I have noticed that when ethnomusicology comes up on this site, some very negative comments often follow (not that this is too unusual around here ). I am curious. Why the distaste?
historically, jasonb, while there have been, and are, wonderful, soulful, ethnomusicos fueled by love for their field and the people/culture they were studying, this field, because ethnomusicologists were usually from outside the cultures they were studying, and were also usually whites anglo-saxons or northern europeans often studying non-anglo-saxon cultures-----like the fields of anthropology and archeology------ethnomusico has been something of a sticky wicket when it comes to issues including, but not limited to: imperialism (cultural and otherwise), colonialism (cultural and otherwise), exploitation, racism, genocide (cultural and otherwise), gender oppression, etc., etc......there has also been a derisive stereotype of the obtuse scholar "pinning the butterfly" of folk art forms under the smothering, airless glass case of theory, pedagogy, etc.
having said all that, the evolving role and concept of ethnomusicology itself might be worth looking at (when they do this with history, they call the history of historical study itself, "historiography,")......these days, the folks who go into ethnomusicology programs are often themselves master musicians in the field they are studying. these folks often find this field the one way they can figure out, to make a life out of their passion! precursors for this were seamus ennis, mike seeger, and other artist-documenters. don't know if you saw it, but wonderful matt cranitch has just completed his doctorate in kerry music studies. in southern california, flute player and sean nos dancer ben power is doing an ethno PhD, and these are just a couple of examples. some of the coolest ethnomusicos don't go the academic route---but there they are, playing the music and documenting it through books, photos, lovingly assembled anthology recordings, documentary films (you might call les blank an ethnomusico of a sort).....etc. hope this cracks the ice a bit in terms of opening up this issue for you.....
It’s because some people have an inflated preciousness about their particular bag; in this case ITM. They see (hear?!) it as a unique and a very special thing and resent it being detected, inspected, analyzed & formalized by some perceived as know-it-alls who know enough of other genres to compare and contrast and sum it up (in essence) in one sentence.
Musicologists can informedly say, “Ah! The ITM curry! That’s similar to Punjabi bhindi gosht but with more emphasis on the crans and Guinness and whole less tamarind!” Thus rather dismissing it as “just another” as opposed to God’s own special one. There is also a hint of the type of paranoid suspicion of Bazil Fawlty had for the psychiatrist.
It's because ethnomusicology has about as much to do with the actual physical act of playing tunes as the study of language has with the physical act of having a natter with your mates down the boozer.
Aye, but the difference is that there is lots of funding for linguistics. It's kind of a trendy thing at universities these days. Edinburgh Uni for instance has a school of linguistics and infomatics (I am b*ggered if I know what they do down there, though I think one of their buildings is ironically next door to Sandy Bells).
Anyway ethnomusicology is a vague term, as its meaning isn't confined to ethnographical or sociological methods. For instance, I believe Jimmy O'Brien Moran's PhD was on the life, style, and repertoire of a blind Galway piper in the 1840s.
I admire linguistics, in the 1970s they created a really complicated map, with lots of arrows, the charted the spread on people around the world from the African rift valley. Genetasists have now created thie own and guess what? They are identical
Usually because they end up getting all the gigs. Seriously though, there's one particular chap over this side who has misinformed a lot of people who have unquestioningly accepted his ideas as true because he's got the papers to prove it. Here's something that's worthy of a study in itself, that the layperson who has devoted a lifetime to the study of their tradition simply by "being of the tradition" could not possibly articulate a sense of the tradition compared to say a 24 year old kid from NZ doing a thesis on "Irish Traditional Music" and it's relation to Feis dance competitions.
When I was a music major in college, I noticed that the professors whom I got along with the best were the ones who would sometimes take the risk of performing on stage in front of an audience.
The professors whom I had trouble with were the ones who just wanted to hide in the classroom and study music instead of actually trying to perform it on stage in front of an audience.
As a general rule, the longer and more complicated the name of a discipline, the less meaningful results it accomplishes. This one has seven syllables, so it can't be worth much.
Some you might be surprised to know that performance is actually a big part of ethnomusicology. A lot of our methodology is based on the idea that you can't really understand a music or a culture unless you take part in it. More so than historical musicology, it is inconceivable that an ethnomusicologist would not perform the music they study (at least in the present day).
