In this chapter, Nettl discusses the evolution of the view and role of the ethnomusicologist. Ethnomusicology has a "field" requirement and traditionally, this is filled by the ethnomusicologist immersing him/herself in an "outside" culture stereotypically entailing "working in an isolated village, living in conditions of considerable privation, having to make do with a monotonous diet shared with the villagers, [and] living without running water" (184). However, the shifts of society has changed this view as Nettl says that urban culture is growing and is thus a culture worth looking into in itself. Alongside this is the shift in the idea that ethnomusicology does not necessarily need to involve looking at the "other" but can now be done "at home."
The original "inside," Nettl states, is within Western classical music and everything else was seen as the "other." However, Western popular music was mostly not looked at as it was seen to be inferior, but this viewpoint changed. Nettl comes to the possible conclusion that acceptance of studying popular music has allowed its "otherness" to recede to the point where studying our own culture became normal and eventually leading to "our acceptance of the ultimate 'inside,' the culture of Western classical music, as appropriate subject matter.
An issue arises when the "field" is redefined as including our own culture. How should one go about studying the music and culture of which they are a part of? I found this question to be relevant to my own research as I am mainly focusing on not only the music that I participate in, but the environment of which I am a part: UCSD's music department. Henry Kingsbury tackled this issue as he would in any other situation by becoming an "outsider." Nettl took a more creative approach by effectively splitting his persona into three: "the traditional ethnomusicologist, the native informant, and an imaginary figure whom [he] named the 'ethnomusicologist from Mars'." I was struggling over the idea of how I could best accomplish the field requirement in my research and I do think that it could be most insightful if I do something similar to what Nettl did. I don't think I'll be going the 'ethnomusicologist from Mars' route, however, as it seems too abstract for me, but I may consider reworking this into something else.
I found this chapter really interesting because it brought up the whole effect of tourism and how it changes how cultures perform and what they perform to tourists. I feel like cultures molding themselves to tourist and economical demands is not an authentic portrayal of their culture but I guess that if they, as a culture, are choosing to do so then it is? I would like to hear other people's thoughts on this. Also if everyone gets exposed to everyone else's music then doesn't it become homogenous? I think Nettle touches on this topic but I cant find where in the chapter. What exactly would ethnomusicologists study then. Sub cultures of subcultures?
ReplyDeleteI found a paragraph in this chapter that is very helpful for the performance aspect of the project. I wasn't sure what to look for and observe but Nettle describes that a student doing field work would go into to a certain bar and "keep track of repertory, the number and kinds of people present and in what kinds of groups" and that Interviews were carried out with all sorts of people, but there were there and were therefore relevant. This chapter also helped me question the motives of why people are performing, so I guess the "use" part and how this might effect what they play and how. For example, I was told that some Jazz musicians wont play "Fly Me to the Moon" unless given a nice tip. If they were playing for other musicians as opposed to the general public, what would they play and why?
I think that what you say makes a lot of sense. Music is definitely alterated based on audience. But I feel like that could be subcategorized into another form of culture. For example, if you are talking about the type of music that they play for tourists from a particular country, I would classify that as a study of tourist music from that country. I wouldn't define that type of music as traditional music. It could be compared to traditional music, and it would be a important area of research, but I don't think it should be categorized as the same thing. For my project, I am studying electro-dubstep in the San Diego community. This is very different from the type of music that they play in Europe. So even though the genre is the same, the culture of the San Diego community plays a large role. I've listened to some different sets played in Europe and played in San Diego and there are some things that are quite different. So I think it's important to understand culture in a more specific and narrow sense.
DeleteIn response to Afsar's question relating to tourism:
DeleteI come from a ski resort town, and I find that the culture of our town is split in half seasonally. During the Fall/Winter, the culture molds to that of a very tourist heavy industry soliciting the weekend to skiiers and snowboarders from across Calfornia, but mainly caters to the Southern California area. As such, we have adopted many of the same tastes in music and businesses as seen in Los Angeles. The best example of this would be the creation of a very metropolitan area, named "the Village" - actually very similar in looks and feel to the Village here at UCSD in terms of a very modernized look in comparison to the rest of the town/campus. There is a very large discrepancy between the tourist area of town and the rest of the town itself, which looks very rural (looks exactly like Julian if any of you have ever been there).
