Music History Research Articles

Changing the Record? The (re)Making of Rock ‘n’ Roll, ‘Race’ and Teenage Leisure in 1950s Cleveland

AbstractThis paper aims to explore, and reframe, the relations between rock ‘n’ roll, leisure, ‘race’ and youth in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1950s, utilizing archival research to question the heritagization of the city’s popular music histories. Specifically drawing upon accounts of radio broadcasting and vinyl records, we offer an archival study of Cleveland, Ohio, a city that claims to be the “birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll” and (since 1986) is the site of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. After contextualizing the 1950s, we conceptualize the recent archival (re)turn in socio-cultural research. Through this methodological lens we overview the special collections, documents and artefacts explored in fieldwork at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Library and Archives. Then, three counter-stories are presented toward decentring and demythologizing the canonical history of rock ‘n’ roll in Cleveland. Against this canonization, we “change the record” of histories of local radio broadcasting, record stores and eyewitness accounts from Cleveland’s black teenage audiences often absent from many authorized heritage discourses of early rock ‘n’ roll. In deconstructing myths of Cleveland’s musical past, the paper frames archival research as a critical, if under-utilized resource, in leisure research.

O violão na imprensa carioca dos oitocentos

This article aims to reveal how newspaper archives can support musical history research by providing an important tool for developing and covering themes focused by Brazilian musicology. The presence of the classical guitar in Rio de Janeiro is highlighted beginning in the 1840s in the hands of foreign artists, who fostered the development of the city’s nineteenth-century musical life, a busy agenda of musical performances that allows us to become acquainted with the guitar’s repertoire, which was composed of original works and especially transcriptions of opera arias.

”Un compositeur d’un grand mêrite” i Paris – Laura Netzel och hennes kammarmusik vid ingången till kvinnornas århundrade

An interest in women in Nordic music history and a fascination with Laura Netzel's (1839–1927) chamber music characterises this article. In addition to focusing on works, reception, and context, the article examines the question of what role did gender play in the reception of Netzel's and her women colleagues' chamber music? How is the reviewers' understandings of gender and originality intertwined into their texts in daily newspapers and music magazines? And finally: Do possibilities for a transformation towards a more equal chamber music repertoire and more equal music history books exist? Despite Anna Rogstad's (1854–1938) predictions that the 20th century would become "the women's century," the concert scene, and the chamber music environment in particular, was characterized by gender-related prejudices. Still, Laura Netzel received recognition for her great originality and captivating musicality when she stayed in Paris at the turn of the century. In contrast to her male Nordic colleagues, she received glowing reviews where the works are described as bold and permeated with a Nordic tone. The article focuses on two chamber music works from one of her stays in Paris: Cello Sonata, opus 66 and Piano Trio in D minor, opus 78. In the Sonata for Cello and Piano, we encounter a very expressive and mature, but also bold, forward rushing and adventurous Netzel. The style is late Romantic, but also clearly influenced by contemporary French music and in constant development. The harmonics are exploratory, but never proved too demanding for the audience and critics of the time. The Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in D minor was premiered in 1903 at La société Musique Nouvelle with Netzel herself at the piano. Enthusiastic Scandinavians in the audience were seated together with several famous music authorities of the French capital. Le Monde musical praised it for being written with such great confidence.

Remaking early music history

Remaking early music history

“Different New Music in Yugoslavia”: The Earliest Minimalist Manifestations

Some of Yugoslavia’s most radical musical manifestations unfolded during the 1970s and 1980s. Aided by postwar Yugoslav cultural programs, the iconic Student Cultural Center (SKC) in Belgrade – a student-managed “safe space” for free expression and creativity – opened its doors in 1971 and instantly became a magnet for experimental musicians throughout the Western and Eastern Blocs. A group of rebellious composers and performers – Opus 4 and the Ensemble for Different New Music made some of the largest strides in Yugoslav music history and defined a new era of avant-garde and a unique brand of minimalism, influenced by performance and conceptual art, Cage-style experimentalism, Fluxus, and the use of multimedia. This study briefly illustrates their robust vision that connected the East with the West in a fruitful exchange of ideas, despite the geo-political division of the world at the time.

Schoenberg as Strauss

This article examines and contextualizes Arnold Schoenberg’s arrangements of waltzes by Johann Strauss, arguing that they demonstrate how Schoenberg’s music, while radically modern, was at the same time profoundly shaped by nostalgia. This particular type of nostalgia—not simply a longing for a lost past, but rather an act of remembering that is imperfect, a dialectical process that looks backwards even as it participates in constructions of the self that are oriented towards the future—underwrites Schoenberg’s engagement with the past and anxiety about the future. His waltz arrangements, celebrating the pinnacle of Viennese imperial culture, are contemporary with his foray in dodecaphony, and as such curiously anachronistic. But, as I argue here, considering Schoenberg as a nostalgic—via the work of cultural theorists like Svetlana Boym—opens the door to some possible different narratives for music history. Schoenberg’s legacy of “crisis and progress” can thus be challenged, and something like Boym’s “third way” of modernism, with its “lateral possibilities,” can emerge.

