I am a musicologist, performer and ethnographer. My primary interests are in Thai music, history and culture, and the study of 'Western' music and culture, including aesthetics, pedagogy and analysis. I am particularly interested in the processes involved in intercultural musical synthesis. A full list of publications is in my CV
This paper discusses contemporary practices of synthesising musical elements associated with trad... more This paper discusses contemporary practices of synthesising musical elements associated with traditional Isan music, especially the khaen and pin instruments, with Western derived musical elements. It is based on extensive fieldwork and draws on the contemporary musicological insight that musical meaning arises in the performance of music rather than residing in a 'score'. This places the emphasis on the performers' concepts and practices which are understood through ethnographic fieldwork. The process of intercultural musical synthesis raises a variety of musical and extra-musical questions about established orthodoxies in music. The objectives, processes and outcomes of Isan musicians who use traditional performance practice in contemporary musical forms demonstrates that the task of bringing into alignment musical elements from disparate musical systems is but one of the challenges faced by musicians working towards music-cultural hybridity. There are also a range of cultural and ethical factors involved in the combination of Isan and Western derived musical elements. The concept of improvisation that has grown up in jazz and 'world music' understands it to be a practice
Relatively little has been published in English about dontri Thai (Thai classical music) and due ... more Relatively little has been published in English about dontri Thai (Thai classical music) and due to the absence of Thai scholars from English language musicological scholarship, most of what has been published was written by non-Thai scholars who have relied upon terms and concepts developed for explaining music with roots in the European tradition. The importation of extrinsic categories conceals indigenous explanatory models and blocks paths connecting Thai musical performance and thought to other areas of Thai culture and social life. This article frames the silence of Thai voices and their ways of knowing as the epistemological dimension of the colonising enterprise, the effects of which have made their way into Thai universities where they have transformed intellectual life and dontri Thai pedagogy. The disciplinary reorientation suggested here aims towards a pluralist model of musicological thought and method. This will open a space for different ways of musical knowing, creating, and theorising to enter from where they may decentre and reshape Western musicological discourse and practice. A rethink of musicology will help align its disciplinary goals with the aims of addressing equality of representation and allow unheard Thai voices to explain their own music in their own terms.
Relatively little has been published in English about dontri Thai (Thai classical music) and due ... more Relatively little has been published in English about dontri Thai (Thai classical music) and due to the absence of Thai scholars from English language musicological scholarship, most of what has been published was written by non-Thai scholars who have relied upon terms and concepts developed for explaining music with roots in the European tradition. The importation of extrinsic categories conceals indigenous explanatory models and blocks paths connecting Thai musical performance and thought to other areas of Thai culture and social life. This article frames the silence of Thai voices and their ways of knowing as the epistemological dimension of the colonising enterprise, the effects of which have made their way into Thai universities where they have transformed intellectual life and dontri Thai pedagogy. The disciplinary reorientation suggested here aims towards a pluralist model of musicological thought and method. This will open a space for different ways of musical knowing, creating, and theorising to enter from where they may decentre and reshape Western musicological discourse and practice. A rethink of musicology will help align its disciplinary goals with the aims of addressing equality of representation and allow unheard Thai voices to explain their own music in their own terms.
Following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 13 October 2016, the country entered... more Following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 13 October 2016, the country entered an official period of mourning. In an attenuation of existing practices rather than a departure from them, the unelected military government assumed control of all media and used it to curate the tone of national mourning. Music was then enlisted in the process to help shape the emotional register of the grieving process. Government-controlled media’s actions were exemplified in the broadcasting practices of the police-run radio station in the north-eastern city of Khon Kaen. It repeatedly played only a small number of structurally and aesthetically similar popular songs that shared hagiographic narrative themes of praise for the late king and emphasized national solidarity. The government’s use of its power, the importance of the king in the Thai imagination and the maintenance of societal equilibrium following his death are briefly explained through Bunn’s concept of ‘new censorship’.
