Applied Ethnomusicology

What is applied ethnomusicology and why did they say such bad things about it for so long? And why have they stopped? This essay is a description and history of applied ethnomusicology, with particular attention to its development in the United States, from the late 19th century to the present, by Jeff Todd Titon. The essay is Section 1 of the Introduction to the Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology, a volume edited by Jeff Todd Titon and Svanibor Pettan (Oxford University Press, 2015). Reprinted from Toward a Sound Ecology: New and Selected Essays (Indiana University Press, 2020).

As ethnomusicologists we have always made and used recordings as part of our research yet we have seldom questioned this central methodology beyond stating that we make and use recordings ‘for our own research purposes’. This special issue explores the potential for the use of archival recordings as a central part of research to provide a more equitable and enduring outcome for the benefit of cultural heritage communities as well as for ethnomusicological scholarship. As such, we argue for a fairer ethnomusicology, in which access to knowledge—often encapsulated in recordings—is facilitated for all, with ethnomusicologists taking responsibility for their own part in this important process.

Corresponding with the aesthetic of bir'yun or 'shimmering brilliance' created by the cross-hatching in Yolŋu painting, manikay (song) might also be characterised by a play of colour and movement, generated through the heterophonic interweaving of voices. While bir'yun might be considered a technique that generates emotion or a sense of beauty, the perception of bir'yun is decidedly more than the aesthetic. Bir'yun encompasses constitutional, political and educational dimensions, affirming Wägilak identity and purpose through an interplay of difference, in the diverse voices that enfolded together on the ceremonial ground (bambula). As the experience of bir'yun is enriched by new voices and colours, a productive approach to collaboration between Yolŋu and Balanda (non-indigenous) Australians is suggested: through mutually enriching conversation, a living interplay of voices is generated that brings life to the whole.

This paper extends out of 10 years of music teaching with Daniel Wilfred and our exploration of 'openings' within manikay for collaborative performance.

Presented at the 19th Symposium on Indigenous Music and Dance, National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia

Olonkho, the epic narrative and song tradition of Siberia’s Sakha people, declined to the brink of extinction during the Soviet era. In 2005, UNESCO’s Masterpiece Proclamation sparked a resurgence of interest in olonkho by recognizing its important role in humanity’s oral and intangible heritage. Drawing on her ten years living in the Russian North, Robin P. Harris documents how the Sakha have used the Masterpiece program to revive olonkho and strengthen their cultural identity. Harris’s personal relationships with and primary research among Sakha people provide vivid insights into understanding olonkho and the attenuation, revitalization, transformation, and sustainability of the Sakha’s cultural reemergence. Interdisciplinary in scope, Storytelling in Siberia considers the nature of folklore alongside ethnomusicology, anthropology, comparative literature, and cultural studies to shed light on how marginalized peoples are revitalizing their own intangible cultural heritage.
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"Deeply researched . . . With detailed analysis, Harris describes the changes that olonkho has endured from before the Soviet time, during the Communist regime, through perestroika, up to its present day."--Songlines

"Of relevance to understanding the challenges of cultural reemergence in other parts of the globe, this compelling book informs anthropologists and ethnomusicologists as well as a much broader audience about one of the true masterpieces of the world's oral literature-- its origins, content, and future. Readers witness the interplay of Christian and pre-Christian interpretations, the sad legacy of cultural loss during the Soviet years, and the aspirations of a modern nation to reclaim its vanishing cultural heritage amid a rapidly changing world. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice

"Strong ethnography is what makes Storytelling in Siberia an important text, taking readers to a place little studied, to the particularity of olonkho.--Ethnomusicology Forum

"Harris has crafted a complex and critical evaluation of a cultural-revival project in practice." --The Russian Review

"A most-welcome contribution to the analysis of the problems facing traditional art forms in the modern world." --Journal of American Folklore

"Rich in information about a sonic performance tradition little known in the West, Storytelling in Siberia is an important introduction to both Sakha storytelling and its history. Multidisciplinary in scope." --The World of Music

"Harris accomplished a laudable work. . . . Storytelling in Siberia is an important introduction to both Sakha storytelling and its history." --World of Music

“Robin Harris’s up-close and vividly written account of how an epic tradition from Siberia was proclaimed a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity is a masterpiece of contemporary ethnography in its own right.”--Theodore Levin, Dartmouth College

"Ancient artistry comes to us through the trial of centuries. This book gives us hope that the heroic epics of the Yakuts, having survived under Soviet power, will outlive these rapidly changing, turbulent times as well."--Eduard Alekseyev, Academy of Spirituality, Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

Publication of this book was supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the L. J. and Mary C. Skaggs Folklore Fund.

The Rainbow Serpent and the Young Man Wunggurr nyindi Warrunga jirri was illustrated
and told by Eamarlden Rivers in 2016 in Mowanjum, an Aboriginal Community in the
Kimberley, Western Australia. In May 2018 Matthew Dembalali Martin and Pansy Ngalgarr Nulgit retold Eamarlden’s story in Ungarinyin with the assistance of Rona Goonginda Charles, at Mangkajarda wetlands near Mowanjum. The retelling of Eamarlden’s story was translated by Matthew Dembalali Martin, Pansy Nalgarr Nulgit, and Thomas Saunders. The translation was edited by Sally Treloyn to fit the format of Eamarlden’s book.

