Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Merriam Ch. 1

This reading starts off with separating musicology with ethnomusicology. Merriam emphasizes that historically, the difference was that ethnomusicology was strongly tied to anthropology (4-5). It also focused on the connection of music with geographic areas, but there were problems linking ethnomusicology to places. Instead of using geography as a basis, Merriam defines ethnomusicology as "the study of music in culture" (Merriam 6). Merriam says that "music sound is the result of human behavioral processes that are shaped by the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the people who comprise a particular culture" (6). To me this makes a lot of sense because relating music to a specific region is very different than understanding the culture of the people who perform or listen to that kind of music. Additionally, Merrian mentions that by defining in the sense of culture, we need further understand the "aspects of social sciences and aspects of humanities" behind their culture.

Merriam goes on talking about the stages that ethnomusicologists go through in terms of completing their research project. I was more intrigued at the beginning of this portion because I was still a little confused on how to approach our blogging project. The first steps are to collect data. So relating this to my journal blog, I would find out as much as I can about the EDM community in San Diego. I would look up videos and find as much as I can about the history of this community. The next step is to analyze it based on the community's "coherent body of knowledge about music practice, behavior, and concepts in the society being studied" (Merriam 7). Because I am targeting the community in San Diego, I think this step is slightly less overwhelming. My targeted audience are the rest of you, so our understanding of musical tones and concepts are more similar than if I had a project on something from China or Africa. But, to further my analysis I would utilize interviews to understand what the majority of the culture shares. Merriam also mentions the music needs to be analyzed with "special equipment for the transcription and structural analysis of music" (8). Of course this is not really applicable for us, but I would definitely try to look into the musical scores and compare the different sounds I hear. Lastly, Merriam says that the analyzed data need to be "applied to relevant problems, specifically in ethnomusicology and more broadly in the social sciences and the humanities" (8). Of course, I don't know what my conclusions will be, but it's good to keep the ideas of social sciences and humanities in mind while researching. It will definitely help me shape my interview questions as I dive further into my research.

I think this reading was pretty helpful to me because it gave me more guidance on how to approach my research. I wanted to ask how did this reading affected your perspective on ethnomusicology and your project? In the reading they talked about using ethnomusicology as a form of communication. I agree with this concept because the culture behind music can really show a lot about the people that listen or perform it, and by understanding it, we can definitely communicate with them better. Do you think this project will help you become a better communicator? What do you think understanding the history and "primitive culture" (Merriam 14) will offer for you? Also, is there anyone that is studying a culture that you are already part of? I have been part of the EDM culture in San Diego for about a year now, and I'm really excited to dig deeper into it. I love the music, but never really looked that much into it let alone the history behind it. And I've definitely never thought about connections it had toward social sciences and humanities. So I was just wondering if there was anyone out there in the same boat as me.

10 comments:

  1. I think there are definitely issues with linking music to a geographical area, as Merriam says. For example bluegrass has spread far beyond its place of origin, even reaching places in Europe, (the Kruger Brothers being a prime example of American Folk music reaching far beyond its geographical area). I think one of the most important things out of this reading is the question that arises when Merriam says the data must be"applied to relevant problems, specifically in ethnomusicology and more broadly in the social sciences and the humanities" (8). I think finding an answer for how the music we study or want to study can be applied in such a way is possibly more difficult than any of the research we do. I've been a part of the bluegrass community in San Diego for some time and I've known for a good while it is a music I've wanted to study on a deeper level, but when I ask myself for a larger why than, 'because I want to' I'm always left without a satisfactory answer. So that, at least for me, is the most important part of this particular Merriam reading. Like I said, I have been a part of the bluegrass community for awhile, I started off some ten or eleven years ago so I am a part of the culture I want to study. So, I would say I am in the same boat as you, although I think I've made a few little forays into researching bluegrass music in the more recent years, but I'm excited to really delve into it this quarter.

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    1. While I really like Merriam's definition of ethnomusicology as "the study of music in culture," I wouldn't completely disregard the link between music and geographical area. Place ultimately plays a role in culture. Geographical surroundings can influence the culture of a particular group of people living in a specific area. In order to effectively carry out a ethnomusicological research project, I believe it is necessary to find a connection between a culture and its geographic region of origin and apply that to the big picture.

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    2. I think what you both say is true, in some cases, but like Brent said music has spread, so it could also be that the spreading of music changes culture it is introduced it, as well as it being the other way around, where culture is influenced by location and therefore so is the music.

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    3. I agree with Brent [and Merriam] in that the linkage between geography & music can be problematic though as Eric & Afsar also point out, geography probably shouldn't be disregarded.