Differences between Thai fixed-pitch and non-fixed-pitch musical practice have been described, bu... more Differences between Thai fixed-pitch and non-fixed-pitch musical practice have been described, but there has been no accepted explanation of these differences in relation to the accepted Thai tuning theory. This theory maintains that the Thai scale is equidistant, but it was not formulated to explain the practices and concepts of musicians who sing or play non-fixed-pitch instruments. The absence of an explanation for these practices is attributed to the tendency among scholars to accept assumptions about tuning that were developed for European rather than Thai music. This article is relevant to Southeast Asian studies as it deals with the problem of imported extrinsic theory displacing indigenous explanatory models.
Proceedings of the 6th Symposium of The ICTM Study Group on Performing Arts of South East Asia, 2020
English language descriptions and analysis of Thai music are typically presented in terms that re... more English language descriptions and analysis of Thai music are typically presented in terms that reflect Euro-American theoretical, aesthetic and analytical categories derived from semantic and analytical traditions remote from Thai musical practice and thought. Given the background of the researchers, it is perhaps inevitable that the conceptual tools and processes developed for European music are applied to Thai music. But these processes and tools and the technical jargon that surrounds them are not functionally neutral or ‘objective’ but are fundamentally predetermined. Aside from being developed to isolate harmonic, timbrel, melodic, rhythmic and textural elements not part of Thai music they tend to cloak the subjective nature of interpretation. So when presented in English language scholarship, the typology of the analytical process and its epistemology has already been preconfigured to search for and describe certain elements and traits as primary types; a condition that predetermines not only what analysis produces, but also what comprises description. Through processes of transmission, some of these practices have made it into Thai modes of analytical thought thereby crowding out indigenous explanatory models and interpretation. To enable English language portrayals of Thai music to more faithfully represent it; such that go beyond descriptions of musical elements, forms and instruments, it is crucial to understand the principles which condition its creation and interpretation. This includes an interrogation of presuppositions that determine the categories by which music is conceptualized as an object for analytical and aesthetic theorizing. This presentation attempts to clarify Thai musical practice and thought by seeking out Thai analytical categories and root metaphors used to foreground aspects considered essential in Thai musical thought. It will explore the histories and dependencies of musical ideas and trace them to the socio-cultural factors that are their sources and ensure that these predetermined norms end up as musical rules.
MSA Victorian Chapter Newsletter. Interview with Prof Peter Tregear , 2022
Australian universities find themselves tossed by turbulent political and ideological winds and t... more Australian universities find themselves tossed by turbulent political and ideological winds and there is discontentment everywhere. These troubles have drawn the attention of concerned stakeholders who are unwilling to remain silent about what they see as the steady degradation of the sector. A thumbnail sample of this sentiment can be found in Raewyn Connell's The Good University: What Universities Actually Do and Why It's Time for Radical Change, and her piece in The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/remaking-universities-notes-fromthe-sidelines-of-catastrophe-175920), John Hewson's What does the prime minister have against universities,? in the Saturday Paper (Oct 23-29 2021) and Julian Meyrick's Drama in hell; The descent of creative arts at Australia's universities in The Monthly (Oct 2021). This edition of the MSA Vic Chapter Newsletter presents an interview with Professor Peter Tregear who discusses problems in universities with a focus on what he see as declining standards of research, teaching and knowledge-work in music departments.
Photogrammetry has been used to control the assembly of a convex paraboloidal jig, used in the co... more Photogrammetry has been used to control the assembly of a convex paraboloidal jig, used in the construction of a 500 m dish concentrator. The photogrammetric measurement precision was ~ 1:175,000, corresponding to an accuracy of better than 1 mm at the jig reference points. Equipment (camera, flash and retro-reflective film) and software are discussed. Photogrammetry was also used to characterise the dish mirror panels: the rear surface of the panels was mapped, as it made possible a denser target array and quicker image capture than if the reflective surface was used. The targets were produced with a digital projector, and the measurement precision attained was ~ 1:150,000.