This is a new story in English by a young Nyikina and
Ngarinyin dancer and storyteller, retold in Ngarinyin
language by elders in the Kimberley region of
Western Australia.

A young man, chased by his brothers, is protected
by the Rainbow Serpent until they join together to
dance Junba. The Rainbow Serpent and the Young
Man, Wunggurr nyindi Warrunga jirri is a cultural story
about bullying and the healing power of Country and dancing.

This research highlights one example of ethnic minority community members in the highlands of Cambodia who are actively using their traditional music for intergenerational communication of new information, especially to older members of the community who have always depended on oral means of communication. It looks at agency of community members and demonstrates how the revitalization of music has become a site of contesting not only outside influences such as nationalization but also as a site which contests the preservation of culture as something static, homogenous, and essentialized. Community members are collectively composing and engaging with new songs using their own music system in new contexts that assist the overall community to survive through creatively teaching and promoting vernacular literacy, AIDS prevention, and approaches for adapting to other dramatic changes that are taking place in their everyday life.
In looking at how music not only reflects culture but also creates culture this study applies sociolinguistic theory of language revitalization to music and culture shift and endangerment. While well intentioned ‘cultural preservation’ can have a variety of benefits it can also divert valuable time, energy, and resources away from activities that actually contribute to the sustainable maintenance of cultural vitality, or rather, to the continuing cultivation and creation of culture. Music creativity can provide a special medium of cultural reflexivity that is nested in community relationships for providing continuity in the midst of change thus decreasing marginalization of ethnic minority groups while allowing for language and cultural vitality, community solidarity, and survival in a rapidly changing world.

Applied ethnomusicologists and public folklorists in North America know that repeated visits to a musical community, with resultant friendships between culture workers and people making music, can lead to partnerships involving joint curation with goals of music-culture integrity and sustainability in the face of disturbance and change. Yet outer-directed strategies for achieving those goals, such as marking traditions as intangible cultural heritage for a creative, tourist-oriented economy, have had problematic consequences. Inner-directed resilience strategies aimed at achieving continuity in the political, economic, cultural and ecological as well as musical characteristics of each community offer a more promising alternative.

Kompetensi yang dibutuhkan dalam penciptaan seni tidak semata mata pada keadaan ekspresif yang menitikberatkan pada kompetensi artistik semata. Kompetensi seni dibutuhkan dalam kegiatan kesenian
untuk menghasilkan karya seni. Kompetensi ini hanya membutuhkan tacit knowledge dan implisit knowledge sebagai dasar dalam melaksanakan kegiatan. Namun, ketika pencipta seni mempertanggungjawabkan karyanya, baik lisan maupun tulisan, mereka membutuhkan pengetahuan eksplisit sebagai dasar. Tanpa pengetahuan eksplisit mereka tidak akan bisa mengkomunikasikan
pemikiran mereka yang telah terwujud berdasarkan pengetahuan tacit dan pengetahuan implisit. Untuk itu, dukungan state of analysis dan state of describing merupakan kebutuhan yang harus diupayakan bagi
siapapun yang mempelajari penciptaan seni.

The competence needed in art creation is not solely on expressivity, which focuses on artistic competence alone. Artistic competence is required in creative activities to produce works of art. This competence only requires tacit knowledge and implicit knowledge as a basis for carrying out activities. However, when art creators are accountable for their work, both oral and written, they need explicit knowledge. Without explicit knowledge, they will not communicate their thoughts which have become manifest based on tacit knowledge and implicit knowledge. For this reason, support for the state of analysis and state of describing is a necessity that must be pursued for anyone who studies art creation.

This paper deals with ethnomusicological research methodologies, the application of ethnomusicological knowledge outside academic institutions and ideologies which have contributed to ethnomusicological discourses in Serbia. Furthermore, state policy on ethnomusicology and folk music is analyzed. The recent institutionalisation of applied ethnomusicology, i.e. direct ethnomusicological engagement in society, which represents a turning point in the development of ethnomusicology, is particularly emphasized. The difference between contemporary applied ethnomusicology and ethnomusicology is in direct engagement: goals are changed, new strategies of (field-) work are introduced, folk music as a political tool is adopted, neutrality of research positions is destabilized, resulting in the emergence of the greatest problem of the discipline - ethics. Applied ethnomusicology in Serbia is especially interesting not only because of local cultural characteristics, but also because of the specific position of Serbian ethnomusicology in the scientific world map. The activities of the Serbian Ethnomusiclogical Society are analyzed as a representative example of successful public engagement. The projects of the Society are classified according to the type of animation (cultural and scientific). The promotion of Serbian folk music, folk music of national minorities and bagpipe-playing revitalization fall into the first category, whereas the second one comprises scientific round tables and the projects dealing with the preservation of Serbian folk music heritage.

