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Papers by Ryan A Koons

The Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, 2019

An overview of contemporary and modern choral, folk, indigenous, jazz, and popular music traditio... more An overview of contemporary and modern choral, folk, indigenous, jazz, and popular music traditions in Sweden in The Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture.

Humanimalia, 2019

Scholars have argued about the Anthropocene for over two decades. This proposed geologic period b... more Scholars have argued about the Anthropocene for over two decades. This proposed geologic period broadly references the globally destructive force that is human activity. Although some scholars have proposed diverse names and start dates for the era, it is clear that human agency has negatively affected the longevity of the planet, and that colonialism continues to be bound up in Anthropocenic realities. This entanglement of colonialism and the Anthropocene speaks to the vital need for decolonization. Among others, the decolonization process requires the repatriation of Indigenous lands, Indigenous resurgence, and the recognition and practice of Indigenous relations to land and the "nonhuman kin" such as animals and plants who co-constitute that land. This article focuses on how members of the Tvlwv Pvlvcekolv American Indian community use ritual music and dance to develop and renew relationships with their non-human kin. It focuses on two case studies from Pvlvcekolv's annual "busk" ritual cycle: the Feather Dance and the Owl Dance. Theorizing a term coined by philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, these sung dances facilitate humans "becoming with" birds in processes of multispecies communication, accommodation, and empathy. As practiced at Pvlvcekolv, "becoming" functions as a potential route out of the colonized Anthropocene.

This dissertation presents an ethnography utilizing a multispecies perspective of the "busk" ritu... more This dissertation presents an ethnography utilizing a multispecies perspective of the "busk" ritual cycle as performed by the southeastern Muskogee Creek American Indian community, Pvlvcekolv (Apalachicola). Humans construct humanity and personhood partially via interactions with other-than-human persons, such as animals, plants, and objects. I examine ritualized interactions between humans and others-than-human in a southeastern Indigenous "natureculture," exploring the intersections of ontology, personhood, and performance practice. Pvlvcekolv, an animistic Florida-based tribal town with a ceremonial Fire that pre-dates European Contact, maintains a centuries-old ritual tradition, the busk. Sometimes known as "Green Corn Ceremonialism," many Native communities share this tradition, including Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole, Yuchi, and other Creek peoples historically and in the present day. Performing the songs, dances, and ritual actions of the busk places participants into dialogue with other-than-human persons. Participants thank, propitiate, and communicate and transform with these beings. Busk performance articulates worldview and actuates inter-species relationality.
Ethnomusicological studies often ignore movement/dance in favor of sound/music. Especially in Indigenous contexts, however, excluding the corporeal privileges a Euro-Americentric construction that splits sonic and physical activities into separate categories. I develop a method of performance analysis that addresses both modalities using Pvlvcekolv's ethnophilosophy. With this analytical model, I investigate meanings that arise in Pvlvcekolv's busk performance practice. I explore the Turtle and Bench Dances as forms of Indigenous library/archive/museum/storehouse (LAMS) science. These dances facilitate participants' interactions with, and corporeal accessioning of, history and ritual. I also contrast the life histories of object persons accessioned in LAMS with the lives and experiences of their cousins in use in ceremony, treating another facet of Pvlvcekolv's Native LAMS practice. Several animal dances, such as the Feather and Buffalo Dances, place performers into dialogue with animal persons. Through ritual, humans and other beings merge, further developing their interrelationships. Pvlvcekolv community members regularly interact with plants, conversing with, and, in turn, hearing plant speech and song. I push at boundaries surrounding "voice," developing a definition that can apply equally to humans and others-than-human in an animistic cosmology. I conclude with breath and silence, the media through which all beings interrelate in Pvlvcekolv's cosmology. Based on over a decade of collaborative ethnographic research, observation-participation, and LAMS research, this dissertation proposes that ritual performance practice articulates relationality between beings, maintaining inter-species relationships in this southeastern Indigenous natureculture.

