History Of Ethnomusicology Research Articles

On Survival

Abstract An expansion of my 2022 Charles Seeger Lecture, “On Survival” unfolds as a set of reflections on the moment in the history of ethnomusicology that has followed intense periods of response to the COVID-19 pandemic and of racial self-reckoning worldwide. While examining common concerns and practices for ethnomusicology as a field, I do not propose a new theory or method, but rather I argue for the unity of the field rather than the separation of approaches into subdisciplines. The common ground of the present ethnomusicological moment, like that of the past to which ethnomusicologists now return, lies in a fundamental concern for ethical practice and moral purpose. Throughout the article, I draw upon case studies, many from my own ethnographic and historical work, especially from my research in and performances of music of the Shoah, to claim affinity between the fields of ethnomusicology and moral philosophy. These affinities emerge from common engagement with the moral dimensions of survival: trauma, mourning, border crossing, goodness, cohabitation with others in the Anthropocene, transcendence. The video clips are available here: https://files.press.uillinois.edu/journals/supplemental/ethno/seeger_lecture/

ІННОВАЦІЙНА ЕТНОМУЗИКОЛОГІЧНА ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ ПНДЛМЕ ТА КМФ УПРОДОВЖ 1990–2004 РОКІВ: НАУКОВІ СТУДІЇ

This is the second part of the series of publications about the versatile ethnomusi- cological activity of the Problematic Scientific-Researching Laboratory of Music Eth- nology (PSRLME) and Musical Folkloristic Department (MFD) of the Lviv National Music Academy named after Mykola Lysenko in the 1990–2004 years. This initial period of PSRLME’s activity under guidance of Bohdan Lukanyuk was dedicated to the development of the first phase of fundamental problems associated with tradi- tional folk music and ethnic history of Halychyna and Volodymyriya. Documentation of music folklore of poorly researched regions of Western Ukraine during 1990–2004 years (which includes field work, transcription of gathered materials and their ar- chiving) has created strong base for further scientific research. Over this period the fellows of the Laboratoty of Musical Ethnology implemented almost two hundred versatile scientific and scientific-methodological explorations, of the PSRLME and MFD published 25 books and brochures on various topics of ethnomusicology. The main directions of the activity were area-typological, ethno-organological, eth- no-choreological, resource science, historical and other researches. The study was conducted by the senior generation of ethnomusicologists such as B. Lukanyuk, I. Matsiyevskyi, M. Myshanych, L. Saban, Y. Slyvynskyi and other, as well as the next generation: I. Dovhalyuk, V. Koval, L. Lukashenko, Y. Rybak, I. Fedun and other, the most of which are still working at the PSRLME and Musical MFD. The study of scientific work of PSRLME and MFD during 1990–2004 years is preceded by a brief historical review of musical-folkloristic researches in Lviv High Music School and complemented by two indexes at the end of this issue of “Ethnomusic”. The article has been based on the analysis and compilation of data from nu- merous papers and electronic documents of PSRLME and numerous printed sources, mainly publications of the Department and Laboratory fellows. Key words: history of ethnomusicology, area-typological studies, ethnoorga- nology, ethnochoreology, historical ethnomusicology, resource science, Bohdan Lu- kanyuk, PSRLME, Musical Folkloristic Department.

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Lobanov: serving the science

October 16, 2018 is the 75th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding ethnomusicologist and folklorist, Doctor of Art History, professor M. A. Lobanov. His life and work are the examples of selfless devotion and service to science. The name of the scholar is inseparable from the processes of the development of musicology and folklore of the last decades. Lobanov contributed to the formation of new areas of research in ethnomuscology and exact academic research base, laid the conceptual basis for the study of genre and types of folklore style discovered by him, created an academic and pedagogical school in the field of studying archaic forms of traditional music and inter-ethnic interrelations. His numerous works, fundamental multi-volume works on bibliography, systematics of tunes, indexes have enriched modern science, laid solid foundations for future research in the field of theory and history of ethno-musicology. The materials of the study were the works of the scholar, personal impressions obtained during many years of communication with him, as well as the articles published in encyclopedias, journals and newsletters. The work uses the principles of historical analysis and generalization. The article gives a brief description of the activities of the scholar; analyses his fundamental works in the field of musical Slavic and Finno-Ugric Studies, and inter-ethnic folklore connections. It defines the significance of Lobanov’s works for the subsequent development of national and international ethnomuscology.