The choirstalls at Lincoln Cathedral have rectangular wooden panels which show angel musicians. Although noted in various resources, these have never been described in detail. The paper provides recent digital images of the musical panels, together with identification of the instruments and commentary on their relation to other similar instruments elsewhere in England and Europe.

Στο παρόν άρθρο διερευνάται η θέση της οκταβικής κλίμακας ως εργαλείου ανάλυσης της ανατολικού τύπου τροπικότητας, όπως αυτή παρουσιάζεται στις διάφορες εκφάνσεις της, μέσα από τα πανάρχαια τροπικά συστήματα των μεγάλων λογίων παραδόσεων της Ανατολής: της ορθόδοξης εκκλησιαστικής (Βυζαντινής) Οκταηχίας, του οθωμανοτουρκικού συστήματος των Μακάμ, του περσικού συστήματος των Νταστγκιά-Μαγιέ και των βορειοινδικών Ράγκα. Διενεργώντας μια πολυεπίπεδη έρευνα των παραπάνω τροπικών συστημάτων, αναλύεται το θέμα του αριθμού των βαθμίδων σε κάθε τροπική οντότητα, αυτό της ύπαρξης μεγάλης ποικιλίας φυσικών διαστημάτων και της τονικής  ρευστότητας που αυτά παρουσιάζουν, της τετραχορδικής δόμησης τους, των διαφόρων τρόπων ιεράρχησης των βαθμίδων και του λειτουργικού ρόλου τους στην μελωδική ανάπτυξη του κάθε τρόπου. Στη συνέχεια επισημαίνεται η σημασία των ιδιαίτερων μελωδικών φράσεων κάθε τρόπου, της ύπαρξης περίπλοκων σεναρίων ανάπτυξης και χαρακτηριστικών ανά μελωδικό τρόπο μεταβολών-μετατροπιών καθώς και εξω-μουσικών διαστάσεων των ανά σύστημα τροπικών οντοτήτων και αποδεικνύεται ότι το ευρέως διαδεδομένο δυτικό μοντέλο αντίληψης της τροπικότητας ως ενός συνόλου κλιμάκων οκτάβας με σταθερά διαστήματα, δεν βρίσκει εφαρμογή στις μεγάλες λόγιες ανατολικές μουσικές παραδόσεις. Η παραπάνω ανάλυση συμπληρώνεται με την ανά σύστημα σημασία και χρήση της έννοιας της κλίμακας όχι ως τροπικής οντότητας αλλά ως θεμέλιας κλίμακας του τροπικού συστήματος, γενικής κλίμακας γενών ή διαφόρων τροπικών οικογενειών, ενδεικτικής κλίμακας αναφοράς με διαφορετική ανά περίπτωση χρηστική αξία.

This article interrogates prevalent romanticized understandings of music's role in human rights, and suggests new theoretical and practical approaches that foreground questions of efficacy and impact. Music is often described as a ‘universal language’, a notion that suggests that music is both inherently progressive and able to transcend cultural differences. I argue instead for a more complex, constrained view of music and its role in human rights, with a greater emphasis on methods and practice. Based in part on my research and observations in West Africa, I describe and critique common uses of music in human rights and development projects, and outline suggestions for more focused and effective projects. I also suggest conceptualizing music within the capabilities framework, as set out by Sen and Nussbaum. In so doing, the aim of this article is to stimulate new discussion on how music can protect and promote human rights and human capabilities.

Christian missionaries are refiguring music found within non-Christian communities—or "target cultures"—so they deliver salvation-oriented messages and, eventually, spiritual conversion. To accomplish their goals, this growing contingent of missionaries is drawing upon the discipline of ethnomusicology. By studying ethnomusicology's methods and techniques, they are better able to analyze a community's music. This then allows missionaries to compose new songs— with missionary-approved sentiments—in the style of the indigenous target culture, or subtly refashion already existing songs so they promote missionary values. For these missionaries the discipline of ethnomusicology is a tool that enables them to realize their agenda. As missionary Rick Wood notes, ethnomusicology is, for his purposes, "the science of helping every people worship Jesus through their indigenous music."[1] With this paper I will provide specific examples of how missionaries use ethnomusicology to refigure music so that it instills religious homogeneity while in a sense maintaining a facade of musical heterogeneity. I will also look at the long relationship secular ethnomusicologists and missionaries have had, focusing specifically on the ethical implications these issues raise for both groups.

Footnote [1]
http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/mf-behind-the-scenes19 (accessed June 9, 2011)"

This article explores the relationship between policy formation in higher education, ethics statements and ethical frameworks of professional conduct, within the discipline of ethnomusicology, from a UK and USA-based perspective. It will argue for an increased and sustained engagement with the formation of ethics statements on subjects of ethical concern and that this needs to be done through learned societies and critical mass. This, so I argue, will help inform UK and USA higher education institutions, funding bodies and sponsors on how best to approach the assessment of ethical rigour in ethnomusicological research activities. The article's introduction will explain the 2015–16 context in which it was written, because the paper is designed to offer an historical snapshot of ethnomusicology's engagement with ethical policy and is therefore time-sensitive. It will then explore ethnomusicological engagement with higher education's ethical assessment processes and compare this to similar engagement by anthropologists. I examine the role of learned societies in promoting ethical conduct and policy formation by looking at ethical statements from both anthropological and ethnomusicological learned societies. Here I will show why it is important that ethnomusicological learned societies such as the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE), Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) and the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) provide sustained engagement with the ethical concerns of their discipline, using concepts of meta, normative and applied ethics. I conclude by providing examples of common ethical concerns that are not well-understood by medically-oriented ethics committees and offer suggestions as to how ethnomusicologists might engage with these.

