Music 665 weekly schedule (2016): Difference between revisions

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* '''Defining EM'''.  Come to Week 2 prepared to discuss the following issues: What is EM? (consider: scope, theory, method, social network) Is EM a discipline? Why or why not?  How is EM positioned with respect to other areas of music studies? with respect to other academic fields? (e.g. area studies? anthropology?) What is the logical or sociological overlap among fields?  How has EM (or its cognates) changed over time?  What is the historical relation among the subfields of music studies?  Characterize approaches towards music scholarship of various types.  When does any explicit definition of music studies start to emerge?  How does EM vary across cultures?  Consider definitions of EM for various regions of the world.  ''Write 1-2 pages summarizing what you have discovered.'' ''(You don't have to answer all the above questions individually in your summary, though you should touch on them.)''
* '''Defining EM'''.  Come to Week 2 prepared to discuss the following issues: What is EM? (consider: scope, theory, method, social network) Is EM a discipline? Why or why not?  How is EM positioned with respect to other areas of music studies? with respect to other academic fields? (e.g. area studies? anthropology?) What is the logical or sociological overlap among fields?  How has EM (or its cognates) changed over time?  What is the historical relation among the subfields of music studies?  Characterize approaches towards music scholarship of various types.  When does any explicit definition of music studies start to emerge?  How does EM vary across cultures?  Consider definitions of EM for various regions of the world.  ''Write 1-2 pages summarizing what you have discovered.'' ''(You don't have to answer all the above questions individually in your summary, though you should touch on them.)''
* '''Works and lives'''.  Select three products generally classified today (by publication venue, author, index, keywords, current EM definitions and histories, or library catalog) as representing ethnomusicological research (e.g. CD, book, article) from three periods and by three different authors:  (1) 1990 to present; (2) 1950 to 1990; (3) before 1950.  You may like to compare three articles from a single journal.  Take note of differences in aim, model (theory, queries, methods), issues/topics, areas.  Find and scan author biographies.  ''Write a 1-2 page critical review, comparing the three, calling attention to author biographies'' – where are these scholars coming from?  What are their agendas? Try to use Jstor or other online databases and submit links to online versions if possible.  Be prepared to discuss.
* '''Works and lives'''.  Select three products generally classified today (by publication venue, author, index, keywords, current EM definitions and histories, or library catalog) as representing ethnomusicological research (e.g. CD, book, article) from three periods and by three different authors:  (1) 1990 to present; (2) 1950 to 1990; (3) before 1950.  You may like to compare three articles from a single journal.  Take note of differences in aim, model (theory, queries, methods), issues/topics, areas.  Find and scan author biographies.  ''Write a 1-2 page critical review, comparing the three, calling attention to author biographies'' – where are these scholars coming from?  What are their agendas? Try to use Jstor or other online databases and submit links to online versions if possible.  Be prepared to discuss.
* '''Research proposal paragraph'''. Prepare a ''one-paragraph'' proposal for your own ethnomusicological research, including (a) one-line title (research topic); (b) research aim, research value; (c) research area and scope, following  [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/fmethno/RPE.pdf my template for Research Proposals in Ethnomusicology].  We will discuss your ideas together next week...
* '''Research proposal paragraph'''. Prepare a ''one-paragraph'' proposal for your own ethnomusicological research, including (a) one-line title (research topic); (b) research aim, research value; (c) research area and scope, following  [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RODAon7v6F4H1gpQp_XEyZcIarCreFu4/view?usp=sharing my template for Research Proposals in Ethnomusicology].  We will discuss your ideas together next week...


= Week 2 : 11-Jan. Defining ethnomusicology. =
= Week 2 : 11-Jan. Defining ethnomusicology. =

Revision as of 18:30, 25 August 2020

short link to this page: http://bit.ly/issem16s
short link to eClass site: http://bit.ly/issem16e
back to the home page: http://bit.ly/issem16

NB: This schedule will be updated periodically - check weekly.

Except as noted (e.g. if you're to edit the wiki), all assignments are to be prepared in a word processor, 
then submitted via eClass for the week in which they are due.
Please do not submit assignments in hard copy or via email!
Please ensure that each file contains one and only one assignment, 
and that your last name appears at the top of the document, 
and at the start of the filename. 
All page counts refer to 8.5 x 11 pages, Times New Roman font, 1" margins all around,
single spaced, no paragraph indent, 6 pt separator between paragraphs.  A page contains approximately 500 words.
Please cite references as needed, using Zotero to do so.

Week 1 : 4-Jan. Introduction.

Discuss

  • Brief introductions...people and interests
  • The Big Questions About Music (what are yours?)
  • What is music, and is it ethnocentric?
  • What is EM (Ethnomusicology)? What's it for? (What is "music"? "ethno-"? "-ology"? "musical knowledge" vs. "musical knowing"?)
  • Abbreviations and terms to know
  • EM as freedom - MF's EM research (a shotgun approach)
  • What defines research? Research proposals.
  • Course outline (including Resources and Definitions)

Introducing...

  • Defining EM
  • Research: aims and goals > models > queries and methods > results
  • What are EM's aims and goals and how are they achieved?

Assignment

NB: Each week's summary includes assignments you'll be working on that week - due the following week...always submit assignments via eClass, before the following class.

Gather definitions of EM (Ethnomusicology) and cognate disciplines

Read current definitions of EM and its cognate disciplines

(e.g. Historical Musicology=HM, Music Theory=MT, Comparative Musicology=CM, Anthropology of Music, Popular Music Studies=PMS, Folklore).

Examine current articles for the following terms in Oxford Music Online (available via http://www.library.ualberta.ca/databases/), following as many hyperlinked cross-references as you can, in order to understand how EM is defined in relation to juxtaposed fields:

  1. Musicology (especially Adler's subdivisions; skim the rest)
  2. Comparative Musicology, Folk Music (especially Part 2: Studies, in Grove)
  3. Popular Music (especially part I.6: The study of popular music, and II. World Popular Music)
  4. World Music
  5. Ethnomusicology (especially Introduction, Philip Bohlman’s portion on the post-1945 period, and Martin Stokes’ theoretical summary)

Browse The Garland encyclopedia of World Music (online, or in the Library offline), especially Vol. 10, The World's Music: General Perspectives and Reference Tools; what definitions emerge here?