Beyoncé's “break my soul”: An anthem of courage, resistance, peace, and community

AbstractIn 2023, Beyoncé became the artist with the most Grammys in music history. Her dance track, “Break My Soul,” from her Renaissance album,* is a radical statement about community and self‐affirmation grounded in Black and queer cultural specificity. This article explores “Break My Soul” as an anthem of uplift, advice, and unity that offers hope and reprieve to a world emerging from a global pandemic and a “racial reckoning” galvanized by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's murder of George Floyd.

Hospital blues: reflections on writing and hearing healthcare histories through blues and folk music performance

ABSTRACT In recent years, scholars have investigated the sonic dimensions of healthcare environments. Less well explored, however, is the musical history of the hospital: how musicians sang about hospitals as social commentary or to narrativize their own experiences of hospitals and/or hospitalization. This short creative reflection looks back on my performance of blues and folk songs about hospitals at the Senses in Modern Health/Care Environments conference in Bristol in 2022. It asks how blues and folk songs about hospitals recorded in the twentieth century might recover how musician, patients, and musician–patients – particularly those from marginalized communities in the US South and Britain – experienced and perceived healthcare environments. As well as a short overview of the histories of some of these songs, this piece considers the value and ethics of musical performance as a means to researching, teaching, and understanding the histories of healthcare.

The Hexi Corridor Elements in Traditional Music and Contemporary Innovation and Application

This article explores the characteristics of the Hexi Corridor elements in traditional music and their innovation and application in contemporary times. The research background includes a review of the cultural and musical history of the ancient geographical region of Hexi Corridor, analyzing its unique elements in traditional music such as melody, rhythm, and instruments. The research method adopts a combination of literature analysis and field research, collecting and analyzing relevant music materials to explore the core elements of music in the Hexi Corridor. The research results indicate that the musical elements of the Hexi Corridor have been innovatively applied in modern music creation, such as integrating electronic music, modern stage art, etc., enriching the expression forms of contemporary music. This article argues that the innovative application of traditional music elements in the Hexi Corridor not only broadens the expressive power of traditional music, but also provides new inspiration and materials for modern music creation. Research is of great significance in promoting the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture, and promoting the development of cultural diversity.

Elegance and virtuosity: the viola concerto in the classical era

The article examines the evolution of the viola concerto during the Classical period, highlighting the significance of this era in music history and emphasizing the aesthetic principles and fundamental ideas that shaped the Classical style. In the Classical period, the solo concerto became increasingly popular, gradually replacing the concerto grosso that dominated the Baroque period. This shift was influenced by technical advancements in musical instruments and the progress of the performers’ skills. However, the viola, due to its timbre and tonal characteristics, was less prominent in the concert repertoire compared to other string instruments. The article investigates the significant contributions of composers such as W. Herschel, members of the Stamitz family, F. Benda, J.M. Kraus, J.B. Vanhal, and C.F. Zelter to the development of the viola concerto during the Classical period, as well as the controversy surrounding the viola concerto attributed to Ivan Khandoshkin. Through these analyses, a comprehensive perspective is provided on the importance and evolution of the viola concerto in the context of Classical music.

Alberta Hunter, Musical Qualia of Blackness, and Black Women Working Together

Abstract In this article, I argue for a culturally specific and historically informed understanding of Black voice and musical identity through an examination of the musical practices of vocalist Alberta Hunter (1895–1984), whose long career can be broken into two distinct periods: first from the middle of the 1910s to 1956, and a second between 1977 and her death in 1984. Within, I reframe musical practices emergent from and developed within Black American communities as musical “qualia”—socio-culturally informed and chronotopically situated embodiments of something’s properties—of Blackness, to enable a more direct investigation of how and why certain sounds signal or index Blackness to both listeners and performers. To demonstrate the musico-semiotic function of Black vocality and musical performance, I employ a synthetic methodology combining theorizations of qualia from the field of linguistic anthropology with detailed transcription and analysis of four recordings of “Downhearted Blues,” a piece she co-composed with pianist Cora “Lovie” Austin and recorded several times throughout her long career. Close examination of three recordings made by Hunter (1922, 1939, and 1977) and one made by vocalist Bessie Smith (1923) allows for a more granular understanding of how Hunter’s musical practice transformed over time in dialogue with broader genealogies of Black musical history. I focus particularly on Hunter’s relationships with other Black women in the performance of this tune, arguing that “Downhearted Blues” ultimately becomes a site for the development of a Black feminist epistemology exemplary of what musicologist Tammy Kernodle has identified as “Black Women Working Together” (2014).