What I find interesting is that after the winter season, the tourist culture subsides and turns to a more local and rural "outdoorsy" feel, promoting nature and outdoor activities which in my opinion contradicts the fast-paced urban lifestyles of a large city.
In terms of music, there is a very large adoption of electronic dance music in the tourist in order to attempt to cater to the tourists who are around our age (20-30). Which has overshadowed many of the local bands and other types of music that used to be a very prominent feature - western art music being one of them. I have become witness to a very large decrease in interest of this music in the youth as the tourist culture increases.
I also found it interesting how tourism "diluted" culture. Americans are very fond of referring to this country as the "cultural melting pot" implying that culture is not rigid, but in fact, very malleable based on contact with/absorption of other cultures and yet we are relatively distressed by destroying the purity and authenticity of other cultures. Would we call our culture illegitimate or inauthentic? I doubt it. We would say it evolved or adapted. While I appreciate wanting to learn about other cultures in their uninfluenced form, I just don't believe it is possible. We have already learned that people change/misrepresent information when they know they have an observer, and as Afsar pointed out, how their culture responds to stimuli is a cultural aspect worthy of note. It certainly raises doubts and logistical concerns.
ReplyDeleteI intend to interview customers in order to see how they perceive the cultural implications of overhead music in stores, but I am having some concerns as to how best to approach the questions I really want to ask. I would prefer my interviewees not to just regurgitate headlines from articles I have read about how it is manipulative etc. but I think that oftentimes, when someone is being interviewed, and I plan to introduce myself as a student, they want to seem a good interview versed in your topic. I think I may have better luck going into a strip mall and interviewing people in the center but not in a specific store so that hopefully their answers are more universal, not just about the store we are in.
The idea of the "armchair observer" is one that is present across many fields of study. As a pre-med major exposed to a wide variety of sciences, the idea of the "armchair scientist" has been brought up and lamented many times during my undergraduate studies. In the physical sciences, it is nearly impossible to make considerable progress in certain areas without proper fieldwork (think Darwin and the Galapagos islands). I think ethnomusicology falls in the same category, but for different reasons altogether. Ethnomusicology requires the understand of music not as a lone-standing structure, but as a part of culture. Without understanding the culture and using it as a context for the music, one can never gain a proper understanding of the music they are studying. For that reason, I believe that fieldwork should be a requirement for ethnomusicologists studying music pertaining to different cultures.
ReplyDeleteI think CassWhite's ch.11 blog comment about a culture being unaware of a unique characteristic or tendency of theirs because it appears to be a norm for them is relevant here. I think it would be really difficult for people of some cultures to step outside of their culture and study themselves in the same way it would be difficult for an outsider to try to see things from the insider's point of view. We need both perspectives to get a fuller picture. So while it may help to take on the three roles Nettl describes, I think it is insufficient, but perhaps he wasn't going for describing how one can get a "full" picture.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to my project, I have worked in the setting of my study to some extent. I have tried thinking of matters from both an inside and outside point of view, and have used these different perspectives to help me formulate questions to ask myself and others. I try doing the same after talking to others too so it can help me think of how to better approach them with questions the next time I talk to them.
My own research is also in this new 'field' of UCSD's music department - a far cry from the isolated, agrarian, 'primitive' type cultures normally associated with such cultural or ethnographic studies. When I started, I didn't really think of myself as an 'outsider.' Instead, I was more like "hey, this should be easy since I'm already part of it anyway, so I know must of the things I'm going to be asking people." But as soon as I began, I realized that as an 'ethnomusicologist' I was definitely an outsider. Even without being an ethnomusicologist, I was still an outsider in the department that I thought I was an insider. It was quickly easy to place myself apart from the subjects I was studying while maintaining my own perspective & insight regarding the UCSD western art music culture. As Megan says, Nettl's approach seems to be a little complicated, but Kingsbury's seems more doable, and was ultimately the route I took.
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