Look up "Ethnomusicology" in the Oxford English dictionary, and Encyclopedia Britannica (available via http://www.library.ualberta.ca/databases/).

Find definitions in Nettl's revised edition of The study of ethnomusicology, available on reserve and online.

Locate any other definition from anywhere you like.

Browse a few older definitions

...from the early 1990s and before, such as the following books on Music Library reserve or Reference:

Meyers, H. (Ed.) (1992) Ethnomusicology: An Introduction

Herndon, M., & McLeod, N. (Eds.). (1979). Music as culture (2nd ed)

Hood, M. (1971) The Ethnomusicologist

Merriam, A. (1964) The Anthropology of Music

Nettl, B. (1964) Theory and Method in Ethnomusicology

Kunst, J. (1950) Musicologica; a study of the nature of ethno-musicology, its problems, methods, and representative personalities

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (reference) published in 1904, 1918, 1936, 1954 (note that you will not find the term "ethnomusicology" per se before 1950...and when is 'musicology' first introduced?)

Prepare the following

  • Defining EM. Come to Week 2 prepared to discuss the following issues: What is EM? (consider: scope, theory, method, social network) Is EM a discipline? Why or why not? How is EM positioned with respect to other areas of music studies? with respect to other academic fields? (e.g. area studies? anthropology?) What is the logical or sociological overlap among fields? How has EM (or its cognates) changed over time? What is the historical relation among the subfields of music studies? Characterize approaches towards music scholarship of various types. When does any explicit definition of music studies start to emerge? How does EM vary across cultures? Consider definitions of EM for various regions of the world. Write 1-2 pages summarizing what you have discovered. (You don't have to answer all the above questions individually in your summary, though you should touch on them.)
  • Works and lives. Select three products generally classified today (by publication venue, author, index, keywords, current EM definitions and histories, or library catalog) as representing ethnomusicological research (e.g. CD, book, article) from three periods and by three different authors: (1) 1990 to present; (2) 1950 to 1990; (3) before 1950. You may like to compare three articles from a single journal. Take note of differences in aim, model (theory, queries, methods), issues/topics, areas. Find and scan author biographies. Write a 1-2 page critical review, comparing the three, calling attention to author biographies – where are these scholars coming from? What are their agendas? Try to use Jstor or other online databases and submit links to online versions if possible. Be prepared to discuss.
  • Research proposal paragraph. Prepare a one-paragraph proposal for your own ethnomusicological research, including (a) one-line title (research topic); (b) research aim, research value; (c) research area and scope, following my template for Research Proposals in Ethnomusicology. We will discuss your ideas together next week...

Week 2 : 11-Jan. Defining ethnomusicology.

Submit

Remember to submit each week's assignments via the eClass site, prior to class.

  • Defining EM
  • Works and Lives
  • Research Proposal Paragraph

Discuss

  • Definitions of EM (consider: scope, theory, method, social network, semantic network), history of EM and EMists
  • What does EM include? What doesn't it include? How has it been shaped and defined over time? What do EMists actually do? What don't they do?
  • What are some of the continua you can glean from the various definitions? (e.g. social science - humanities; explanation - interpretation...)
  • How is EM defined in relation to other disciplines, particularly in music (HM, MT, PMS)?
  • Share your definitions
  • Review your "works and lives..." - who and what is ethnomusicology, and why?
  • How to be critical? Think about: EM as representation, shaped by larger forces (e.g. colonialism, imperialism, industry...driven, as usual, by searches for power and money)
  • Proposals. How do they constitute EM?

Let's develop a collaborative definition (then look at what we came up with last time...

Introducing...

  • SNA: social network analysis, with applications to citation network, musician networks, fan networks, the relation of EM to CM and HM and other disciplines, the diffusion of musical (and other trends), tipping points...see my course Music Culture as a Social Network for much more on this subject (or browse the pages of the INSNA). Semantic and social networks as complementary, duals.
  • Databases: see especially Web of Science, Proquest Dissertations database, Jstor
  • Analytical approaches to world music: revived analytical direction in ethnomusicology
  • Meta-ethnomusicology: If doing ethnomusicology constitutes a kind of musical practice (and a broad definition of 'music' suggests that it does), then its sociological or anthropological (or historical) study must constitute a kind of ethnomusicology: meta-ethnomusicology, or the ethnomusicology of EM. Who are the ethnomusicologists, and what are their resources for research and teaching? How do ethnomusicologists relate to one another socially and intellectually? What are the linkages among their scholarly products? This week, you’ll explore some of the principal sources for ethnomusicological research, the ways in which the scholarly literature develops its citation networks, and the nature of ethnomusicology as a social network.

Assignment: Meta-ethnomusicology - sources and networks for EM

Sources in EM

EM as text. Using Internet and Library search facilities (see also Reily 2003), you'll draw up a list of 6 key scholarly sources for ethnomusicology (your examples may be online, or in print).

Select three of the the following categories, and review at least two examples for each (writing one -- short -- paragraph review on each, for a total of 6 short paragraphs). Enter your examples and reviews on the wiki: Sources for Ethnomusicology. Be sure to append your name to your review! Please don't review works that already appear on the wiki; try to find new examples. Note: if you're not sure how to edit the wiki, please refer to how to write these wiki pages Also submit via eClass.

Categories:

  • journals focused on EM or related discplines
  • encyclopedias and dictionaries centered on EM
  • indices, databases, and bibliographies for EM
  • scholarly monograph series in EM
  • overviews of regional music around the world
  • world music textbooks
  • websites dedicated to archives, libraries and museums
  • other websites devoted to EM

EM as multimedia. Throughout this course we’ll be reading many of EM’s textual products. This week we also focus upon EM as a producer of multimedia products. Browse our library’s collection of audio-visual resources for ethnomusicology and world music (and note that some of these are online; see main course page for a few links to audio and video databases). What sorts of representation claims are made, explicitly or implicitly, in these media objects? Reflect on the relation between these media representations and the music they claim to represent. Consider the issue of source vs. reference, particularly pronounced for multimedia, since it tends to be more commercial than text.

On Sources for Ethnomusicology add and review two entries for each of:

  • Audio for EM and WM (websites, podcasts, record labels, record series, online databases, CDs)
  • Video for EM and WM (video databases, series, VHS tapes, or DVDs...on the library shelves, or online)

Again try to find new examples, not presently on the wiki listing. Also submit via eClass.