Towards the History of Ideas in Ethnomusicology: Theory and Methods between the Late 18th and the Early 20th Century

The history of ethnomusicology is the history of ideas and concepts of why and how to deal with expressive practices in social formations which are usually located outside the researcher’s primary cultural experience. Ideas in ethnomusicology (comparative musicology, anthropology of music, folk music research, folkloristics) are interlinked with other scholarly disciplines and academic fields. The history of the field is sometimes described as a shift from either a more philologically oriented study of “national” folk music or “armchair anthropology” to a modern anthropological concept expressed in context-oriented, sociological, and performer-centered research, as well as in urban ethnomusicology. However, a great deal of issues frequently associated with English-speaking mainstream ethnomusicology of the last five decades (the “ethnographic turn”) appeared in the intellectual folk music discourses as early as the late 18th and the 19th century. In a similar way, the history of comparative musicology as a scholarly concept can be traced back at least to the Age of Enlightenment. This article traces the emergence and early history of motivations, theoretical paradigms and research methods by discussing the following key issues and conceptual oppositions: Comparative study of musical cultures; Fieldwork experience; Aesthetic appreciation vs. value-free textual analysis; Relativism of expressive cultures: "our" and "their" concepts (emic/etic issues); The paradigm of orality vs. Kunstlieder im Volksmunde; “Living antiquities” vs. the sociology of folklore; Cultural homogeneity vs. performer-centered research; Studying songs vs. studying singing; Music in its cultural context—“uses and functions”; Standards of notation and documentation; Rural vs. urban research; ‘Cultural purity' vs. intercultural exchange.

The Beginnings of Sound Recording of Folk Music in Ukraine

The acceptance of the phonograph by the researchers of the Ukrainian folk music made an importants tepin the establishment and development of the professional musicalethnography. Thanksto Theodor von Steinheil (1870–1946), a socio-political and cultural activist, philanthropist, and diplomat, Ukrainians were among the top three nations in Europe to have taken advantage of the technical innovation. In July 1898, as part of work in the Horodok Regional Ethnography Museum (near Rivne), which he had created, the researcher used a phonograph cylinder to record a harvest song.Yet, in recent years, as a result of the latest research of the Ukrainian and foreign scientist, new data about the selfless work of the researcher in the field of music ethnography has become available, which has drawn other scientists’ attention to this topic.However, despite his momentous event in the history of ethnomusicology, the scientific feat of the baron was properly recognized only at the beginning of the ХХІ century in an article by Bogdan Lukaniuk. Nowadays, new data about the selfless work of the researcher in the field of musical ethnography has become available, stimulating interest in the topic. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to analyze the phonographic activity of Th. Von Steinheil and his museum associate V.Moshkov, adding to and verifying the data which had been published before.Having recorded his first several experimental phonographic audios, Th. von Steinheil did not stop at that. Already in autumn, he resumed his collecting work, and in addition too the pieces of music, recorded the repertoire of a lyrist. The baron in volveda folk loristanda military man V. Moshkov in the phonograph recording of folk music, who in 1898, recorded carol melodies for a Nativity drama, traditional Christmas felicitations, and some examples of Jewish folklore, hence establishing the beginning of the recording of Jewish tradition a musculature in Ukraine. Thanks to Th. Von Steinheilin four years, the phonograph recording of folk music became a separate field of research, whose culmination was the creation of the first archive of the phonograph cylinders in Ukraine and Europe. Nowadays, it is unknown what happened to the cylinders, neither is their whereabouts.