The domains of collaborative research and writing have been methodically considered throughout collaborative anthropology’s evolution. What warrants deliberation now is the domain of collaborative professionalism. Training in anthropology and related disciplines can be directed toward professional work in the public sector—in some cases, alongside research consultants and co-authors. Drawing examples from my professional experience as a public ethnomusicologist in Bali, Indonesia—also a site for my long-term ethnographic research on the island’s professional popular music industry—I examine public sector work’s relevance within ethnomusicology, as well as the utility and reach of its theoretical pursuits, when pursued collectively. As a music event producer, I work alongside performers, stage managers, sound operators, and others, mutual tuned in to the shared professional goal of supporting the music industry’s creative, professional, and social vitality. Former research activities have been absorbed into professional responsibilities. Research relationships are now working relationships. Representational modes, including academic and popular press publications, community presentations, and staged performances are diverse, and potential audiences expansive. In contrast to the largely solitary (and often ego-centric) professional pursuits of an academic career, public ethnomusicology unequivocally entails collaborative approaches toward a common good. Public work unearths the potential for the social sciences to actively assume altruistic goals and engage innovative modes of “scholarly” discourse. Rather than blindly stumbling along the grooves of a trail cut by predecessors leading to one destination—high atop an Ivory Tower—we may consider alternative careers that seek mutual benefit and marry theoretical and pragmatic objectives.

Tertiary Opera Training in Australia and the UK: Ethnographic Perspective

Current formal research into the way institutions and opera companies train their opera singers is virtually non-existent. Paul Atkinson’s (2006) Everyday Arias: An Operatic Ethnography, is an informative but lonely example of otherwise neglected area. Atkinson proposes that while popular culture receives extensive research attention, the “high” culture suffers from a so-called academic “inverse snobbery”.

This thesis surveys some of the complex issues specific to operatic training and performance. The ethnographic survey draws on observations and comparisons of production rehearsals, private lessons and personal interviews of participants in a professional Australian opera company, an Australian tertiary institution and a UK tertiary institution. Two professional and two student productions are used as case studies to highlight the emergent themes.
This research aims to better understand the unique nature of the operatic training and rehearsal process, as well as investigate the relationship between institutions and the contemporary opera industry.

Keywords: opera, ethnography, tertiary opera training, opera rehearsal, Australian opera training, opera industry

Ethnomusicology has had a longstanding relationship with museums. Through the lens of ethnomusicological discourse, this essay will demonstrate ways in which museums display musical instruments and encourage active music-making in their galleries. Four museums illustrate these points: the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh; the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford; the Horniman Museum in London; and the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. Firstly, I determine the differences between displaying musical instruments and other representations of intangible culture. I then propose four key concepts in ethnomusicology, and explain how these are apparent in museum displays of musical instruments: the materiality of music, the process of ‘musicking’ in museums; the ethics of representation and ownership; and applied ethnomusicology. Each of the museums provide various examples of ethnomusicological thought: both in the construction of musical instrument displays, and in additional participatory music activities. To conclude, I posit ways in which the relationship between ethnomusicology and museums may develop in the future.

Ethnomusicology is a highly pragmatic discipline in Australia driven by an ethos of research engagement that seeks to deliver applied and relevant outcomes for the musicians and communities whose lives and cultures ethnomusicologists examine. In this article, I explain how this ethos has been informed by the chequered history of colonial engagements with Australia's Indigenous peoples, and how this, in turn, has shaped my own approaches to teaching collaboratively with Indigenous colleagues. I explore how, within this context, my own thinking as an ethnomusicologist was shaped by Indigenous conceptualisations of bi-culturalism such as those theorised by educator and musician Mandawuy Yunupinu, and how this influenced my collaborations with Indigenous colleagues in teaching the undergraduate course Garma Fieldwork at both the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney. I show how this contribution as an ethnomusicologist was advantageous in challenging students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to think about the nature of knowledge, and the non-textual ways of expressing it that traditionally dominate within Indigenous epistemologies. Finally, I consider what insights this experience might hold for ethnomusicology amid this broad academic context.