Networks of discourse and practice in EM

Draw three networks (one representing citation relations; two representing social networks) as follows:

Note: see this course for network info and software.....



Discourse network in EM: citations

network #1: citation network (discourse). Learn how to use a citation indices, such as Google Scholar, or Web of Science (available via the University of Alberta Library website, under Databases), a massive citation index for science, social science, and humanities. Try to locate some of the most oft-cited papers in ethnomusicological journals, or the most oft-cited books. Trace their antecedents and descendents in a “double tree” (of cited and citing sources) as explained in Week 2, and share your results in class, in the form of a network. You don't have to include every antecedent and descendent - but do examine several generations, forward and back. Note that Web of Science will draw a complete, dynamic (clickable) network diagram for you, though it may not be all that legible if you select something that produces a bushy tree. (Also note that the Java code that draws this dynamic tree may cause some browser or security problems; Chrome probably won't work on Mac at least, and check this article for more tips.) Your aim here is to get a feel for how scholarship, interconnected by these sorts of links, forms invisible structures we’re not always aware of when using individual sources.




Social networks in EM

What are EM’s social networks of practice? What kinds of practices does EM involve, and how are they different or similar to practices of other fields? Using data available online (e.g. at ethnomusicology.org, bibliographies), initiate a sociological study of the ethnomusicological community. Where are ethnomusicologists living, what are they doing? What is their distribution by gender, age, region, areas or topics of interest? What areas of interest seem to be favored, in each historical era and place? How do ethnomusicologists connect to one another via training, language-culture of discourse, geographical or stylistic areas of musical interest, or theoretical and topical perspectives?

Draw two examples of social networks in EM (on paper, or using a computer drawing tool):

network #2: collaborative relations among ethnomusicologists, including co-authorship, co-participation in books and conferences, lineages of training. You might, for instance, examine the Proquest Dissertations database to determine student-advisor relations. Or you could look for co-authorships in Web of Science. Or co-panelists in SEM (look on ethnomusicology.org for conference programs). What evidence is there for collaborative ventures in research and teaching? You could also look for old conference programs to browse...

network #3: the social structure of professional EM (e.g. SEM, ICTM=International Council for Traditional Music, BFE=British Forum for Ethnomusicology, CSTM = Canadian Society for Traditional Music) or related societies (e.g. folklore studies, dance ethnology). Using data available on the web (you'll have to look around), consider how one of these ethnomusicological societies is organized. Organization could be defined as: the way the society is distributed around the world; modes of communication (including meetings, but also other ways); special interest subgroups; member profiles and interests- where are members located, what they do in life (professor, student, advocate...); are they organized into local groups - if so, how? It may be particularly useful (and enjoyable) to learn about the ethnomusicological community centered upon your own intended research subject. Considerable information is available at www.ethnomusicology.org regarding the Society for Ethnomusicology (which is primarily North American). Note: you must be a member of SEM in order to browse the member database. Joining is highly encouraged!

Prepare your networks for online submission on eClass by turning them into image files (e.g. jpg).

Week 3 : 18-Jan. Meta-ethnomusicology.

Submit

  • Short paragraph reviews of EM sources (6 for text, 4 for media). These should be completed on the wiki, as per instructions above, as well as entered on eClass.
  • Three networks (#1, #2, #3) as defined above. Please prepare as a standard digital file (e.g. scan to jpg, or diagram in ppt) and submit via eClass.

Discuss

  • Research proposals, using the template, focus on I and II.
    • Everyone introduce your research project: topic and elevator summary.
    • How can you construe your research as "ethnomusicology"? (ethnomusic-ology or ethno-musicology?). Think about "what", "why", and "how" questions. Consider "emic" and "etic" approaches. How could you generate an applied EM project out of this? (with impact beyond academia)
    • Everyone provide some critique on everyone else's topic.
    • I will also introduce my own thesis topics. The MA also had this applied extension.
  • Sources for Ethnomusicology. What did you discover? (two examples for each of three categories; plus two entries for Audio and two for Video). Categories:
    • journals focused on EM or related discplines
    • encyclopedias and dictionaries centered on EM
    • indices, databases, and bibliographies for EM
    • scholarly monograph series in EM
    • overviews of regional music around the world
    • world music textbooks
    • websites dedicated to archives, libraries and museums
    • other websites devoted to EM
  • Networks in EM and WM.
    • network #1: citation network (discourse)
    • network #2: collaborative relations among ethnomusicologists
    • network #3: the social structure of professional EM. (Examine my researches on SEM networks of members and keywords. What do they reveal?)

Introducing...Roots of Ethnomusicology

The history of EM - another branch of meta-ethnomusicology?

See Sources for the history of ethnomusicology.

Assignment

In three parts:

  1. Browse key works in the (pre-) history of ethnomusicology highlighted in boldface from this list, write one sentence on each, and come to class ready to discuss them in their historical sequence. These are some of the key works every ethnomusicologist should know about. By "browse" I don't mean "read". There's no time to read except selectively. Simply take the time (perhaps only 5-10 minutes) to examine each work, looking at the table of contents (if a book) or opening paragraphs (if article), becoming familiar with the contents, browsing illustrations and diagrams (if any), and --beyond that --reading at random whatever interests you. Try to find out the principal topic and glean main points, if possible. These are among the most important of the "landmark" works, and you should at least be aware of their existence. While their significance varies from >source (e.g. Wallaschek) to > reference (e.g. Nettl & Bohlman), they are works to return to. A number of these are available in the bookstore, to purchase for your library. Many are also online, so check for the links. NB: I strongly suggest keeping an online bibliography on Zotero (or elsewhere) where you can update notes derived from this sort of assignment. Write a one sentence summary for each one, including something about the author, the scope, the significance, and any main points you can glean from such a cursory examination. (But simply knowing about these works is important - and you can always return to them to read more later as needed.)
  2. Review 3 works (critique!). Please sign up using this wiki page and don't review a work that someone else is reviewing, or that you reviewed earlier, e.g. for week 2 ("works and lives"). Note that the older sources require a more critical treatment (source!) than the newer ones, but be critical in any case. You may select from among these sources (boldface or not), but also feel free to add another source not on this list – you may take cues from Shelemay’s historical collections, or from the bibliography of one of the reference works we've read, or by tracing the literature using Web of Science, or searching/browsing on jstor, or via other tools. Everyone must review at least one book. When you review this book, look up its book reviews (on Jstor) and include at least one of them in your review. Do you agree with the review? Why or why not? Each of your reviews should be one page or less. For class next week, be prepared to talk about each of the sources you reviewed. Reviews are 2 paragraphs each for a total of 6 paragraphs. Make sure your 3 sources represent each of three periods:
    1. one from the period before 1950 (pre-EM)
    2. a second from the period 1950-1990 (formative EM)
    3. a third from 1990-present. (development of current EM)
  3. Sketch a short historical synopsis (final length: approximately 6 pages, not including bibliography) tracing the broad lines of a social history of comparative musicology and ethnomusicology, starting from the late 19th century, up to the mid 1990s, citing as many sources as you can, but focusing especially on what we've read together so far (definitions, "works and lives", the first two parts of this week's assignment). Structure your essay generally in three periods (pre-1950, 1950-1970, 1970-1995). Consider developments in technology (e.g. recording), institutions (e.g. archives), practices of research (theory and method), education (how are WM and EM taught?), and applied work (e.g. composing, publishing recordings, archiving and preserving...), as connected to other disciplines (e.g. musicology, psychology, physics, linguistics, folklore, anthropology, history, etc.…), positioned in science, social science, humanities, arts. Consider the changing nature of the object of study (primitive, exotic, Eastern, folk, traditional, tribal musics -- all in quote marks!) and methods of study ('armchair' comparison, transcription, scientific measurement, ethnographic fieldwork…). Highlight aims/goals, major events and landmark works, achievements, activating technologies, intellectual influences, breakthroughs, setbacks, concepts, paradigm shifts, self-definitions, publications (e.g. archives, phonograph, cents, instrument collecting, museums, ensembles, bimusicality, anthropology, psychology, linguistics, fieldwork, video, world music classes...). These are just suggestions - you can decide what to focus on, so long as you present a disciplinary history. NB: You don’t need to read an entire source in order to cite it; go for gist! And your essay need not be definitive or utterly complete; it’s only a first impression and it's fairly short. The above lists are only to help you. Use definitions and summaries (from week 2) as a guide, while incorporating primary sources, trying to be as critical as you can by placing the trends you note into a broader social context. Make use of your 1-sentence summaries & the three reviews from this week, as well as those from week #2. Add other sources as you like, including those not on my lists if you want to. Make sure you cite everything and that each cited source appears in the bibliography (use any standard for formatting - MLA, Harvard, Chicago - doesn't matter to me). NOTE: you only need submit a draft (sketch, outline) version for next week - no grade will be assigned for this draft version. The final paper (fleshed out, incorporating revisions, additional insights, more readings) will be due two weeks later.

Week 4 : 25.-Jan. Research Methods in Ethnomusicology, Roots of Ethnomusicology NB: MEET AT Rutherford South 2-05A

Today we have a special session on Research Methods in Ethnomusicology. NB: meet at Rutherford South 2-05A for session with Music Librarian (and Subject Librarian, Anthropology) Sean Luyk, B.Mus, MA, MLIS, from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. We'll continue with our regular class after a short break.

See Sean's 2014 presentation on Resources in Ethnomusicology. Here is a link to his 2016 presentation (presented today).

See also: Organizing and Managing your Research (SAGE). especially Effective Literature Searching, and the rest of the Sage series.

Submit

As described above:
1. One sentence summaries
2. Three reviews
3. Historical synopsis (draft - can be very sketchy at this point, perhaps a list of main points, stages, ideas)

Discuss

We'll structure discussion around the three periods (pre-1950, 1950-1970, 1970-1995). Be prepared to contribute your views, with reference to the sources you've selected for review. We'll go around the room for each period, so that you can present the works you reviewed. At the end we'll sum up regarding general trends.

Introducing...

Music/sound-centric EM, acoustic ecology, sound studies...

Assignment

ANALYSIS:

Identify a short (< 5 min.) recording (music/sound, audio/visual), relevant to your research project, as an example, to transcribe and analyze. In your submission, include the file or a link to it. Again: this recording (or underlying piece) should be relevant to your research project. It can be a field recording, or a published recording. It need not be "music" in the narrow sense - if you'd like to generalize beyond "music" to soundscapes of various types, that's fine too.

1) Visual representations, analyses, and comparison. Using any two contrastive techniques you wish, create two visual representations (i.e. "notations" or "transcriptions") for your recording. Analyze each of these visual representations, again using techniques of your choosing. Finally compare the two representations and analyses. Here is my framework for etic analysis of music, derived by building on ethnomusicological terms in common use. (NB: You don't have to use it!) You may also wish to investigate use of digital tools such as Audacity, Sonic Visualiser, or praat, or deploy standard notation systems, perhaps suitably modified for the task at hand. Focus on descriptive" transcription but if you can make a case for prescriptive transcription go ahead.

2) Self-critique: Critique your own work in (1). Write 1 page discussing the reasons for your chosen representations/analytical procedures/techniques for comparison. How did you make your choices? What do they show, what do they hide? How may they be, in various ways, biased: ethnocentric, idiocentric, chronocentric.... How well do they represent spatial, social, emotional, cognitive, experiential, emotional, spiritual aspects of the sound, piece, or event that produced it? To what extent does the recording determine the technique used to represent it? What research questions could they help you answer? Using these visual representations and analyses, what can we learn about the individual musicians or (sub)-culture that produced these musical examples? How useful was the comparison? How might it have been more useful with a different selection of musical examples, or transcription/analysis techniques? How would having visual information (e.g. video) have helped, or possibly guided your representation/analysis in a different direction?

REVIEW:

3) Browse the following and review as indicated:

History: Take a look at these transcription/analysis-related articles and chapters. First, browse, savor, read selectively what interests you...and get a sense of the progression of ideas....Then select one article of interest, and write a critical review (1 paragraph).

Cantometrics: Browse Lomax's Cantometrics booklet and cassette, on reserve. We'll do some collective listening in class also. This was a landmark project in the history of ethnomusicology. Write a critical review of the project's aim, scope and method (2 paragraphs). You may also like to find and read reviews on jstor. The above link contains some relevant sources on Cantometrics.