Ceemonster, you are very right in that ethnomusicology and anthropology have been historically connected with Western European and American imperialism. Thankfully, we have grown out of at least some of that (though sadly not all). Many ethnomusicologists are passionate advocates for the people they study, such as Stephen Feld, who shares recordings of the music of the Kaluli people of New Guinea, to highlight the ecological challenges that threaten their way of life, Anthony Seeger who stood up for the legal rights of tribal groups against the Brazilian government, or Zoe Sherinian, my teacher, who raises awareness in the classroom about the oppression of low-caste Dalits in India. The point I am making is not, of course, that these poor people are just sitting and waiting for a Euro-American savior, but that researchers can and do come along side local groups and use music, research, and teaching positions to support the efforts of those communities.
I think that many of us study things like how social, political, or religious identity is represented in music or how social structures are challenged or supported through musical performance, not just because we're nerds who think that stuff is interesting, but also because we care about things like poverty, discrimination, women's rights, and the destruction of cultures by Western imperialism and sectarian violence, and we think that we can learn something significant from researching music and culture that may shed light on these problems and how they can be addressed.
I, for example, am deeply interested in the Hindu/Muslim/Sikh/Christian/etc. musical interactions in India, partly because I am fascinated by the intersections between cultures, but very significantly, because I think that they illustrate another way of living together over against the sectarian violence of Hindu nationalist and radical Muslims and the earlier cultural imperialism of the Christian British.
...And the music is freaking cool. I really like the music, and the thought of someone paying me to study and teach Indian (and potentially other types of) music for a career is amazing. Combine that with a chance to speak out to students about important world issues, like poverty, violence, and opression, and I can't Imagine what I would rather be doing.
Hating on Ethnomusicology
Hating on Ethnomusicology
I have noticed that when ethnomusicology comes up on this site, some very negative comments often follow (not that this is too unusual around here
). I am curious. Why the distaste?
Perhaps I ought to duck for cover...
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by jasonb
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
historically, jasonb, while there have been, and are, wonderful, soulful, ethnomusicos fueled by love for their field and the people/culture they were studying, this field, because ethnomusicologists were usually from outside the cultures they were studying, and were also usually whites anglo-saxons or northern europeans often studying non-anglo-saxon cultures-----like the fields of anthropology and archeology------ethnomusico has been something of a sticky wicket when it comes to issues including, but not limited to: imperialism (cultural and otherwise), colonialism (cultural and otherwise), exploitation, racism, genocide (cultural and otherwise), gender oppression, etc., etc......there has also been a derisive stereotype of the obtuse scholar "pinning the butterfly" of folk art forms under the smothering, airless glass case of theory, pedagogy, etc.
having said all that, the evolving role and concept of ethnomusicology itself might be worth looking at (when they do this with history, they call the history of historical study itself, "historiography,")......these days, the folks who go into ethnomusicology programs are often themselves master musicians in the field they are studying. these folks often find this field the one way they can figure out, to make a life out of their passion! precursors for this were seamus ennis, mike seeger, and other artist-documenters. don't know if you saw it, but wonderful matt cranitch has just completed his doctorate in kerry music studies. in southern california, flute player and sean nos dancer ben power is doing an ethno PhD, and these are just a couple of examples. some of the coolest ethnomusicos don't go the academic route---but there they are, playing the music and documenting it through books, photos, lovingly assembled anthology recordings, documentary films (you might call les blank an ethnomusico of a sort).....etc. hope this cracks the ice a bit in terms of opening up this issue for you.....
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by ceemonster
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
That reminds me, Michael Jackson is in Ireland???
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by Bodhi
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
It’s because some people have an inflated preciousness about their particular bag; in this case ITM. They see (hear?!) it as a unique and a very special thing and resent it being detected, inspected, analyzed & formalized by some perceived as know-it-alls who know enough of other genres to compare and contrast and sum it up (in essence) in one sentence.
Musicologists can informedly say, “Ah! The ITM curry! That’s similar to Punjabi bhindi gosht but with more emphasis on the crans and Guinness and whole less tamarind!” Thus rather dismissing it as “just another” as opposed to God’s own special one. There is also a hint of the type of paranoid suspicion of Bazil Fawlty had for the psychiatrist.