Μία από τις σημαντικότερες και ειδοποιούς διαφορές των προφορικών μουσικών ιδιωμάτων της Βορειοανατολικής Μεσογείου είναι η μεγάλη ποικιλότητα που παρουσιάζουν στο επίπεδο των μουσικών διαστημάτων και ο τρόπος χρήσης τους μέσω περίπλοκων μηχανισμών αυξομείωσης του τονικού ύψους συγκεκριμένων βαθμίδων στα πλαίσια του φαινομένου των μελωδικών έλξεων. Η αποκαλούμενη «διαστηματική» αποτελεί σημαντικό κλάδο της τροπικής θεωρίας που ανθεί στον ελλαδικό χώρο από την αρχαιότητα, παρότι δεν έχει πια την θέση που της αξίζει στην σύγχρονη μουσική θεώρηση. Στην παρούσα εργασία εν αρχή επαναποτιμώνται, μέσα από το πρίσμα της σύγχρονης επιστημονικής ανάλυσης, τα σημαντικότερα  συμπεράσματα που προκύπτουν από τον μακραίωνο στοχασμό πάνω στο αντικείμενο αυτό:
α) Το μείζων θέμα της καταγωγής των λεγόμενων φυσικών διαστημάτων από το φυσικό φαινόμενο της αρμονικής ταλάντωσης και της από αυτήν προκύπτουσας αρμονικής στήλης, η οποία υποδεικνύει την τελευταία ως τον κώδικα DNA της μελωδικής ανάπτυξης
β) Το γεγονός ότι η αρμονική ουρά κάθε ευκρινούς συχνοτικά ήχου περιλαμβάνει την ίδια ιεραρχικά διατεταγμένη σειρά άπειρων φυσικών διαστημάτων
γ) Την ανάδειξη των απλών μαθηματικών λόγων ως των μαγικών σχέσεων που κρύβονται πίσω από ποικίλους κανόνες ευφωνίας και μελωδικής αρμογής
Στην συνέχεια διερευνάται το πραγματικό μέγεθος της πολυδιαστηματικότητας των εν λόγω παραδόσεων και αποδεικνύεται μαθηματικά η μεγάλη πυκνότητα εύηχων φυσικών διαστημάτων μέσα σε ένα εύρος μόλις δύο cents, στην πολυσυζητημένη περιοχή των ουδέτερων μαλακών δεύτερων. Η καταδειχθείσα ποικιλότητα σε συνδυασμό με τα γνωστά φαινόμενα των έλξεων, καθώς και λοιπών υφολογικών στοιχείων που ρευστοποιούν το τονικό ύψος των βαθμίδων στις εν λόγω παραδόσεις, οδηγούν στο συμπέρασμα ότι η φωτογράφηση των διαστημάτων είναι πρακτικά αδύνατη. Αναδεικνύουν δε την διαστηματική αυτή ποικιλότητα ως σημαντικότατο εκφραστικό εργαλείο της προφορικότητας, στα πλαίσια της πολυτροπικής μονοφωνίας.

The relationships between music sustainability, human rights, and social justice have significant cultural and wider implications for peoples and cultures around the world. Working from recent theoretical understandings of music practices as part of broader sociocultural ecosystems, and drawing on fieldwork with communities in Cambodia (2013-) and Vanuatu (2017-), I consider how sustaining diverse musical expressions may bring gains in human rights and social justice, now and in the future – and conversely, how gains in human rights and social justice may support music sustainability. The first part of the chapter considers some of these multifaceted relationships between music sustainability, human rights, and future justice. The second part offers a conceptual framework for understanding the relationships between all three areas that may facilitate future research and advocacy, with implications for individuals and communities around the world.

This article explores the principles of musical discourse among the farmers of the Kathmandu Valley as revealed through the teaching of the dhimay drum. During ritual apprenticeship, the transmission of a corpus of musical compositions based on mimetic syllables that the discourse of authority of the masters expresses. Compositions played during religious processions originate from these syllables, which imitate the sounds of the drum. In addition, dhimay drum apprenticeship is inextricably linked to that of acrobatics, which includes the handling of a bamboo pole. This essay discusses the nature of this musical language in its traditional context, as well as its recent transformations in Newar society.

[Abstract in Khmer downloadable in PDF]

Previous studies have explored the historical and social context for the endangerment and subsequent revitalization of Cambodian performing arts, but little work has focused on music, or the views of culture-bearers themselves on these issues. By thematically analysing qualitative data from semi-structured interviews conducted in early 2013, this research explores the perspectives and motivations of a group of master-musicians, teachers and performers who are making efforts to sustain and revive their music traditions. Participants emphasised five factors that they believed significantly interplayed with the vitality of traditional Khmer music genres. Four of these were generally perceived to have an overall adverse effect on vitality: ‘outside’ influence; loss of interest and knowledge among younger people; low market demand for performances and teaching; perpetuation of limiting constructs and belief systems. Only one factor identified was perceived to have a beneficial effect on vitality: the strength of infrastructure for learning and teaching. Somewhat surprisingly, then, opinions about the viability of traditional genres were on aggregate highly optimistic, though with some concern expressed about the impact of government action (and inaction) on this issue. Justifications given for sustaining and revitalising traditional Khmer genres included the role of these traditions in education and ritual, Cambodian national identity, and musicians’ livelihoods. The study confirms the perceived value, among one group of culture-bearers, of revitalizing Khmer music traditions.