New directions: Locate 3 new approaches to representations of music and sound, including language sound, soundscapes, and music , as described in articles, books, websites, or software tools. Consider ethnomusicology, acoustic ecology, sound studies, sensory anthropology, and related trends. List three such approaches, along with one or two relevant links, and briefly compare them in a 2 paragraph review. Here are some links that may help you get started:

Week 5: 1-Feb. Music-centric approaches.

Submit

  1. Visual representations, analyses, and comparison.
  2. Self-critique
  3. Reviews

Please submit via eClass: (1) and (2) but also bring your assignments and musical examples for the first two assignmentsto class, so we can listen/look together. Feel free to bring a laptop.

Discuss

Note that music-centric EM doesn't preclude the 'E', but only focused attention on the 'M', in several modes:

  • impact of M on E
  • E expressed in M
  • homologies between E and M
  • mutual interactions between E and M
  • correlations between a set of Es and Ms (comparative musicology a la Lomax)

Some contrasts (not always sharp!):

  • Descriptive (transcription; actual sound) vs. Prescriptive (score; potential sound)
  • Sonic (notation) vs. kinesthetic (tablature)
  • Temporal vs. atemporal
  • Surface vs. structural
  • Etic vs. emic (vs. psychoacoustic)
  • Notation vs. analysis vs. metadata (coding)

Purpose:

  • revealing musical structure, emic (or psychoacoustic?) or etic
  • defining a durable musical object (what bestows identity?) across stylistic variation (including "song", "piece" but also "genre" and larger categories of repertoire)
  • defining durable style across musical objects (hierarchy : idiolect, sociolect, historiolect...)

It's important for you to determine, at the outset:

  • Why you're creating a visual representation (transcription/analysis) - what do you hope to accomplish? How can this representation help you achieve your broad goals? (Never transcribe reflexively, without thinking! But one goal might simply be familiarity with the music - and transcription can be very helpful there - sort of like learning to sing or play it).
  • Whether prescriptive or descriptive, high detail or low detail, conventional or alternative notations, makes sense?
  • What assumptions you're making about the ontology of this music (as an etic or emic phenomenon)...and the relation of this existence to the representation you hope to construct?
  1. Ontology of musical transcription and analysis.
    1. classification of transcription as function of sound or movement: "one to one" (fully reversible) vs. "a few to one" (partly reversible) vs. "many to one" (irreversible)
    2. "one to many"? (non-function)
    3. Transcription as "one to one"? "
    4. Descriptive (sound first; for analysis; towards "one to one") vs. prescriptive (notation first; for performance; towards "many to one")
    5. High detail (Bartok) vs. low detail (Bach)
    6. Try transcribing two melodies ("Qul lil-maliha" of Sabah Fakhri; a Kinka excerpt) and compare.
  2. Psychoacoustics: sounded vs. unsounded (cognitive) structures
    1. auditory scene analysis
    2. Auditory stream segregation and [1] (aka auditory streaming, e.g. melodic fission or "inherent rhythm")
    3. Scene analysis and tabla
    4. Stream segregation and Bach[2]
    5. Time-directionality for stream integration (polyphony to harmony to timbre)
    6. Psychoacoustic properties often notated as if objective: METER, TONIC.
  3. Acoustical analysis
    1. Seeger's Melograph
    2. Audacity
    3. Praat
    4. Pitch tracking - My MA thesis (p. 85 ff)
  4. Variable analysis: coding sound
    1. Automatic analysis: the million song dataset
    2. Cantometrics: global music-centric comparative musicology (collective listening and coding)
    3. Limited music-centric comparative musicology: Sufi orders in Cairo (my dissertation, p. 669), or my paper comparing styles of Qur'anic recitation in Cairo (musical examples are here).
    4. My framework for music analysis, based on standard ethnomusicological concepts.
  5. Your pieces, transcriptions, and analyses...

Here are some tools to consider for music notation, transcription, editing, and analysis..

Introducing...

Nothing new for next week.

Assignment

For this week, please prepare a Revised and expanded research proposal:

Previously, you'd prepared a one-paragraph proposal for your ethnomusicological research, including (I) one-line title (research topic); (II) research aim, research value; (III) research area and scope.

Continuing to follow my template for Research Proposals in Ethnomusicology, flesh out section (III) research area and scope, bringing its length up to approximately three pages (see course outline for details on formatting), citing as many sources as possible. Recall that:

  • Research area = intersection of {fields} [where a "field" is to be taken either in a sociological sense - e.g. "lower class urban musicians", or in a disciplinary sense - e.g. "sociology"]
  • Research scope = focused area

Develop your bibliography by scouring the literature for relevant books, book chapters, and articles relevant for each of the intersecting fields, especially geocultural fields. For instance, if one is researching Sufi-jazz fusions in world music festivals, one might gather together sources on Sufism (in theory and practice), relevant streams in jazz (especially jazz fusions), world music, and music festivals. If you wish you can also include literature relevant to the specific disciplinary models and and issues you hope to apply (or test) in your work.

Also: your completed historical synopses of ethnomusicology (begun for Week 3) are due next week!. Please strive to create a coherent narrative out of what we've examined thus far on EM's definitions and key works. Here for your convenience is the assignment again. Consider "approximately 6 pages" as a minimum - if you'd like to go on a bit longer, please feel free (but I won't expect it!). This exercise will be useful for your future reference.

