Introduction to World Music

Dr. Tamara Livingston

http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tlivings/worldmusic.htm

Course Goals

• Think critically about music

• Be able to see music as more than “just entertainment”

• Understand how music means; how is musical meaning created?

• Develop respect for the significance of non-Western music systems in their respective cultures

Ethnomusicology

• The study of music in culture (cultural context); the study of music as culture.– Sounds– Concepts– Behaviors

Defining the Issues

• “Music” or “Musics”– Music systems: is Western Art Music one or many

music systems?

• Universality vs. Differences– Universal language vs. “personal” music

• Defining Music• Politics of Music (musical meaning and discord)

(exs. Wagner in Israel; Mozart in Berlin)

Music Examples

• Is it “music”?

• What can we say about it?

• What does it mean?

• How does it mean? (what other information might we need before addressing this?)

Defining Music

• Soundscape – the characteristic sounds of a particular place, both human and nonhuman – R. Murray Schafer (Canadian composer)

• Music is … “sound that is humanly patterned or organized” – J. Blacking (British ethnomusicologist)

• Music-culture – the way of life of a people, learned and transmitted from generation to generation, as it relates to music.

Culture

• “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” – E.B. Tyler (anthropologist)

Elements of a Musical Performance

MUSIC

PERFORMERS

AUDIENCE

TIME AND SPACE

A Music-Culture Model

AFFECTIVE EXPERIENCE

PERFORMANCE

COMMUNITY

MEMORY/HISTORY

Another Music-Culture ModelSOUND:

CONCEPTBEHAVIOR

Melody

Rhythm and Meter

Texture

Form

How music is producedWho produces itWho participatesRitualRulesAudience/Performer interactionMovement

AestheticsEthosTheoryMeaningsRepertoiresIdentityHistory

Thinking / Writing About Music

• Why do we need music-culture models? Isn’t music analysis all that is needed?

• Why do ethnomusicologists seem to be more interested in cultural aspects rather than the “music itself”?

Description and Theory

• Description of musical practice includes: Face-to-face observation and participation; insider interviews; fieldwork (immersion in a music-culture)

• Theoretical analysis: attempts to ground the “what” in the “why” by linking description to meaning within a cultural context;

Ethnomusicological Theories

• Cultural Evolutionism and Diffusionism (Comparative)

• Structural-Functional Approaches• Linguistic Approaches• Marxist Approaches• Performance Theory• Gender, Ethnicity and Identity Approaches• Postmodernism, Postcolonialism, and Globalism

Analysis Example

• Gilberto Gil (Brazilian Singer/Songwriter), from “The Spirit of Samba: The Black Music of Brazil,” Jeremy Marre.