      However I am wondering if there would be a difference for conducting a regional ethnomusicological study versus one that is tracking the trajectory of a musical tradition over time [that will most likely have permeated geographical boundaries into many different regions]? Would there be a significantly different method between these types of studies/research?

      For my own project I am concerned with Western Art music [both old and new traditions] in practice today, specifically in the UC San Diego music department. This tradition of music has obviously extended beyond the boundaries of San Diego but for the sake of the project I am focusing on one [extremely limited] region. I don't know if I am better off focusing on the present-day practices and modern cultural realm of music performance at UCSD or if I should delve into what could be a transformation of traditions from old-->new [or something more complex] over time...

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  2. The separating of musicology and ethnomusicology should not happen, in my opinion. It creates the illusion of our music (western) and theirs (everyone else's. Which makes me agree with Brent, in that music should not be linked to a geographical area, he mentioned bluegrass as something that spread across seas but that isn't the only example, so did: jazz, pop, hip-hop, and EDM. Instead of linking music's to a geographical area, we should study it as a whole and only look to where it might have originated (that is the only reason, to me, to look at geographical areas for music.

    To answer a few of your questions. I do believe this article will help in furthering my research in Jazz. Also, I do believe that this project will make me a better communicator, for I have never done a 15 min presentation (without being in a group) on a particular subject :). Lastly, the culture of music that I am doing my project one is one that I am not part of, so it should be interesting.

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    1. While I agree with your conclusion of musicology and ethnomusicology being separated based on Western/non-western creating a dichotomy, both Nettle and Merriam have acknowledged that western music can now be studied within enthnomusicology as a culture. There is a fair deal of overlap, to be sure, and maybe even ethnomusicology contains musicology, just as biology contains marine biology? Culture is often very geographically based, and sometimes commonalities can be traced to migrations or invasions, so it would not be out of the realms of possibilities to say that musics can travel with people of their cultures.

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  3. Since I am part of the culture that I am choosing to study for the purposes of this class, I find it extremely important and useful that ethnomusicology be used as a tool for communication between those within the particular culture. Not only for finding out more on its historical implications, the ways in which this particular music has spread throughout as certain area or community, but also to understand how the music affects not only those involved in the culture but also those who have been or will be exposed to this type of music and their reactions to it.

    Coming from a background in Japanese music, particularly Taiko Drumming, I am very excited and interested in understanding more about this music and how it has spread to San Diego and around all of North America for that fact.

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  4. I like you found this chapter helpful in the sense that it gave me things to look for in my own research! Especially the step two part of the whole process. I knew that going to a concert would be helpful but I wasn't really sure what to look for or what questions to ask. Merriam describes the analysis of practice routines, behavior (perhaps during performance), and concepts (lyrically and musically I'm assuming).

    I'm replying to this after having read all the other chapters, and I actually noticed conflicting ideas. So in this chapter, as you described, Merriam talks about a process, and it seems that it's a pretty standard process, but in chapter three he states that one of the problems of ethnomusicological field work is that there is no set approach and that they are different? I was wondering if anyone could clarify that for me.

    Also he mentions, as you did above, that the third step is to apply analyzed data to relevant problems? After being in this class for four weeks I've come to the understanding that the whole goal of this field is to gain more knowledge not necessarily solve problems, so I'm curious as to what these problems might be? I know there there is issue with defining what music is or in what context it should be analyzed, but these are difficulties that arise before or during field work.


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  5. I thought this chapter reflected many of the ideas about ethnomusicology we learned in other readings/class, but maybe with different supportive information. Something that was new in this chapter that I found particularly interesting was the study in which Western music was played to African listeners and that the intended musical expression was unrecognizable to them. This further shows that music is not a universal language and that it is something interrelated to cultural upbringing. I think that this example contributes to the point that it is necessary to study music as/in culture because it is completely tied to it. Treating it as an isolated subject would not give certain types of music the respect they deserve.

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  6. I've been going back and rereading all the chapters and the thought that keeps coming up in my mind is: even though we are studying the music in cultures and not location, how does the music change in a culture depending on the location? I recently attended a concert of Jewish violin music and was very surprised how all the music would use the music from the culture/location around them. One of the pieces was based on Roma, Jewish, Hungarian, and Arabic music. If all of these influences can clearly be heard in just one piece, it makes me realize location does matter because it means different cultures around to influence the music we are studying. It really makes me wonder how European music is influencing bluegrass, jazz being played back with its roots in Africa, etc is changing the music.

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