Notes about Alan Merriam and the Study Anthropology of Music (chapters 1&2)

Ethnomusicology is a field is dual natured; compounded of two distinct parts; the musicological and the ethnological (as in having to do with anthropology, analyzes culture, people, , esp. in regard to their historical development and the similarities and dissimilarities between them)

Different Areas of Focus

· Musicological focus - exploring music as a system in itself (Searching for sound, origins of music, music operates as a separate system in itself)
· Ethnological focus – exploring music as a functioning part of human culture and as an integral part of a wider whole (roles of music in culture, function in social and cultural organization of man).

Notes about Early Musicology and non-western focus

Early development came from the desire to broaden knowledge of non-western world. Ethnomusicology and anthropology really developed at about the same time, each influencing each other, ultimately anthropology exuded more influence on musicology. Early ethnomusicology studies placed most emphasis on the location of study.

Early in its history, ethnomusicology, or comparative musicology, or exotic music as it was then called, was most often defined in terms which stressed both the descriptive, structural character of the study and the geographic areas to be covered. This general point of view has carried forward into contemporary definitions as well, where geographic areas are stressed rather than the kinds of studies to be made.

The early specialists: it’s about location, exoticism, and procedure…

· Marius Schneider says that the "primary aim [of ethnomusicology is] the comparative study of all the characteristics, normal or otherwise, of non European [music]" [1]
· Nettl defines ethnomusicology as "the science that deals with the music of peoples outside of Western civilization" [2]

Merriam’s View: The difficulty with this kind of definition is that it tends to treat ethnomusicology not as a process of study, but rather as a discipline which has importance only because of the implied uniqueness of the area it studies. The emphasis is placed upon where rather than upon how or why, and if this be the aim of ethnomusicology, then it is indeed difficult to see how its contribution differs either from musicology, in the sense that its techniques are implied to be identical, or ethnology, in that a similar area of the world is stressed.

Other definitions of ethnomusicology have tended to broaden its scope and to approach, at least, a procedural rather than a static geographic distinctiveness.

· Mantle Hood took his definition from that proposed by the American Musicological Society, but inserted the prefix "ethno" in suggesting that "[Ethno] musicology is a field of knowledge, having as its object the investigation of the art of music as a physical, psychological. aesthetic, and cultural phenomenon. The [ethno] musicologist is a research scholar: and he aims primarily at knowledge about music" [3]
· Gilbert Chase indicated that "the present emphasis ... is on the musical study of contemporary man. to whatever society he may belong, whether primitive or complex, Eastern or Western" [4]

Process of Ethnomusicological study:

1. Collection of data
a. Field work (out in “the field”) different locations, doing research.
b. Technical laboratory analysis of the music sound materials collected, using special techniques, musical transcription and structural analysis of music.
2. Analysis of collected data.
3. Applications of results obtained are applied to relevant problems, specifically in ethnomusicology and more broadly in the social sciences and the humanities.

Rather, it is in the use of its special techniques, and perhaps particularly in the necessity for welding together two kinds of data-the anthropological and the musicological-that ethnomusicology is unique.
Purposes of Ethnomusicologists:

1. Disputing notions that non-western music is “lesser”, “Primitive”, and not worthy of study.
2. Protecting lesser known music (and peoples) from extinction (eg. Folk music, tribal).
3. Examining music as a means of communication (Hood p.10) , understanding cultural similarities and differences, cross-cultural influences, etc.

Hood emphasizes the point that music is a neglected means of communication which can be used more widely for such purposes than has been the case in the past. .

4. Bringing “catholicity” (broad-mindedness (general inclusiveness) or liberality, as of tastes, interests, or views) to people when dealing with different types of music ) Nettl [5]

Rationale for Non-Western Study

Such music…is a new, rich "Source of experience for Western musicians" and composers. It "widens and enriches the experience of the listener as well as the composer." "Used as an educational medium, primitive music tends to make a student more tolerant of diverse styles and idioms." "The music historian may use it in his efforts to determine the origin of music."

Responsibility of Ethnomusicologists

1. Explain the technical requirements of music (notation, structure, components, etc.).
2. Explaining human behavior (circumstances, context, conceptual [stuff]) for the music.
3. Exploring the music through interdisciplinary study, use of concepts, theories, etc.

Ethnomusicology has always, tentatively at least, reached out into other fields as a source of stimulation both to itself and to its sister disciplines, and there are many ways in which it is of value in solutions to other kinds of problems.

Ethnomusicology should be a fusion of the musicological and the ethnological.

The conclusion is almost inescapable that what the ethnomusicologist desires is not the subjective, qualitative, discursive, esthetic, and so forth, but rather the objective, quantitative, and theoretical, wherever this is possible. There is a valid distinction to be drawn between the process of creating art and the artistic outlook, as opposed to the study of such processes. The ethnomusicologist seeks knowledge and seeks to communicate that knowledge; the results for which he aims are more scientific than artistic.

The artist as such, then, plays little part, so far as his creative capacities are concerned, in ethnomusicology, for it is not involved in creating works of art. The process of creating art differs from the study of that process, and ethnomusicology is concerned with the latter-the accumulation and communication of knowledge about music. In this sense, its studies fall on the scientific rather than on the artistic.[6]

Ethnomusicology as both social science and humanity (are you dealing with science or social study)?

The ethnomusicologist seeks to create is his own bridge between the social sciences and the humanities. He does so because he must be involved with both; although he studies a product of the humanistic side of man's existence, he must at the same time realize that the product is the result of behavior which is shaped by the society and culture of the men who produce it. [7]

Ethnomusicology endeavors to communicate knowledge about an artistic product, the behavior employed in producing it, and the emotions and ideation of the artist involved in it.

What model can be constructed to take all the scientific and social factors into account?

Since all these factors must be considered in studying the music of any given people, the immediate problem is whether a theoretical research model can be constructed which will take all of them into account. Such a model must consider folk and analytical evaluation, the cultural and social background, the relevant aspects of the social sciences and the humanities, and the multiple facets of music as symbolic, aesthetic, formal, psychological, physical, and so forth.

The Cornelius Osgood Model: in investigating material culture, reached less exact but still similar conclusions in his theoretical framework for study. His aim was to work on three levels of what he called "ideas.”

1. Ideas about objects external to the mind directly resulting from human behavior as well as ideas about the human ideas.
2. Ideas about human behavior not directly resulting in the manufacture of objects external to the mind. .
3. Ideas involving human behavior (apart from speech) nor objects directly resulting from such behavior.
[1] Alan P. Merriam. The Anthropology of Music. Evanston: Northwest University Press (1964): 5.
[2] Ibid, 6
[3] Ibid, 10
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid, 13.
[6] Ibid, 16.
[7] Ibid, 16.