This essay explores the process of creating a concert of early music from the nexus of Indigenous... more This essay explores the process of creating a concert of early music from the nexus of Indigenous American and European colonial interactions. "Early music" tends to describe unambiguously Eurocentric music. However, designing and implementing this concert forced us to confront politics of representation, "authenticity," accuracy, and the potential to insult Indigenous peoples, while attempting to create a musically compelling performance. Presented as a dialogue between UCLA Early Music Ensemble (EME) director Elisabeth Le Guin and 2014-15 EME Managing Director Ryan Koons, this essay treats the intersections of identity politics, performance, and pedagogy in an atypical early music context.

The world of Baroque opera offers a rich space for gender/sexuality analysis. Historically, many ... more The world of Baroque opera offers a rich space for gender/sexuality analysis. Historically, many performances included castrati, vocals superstars with high tessitura, who portrayed male and female characters. Now that castration has ceased, contemporary stagings of Baroque operas have many options when addressing the "castrato problem." Directors might cast male countertenors or cross-dressing women to maintain the original vocal range. They might also transpose the vocal line down for a bass or baritone. Whatever the choice, the resulting staging is often somehow queer. Georg Frideric Handel's opera "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" (HMV 17) provides a unique case study for teasing out gender/sexuality interpretation. An immediate success, Handel composed this story of the historic meeting of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra to include three castrati (playing Caesar; Tolomeo, the king of Egypt; and Nireno, a servant) and a woman in drag (playing Sesto, the son of the murdered Pompey). David McVicar and William Christie cast women as Caesar and Sesto, and countertenors as Tolomeo and Nireno for their 2005 Glyndebourne Theatre staging. This casting permits a variety of contemporary audience interpretations: Caesar and Cleopatra as a lesbian couple, the Romans as (strong?) women, the Egyptians as (vocally effeminate?) men. These and other interpretations are accentuated by choreography; butch and effeminate gender performances, respectively; and costuming. To explore this further, I draw on musicological and gender theory texts to compare this 2005 staging with the 1724 London premiere and contrast contemporary and period gender conceptions as they play out in the opera.

Based on ethnographic field research conducted in 2008, this audio essay discusses the integral r... more Based on ethnographic field research conducted in 2008, this audio essay discusses the integral role of song in the South African anti-apartheid movement (1948-1994) as seen through the eyes of two black women. Gloria Piliso and Nobulumko Bongco, both Xhosa residents of King Williams Town, South Africa, experienced apartheid and participated in the anti-apartheid movement. In an increasingly dangerous and violent political atmosphere, music and song functioned vitally as a method of protest against the increasing stranglehold of the racist government. At times, song even became a weapon, famously moving armed militia men to massacre a crowd of unarmed schoolchildren who were performing the toyi-toyi, a form of dance protest, during the Soweto Uprising in 1976. Additionally, freedom songs were also used to bond together, comfort, and communicate between blacks from different tribal backgrounds. Now that apartheid is over, the same songs function as community memory and are often sung at funerals and memorial services. This audio essay, which features musical and interview excerpts from the authors' field research, illuminates the vital role of music in the struggle to end the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa. For audio, please visit: http://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/content/singing-against-apartheid-audio-essay

Book Reviews by Ryan A Koons

A review appearing in "Book Notes," a web addition to the Yearbook for Traditional Music of the s... more A review appearing in "Book Notes," a web addition to the Yearbook for Traditional Music of the second edition of Christopher Ballantine's "Marabi Nights: Jazz, 'Race,' and Society in Early Apartheid South Africa." This updated classic work on jazz, race, and culture treats black South African jazz.

A review appearing in Ethnomusicology Review of Helen Berry's 2011 "The Castrato and his Wife," t... more A review appearing in Ethnomusicology Review of Helen Berry's 2011 "The Castrato and his Wife," the biography of Italian castrato Ferdinando Tenducci (1730-1790) and the scandal he created in the United Kingdom by marrying.

The Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, 2019

An overview of contemporary and modern choral, folk, indigenous, jazz, and popular music traditio... more An overview of contemporary and modern choral, folk, indigenous, jazz, and popular music traditions in Sweden in The Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture.

Humanimalia, 2019

Scholars have argued about the Anthropocene for over two decades. This proposed geologic period b... more Scholars have argued about the Anthropocene for over two decades. This proposed geologic period broadly references the globally destructive force that is human activity. Although some scholars have proposed diverse names and start dates for the era, it is clear that human agency has negatively affected the longevity of the planet, and that colonialism continues to be bound up in Anthropocenic realities. This entanglement of colonialism and the Anthropocene speaks to the vital need for decolonization. Among others, the decolonization process requires the repatriation of Indigenous lands, Indigenous resurgence, and the recognition and practice of Indigenous relations to land and the "nonhuman kin" such as animals and plants who co-constitute that land. This article focuses on how members of the Tvlwv Pvlvcekolv American Indian community use ritual music and dance to develop and renew relationships with their non-human kin. It focuses on two case studies from Pvlvcekolv's annual "busk" ritual cycle: the Feather Dance and the Owl Dance. Theorizing a term coined by philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, these sung dances facilitate humans "becoming with" birds in processes of multispecies communication, accommodation, and empathy. As practiced at Pvlvcekolv, "becoming" functions as a potential route out of the colonized Anthropocene.

This dissertation presents an ethnography utilizing a multispecies perspective of the "busk" ritu... more This dissertation presents an ethnography utilizing a multispecies perspective of the "busk" ritual cycle as performed by the southeastern Muskogee Creek American Indian community, Pvlvcekolv (Apalachicola). Humans construct humanity and personhood partially via interactions with other-than-human persons, such as animals, plants, and objects. I examine ritualized interactions between humans and others-than-human in a southeastern Indigenous "natureculture," exploring the intersections of ontology, personhood, and performance practice. Pvlvcekolv, an animistic Florida-based tribal town with a ceremonial Fire that pre-dates European Contact, maintains a centuries-old ritual tradition, the busk. Sometimes known as "Green Corn Ceremonialism," many Native communities share this tradition, including Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole, Yuchi, and other Creek peoples historically and in the present day. Performing the songs, dances, and ritual actions of the busk places participants into dialogue with other-than-human persons. Participants thank, propitiate, and communicate and transform with these beings. Busk performance articulates worldview and actuates inter-species relationality.
Ethnomusicological studies often ignore movement/dance in favor of sound/music. Especially in Indigenous contexts, however, excluding the corporeal privileges a Euro-Americentric construction that splits sonic and physical activities into separate categories. I develop a method of performance analysis that addresses both modalities using Pvlvcekolv's ethnophilosophy. With this analytical model, I investigate meanings that arise in Pvlvcekolv's busk performance practice. I explore the Turtle and Bench Dances as forms of Indigenous library/archive/museum/storehouse (LAMS) science. These dances facilitate participants' interactions with, and corporeal accessioning of, history and ritual. I also contrast the life histories of object persons accessioned in LAMS with the lives and experiences of their cousins in use in ceremony, treating another facet of Pvlvcekolv's Native LAMS practice. Several animal dances, such as the Feather and Buffalo Dances, place performers into dialogue with animal persons. Through ritual, humans and other beings merge, further developing their interrelationships. Pvlvcekolv community members regularly interact with plants, conversing with, and, in turn, hearing plant speech and song. I push at boundaries surrounding "voice," developing a definition that can apply equally to humans and others-than-human in an animistic cosmology. I conclude with breath and silence, the media through which all beings interrelate in Pvlvcekolv's cosmology. Based on over a decade of collaborative ethnographic research, observation-participation, and LAMS research, this dissertation proposes that ritual performance practice articulates relationality between beings, maintaining inter-species relationships in this southeastern Indigenous natureculture.

