in ethnomusicology classes. Many researchers find themselves becoming quite involved and attached to the community in which they study. In order to become well accepted into the community and to gather the best data possible, reciprocity must be maintained between researchers and the community. This means that the exchanges between researcher and community members shall be balanced, benefiting all involved parties. Documentation of a population's musical tradition is a form of reciprocity which has helped communities preserve their cultural life ways for generations to come; documentation has helped the community retain their dying traditions in the face of globalization and western contact. Sometimes the music is made available for a wider audience; this serves as a form of income in some poor communities. Ethnomusicology is a vast area of study with a nearly infinite range of study and interest. As we come to know our global community more intimately, we see the brother and sisterhood's of mankind dancing, rejoicing, and making music and art everywhere we look- a truly human phenomena. Please explore the rest of the ethnomusicology pages for more information on the discipline.Check out the Music Pages and start exploring the music of the world!__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Refrences List, George.
"Ethnomusicology: A Discipline Defined." Ethnomusicology
(University of Illinois Press) 23, no. 1 (January 1979):
1-4. Meyers, Helen.
Ethnomusicology: An introduction. London: Macmillan Press LTD,
1992. Sachs, Curt. The Wellsprings of Music. The Hague, 1961.
Written by Thomas R. Heffernan 2009
| ||||||||||||||