Some Notes on Popular Music in my (Professional) Life

This article sketches the author’s experience with popular music as a student of music and ethnomusicology in the United States, and as a professional in this field. Principally it is a personal meditation on the role of popular music in the history of ethnomusicology, particularly in the Society for Ethnomusicology, in the history of American musical academia, and the reasons for its initial neglect. It recalls some incidents witnessed by the author that were turning points in the eventual acceptance of popular music by both ethnomusicologists and historical musicologists.

Sonic colour zones: Laura Boulton and the hunt for music

At the intersection of sound studies and the history of ethnomusicology, this article explores the production of sonic colour zones through Laura Boulton’s recordings in Africa and the Caribbean in the 1920s and 30s. Her own accounts, correspondence, field notes and recordings offer an opportunity to attend to alternative understandings of the relationship between humans and animals, and to situate recording practices within the field of natural history. At the same time, attention to technology and Boulton’s relationship to it allows for further theorisation of the gendering of ethnographic recording. And evidence about her interlocutors opens up an interpretive strand that considers their motivations and agendas as distinct from Boulton’s.

Staging the Silk Road Journey Abroad: The Case of Dunhuang Performative Arts

Staging the Silk Road Journey Abroad: The Case of Dunhuang Performative Arts

A Response to Peter Cooke’s Response

Abstract In the spirit of scholarly dialogue about issues of common concern, we would like to respond to Peter Cooke’s critique of our article “The Audible Future: Reimagining the Role of Sound Archives and Sound Repatriation in Uganda” (Ethnomusicology 56:2). His comments appear to be based on misunderstandings of our statements and on personal interpretations with which we take issue. We did not state in the article that Wachsmann mistreated or infringed on the rights of the people of Uganda. We highly respect and continue to honor the contributions of Klaus Wachsmann as a scholar, collector, and curator of Ugandan music. Indeed, it is because of the great respect for Wachsmann, and the hard work he did to preserve the great wealth of Uganda’s musical culture, that the Makerere University Klaus Wachsmann Music Archive (MAKWMA) was named after him. Our goal was for readers to reflect on the theoretical premises, ethnographic practices, and ethical standards that informed Wachsmann’s field recordings. How can Wachsmann’s “motivations, preferences, and limitations” help us to understand those premises, practices, and standards (p. 208)? Wachsmann’s work in Uganda raises issues about a particular time and place in the history of ethnomusicology, and it is in the spirit of historical and cultural critique that we wrote the article.

Dancing in the Danube Gorge: Geography, dance, and interethnic perspectives

This paper will look at dance practices of Romanian and Serbian villagers along the Danube Gorge which historically functioned as a natural and political boundary. Opportunities for dancing in all villages in the Gorge are still very common and frequented especially during the summer time. Based on my field research, carried out since 2011, the paper examines the contemporary dance practice of this region. My methodological orientation will be based on the ethnochoreological investigation of diverse repertoires, but also diverse dance structures as "predictable" dance texts designated during previous times as Romanian or Serbian, which are interpolated by the villagers. The notion of geographical place considered in the sense of a distinct "culture area", which, according to Bruno Nettl is grounded in the history of ethnomusicology, but also ethnochoreology, will be challenged by applying Martin Stokes' concept of (geographical) place as a social construction which involves notions of difference and social boundary. The following question will be raised: In what way does contemporary village dancing in the Danube Gorge correspond to the idea of establishing Romanian society as a part of the New Europe? In what way does the current (re)positioning of this historically and geographically distinct territory influence its contemporary dance practice? How is the concept of the ethnic dance (Romanian and Serbian) recognized both by insiders (villagers) and outsiders (the State institutions and scholars) and does this correspond to the new social and political context of contemporary Romanian society?