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by yhaalhouse
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
It's because ethnomusicology has about as much to do with the actual physical act of playing tunes as the study of language has with the physical act of having a natter with your mates down the boozer.
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
Aye, but the difference is that there is lots of funding for linguistics.
It's kind of a trendy thing at universities these days. Edinburgh Uni for instance has a school of linguistics and infomatics (I am b*ggered if I know what they do down there, though I think one of their buildings is ironically next door to Sandy Bells).
Anyway ethnomusicology is a vague term, as its meaning isn't confined to ethnographical or sociological methods. For instance, I believe Jimmy O'Brien Moran's PhD was on the life, style, and repertoire of a blind Galway piper in the 1840s.
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
I admire linguistics, in the 1970s they created a really complicated map, with lots of arrows, the charted the spread on people around the world from the African rift valley. Genetasists have now created thie own and guess what? They are identical
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
And, presumably, an ethnomusicological map (with lots of arrows) would be indentical too!
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by yhaalhouse
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
Usually because they end up getting all the gigs. Seriously though, there's one particular chap over this side who has misinformed a lot of people who have unquestioningly accepted his ideas as true because he's got the papers to prove it. Here's something that's worthy of a study in itself, that the layperson who has devoted a lifetime to the study of their tradition simply by "being of the tradition" could not possibly articulate a sense of the tradition compared to say a 24 year old kid from NZ doing a thesis on "Irish Traditional Music" and it's relation to Feis dance competitions.
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
When I was a music major in college, I noticed that the professors whom I got along with the best were the ones who would sometimes take the risk of performing on stage in front of an audience.
The professors whom I had trouble with were the ones who just wanted to hide in the classroom and study music instead of actually trying to perform it on stage in front of an audience.
# Posted on June 11th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
As a general rule, the longer and more complicated the name of a discipline, the less meaningful results it accomplishes. This one has seven syllables, so it can't be worth much.
# Posted on June 12th 2008 by Ron Foreman
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
Welll, thank god for Seamus Ennis, and others.
# Posted on June 12th 2008 by mutatis mutandis
Re: Hating on Ethnomusicology
Thanks for the responses.
Some you might be surprised to know that performance is actually a big part of ethnomusicology. A lot of our methodology is based on the idea that you can't really understand a music or a culture unless you take part in it. More so than historical musicology, it is inconceivable that an ethnomusicologist would not perform the music they study (at least in the present day).
Ceemonster, you are very right in that ethnomusicology and anthropology have been historically connected with Western European and American imperialism. Thankfully, we have grown out of at least some of that (though sadly not all). Many ethnomusicologists are passionate advocates for the people they study, such as Stephen Feld, who shares recordings of the music of the Kaluli people of New Guinea, to highlight the ecological challenges that threaten their way of life, Anthony Seeger who stood up for the legal rights of tribal groups against the Brazilian government, or Zoe Sherinian, my teacher, who raises awareness in the classroom about the oppression of low-caste Dalits in India. The point I am making is not, of course, that these poor people are just sitting and waiting for a Euro-American savior, but that researchers can and do come along side local groups and use music, research, and teaching positions to support the efforts of those communities.
I think that many of us study things like how social, political, or religious identity is represented in music or how social structures are challenged or supported through musical performance, not just because we're nerds who think that stuff is interesting, but also because we care about things like poverty, discrimination, women's rights, and the destruction of cultures by Western imperialism and sectarian violence, and we think that we can learn something significant from researching music and culture that may shed light on these problems and how they can be addressed.
I, for example, am deeply interested in the Hindu/Muslim/Sikh/Christian/etc. musical interactions in India, partly because I am fascinated by the intersections between cultures, but very significantly, because I think that they illustrate another way of living together over against the sectarian violence of Hindu nationalist and radical Muslims and the earlier cultural imperialism of the Christian British.
...And the music is freaking cool. I really like the music, and the thought of someone paying me to study and teach Indian (and potentially other types of) music for a career is amazing. Combine that with a chance to speak out to students about important world issues, like poverty, violence, and opression, and I can't Imagine what I would rather be doing.
# Posted on June 13th 2008 by jasonb