This paper discusses contemporary practices of synthesising musical elements associated with trad... more This paper discusses contemporary practices of synthesising musical elements associated with traditional Isan music, especially the khaen and pin instruments, with Western derived musical elements. It is based on extensive fieldwork and draws on the contemporary musicological insight that musical meaning arises in the performance of music rather than residing in a 'score'. This places the emphasis on the performers' concepts and practices which are understood through ethnographic fieldwork. The process of intercultural musical synthesis raises a variety of musical and extra-musical questions about established orthodoxies in music. The objectives, processes and outcomes of Isan musicians who use traditional performance practice in contemporary musical forms demonstrates that the task of bringing into alignment musical elements from disparate musical systems is but one of the challenges faced by musicians working towards music-cultural hybridity. There are also a range of cultural and ethical factors involved in the combination of Isan and Western derived musical elements. The concept of improvisation that has grown up in jazz and 'world music' understands it to be a practice
Photogrammetry has been used to control the assembly of a convex paraboloidal jig, used in the co... more Photogrammetry has been used to control the assembly of a convex paraboloidal jig, used in the construction of a 500 m² dish concentrator. The photogrammetric measurement precision was ~ 1:175,000, corresponding to an accuracy of better than 1 mm at the jig reference points. Equipment (camera, flash and retro-reflective film) and software are discussed. Photogrammetry was also used to characterise the dish mirror panels: the rear surface of the panels was mapped, as it made possible a denser target array and quicker image capture than if the reflective surface was used. The targets were produced with a digital projector, and the measurement precision attained was ~ 1:150,000.
ESTERN and Thai Scholars of Thai music generally accept that Thai classical music (phleng Thai do... more ESTERN and Thai Scholars of Thai music generally accept that Thai classical music (phleng Thai doem) is based on a seven-tone equidistant tuning system which is sometimes called 7-tet (7-tone equal tempered). According to this theory, Thai tuning is defined by an ideal interval of 171.429 cents. This understanding stems from an encounter in London in 1885 between the noted mathematician Alexander J. Ellis, and a senior Siamese diplomat, Prince Prisdang. Despite persistent doubts about this theory, it has not been seriously questioned and no alternative explanations have been put forward to challenge the assumption that Ellis’s theory is accurate and comprehensive.
This paper discusses contemporary practices of synthesising musical elements associated with trad... more This paper discusses contemporary practices of synthesising musical elements associated with traditional Isan music, especially the khaen and pin instruments, with Western derived musical elements. It is based on extensive fieldwork and draws on the contemporary musicological insight that musical meaning arises in the performance of music rather than residing in a 'score'. This places the emphasis on the performers' concepts and practices which are understood through ethnographic fieldwork. The process of intercultural musical synthesis raises a variety of musical and extra-musical questions about established orthodoxies in music. The objectives, processes and outcomes of Isan musicians who use traditional performance practice in contemporary musical forms demonstrates that the task of bringing into alignment musical elements from disparate musical systems is but one of the challenges faced by musicians working towards music-cultural hybridity. There are also a range of cultural and ethical factors involved in the combination of Isan and Western derived musical elements. The concept of improvisation that has grown up in jazz and 'world music' understands it to be a practice
Relatively little has been published in English about dontri Thai (Thai classical music) and due ... more Relatively little has been published in English about dontri Thai (Thai classical music) and due to the absence of Thai scholars from English language musicological scholarship, most of what has been published was written by non-Thai scholars who have relied upon terms and concepts developed for explaining music with roots in the European tradition. The importation of extrinsic categories conceals indigenous explanatory models and blocks paths connecting Thai musical performance and thought to other areas of Thai culture and social life. This article frames the silence of Thai voices and their ways of knowing as the epistemological dimension of the colonising enterprise, the effects of which have made their way into Thai universities where they have transformed intellectual life and dontri Thai pedagogy. The disciplinary reorientation suggested here aims towards a pluralist model of musicological thought and method. This will open a space for different ways of musical knowing, creating, and theorising to enter from where they may decentre and reshape Western musicological discourse and practice. A rethink of musicology will help align its disciplinary goals with the aims of addressing equality of representation and allow unheard Thai voices to explain their own music in their own terms.