The History of Ethnomusicology, from My Retrospective View

Research Article| April 01 2006 The History of Ethnomusicology, from My Retrospective View Yosihiko Tokumaru Yosihiko Tokumaru Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Ethnomusicology (2006) 50 (2): 337–344. https://doi.org/10.2307/20174457 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Yosihiko Tokumaru; The History of Ethnomusicology, from My Retrospective View. Ethnomusicology 1 January 2006; 50 (2): 337–344. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/20174457 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressEthnomusicology Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2006 Society for Ethnomusicology2006 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Celtic Modern: Music at the Global Fringe (review)

Modern: Music at the Global Fringe. Edited by Martin Stokes and Philip V. Bohhnan. (Europea: Ethnomusicologies and Modernities, 1.) Lanham, MD; Oxford: Scarecrow Press, 2003. [vii, 293 p. ISBN 0-81084780-9. $65 (hbk.); ISBN 0-8108-47817. $35 (pbk.)] Index. This is a collection of nine self-contained articles with introduction and afterward. The traditional musics of nations are the focus, but popular musics are also covered. Various aspects of pop are discussed as they confront traditional musics, and popular genres are the focus of two of the articles. The book includes an array of viewpoints and methodologies, but has an essential focus: all the musics discussed are united not only by inclusion in the area, but by their position as national musics turned transnational in the postmodern world. Musical style as expressive of, and as implicated in the construction of, various levels of identity is a point ol departure. All the articles deal Lo some extent with the commodificaiion of music, both as style and as symbol; thus they also engage with the commodification of ethnicity. The unifying term is thoroughly critiqued throughout. This volume is not a primer-it does not aim to introduce either the traditional musics or the issues such as essentialism and transnationalism that are discussed. But for even undergraduate students who have had some introduction to the traditional styles, it provides several provocative points of departure. The two editors are eminently qualified on the topics of identity and modernity. Philip Bohlman has published extensively on music's role in the formation of modern Jewish identity as well as in central Europe (see his Jewish Music and Modernity: Music and Cultural Contestation in Central Europe [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003]). Bohlman also edited two collections of essays on the history of ethnomusicology, both like this one comprised of contributions by authors writing from different perspectives (Ethnomusicology and Modem Music History [Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991]; Comparative Musicology and Anthropology of Music [Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991]). Martin Stokes is wellknown for his work on identity and music in twentieth-century Ireland and Turkey; see his Ethnicity, Identity and Music: the Musical Construction of Place (Oxford; Providence, RI: Berg, 1994). Tim Taylor, author of the afterward, is one of our finest current thinkers on global music culture (see Strange Sounds: Music, Technology and Culture [NewYork: Routledge, 2001]). The authors of the interior articles in Modem draw on various disciplines including' human geography, cultural studies, and ethnography-based elhiiomusicology, They express a range of views, and no party line is privileged here, The nine articles are not grouped into sections nor strictly erdered, though there are, some eommon themes and a general topical flow, outward from locally based traditional musies to transnational and global musics, The first three deal with the construction and expression of national identity in musics, Caroline Bithell discusses essentiellst notions of the Corsiean and Celtie characters and the revival of Goniean folk music, Graeme Smith examinee the expression of national identity in Australian Bush Bands, focusing on the evolution of the genre, interaetion with the Folk Revival, and Irish traditional music in Australia, Johanne Devlin Trew studies the legacy of Irish Catholic and Protestant identity in festivals and social life of the Ottawa Valley in Canada, Jerry Gadden examines innovation in compositions for highland pipe bands, from the concept of ensemble as defined in competition rules to recent marketing strategies of champion bands. Some of the recent innovations are calculated to play to an audience that crosses over from popular music, an issue taken up in most of the following articles. Scott Reiss discusses how the existence of a Celtic Imaginary interacts with the idea of tradition, and analyzes strategies currently operating in popular culture and popular musics to sustain this realm. …