Write a short historical synopsis (approximately 6 pages, not including bibliography) tracing the broad lines of a social history of comparative musicology and ethnomusicology, starting from the late 19th century, up to the mid 1990s, citing as many sources as you can, but focusing especially on what we've read together so far (definitions, "works and lives", part one of this week's assignment. Structure your essay generally in three periods (pre-1950, 1950-1970, 1970-1995). Consider research, education (how are WM and EM taught?), technology, and applied work (e.g. composing, publishing recordings, archiving and preserving...), as connected to other disciplines (e.g. musicology, psychology, physics, linguistics, folklore, anthropology, history, etc.…) in science, social science, and humanities. Consider the changing nature of the object of study (primitive, exotic, Eastern, folk, traditional, tribal musics -- all in quote marks!) and methods of study ('armchair' comparison, transcription, scientific measurement, ethnographic fieldwork…). Highlight aims/goals, major events and landmark works, achievements, activating technologies, intellectual influences, breakthroughs, setbacks, concepts, paradigm shifts, self-definitions, publications (e.g. archives, phonograph, cents, instrument collecting, museums, ensembles, bimusicality, anthropology, psychology, linguistics, fieldwork, video, world music classes...) NB: You don’t need to read an entire source in order to cite it; go for gist! And your essay need not be definitive or utterly complete; it’s only a first impression and it's fairly short. The above lists are only to help you. Use definitions and summaries (from week 2) as a guide, while incorporating primary sources, trying to be as critical as you can by placing the trends you note into a broader social context. Make use of your 1-sentence summaries & the three reviews from this week, as well as those from week #2. Add other sources as you like, including those not on my lists if you want to. Make sure you cite everything and that each cited source appears in the bibliography (use any standard for formatting - MLA, Harvard, Chicago - doesn't matter to me).

Week 6 : 8-Feb. Models for ethnomusicology

Paradigms, models (theory/method/output), issues/topics...

(output = interpretation, or impact)

Submit

  • Revised proposal with bibliography, as per above.
  • Historical synopsis (completed)(this version for grade)

Discuss

  • Your music projects, historical synopses

Introducing

Paradigms, models (theory/method/output), issues/topics....

  • Models for ethnomusicology: moving from the M to the relation of E (including: society, culture, history...along with economy, politics, religion, and all other subsystems) and M in EM: how do we model this relationship? Models from social and cultural theory have something to say...
  • Thomas Kuhn and paradigm theory Part IPart II
  • Models in the human sciences:
    • Model combines ontology (what exists - abstract theory) with epistemology (how to know what exists - method)
    • Models are both to be used and tested
    • Models cause you to ask new questions, and answer them in new ways
    • E.g.: Network models
      • Social model: social network - [3]
      • Cultural model: Semantic nets (e.g. wordnet, wikipedia, or the world wide web
      • History as an evolving social-semantic network
    • Review Sage Research Methods (and note that the models themselves are arranged as a network on this "methods map"!).
    • System-structure models (Malinowski, Radcliff-Brown, Levi-Strauss, Luhmann, Marx) - functionalism, system evolution and adaptation. Tend to be etic, macro.
    • Communicating Agent models (semiotics, linguistics, sociolinguistics), including Saussure and Peirce and their (ethno)musicological inheritors.
    • System-structure / agent models (Habermas, Bourdieu): combining system and agent, macro and micro, etic and emic
    • Action Models, producing sociocultural change (action - including musical compositions/performances) rather than merely sociocultural understanding (scholarly discourse, i.e. books and articles)
  • Models are not necessarily clearly separable - the separation here is etic more than emic
  • All these models may be more...
    • etic or emic
    • (social) scientific or humanistic
    • positivist or hermeneutic
  • Topics are concepts that travel, not restricted to specific geocultural locales, like "gender" or "nationalism" (though there may be limits on their traveling, e.g. "media" may not apply everywhere). When a topic is the focus of particularly intensive discourse it is called an "issue" (this intensity changes over time - when it's no longer the focus we say it's no longer an issue...but it remains a topic).
  • There may be some correlation between models and issues/topics (since some models/theories have been developed to deal with specific issues, e.g. "gender theory") while in other cases there is no such relation and only a free combination (e.g. "practice theory").

Assignment

Please read and review (1-2 paragraphs max per item, including brief summary and critique) the following (all on reserve, two also in the bookstore, and three online):

  1. Nettl, B. (2005). The study of ethnomusicology: Thirty-one issues and concepts. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Chapter 16 (pp. 215 - 231), "That complex whole..." (NB: book available for electronic checkout from Library site) What sorts of models are enumerated for examining the relation of music and culture? How do you view this list?
  2. Porter,James. In: Nettl, B., & Bohlman, P. V. (1991). Comparative musicology and anthropology of music: Essays on the history of ethnomusicology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 113-130 (chapter by James Porter). Take note of two models ("idealism/realism", "Marxism") and how they interact.
  3. Stone, R. M. (2008). Theory for ethnomusicology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Chapter 1. Summarize Stone's main points about theory, and critique. (You may wish to browse other sections of this book, as needed for your project.)
  4. Reread Martin Stokes's portion of Oxford Music Online's article on ethnomusicology, an article we looked at early in the term: Ethnomusicology, §IV: Contemporary theoretical issues (if that link doesn't work navigate via the Library's database page). In your review, list (1) issues and (2) theories/models. How do they relate? Do theories link to specific issues or is there a more fluid relationship between them? Is anything missing?
  5. Browse Sage Research Methods database (especially the Methods Map), and explore 3 models of possible utility to your research project, writing a sentence or two on each - for each method, why do you think it might be useful, and how might you apply it?

Week 7 : 15-Feb. (No class - Reading Week)

Submit

Written reviews assigned last week.

Assignment

Model #1: Adaptation and Function: Evolution and Ecology

Readings (you may read selectively but try to grasp the main arguments):


To do:

  • Read (selectively!) and take notes on the above works; try to locate the main arguments. How is functional and adaptive reasoning employed towards answering "why?" questions. Come to class prepared to discuss, evaluate, and critique authors' ideas. (You need not submit anything.)
  • Using Web of Science, Jstor and other search tools, or Stone (on reserve), locate one ethnomusicological work (article, chapter, book) that you feel makes significant use of a functionalist/adaptationist/ecological model (for example, you might search for ethnomusicological works citing one of the given authors or using one or more of the terms). Write 1-2 paragraphs explaining how the model (or a variant on the model) is deployed and critiquing its deployment. How well does it work in this case? How is the model modified or mixed with other ideas - what sort of "function" or "adaptation" is exemplified? Do these ideas appear as an explicit model (recognized by the author) or an implicit model (used but not recognized), perhaps closer to Kuhn's notion of "paradigm"?
  • Apply the model to your own research project. Write (at least) three short paragraphs to insert into Section IV: Problematization. The first should present the model, and the way it is to be deployed. The second should outline resulting queries, and the third should address corresponding methods that can be used to answer them. (Always consider comparative and multisited research strategies, and address feasibility issues if necessary.) You'll insert these paragraphs into Section IV as the first of the models.