This essay explores the process of creating a concert of early music from the nexus of Indigenous... more This essay explores the process of creating a concert of early music from the nexus of Indigenous American and European colonial interactions. "Early music" tends to describe unambiguously Eurocentric music. However, designing and implementing this concert forced us to confront politics of representation, "authenticity," accuracy, and the potential to insult Indigenous peoples, while attempting to create a musically compelling performance. Presented as a dialogue between UCLA Early Music Ensemble (EME) director Elisabeth Le Guin and 2014-15 EME Managing Director Ryan Koons, this essay treats the intersections of identity politics, performance, and pedagogy in an atypical early music context.

The world of Baroque opera offers a rich space for gender/sexuality analysis. Historically, many ... more The world of Baroque opera offers a rich space for gender/sexuality analysis. Historically, many performances included castrati, vocals superstars with high tessitura, who portrayed male and female characters. Now that castration has ceased, contemporary stagings of Baroque operas have many options when addressing the "castrato problem." Directors might cast male countertenors or cross-dressing women to maintain the original vocal range. They might also transpose the vocal line down for a bass or baritone. Whatever the choice, the resulting staging is often somehow queer. Georg Frideric Handel's opera "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" (HMV 17) provides a unique case study for teasing out gender/sexuality interpretation. An immediate success, Handel composed this story of the historic meeting of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra to include three castrati (playing Caesar; Tolomeo, the king of Egypt; and Nireno, a servant) and a woman in drag (playing Sesto, the son of the murdered Pompey). David McVicar and William Christie cast women as Caesar and Sesto, and countertenors as Tolomeo and Nireno for their 2005 Glyndebourne Theatre staging. This casting permits a variety of contemporary audience interpretations: Caesar and Cleopatra as a lesbian couple, the Romans as (strong?) women, the Egyptians as (vocally effeminate?) men. These and other interpretations are accentuated by choreography; butch and effeminate gender performances, respectively; and costuming. To explore this further, I draw on musicological and gender theory texts to compare this 2005 staging with the 1724 London premiere and contrast contemporary and period gender conceptions as they play out in the opera.

Based on ethnographic field research conducted in 2008, this audio essay discusses the integral r... more Based on ethnographic field research conducted in 2008, this audio essay discusses the integral role of song in the South African anti-apartheid movement (1948-1994) as seen through the eyes of two black women. Gloria Piliso and Nobulumko Bongco, both Xhosa residents of King Williams Town, South Africa, experienced apartheid and participated in the anti-apartheid movement. In an increasingly dangerous and violent political atmosphere, music and song functioned vitally as a method of protest against the increasing stranglehold of the racist government. At times, song even became a weapon, famously moving armed militia men to massacre a crowd of unarmed schoolchildren who were performing the toyi-toyi, a form of dance protest, during the Soweto Uprising in 1976. Additionally, freedom songs were also used to bond together, comfort, and communicate between blacks from different tribal backgrounds. Now that apartheid is over, the same songs function as community memory and are often sung at funerals and memorial services. This audio essay, which features musical and interview excerpts from the authors' field research, illuminates the vital role of music in the struggle to end the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa. For audio, please visit: http://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/content/singing-against-apartheid-audio-essay

A review appearing in "Book Notes," a web addition to the Yearbook for Traditional Music of the s... more A review appearing in "Book Notes," a web addition to the Yearbook for Traditional Music of the second edition of Christopher Ballantine's "Marabi Nights: Jazz, 'Race,' and Society in Early Apartheid South Africa." This updated classic work on jazz, race, and culture treats black South African jazz.

A review appearing in Ethnomusicology Review of Helen Berry's 2011 "The Castrato and his Wife," t... more A review appearing in Ethnomusicology Review of Helen Berry's 2011 "The Castrato and his Wife," the biography of Italian castrato Ferdinando Tenducci (1730-1790) and the scandal he created in the United Kingdom by marrying.