Singing a Dance: Navigating the Musical Soundscape in "Nihon Buyo"

continues to be based on a master-disciple (one-on-one) system. During lessons students follow the teacher's every movement through visual, kinesthetic, tactile, oral/aural means of transmission.2 Though research on the oral transmission of music has been strong through the history of ethnomusicology, few in-depth investigations of how students learn to and navigate within the musical soundscape exist. This paper focuses on one mode of teaching: oral transmission. I supply case studies from my fieldwork in Tokyo at the central Tachibana school where headmasters (iemoto, Tachibana Yoshie and (soke original or previous headmaster) Tachibana Hiroyo teach.3 I have studied nihon buyo since the age of four. Throughout this article I include my personal experiences observing and taking lessons in an attempt to provide readers with a glimpse of the intimate, physical nature of the transmission process. The Japanese performing arts remain fully integrated in their artistic disciplines-a combined expressivity of music, literary narrative, visual arts (costume, props, scenery), and movement. Sonic and visual artistry must be completely coordinated for the expressive richness of the narrative to come alive. How do dancers learn to move with, or inside, a musical structure? In many cases dancers become part of the musical landscape, by producing elements of the soundworld in which they (claps, stamps, or vocal parts, for example). Through an examination of the oral transmission of dance, this article unravels the process of how dancers learn to comprehend their path through the complexity of nihon buyo musical sounds. I offer musical transcriptions and case studies of lessons as examples of specific teaching techniques used to teach music and dance. Oral instructions during nihon buyo lessons impart a wide range of directions to a student, both general and specific: fundamental movements, choreography, narrative story line, emotional content, and music. Comprehending the dance, from basic movements and choreography to musical and emotional considerations, is a complex coordination. I found that teachers' articulations in lessons form a metalanguage, a unique instructional language reflecting a varied and deeply complex matrix of information. This dance speak is comprised of a fragmented, yet completely fluid combination of the musical vocal line, instrumental vocables, emotive exclamations, and instructive speech. A closer inspection of the oral transmission process reveals that the metalanguage created during

Comparative musicology and anthropology of music: essays on the history of ethnomusicology

Nineteen scholars from five countries explore significant issues in the history of ethnomusicology and its methodological and theoretical foundations, while providing a critique of the discipline. This is a useful and enriching collection of articles of interest to musicologists and ethnomusicologists...The authors manage to cover much ground, presenting fascinating insights into the history of the discipline while also exploring new directions in both theory and analysis...the most sweeping work of this kind to be published since the 1960s.--L. D. Loeb, University of Utah, for Choice

Issues, Ideas, and Personalities in the History of Ethnomusicology. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 14-17 April 1988

Issues, Ideas, and Personalities in the History of Ethnomusicology. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 14-17 April 1988

Issues, Ideas, and Personalities in the History of Ethnomusicology. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 14-17 April 1988

Formal occasions on which we take stock of the intellectual heritage of the discipline are as rare in musicology as in other fields of study. All the more welcome, then, was the opportunity to evaluate past trends and future directions in the intellectual history 270 of ethnomusicology provided by this meeting, painstakingly organized and graciously hosted by Bruno Nettl and his colleagues in the School of Music of the University of Illinois-Urbana Campus, with the participation of several other units of the University. The conference drew over seventy participants from North America and Europe. Presenters and discussants from Czechoslovakia, Norway, East and West Germany, and Japan, in addition to North American scholars, provided a wide range of perspectives on ethnomusicology as practiced both in the United States and abroad. The international tone of both formal and informal discussions was en-

Traditional Music and Cultural Identity: Persistent Paradigm in the History of Ethnomusicology