Week 8 : 22-Feb. Model #1: Adaptation and Function: Structures/systems, Evolution and Ecology

Etic view: functions, systems, structures, environments; system adaptation and evolution; broad macro-etic viewpoint
Question: "why?"
Quantitative and empirical work.

Submit

Written assignments described above, namely:

  1. An ethnomusicological work you feel deploys a functionalist model, plus 1-2 paragraphs explaining how this model is deployed, and assessing and critiquing its deployment.
  2. Application of functionalism to your own research proposals (3 paragraphs)

Discuss

  • Browse Sage Research Methods database (especially the Methods Map); which models of possible utility to your research project did you locate? For each method, why do you think it might be useful, and how might you apply it?
  • Adaptation and function: Evolution and Ecology
    • Evolution: Tylor, Marx, and unilinear precedents in comparative musicology vs. Darwin's ramified model. "Function" concept as related to adaptation.
    • Multilinear evolution and cultural ecology of Julian Steward and others
    • General meaning of adaptation: system in an environment.
  • Functionalisms
    • Prezi
    • Biological functionalism: culture as providing organism's needs
    • Social functionalism: society as system
    • Homeostasis? (or can adaptation be dynamic?)
    • Coherence theory.
    • Critique of this set of models. (e.g. how do they deal with change? verification? is this science -- even speculatively so? are there falsifiable hypotheses in functional interpretations? to what extent is there determinism; can we explain music beyond its simple existence?)
    • Review and contrast readings. How do Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown differ? Critique. How could their work be applied to ethnomusicology? How does Geertz's theory differ? How does Merriam make use of functionalism? What is the difference between 'use' and 'function'?
  • Cultural ecology. What is cultural ecology, and how do evolutionary theory and adaptation relate to it? How is such evolution different from the "unilinear" theories of the 19th century (and their parallels in early comparative musicology)? Function/adaptation in relation to natural world vs. cultural world. Secondary and higher functions. Coherence theory.
  • Film: "Three worlds of Bali"
  • Applications
    • articles you located: what did you find, and how does the model fit?
    • your own work: how can the model be applied, and what queries and methods does it suggest?

Introducing...

Music as communication: linguistic and semiotic models

Assignment

Week 9 : 29-Feb. Model #2: Communication, Semiotics, Linguistics

Emic view: meaning, interaction, language; focused micro-emic viewpoint
Question: "how?" Qualitative and interpretive work.


Submit

written assignments deferred to next week...

Discuss

What is communication?

What is semiotics?


How can we relate communication and semiotics to functionalism, as the "how" to the "why"?

How do Saussurean and Peircean semiotic traditions differ? Who were these scholars and what were they trying to accomplish?

Ferdinand de Saussure:

Charles Sanders Peirce

How can we apply them to music?

Assignment

  • Read the following and write a short review (in two parts: summary/critique) of each, in which you summarize the main ideas, define the principal terms, and critique by pointing to limitations or problematic assumptions, assessing how well they appear to understand their theoretical sources and how well they work for music studies, and perhaps placing them within the broader stream of intellectual history. Why do you think these approaches emerged when they did?
  • Optionally (extra credit!) read and review the following:
  • Apply a semiotic-communicative model to your research topic, generating new queries and methods for your proposal. Write (at least) three short paragraphs to insert into Section IV: Problematization. The first should present the model, and the way it is to be deployed. The second should outline resulting queries, and the third should address corresponding methods that can be used to answer them. (Always consider comparative and multisited research strategies, and address feasibility issues if necessary.)

Week 10 : 7-Mar. More on Model #2: applications of semiotics to ethnomusicology

Submit

Written assignments outlined above, namely:

Discuss

Applications of semiotics to ethnomusicology.

Introducing...

System - agent integration: "why" and "how", macro and micro, etic and emic, system and interaction...all meet, in Habermas and Bourdieu

Assignment

  • Complete draft proposals for next week. Your draft proposal should follow the template, including parts I, II, III, as well as part IV, divided into two sections, one for each of the two models we've explored thus far: (Model #1: Adaptation and Function: Structures/systems, Evolution and Ecology; Model #2: Communication, Semiotics, Linguistics; you don't need to add Model #3 yet.). For each model, explain how it can be applied to your topic, what sorts of queries and methods result from this application, and how the model itself might be tested or refined as a result. Please append a working bibliography, and cite it in the body of the proposal (Zotero or another bibliographic database package can generate this for you automatically). This version need not be complete in any way; I just want you to make some headway...
  • Read about Structure and Agency in the social sciences, noting especially the contexts for French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, and German philosopher/social theorist Jurgen Habermas.
  • Bourdieu's social model.
    • Read this overview.
    • Then watch these videos: Ghassan Hage on Pierre Bourdieu: Part I and Part II
    • Browse (do not attempt to read all! read a bit on his life & career, intellectual position, selectively on main ideas) Jenkins, Richard. (1992). Pierre Bourdieu. Taylor & Francis.
    • Also read this article on Habitus
    • Next outline Bourdieu's social model by using the foregoing to explicate each of the following concepts, explaining how they fit together, and offering your own critical thoughts on how it might apply to ethnomusicology (1-2 pages).
      • Social structure
      • Field
      • Doxa
      • Habitus
      • Capital (economic, social, cultural, symbolic)
      • Practice
  • Habermas's social model.
    • Watch Rick Roderick on Habermas.
    • Also read this article on the Lifeworld.
    • Browse Habermas: A Very Short Introduction. Again do not attempt to read the whole - but it's a good intro; again attend to where he fits in the larger intellectual sphere, and identify main ideas. You may also like to consult a few reference works if you get stuck:
    • Outline Habermas' social model by explicating each of the following concepts, explaining how they fit together, and offering your own critical thoughts on how this framework might apply to ethnomusicology (or how it might have to be extended...) (1-2 pages):
      • Pragmatic function of language
      • Theory of communication
      • Structure and function in society
      • Intersubjectivity
      • Lifeworld vs. system
      • Communicative action vs. strategic or instrumental action
      • Communicative action, and the public sphere
  • Using Web of Science, Jstor and other search tools, locate one ethnomusicological work (article, chapter, book) that makes significant use of either Bourdieu or Habermas. Write 1-2 paragraphs explaining how this model (or a variant thereof) is deployed and critiquing its deployment. How well does it work in this case?
  • Apply either a Bourdieu or Habermas model to your own work, focusing on issues of modernity, globalization, and the relation of music to politics and economy, as a means of extending your proposal's part IV. Be prepared to discuss this application. Again, think in terms of 3 paragraphs to insert into Section IV: Problematization. The first should present the model, and the way it is to be deployed. The second should outline resulting queries, and the third should address corresponding methods that can be used to answer them. You may also suggest ways in which your research may serve to validate or critique the model itself. Again, always consider relevant comparative and multisited research strategies, and address feasibility issues if necessary. You don't need to hand this in but do be ready to discuss in class.

