Performing Ethnomusicology: Teaching and Representation in World Music Ensembles (review) (original) (raw)

Music education: perspectives from current ethnomusicology

British Journal of Music Education, 2003

This paper first outlines the focus of ethnomusicology as a discipline, pointing to its concentration on music examined as intersocial activity and identifying the methodological givens that follow from that assumption. It then looks at concerns shared with researchers in the field of music education, with references to the ethnomusicological literature. The concept of music and topics of musical transmission and ability are treated in depth, to show what ethnomusicological approaches offer to specialists in music education. A final section introduces the writing of ethnography, prior to the conclusion, which identifies further areas of mutual interest.

Ethnomusicological Encounters with Music and Musicians: Essays in Honor of Robert Garfias. (review)

Notes, 2012

In 1962, only a dozen years after the term "ethnomusicology" first appeared in print in the writings of Jaap Kunst, Robert Garfias arrived at the University of Washington to found a program in ethnomusicology studies. Over the ensuing decades, the program at Washington influenced hundreds of students, musicians, and scholars, at the university and beyond. In this book, former students and colleagues of Garfias contribute essays on a variety of ethnomusicological topics in tribute to his influence on each of them and on the field as a whole.

It Was Never Just About the Music: Is Ethnoarts Ethnomusicology’s Next Incarnation?

Early in my PhD studies in ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles, I posed this question to a professor: “What am I learning to study? How do I decide what ‘music' is?” The response: “You’ll know it when you see it.” This exchange is a symptom of ethnomusicology’s enduringly indefinable nature. Despite decades of reflection and proposals for redefinition, we remain unable to articulate the subject of our research. On one hand, this allows us to engage with any of the astoundingly diverse artistic traditions of the world. I believe, however, that such conceptual imprecision is also one of a few crucial factors keeping us from much more influence in the growth of knowledge and the improvement of human existence. In this article, I outline a path to increased disciplinary thriving through exploration of the young ethnoarts movement. In particular, I propose that we embrace a future in which our subjects are enactors of artistic communication genres, and we view arts, culture, and prosocial intent as inextricably intertwined.

The (Musical) Performance at Stake: An Ethnomusicological Review

2020

I have always considered the observation of a musical manifestation more or less as the analysis of a musical "performance." My recent interrogations and research about what is, in fact, a "performance"? have led me to formulate an observation. While looking for an answer in the performance studies literature, it is quite clear that music is not included as a subject of analysis but appears more as an object or a pretext to the analysis of the meaning(s) hidden behind the music, the best example being theater. A simple Internet search for "performance studies" only shows a few titles on music. Even The Cambridge Introduction to Performance Theory (2016) presents performance with keywords like "Drama and Theater" and "Literature." Also, looking to different performance studies programs and courses syllabi from American universities like New York University, Brown, Northwestern, University of California, Davis, etc., it is quite clear that the notion of "performance" is widely associated with communication. 1 Though it surely is, this understanding appeals to a very particular intellectual lineage, characterized by the writings of eminent authors like philosophers John L. Austin (1962) and John R. Searl (1969), cultural anthropologist Victor Turner (1982, and drama theorist Richard Schechner (1988), for whom the performance is at first a way to observe language, ritual, and everyday life interactions.

Ethnomusicology and Performance Studies: Towards Interdisciplinary Futures of Indian Classical Music

MUSICultures: , 2017

Using Indian classical music as a site of transparency, the authors critically examine how the fields of ethnomusicology and performance studies approach performance. Responding to the (dis)placement of music scholarship within the framework of virtuosity, the authors treat generational frictions that exist between their disciplines not as oppositional or antagonistic, but as opportunities to maximize scholarly engagement between both fields. The authors propose de-centering music scholarship from traditional milieux of authority, in an effort to contextualize imperfect participatory performances of multiculturally emplaced subjects and scholars. This essay is concluded with some pragmatic directions that come out of the critiques highlighted therein. Résumé : Considérant la musique classique indienne comme un lieu de transparence, les auteurs procèdent à une étude critique de la façon dont les champs de l ' ethnomusicologie et des études de l ' interprétation approchent la performance. En réponse au (dé)placement de la recherche musicale dans le cadre de la virtuosité, les auteurs traitent des frictions générationnelles qui existent entre leurs disciplines, non en tant qu ' oppositions ou antagonismes, mais en tant qu ' opportunités de maximiser l ' engagement des chercheurs dans les deux champs. Les auteurs proposent de décentrer la recherche musicale des milieux faisant traditionnellement autorité afin de contextualiser les performances participatives imparfaites de sujets et de chercheurs se situant à un niveau multiculturel. Cet essai s ' achève sur l ' indication de quelques directions pragmatiques issues des critiques qu ' il a mises en exergue.