A “set” of ancient bronze bells excavated in Changsha, Hunan Province, China

This article explores the criteria used to ascertain whether or not, and how, ancient Chinese bronze bells might form sets of musical instruments, thus clarifying their original intended use by ancient musicians. The focus is on ten bells unearthed from Changsha city in Hunan province in China, which date to the twelfth century BCE. A range of diverse relationships between these bells provide valuable insights that can be explored. Debate is ongoing among music historians regarding the nature of the bells. Some argue that the ten bells do not constitute a set of musical instruments because their designs and acoustic properties lack sufficient similarity and correlation. Conversely, another group of historians suggests that nine of the ten bells could indeed be seen as a set, but with the tenth bell being an outlier due to its distinct design. The third group of historians contends that the ten bells should be considered a musical set because of their organized sequence of consecutive semi-tones, while the design differences of the bells are less significant and can be overlooked if we focus on their musical functions. In this study, we scrutinize the assumptions made by these music historians, including their definitions of design similarity and the sequence of progressive pitches. Further previously overlooked criteria, such as the geographical proximity of these ten bells and others found in neighboring areas, and the incremental changes in the bell sizes, are also considered. Through the use of these criteria we aim to explore a wide range of relationships between ancient Chinese bells and to reassess what other new evidence the bells may offer to the study of ancient Chinese musical concepts. The concept of the chromatic scale discovered by ancient Chinese musicians was embodied on the casting of bronze bells.

The Brilliance of a Poet in Different Musical Works: Exploring the Poetry of Emily Dickinson

It is easy to see that many composers’ success throughout Western music history is due to the perfect match between their songs and lyrics. This phenomenon is lateral evidence of the importance of beautiful poetry for composers. A good poem can provide different inspiration for many composers. In music and other artistic fields, creators have always faced the same dilemma: How do they highlight their creations in a blossoming body of work? How do they reform or innovate after peaking at a certain point in a field? In this paper, we will take a look at the poet Emily Dickinson and four songs based on her poetry, examining how different composers bring out the unique beauty of her works.

Literacy Preservation of the Zhuang Ethnic Group’s Folk Song “Fwen Sam Ngued” in Pingguo, Guangxi, China

This study focuses on the literacy preservation of the Zhuang ethnic group’s folk song “Fwen Sam Ngued” in Pingguo, Guangxi, China, which is critical for maintaining cultural identity and legacy. This preservation endeavor is centered on understanding and conserving the Haleu song, which is an important component of Zhuang folk music culture. The Haleu song, with its distinctive melody and duet style, serves as the principal expression in the performance of “Fwen Sam Ngued.” Singers’ varied interpretations of the melodies in “Fwen Sam Ngued” demonstrate the dynamic nature of oral tradition and knowledge transfer. Zhuang folk music knowledge preservation strategies emphasize the importance of lyrics, oral transmission, and singing in various aspects of life. Furthermore, the modern-day growth of Zhuang song fairs highlights the importance of proactive preservation efforts in the face of societal change. By supporting literacy and cultural preservation projects, the Zhuang people’s unique musical history can be preserved for future generations.

HABITUS, RESISTANCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF MUSICAL MEANING

AbstractThis article defines and explores the concept of ‘resistance’ as a source of musical meaning in performance. Using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of ‘habitus’ as a framework, I examine my musical habitus: the embodied, internalised ways I play my instrument and think about music, which reflect my extensive musical histories and the fields in which these histories have taken place. Resistance arises in practice when this habitus is undermined. When the types of musicking undertaken circumvent my habituated understanding of acceptable performance and performative roles, it manifests as a pull towards more familiar modes of musical engagement. Making specific reference to resistance experienced in the development and performance of Alex Harker's Drift Shadow (2021), for solo oboe and electronics, the article outlines the ways in which my subjective relationship to my instrument and my role as a performer produce particular understandings of a work that can then nuance the way I play the piece.

Santur-Playing Iranian Americans in Northern California

In Northern California, there are Iranian Americans who play santur, originally a representative instrument of Iranian music. The present article focuses on this community, taking the following issues under consideration: · What are the aesthetic conceptions of Iranian santurs and their sounds, held by santur-playing Iranian Americans in Northern California? · What are the social applications of Iranian santurs in Northern California? Regarding methods, participatory study in the field served as the basis for this work. Partners of the study took part in intensive interviews, and also shared their opinions on various music samples. Literary investigation was also applied, clarifying the necessary historical and social backgrounds. My particular interest in santur led me to conduct this work. An aspect of it lies in underlining of diaspora discourse in ethnomusicology. Although there are strong ties between Iranian santur practitioners in Iran and santur-playing Iranian Americans in Northern California, the latter group has its own distinctive social identity and follows its concerns. Their repertoire goes beyond Iranian music as understood in Iran: it includes folk music and takes influences from neighboring minorities, such as Indian Americans. Regarding social applications of santur in Northern California, this study focuses on two main trends: political motivations, and interest in establishing dialogues with neighboring cultures. In both cases, the role of Radif-inspired improvisation is strongly present. In Northern California, the santur is used by various segments of the society. This practice sometimes goes beyond the Iranian American community. As this study focuses on a specific practice of santur away from the instrument’s original homeland, its outcomes can contribute not only to ethnomusicology, but also to areas of diaspora studies, music history, and such creative directions as music performance and improvisation.