Week 11 : 14-Mar. Model #3: System/structure-agent models (Habermas and Bourdieu)

Submit

  • Summary/critique of Bourdieu & Habermas, as explained above, and 1-2 paragraphs explaining how either a Bourdieu or Habermas model is applied in an ethnomusicological article.
  • Application of Bourdieu or Habermas to your own work (ok to submit next week!)
  • Draft proposals, including application of models #1 and #2 (3 paragraphs for each: (a) application, (b) generated queries (suggested by the model), (c) generated methods (suggested by the model and by the queries). (The final version is due in week 16, with presentations on the last day of class.) You don't have to include model #3.

Discuss

  • Habermas and his theory of communicative action.
  • Bourdieu and his theory of habitus
  • Applications to your proposals.

Introducing...

  • Applied ethnomusicology and participatory action research: an activist methodology for ethnomusicology

Assignment

  • (leftover from last week...) Apply either a Bourdieu or Habermas model (or some kind of fusion of the two) to your own work, focusing on issues of modernity, globalization, and the relation of music to politics and economy, as a means of extending your proposal's part IV: 3 paragraphs to insert into Section IV: Problematization. The first should present the model, and the way it is to be deployed. The second should outline resulting queries, and the third should address corresponding methods that can be used to answer them. You may also suggest ways in which your research may serve to validate or critique the model itself. Again, always consider relevant comparative and multisited research strategies, and address feasibility issues if necessary.


Other sources that may help you navigate PAR:

  • GLOSSARY: Participatory action research

Fran Baum, Colin MacDougall and Danielle Smith Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (1979-) , Vol. 60, No. 10 (October 2006), pp. 854-857 Published by: BMJ Publishing Group Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40665463

  • The Cultural Organizing of Formal Praxis-Based Pedagogies: A Socio-Historical Approach to Participatory Action Research

Julio Cammarota Social Justice , Vol. 36, No. 4 (118), Activist Scholarship: Possibilities and Constraints of Participatory Action Research (2009-2010), pp. 6-13 Published by: Social Justice/Global Options Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29768558

  • Participatory Action Research

Julie L. Ozanne and Bige Saatcioglu Journal of Consumer Research , Vol. 35, No. 3 (October 2008), pp. 423-439 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Article DOI: 10.1086/586911 Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/586911

Week 12 : 21-Mar. Model #4: Participatory Action Research (PAR) and applied ethnomusicology

Submit

  • Two pages: what is the PAR model? How does it derive from critical social thought, especially that of Habermas? What are the implications for ethnomusicology - how can it be applied or adapted for the study of music in culture?
  • One page: What is "applied ethnomusicology", and how can PAR contribute to it?
  • Add either a Bourdieu or Habermas model (or some kind of fusion of the two) in the form of 3 paragraphs to insert into Section IV: Problematization, as explained above.

Discuss

Applied EM applied: PAR applications.

Introducing...

How to design an effective presentation.

Assignment

  • Due next week: Apply PAR to your own work: Add PAR as the last of the four models for your research proposal. Note that unlike the previous three models, PAR is primarily a methodological model. As before, add (at least) three short paragraphs to insert into Section IV: Problematization, (a) presenting the model, and the way it is to be deployed for your research, introducing modifications as you see fit; (b) resulting aims & queries (for applied research practical aims typically take precedence over queries, though you may also be gathering information for a subsequent round in the PAR spiral), (c) specific collaborative methods that can be used to address your aims and queries. Again, consider comparative and multisited research strategies, and address feasibility issues if necessary.
  • Due April 4, in two weeks' time: Prepare a 20 minute presentation, outlining your project, based on your proposal, with the addition of audio and video examples to share with the class. State your topic (I). Clearly explain your research aim and its importance (II), then briefly trace the area and scope [indicating comparative and multisited possibilities] (III), and finally explain how each of the four models engages with your topic, generating queries and methods. If you have any partial results you can present those also, along with a rough timeline for completion of the project. We'll follow each presentation with some questions, all enlivened with celebratory food and drink ...

Week 13 : 28-Mar Easter holiday: No class

Submit

Apply PAR to your own work: Add PAR as the last of the four models for your research proposal, as per above.

Assignment

Prepare a 20 minute presentation, outlining your project, based on your proposal, with the addition of audio and video examples to share with the class. State your topic (I). Clearly explain your research aim and its importance (II), then briefly trace the area and scope [indicating comparative and multisited possibilities] (III), and finally explain how each of the four models engages with your topic, generating queries and methods. If you have any partial results you can present those also, along with a rough timeline for completion of the project. We'll follow each presentation with some questions, all enlivened with celebratory food and drink ...

Week 14 : 4-Apr. Presentations and wrap-up

For today: Develop a media rich presentation of your proposed research (using any presentation package - powerpoint, keynote, acrobat, google slides...), online or off, for a potential 15-20 minute presentation of your work (maybe we can arrange for you to do this at one of our CCE/fwa meetings). See above for the details. Please upload your presentation to eClass (if it's already online, e.g. Google Slides, just submit the link).

Note: final proposals are due on 18-Apr. The final proposal must follow the format as presented in the template (sections I, II, III, IV) very precisely, and include all four models (in section IV), as prepared earlier. Also please hand in any other stray assignments by this date. If you are resubmitting an assignment you'd already submitted, please let me know so that I'll be sure to reread it. Use eClass for all submissions.

Week 16: 18-Apr. All assignments due

I would appreciate having all assignments by this date so that I can have time to grade prior to the grade submission deadline. If you aren't going to be able to observe this deadline please let me know so we can make other arrangements.