Relatively little has been published in English about dontri Thai (Thai classical music) and due ... more Relatively little has been published in English about dontri Thai (Thai classical music) and due to the absence of Thai scholars from English language musicological scholarship, most of what has been published was written by non-Thai scholars who have relied upon terms and concepts developed for explaining music with roots in the European tradition. The importation of extrinsic categories conceals indigenous explanatory models and blocks paths connecting Thai musical performance and thought to other areas of Thai culture and social life. This article frames the silence of Thai voices and their ways of knowing as the epistemological dimension of the colonising enterprise, the effects of which have made their way into Thai universities where they have transformed intellectual life and dontri Thai pedagogy. The disciplinary reorientation suggested here aims towards a pluralist model of musicological thought and method. This will open a space for different ways of musical knowing, creating, and theorising to enter from where they may decentre and reshape Western musicological discourse and practice. A rethink of musicology will help align its disciplinary goals with the aims of addressing equality of representation and allow unheard Thai voices to explain their own music in their own terms.
Following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 13 October 2016, the country entered... more Following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 13 October 2016, the country entered an official period of mourning. In an attenuation of existing practices rather than a departure from them, the unelected military government assumed control of all media and used it to curate the tone of national mourning. Music was then enlisted in the process to help shape the emotional register of the grieving process. Government-controlled media’s actions were exemplified in the broadcasting practices of the police-run radio station in the north-eastern city of Khon Kaen. It repeatedly played only a small number of structurally and aesthetically similar popular songs that shared hagiographic narrative themes of praise for the late king and emphasized national solidarity. The government’s use of its power, the importance of the king in the Thai imagination and the maintenance of societal equilibrium following his death are briefly explained through Bunn’s concept of ‘new censorship’.
Differences between Thai fixed-pitch and non-fixed-pitch musical practice have been described, bu... more Differences between Thai fixed-pitch and non-fixed-pitch musical practice have been described, but there has been no accepted explanation of these differences in relation to the accepted Thai tuning theory. This theory maintains that the Thai scale is equidistant, but it was not formulated to explain the practices and concepts of musicians who sing or play non-fixed-pitch instruments. The absence of an explanation for these practices is attributed to the tendency among scholars to accept assumptions about tuning that were developed for European rather than Thai music. This article is relevant to Southeast Asian studies as it deals with the problem of imported extrinsic theory displacing indigenous explanatory models.
Proceedings of the 6th Symposium of The ICTM Study Group on Performing Arts of South East Asia, 2020
English language descriptions and analysis of Thai music are typically presented in terms that re... more English language descriptions and analysis of Thai music are typically presented in terms that reflect Euro-American theoretical, aesthetic and analytical categories derived from semantic and analytical traditions remote from Thai musical practice and thought. Given the background of the researchers, it is perhaps inevitable that the conceptual tools and processes developed for European music are applied to Thai music. But these processes and tools and the technical jargon that surrounds them are not functionally neutral or ‘objective’ but are fundamentally predetermined. Aside from being developed to isolate harmonic, timbrel, melodic, rhythmic and textural elements not part of Thai music they tend to cloak the subjective nature of interpretation. So when presented in English language scholarship, the typology of the analytical process and its epistemology has already been preconfigured to search for and describe certain elements and traits as primary types; a condition that predetermines not only what analysis produces, but also what comprises description. Through processes of transmission, some of these practices have made it into Thai modes of analytical thought thereby crowding out indigenous explanatory models and interpretation. To enable English language portrayals of Thai music to more faithfully represent it; such that go beyond descriptions of musical elements, forms and instruments, it is crucial to understand the principles which condition its creation and interpretation. This includes an interrogation of presuppositions that determine the categories by which music is conceptualized as an object for analytical and aesthetic theorizing. This presentation attempts to clarify Thai musical practice and thought by seeking out Thai analytical categories and root metaphors used to foreground aspects considered essential in Thai musical thought. It will explore the histories and dependencies of musical ideas and trace them to the socio-cultural factors that are their sources and ensure that these predetermined norms end up as musical rules.