1. Reassessing the Intellectual History of Ethnomusicology As many of the articles in this volume of the Yearbook for Traditional Music celebrate the first forty years of the ICTM and the concerted, if indeed polyphonic, voice that that organization has provided the study of traditional music throughout the world, they evoke a mood of reflection and reexamination of the intellectual history of ethnomusicology. Reflection was abundantly evident as the ICTM paused in 1987 to call attention to its achievements with a grand commemoration in Berlin, itself taking stock of a 750-year history. But the reflective mood of the ICTM's fortieth year was not simply a matter of panegyrizing the past; rather, it seemed equally concerned with reexamining the present and future in light of that past, with contrasting the old and the new, with juxtaposing them and encouraging ethnomusicologists to welcome that which has more recently come to shape our understanding of music throughout the world. In this article I shall be taking the current mood of reflection as both a point of departure and of arrival; in other words, I shall be looking at the subject of that reflection-the intellectual history of the field-and speculating about some of its motivations, some of the reasons that the past has come to play such an important role in assessing the present. Indeed, this concern with the past has begun to distinguish current directions in the field and to inform our present discourse by forging new ideas and fresh concepts. Ethnomusicology's reflective mood, then, may well be signaling a new look at the future with its refined assessment of the past. Birthdays and anniversaries, such as the fortieth of the ICTM and the 750th of Berlin, usually cause the celebrants to reflect on both youth and more advanced age. During much of the past forty years, however, ethnomusicologists more commonly thought of theirs as a young field, and to some extent it is safe to say that many still do. Perhaps this results from a preference for using data we ourselves collect. Fieldwork, ethnography, transcription, and even classification often stress the individual decision and involve some exercise of personal control over the material presentation of someone else's music. Our constant concern for musical and cultural change also molds our historical thinking in special ways, ensuring that we not ignore the present and spurring us to speculate on the future. There are, of course, other reasons why many ethnomusicologists seem preoccupied with the present and nervous about their disciplinary past. Surely there were early ethnomusicological studies that resulted from orientalist abuses or that relied on forms of collection and analysis whose accuracy has to be questioned. Looking at any historical body of scholarship turns up studies that are wrong-headed, and partic

Research on Folk Music in Austria Since 1800

During recent years there have been two major attempts to take stock of folk music research in Austria. Walther Wünsch, former head of the Institute for Ethnomusicology at the University of Music and Theatre Arts in Graz, has reported on the history of ethnomusicology in Austria, and Walter Graf, who once held the chair of comparative musicology at Vienna University, has published an essay on comparative musicology in Austria since 1896. Neither of them, it seems to me, does complete justice to his subject, in that he limits himself to the work of those Austrian collectors, editors, and researchers who have dealt with fields other than Austria itself. Of course, there is as little agreement on the question of what really constitutes comparative musicology as there is on the definition of ethnomusicology. But for that very reason we should be careful not to ignore either the new field of “European ethnomusicology” or, in particular, those comparative studies that have dealt with the researches of Béla Bartók, Werner Danckert, Constantin Brâiloiu, Walter Wiora, and with the results of their collecting activities.

Analysis: The Herding of Sacred Cows?

n the relatively brief history of ethnomusicology, we have witnessed the promulgation of a wide array of methods for treating music. Most of these methods have received little discussion. It would seem that each has a discrete existence, unquestioningly accepted and passed along only to its creator's students. There are a few exceptions to this; however, for the most part, there has been little of the debate and disagreement which is the developmental essence of other subjects. For the past ninety years, ethnomusicology has addressed itself to the study of music, both as a sound phenomenon and as a behavioral manifestation. The study of musical sound systems per se has an even longer history. Yet no general agreement has been reached; few hypotheses have been discussed or tested. This lack of agreement may be explained, although not excused, by the diversity of training of ethnomusicologists. Some of us were trained as anthropologists; some, as musicologists; few indeed were trained in both disciplines, and some were trained in neither. We are at present united only by a common interest in music. The potential for the development of ethnomusicology is great. A constant stream of new ideas is possible, due to the variety of our training. These ideas, drawn from several different disciplines, could result in the development of a field of study which is tremendously dynamic. Without communication, however, none of this is possible. It is common for a field to exhibit diversity at the beginning. This is particularly true when the actual subject matter of that field is itself quite varied. We have only to look at the history of anthropological theory to understand that that discipline, with its holistic ideal and encyclopedic goals, went through a beginning not unlike our own (see Lowie, 1937). Ethnomusicology has now passed through its infancy. It is time for us to begin the task of summarizing, amalgamating, incorporating, and testing. It is not wise that we should continue to operate in isolation from one another. First, there is the danger that, after several generations of students, we will no longer be able to bridge the already widening terminological and conceptual gap. More importantly, we need the exchange of ideas, the testing of hypotheses in different societies. Only through this process can we ever