Compared with its roles in pre-modern societies, traditional music, previously called "folklore," has been playing very different roles in the globalized world. These new roles, however, are rarely articulated in a systematic manner. While most discourse on the contemporary use of traditional music comes from the case studies of ethnomusicologists, the concept of "intangible cultural heritage," which is usually associated with the initiatives of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (including traditional music), provides a new perspective to understand the new roles that traditional music plays in the postmodern world. A systematic examination of these roles is crucial, because it allows an in-depth analysis of the hidden power relations behind the contemporary use of traditional music. Furthermore, with the idea of "salvation from disappearing" being more and more problematic in contemporary practice, the project of preserving traditional music cannot be firmly grounded unless its contemporary values are demonstrated. In order to systematically identify and analyze the contemporary use of traditional music, this paper examines the current literature on intangible cultural heritage and the related international initiatives undertaken by the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as UNESCO and UNDP, in combination with the major issues raised by ethnomusicologists regarding the use of traditional music in creative industries. Using two major case studies-Kunqu and HAN Hong's new Tibetan music-to demonstrate the aesthetic, political, economic and ethical dimensions of the use of traditional music in contemporary society, I argue that there is a fifth dimension, the social dimension, of the value of traditional music in the postmodern condition. The articulation of this social dimension of the contemporary use of traditional music serves to establish its universal relevance and to identify its unique character that makes it a powerful tool to serve as a counter-hegemonic force.

Zaštitni su znak Međimurja njegove popijevke. U okviru hrvatske glazbe predstavljaju pravu posebnost jer se odlikuju melodijskim linijama širokoga opsega sazdanima na starocrkvenim modusima, pentatonici ili na molskom tonskom načinu, jer se u svom tradicionalnom, standarnom izričaju izvode i solistički (a ne samo skupno), mnoge u slobodnom, parlando rubato ritmu kojim pjevač/ica slijedi ritam i značenja pjevanoga teksta, kao i jer je riječ o odista ogromnom fondu različitih napjeva i tekstova pjesama. Preko tri tisuće popijevaka takvih karakteristika prikupio je, transkribirao i analizirao Vinko Žganec (1890.-1976.), vodeći hrvatski etnomuzikolog svojega doba. U današnjoj se praksi, međutim, međimurske popijevke češće izvode skupno nego solistički, i to ne samo jednoglasno nego i višeglasno, sve do četveroglasja. Jednako tako, veoma je česta i instrumentalna pratnja, najčešće tamburaška. Također, s obzirom na načine izvođenja karakteriziraju ih i poneke druge značajke zborskoga pjevanja – dinamičke i agogičke razlike, tendencija prema čvrstom ritmu i jednostavnim mjerama te, s obzirom na način rada, uvježbavanje pod vodstvom istaknutog, nerijetko i glazbeno školovanog pojedinca (voditelja ili dirigenta) i uz oslanjanje na pisane izvore (napose Žgančeve zbirke). Izrazitu posebnost predstavlja i nazor o individualnom autorstvu popijevaka, koji je široko rasprastranjen upravo među njezinim nositeljima. To ih, međutim, ne priječi da popijevke istodobno shvaćaju i prakticiraju kao opće dobro, vlastitu narodnu tradiciju i važan simbol identiteta.
Title in English: Folksongs of Međimurje

Muzički instrumenti iz arheoloških i muzeoloških zbirki muzeja u Srbiji
    O muzičkoj arheologiji kao naučnoj disciplini, o rezultatima istraživanja na polju muzičke arheologije u Srbiji i na Balkanu; metode istraživanja i interdisciplinarnog povezivanja srodnih nauka. O muzičkim instrumentima iz arheoloških zbirki muzeja Srbije; povezivanje znanja sa polja muzičke arheologije i modernih organoloskih istraživanja na primeru tradicionalnih muzičkih instrumenata Srbije i Balkana. Organološke karakteristike instrumenata, njihova muzička i simbolička funkcija - Idiofoni muzicki instrumenti, aerofoni muzicki instrumenti.

This dissertation concerns making music as a utopian ecological practice, skill, or method of associative communication where participants temporarily move towards idealized relationships between themselves and their environment. Live music making can bring people together in the collective present, creating limited states of unification. We are “taken” by music when utopia is performed and brought to the present. From rehearsal to rehearsal, band to band, year to year, musicking binds entire communities more closely together. I locate strategies for community solidarity like turn-taking, trust-building, gift-exchange, communication, fundraising, partying, education, and conflict resolution as plentiful within musical ensembles in any socially environmentally conscious community.

Based upon 10 months of fieldwork and 40 extended interviews, my theoretical assertions are grounded in immersive ethnographic research on Hornby Island, a 12-square-mile Gulf Island between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island, Canada. I describe how roughly 1000 Islanders struggle to achieve environmental resilience in a uniquely biodiverse region where fisheries collapsed, logging declined, and second-generation settler farms were replaced with vacation homes in the 20th century. Today, extreme gentrification complicates housing for the island’s vulnerable populations as more than half of island residents live below the poverty line. With demographics that reflect a median age of 62, young individuals, families, and children are squeezed out of the community, unable to reproduce Hornby’s alternative society.