Sounds of History: A Digital Twin Approach to Musical Heritage Preservation in Virtual Museums

Musical cultural heritage, as an important component of cultural heritage, possesses significant cultural value and inheritance significance. With the development of society and the passage of time, these precious traditional musical cultural heritages inevitably face the dilemma of gradual depletion or even disappearance. In the digital age, effectively protecting and inheriting these musical cultural heritages has become an urgent problem to be addressed. Therefore, this paper proposes an application method based on digital twin technology, exploring how to protect and inherit musical cultural heritages through digital twin technology. By leveraging digital twin technology, a virtual museum dedicated to showcasing the richness and historical connotations of music cultures is created, preserving and simulating the soundscapes of historical music eras. Through the integration of audio archives, 3D modeling, and interactive displays, users can immerse themselves in the experience of historical music in the digital space. This paper evaluates the feasibility and cultural preservation value of this digital music history museum through the creation of music digital twin technology instances and user survey feedback and discusses the prospects of digital twins in the field of musical cultural heritage.

Poet-Composer Collaborations in Modern Egyptian Song: A Social Network Analysis Approach to Music History

In this paper I formulate and apply a social network analysis methodology for understanding the history of song on Egyptian radio. Music is a massively relational cultural form, involving interactions among composers, poets, arrangers, conductors, and performers, among others. The reality of music history thus emerges as a complex network of relationships, unfolding and changing over time. Song production, in particular, centers on poet-composer-singer collaborations. Many Arab music histories highlight narratives of the stars, presented in historical and cultural context, but neglect the broader network of productive relationships. However many important musical figures are not celebrities, and the full complexity of the non-linear network can only be grasped holistically, including big data empirical analysis, not pointillistically through case studies of celebrities. Such holistic analysis can reveal surprising emergent, structural patterns that are not apparent in any single narrative. Social network analysis (SNA) offers a powerful suite of tools enabling such an approach, including metrics for centrality and the detection of cohesive subgroups. Starting with a large dataset of songs broadcast on Egyptian radio, I extract a network of poet-composer collaborations, and apply SNA algorithms to reveal its social structure. I then interpret that structure in light of wider socio-cultural and historical factors. In this way, my paper both sheds light on Egypt’s musical history, and supplies a model and method that may be applied, mutatis mutandis, to other musical domains.

European Musical Didactic Traditions – Comparative Analysis Between Romania and Italy

This article delves into the evolution and diversity of musical didactic traditions across Europe, with a special focus on Romania and Italy, underscoring how technological, social, and cultural changes have shaped music education over centuries. It presents a thorough analysis, comparing teaching methods, the impact of composers and pedagogues, and the role of technology in music education. The study highlights the unique pedagogical approaches of Romania and Italy, influenced by their rich musical histories and cultural contexts. Romania’s music education, characterized by a blend of folk and classical traditions, emphasizes auditory learning and improvisation, but also by training exceptional instrumental techniques. Italy, known for its classical music heritage, combines technical rigor with interpretive freedom. The comparison reveals both similarities, such as a shared tradition in classical music and a balanced approach to tradition and innovation, and differences, like the diversity of repertoire and the adoption of technology in teaching. The article concludes with the importance of these traditions in shaping future generations of musicians and suggests future research directions for a deeper understanding of musical didactic traditions in Europe. Keywords: musical didactic traditions, comparative analysis, Romania, Italy

The African American Collections Relating to Music at Emory University’s Rose Library

ABSTRACT: United States music history has for years privileged whiteness and largely ignored or disregarded the contributions of African Americans. The Stuart R. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, houses over thirty collections (and growing) related to African American musicians that could be used to both uncover and recover the critical role African Americans played in the music culture of the United States. This article presents a brief overview of these holdings to date, including the papers of composers (such as William Dawson, George Walker, and Undine Smith Moore), entertainers (such as Victoria Spivey, Bricktop, and Geoffrey Holder), and researchers (such as Rae Linda Brown, Geneva Southall, and Delilah Jackson). Types of materials held include manuscript letters and scores, photographs, and published music (both print and recorded) by and about African Americans.