MSA Victorian Chapter Newsletter. Interview with Prof Peter Tregear , 2022
Australian universities find themselves tossed by turbulent political and ideological winds and t... more Australian universities find themselves tossed by turbulent political and ideological winds and there is discontentment everywhere. These troubles have drawn the attention of concerned stakeholders who are unwilling to remain silent about what they see as the steady degradation of the sector. A thumbnail sample of this sentiment can be found in Raewyn Connell's The Good University: What Universities Actually Do and Why It's Time for Radical Change, and her piece in The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/remaking-universities-notes-fromthe-sidelines-of-catastrophe-175920), John Hewson's What does the prime minister have against universities,? in the Saturday Paper (Oct 23-29 2021) and Julian Meyrick's Drama in hell; The descent of creative arts at Australia's universities in The Monthly (Oct 2021). This edition of the MSA Vic Chapter Newsletter presents an interview with Professor Peter Tregear who discusses problems in universities with a focus on what he see as declining standards of research, teaching and knowledge-work in music departments.
Photogrammetry has been used to control the assembly of a convex paraboloidal jig, used in the co... more Photogrammetry has been used to control the assembly of a convex paraboloidal jig, used in the construction of a 500 m dish concentrator. The photogrammetric measurement precision was ~ 1:175,000, corresponding to an accuracy of better than 1 mm at the jig reference points. Equipment (camera, flash and retro-reflective film) and software are discussed. Photogrammetry was also used to characterise the dish mirror panels: the rear surface of the panels was mapped, as it made possible a denser target array and quicker image capture than if the reflective surface was used. The targets were produced with a digital projector, and the measurement precision attained was ~ 1:150,000.
This paper discusses contemporary practices of synthesising musical elements associated with trad... more This paper discusses contemporary practices of synthesising musical elements associated with traditional Isan music, especially the khaen and pin instruments, with Western derived musical elements. It is based on extensive fieldwork and draws on the contemporary musicological insight that musical meaning arises in the performance of music rather than residing in a 'score'. This places the emphasis on the performers' concepts and practices which are understood through ethnographic fieldwork. The process of intercultural musical synthesis raises a variety of musical and extra-musical questions about established orthodoxies in music. The objectives, processes and outcomes of Isan musicians who use traditional performance practice in contemporary musical forms demonstrates that the task of bringing into alignment musical elements from disparate musical systems is but one of the challenges faced by musicians working towards music-cultural hybridity. There are also a range of cultural and ethical factors involved in the combination of Isan and Western derived musical elements. The concept of improvisation that has grown up in jazz and 'world music' understands it to be a practice
Photogrammetry has been used to control the assembly of a convex paraboloidal jig, used in the co... more Photogrammetry has been used to control the assembly of a convex paraboloidal jig, used in the construction of a 500 m² dish concentrator. The photogrammetric measurement precision was ~ 1:175,000, corresponding to an accuracy of better than 1 mm at the jig reference points. Equipment (camera, flash and retro-reflective film) and software are discussed. Photogrammetry was also used to characterise the dish mirror panels: the rear surface of the panels was mapped, as it made possible a denser target array and quicker image capture than if the reflective surface was used. The targets were produced with a digital projector, and the measurement precision attained was ~ 1:150,000.
ESTERN and Thai Scholars of Thai music generally accept that Thai classical music (phleng Thai do... more ESTERN and Thai Scholars of Thai music generally accept that Thai classical music (phleng Thai doem) is based on a seven-tone equidistant tuning system which is sometimes called 7-tet (7-tone equal tempered). According to this theory, Thai tuning is defined by an ideal interval of 171.429 cents. This understanding stems from an encounter in London in 1885 between the noted mathematician Alexander J. Ellis, and a senior Siamese diplomat, Prince Prisdang. Despite persistent doubts about this theory, it has not been seriously questioned and no alternative explanations have been put forward to challenge the assumption that Ellis’s theory is accurate and comprehensive.
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Papers by John Garzoli