This dissertation begins with theorization that connects music making to community and environmental thought. I then represent the challenges Islanders set for themselves and the struggles they face, like their desire for food sovereignty, off-grid energy, secure housing, protection of their aquifers, affordability of ferry transportation, ecological waste-cycles, and care for each other’s mental health. I bring attention to unique institutions that Islanders have created to better manage their needs and desires. In response to the island’s social and environmental dynamics of justice, I argue and demonstrate through ethnography that music making is an essential communal process that brings people together to dialogue about their needs and advance their goals to establish a more equitable and environmentally responsible community.

A Game of Cultural Ginga –
Capoeira - Cultural Syncretism via Globalisation.

Within the question of inception and creation of Capoeira we have a trichotomy of perspectives which have no simple answer; from external largely uninitiated groups of spectators who bring there own subjectivity and bias to the picture, verses the internal initiated and experiential but
nether the less biased or at least partial practitioner-writers, to the objective and supposedly unbiased but dry academic writers, all have had there mark on the narratives behind Capoeira. Who is to be believed and why? is this important? which truth or “truths” do we wish to turn our
attention to? With Capoeira and its music we will see that this is not an easy task.

Acoustic dimensions of the environment have thus far received little consideration in discussions of such issues as climate change, industrial pollution, environmental justice, and habitat loss. An ecomusicological approach to the place of music and sound in the environment enables ethnomusicologists to contribute their knowledge to these ongoing discussions, while it also grounds environmental activism in scholarship.

This is my PhD dissertation. The third chapter might be interesting since it shows that the natural scale was the primary scale used in European antiquity (the so-called Folk Music Scale). It combined with the early diatonic scale (stacking thirds on the diatonic scale that those instruments couldn’t play) to create our modern scale. The Highland bagpipe is an ossified hybrid between the two.

The fourth chapter might be of interest to composers because it explains the rhythm of languages (especially English) and also the pitch-patterning of the spoken word which is used as the basis of melody.

The link brings you to the University of Otago library which is open and non-private. So you have to force your web browser to continue to the site.

ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this study was to investigate through archival and musicological analysis the audio recordings of Fenian lays made in the middle of the last century. These recordings were made from informants who learned the material orally; they contain cultural elements that assist in comprehending the musical mechanics of Fenian lays at a time when their performance practices were being extirpated by foreign musical influences. These elements include Indo-European (IE) thematic material, poetics, language register, pitch structuring, rhythm, and vocal techniques. Audio recordings of Fenian lays from Ireland, Scotland, and Nova Scotia, Canada were analysed in terms of their linguistic-musical material. Results show that the rhythm of the lays did not display a repetitive musical metre but the more complex structure of speech. However, rhythmic patterns did alter with volume. Also, resonance tuning was apparent. Many characteristics associated with volume in lay recordings exist in declaimed speech as well; both may be seen to act as a bridge between speech and metered song. Lay poetry appeared to be syllabic, which is unusual for a stress-timed language; this reflects an Indo-European genesis that is supported by the presence of oral formulaic language. Both stress and accent shifted pitch by poetic line to match spoken characteristics. A high language register was present, which does not indicate composition by the intelligentsia for use at court, but rather a fear-induced protective linguistic device apparent in all social classes. Moreover, the addition of delineated pitch to spoken declamation may be seen as an attempt to further increase the communicative register. The pitch structure was seen to be anachronistic, matching the linear scales played by pastoral instruments, particularly that of wooden shepherd trumpets used since at least the beginning in the Early Neolithic Age.

Kaynağı coğrafi olarak Türkistan’a, tarihi olarak da İslam öncesi dönemlere dayanan âşıklık geleneği; müzikal ve edebi yönden taşıdığı gücün etkisiyle modern zamanlarda da varlığını sürdürmektedir. Âşıklık geleneği içerisinde üretilen ürünler, zaman içinde biçim ve işlevlerinde değişikliklere uğramakla birlikte kuşaktan kuşağa aktarılırken toplumsal belleğin okunmasına olanak tanımaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, söz konusu geleneğin XIX. yüzyıldaki temsilcilerinden biri olan Âşık Dertli’ye dayandırılan ve “Şeytan Bunun Neresinde?” adıyla bilinen taşlamanın en az iki yüz yıllık serüveni üzerinden bir zihniyet tarihinin izini sürmektir. Çalışma içinde söz konusu eser; yaratım bağlamı, biçimi, metnin anlamı gibi hususlar üzerinden analiz edildikten sonra eserin modern dünyadaki konumuna odaklanılmıştır. Başlangıçta sözlü kültür ortamında yaratılan eserin zaman içerisinde plak, radyo, televizyon ve sosyal medyadaki yeni icraları değerlendirilmiş ve eserin giderek artan bir ivmeyle popülaritesinin yükseldiği saptanmıştır. XX. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren elektronik kültür ortamı içerisinde farklı müzik geleneklerinde yeniden icra edilmeye başlanan eser, asıl popülerliğine 2000’li yılların başında kavuşmuştur. Bu ilginin arka planında ise 1990’lı yılların sonunda Türk basınında yürütülmeye başlanan rock müzik karşıtı tartışmalar yer almaktadır. Rock ve metal müziğin icracı ve dinleyicilerinin topyekûn Satanist olmakla suçlandığı bu dönemde, Türkiye’de bu müzik türünün öncü gruplarından biri olan Pentagram’ın 2002 yılında yayımladığı “Bir” adlı albümle bu suçlamaları protesto ettiği görülür. Teması Türk tasavvuf düşüncesi olan bu albüm içinde Dertli’den ve Âşık Veysel’den alınıp yorumlanan eserlerle birlikte Türk halk müziğine ait enstrüman ve ezgiler de kullanılarak bu müzik türünün üretici ve tüketicilerinin geleneksel değerlerle barışık olduğu, kamuoyuna gösterilmeye çalışılmıştır. İçinde “Şeytan Bunun Neresinde?” adlı eserin de bir yorumunun bulunduğu bu albümün yayımlamasından sonra Satanizm ve rock müziği bağdaştıran tartışmalarda bu taşlamanın merkeze oturduğu görülür. Grup üyelerinin verdikleri röportajlarda medyayı, dönemin Beypazarı Kadısı’na benzetirken, kendilerini Âşık Dertli ile aynı yere konumlandırmalarından; konuyla ilgili gazete sayfalarında atılan “Şeytan Rock Müziğin Tam Kalbinde” gibi başlıklara kadar değişen bağlamlar içerisinde bu taşlamanın ayak kısmı, bir referans noktası olarak kullanılagelmiştir. Eserin ayağının bu tarz kullanımlarla Nasreddin Hoca fıkralarının son cümlelerinin kalıplaşarak yaşamasına benzer biçimde kristalize bir halk bilgisine dönüştüğü söylenebilir. Nihayetinde çatışan iki grubun, halk edebiyatı geleneğine ait aynı şiiri, farklı motivasyonlarla da olsa kullanmış olmaları; folklorun, ayrışmalardan ziyade ortaklıklara işaret eden anlamını göstermektedir ve bu anlamın artık kavranması gerektiğini bir kez daha kanıtlamaktadır.

En esta tesis se aborda un estudio en profundidad de la petenera desde sus primeras noticias hasta su consolidación como palo flamenco a raíz de las grabaciones que realizara Pastora Pavón "La Niña de los Peines" en 1910. El devenir de la petenera ha sido bien diferente en tiempos anteriores a su definición como estilo flamenco, y la encontramos, que durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX existieron peteneras distintas a las que conocemos como flamencas y que fueron elemento imprescindible en los recitales de canto, salones de baile, fiestas y ferias andaluzas durante esa época.

Moving through the first half of the twentieth century, I chronicle the gradual introduction of the Afro-Cuban-inspired “lowest lead” concept into prototypical bass tumbaos (ostinati) in genres such as bolero, guaracha, chachachá and mambo. Finally, in close analyses of three historical examples from the genres changüí, son montuno and timba, I postulate that the contemporary Cuban bass has reached a particularly exhilarating zenith combining the traditional pitched bass with percussive principles from Afro-Cuban ceremonial genres and cosmopolitan influences from Afro-Diasporic musics.

Welcome to Australia as the 21st century’s second decade begins: a country where a small Indigenous child living in a remote island town off the far north coast can unwittingly pick up his father’s phone and send a video of himself to his grandfather’s colleague nearly 4000 kilometres away in the nation’s capital. Those of us who have lived in major cities over the past two decades have taken for granted the evolution of the mobile phone from unwieldy brick-like object to smart palm-sized computer with digital media and wireless networking capabilities.That a small child can send a video of himself will therefore seem not at all remarkable to many. These days, infants all around the world perform such feats all the time. It is remarkable, however, that like many Indigenous communities located in regional Australia there was no mobile phone coverage on Elcho Island before 2006. Personal computer ownership and home internet access are also scarce, which makes young Bruce Brown’s generation the first to grow up in an Arnhem Land where smart phones and similar devices can browse the web, and can create, send and receive digital media and information with great ease. Even now, these unwired devices are having an immediate impact on the way that Indigenous Australians of all ages and backgrounds are accessing the internet; staying in touch whether locally or over vast distances; creating, finding and sharing ideas and media; and determining for themselves how they and their communities are represented via the internet and in the greater world. On Facebook alone, I personally have more than 1100 friends of whom most are Indigenous Australians living outside major cities. In microcosm, this suggests a rapid nationwide uptake of information technologies (IT) among Indigenous Australians that was unthinkable even five years ago, particularly among those living in remote communities, and is unprecedented in our nation’s history. Despite limited regional access to the private computing facilities and public communications infrastructure that most Australians in cities take for granted, a process of digital democratisation is nonetheless well underway throughout Australia, and it is rapidly changing the way that Indigenous communities come to know and interact with the rest of the world, and how the rest of the world comes to know and interact with them.