web materials for zoo field work

Bali Mynah



jordan and the zoo noises



http://www.jordancannady.com/RWPZ_mom_jordan1.JPG
http://www.freewebs.com/jordanskilt/DSCN2832.JPG

Critical Review 5 - Meintjes

Meintjes writes a paper illustrating the point that the political and musical aspects of Paul Simon’s Graceland are ultimately inseparable. Simon’s belief of politics not governing how he should play or write his music is brought up first. The ambiguity of politics of the album and the minimal reference to South Africa in the lyrics/liner notes supports this belief. The fact that Graceland was such a success led to Meintjes noting that it was not a musical anomaly, instead it was part of a 1980s world beat trend along with other artists, and that it succeeded as an album because of the skill of artists, production, and highly valued genres. Meintjes also focused on the importance of how collaboration was noted and detailed, leading to a discussion on whether or not it was true collaboration in all cases.

The world tours done after the album were more outwardly political, in that in the concert held in Zimbabwe no money left the country, and that they toured in cities with black and economically poor audiences. Also, the inclusion of two exiled South Africans was viewed by Meintjes as maybe an attempt to validate the political correctness of the project, and an attempt to dispel criticism of Simon as a musical colonizer. Though Simon did effectively work as a type of colonizer, his music is an integration of music like any other new genre of music, combining African musical styles and making them more accessible with English speaking listeners. Is it right that Simon is viewed as an exploiter? Is it right to enjoy sounds without knowing their history, as most listeners of Graceland do?

Response to challenge

You bring up several interesting points, and I’ll attempt to touch upon those which I found most interesting. Classical music followers are probably made up of middle and upper classes. This separation comes from a variety of reasons, as you mentioned, however, I feel as though the make-up also stems from age and generational differences. Each generation has had to acknowledge more variety in music than the last, and with the rise of popular music and all of its genres, classical music has suffered in popularity because it is viewed as anachronistic and as music worth only preserving. One only needs to attend a rock concert and an orchestra concert to see the difference in audiences. The community is really what matters and dictates who is and can be a part of this culture. These days, the communities of classical music participants and followers definitely appeal to a certain set of people, those who have probably been brought up in a household of classical music appreciation. Directly, money may have less to do with the apparent elitism than class structure or community, seeing as rock, drumming, jazz, and other music all require relatively expensive instruments.
Also, I agree that it is the degree of emphasis of the written score that is key to defining classical music. The reasons for this emphasis are definitely practical, but regardless it leads to splits in a culture. Many do not have the time and means to not only learn how to read a score but also translate it into music, partially because classical music is not really commercial and popular anymore. There are the same issues with jazz. If, like you said, classical music could focus more on progress instead of preservation, I feel more people would relate, more new composers could succeed, and a fresh, interesting beginning could come around.

Challenge Question Response

Q.)1. In several different readings (Wong, Agawu, Shelemay, Miller, etc) the author discusses issues that arise from studying a culture that one is not part of. Write a 2-3 page paper about some of the problems involved in studying one's own musical group or culture.

A.)
In studying ethnomusicology, ethnographers constantly struggle to get the closest and most accurate portrait of the culture that they are studying. Often these ethnographers come from outside communities, and struggle with their etic perspectives. Therefore, much has been said in favor of directly empowering those within the musical culture to analyze and provide a true representation of their own music. Agawu emphasizes this point, arguing that in order for the generalization of African music to disappear, Africans must be given the chance to educate themselves in their own universities and ultimately provide insight on their own distinct musical cultures. This would do away with a lot of issues involving authority, and would help steer the audience of ethnomusicology away from its mainly Western base.

In some studies, this switch to the insider’s perspective has already been attempted. Deborah Wong’s idea of performance ethnography takes the idea and writes about how she can help meld and change the focus of taiko drumming through writing about what her own hopes will be. Is this right to change the musical culture that one is studying? Herein lies a potential problem of studying one’s own music, in that the ethnography will be biased with underlying motivations. In countering this argument, all ethnographies are biased, because there is really no way a single author can erase themselves totally from their studies, nor should they. In accepting the ethnography as biased, how should we look at the motivation to change or direct a tradition in the way an author wants? If this view is shared by the musical community, I argue that it is not a problem, the ethnographer is simply helping to further the tradition. If the author is trying to change the tradition drastically, and is doing so in a way that is not positively viewed by the musical community, I think there is a problem. This would lead to strained relationships between the researcher and the musicians, and at the same time provide an inaccurate view of most of the culture.

These relationships with the musicians are also of interest. In studying one’s own music, a researcher is bound to have many friends or at least feel close to the musicians being studied. That being said, problems might be created when the research is written not for the musicians, but for the scholars. In attempting to please one audience, the ethnographer might offend another, and this would lead to poor communication and understanding, points that ethnomusicology strives to connect.

Another problem that has been discussed in class is the difference between critical and celebratory ethnographies. In contrast to the celebratory ethnographies of etic ethnographers, some ethnographies of authors studying their own musical culture read as very critical. Nettl’s paper, for example, provides a critical view rather than a celebratory one. This critical aspect may not help fuel the idea of Western music continuing as a healthy changing tradition, and outsiders to this culture may view the music negatively rather than if they had read a celebratory ethnography. At the same time, the critical aspect of Nettl’s paper offers a unique perspective, and at times would probably offer a more truthful and interesting voice than a simple celebratory write-up. I think there is definitely more room in ethnomusicology for the critical aspect and with the study of one’s own culture, this needed authority is becoming more prevalent.

Other problems of studying one’s own culture appear in Nettl’s paper on Western music, in that it contains no outside voices, is not reflexive, and references many aspects of the Western music culture that only an insider would understand. The fact that it is from an emic view gives Nettl an authority, which is justified, but at the same time this authority lets Nettl overlook many aspects of a traditional ethnography. He assumes that his audience is familiar with his culture, creating problems of understanding. He only uses himself as an authority, which excludes other helpful perspectives on the culture. These problems stem from the authority of reporting on one’s own culture, and though the ethnographer creates an interesting, personalized inside view of a culture, the outsider’s perspective, one that can connect the author and culture with the audience, is missing. The best ethnographies should be a mix between emic and etic, combining various views of the musical culture from inside and outside, and though many problems crop up in studying one’s own culture, this method should continue to grow and these problems will be addressed and eventually sorted out.

Miller 2004 - Questions

Authenticity is clearly valued dearly in Sacred Harp. Would it have made a difference if the Lee family was not from the South? Would they have had the same impact if they were not a family but a group of people from an isolated community? They seem popular enough to draw together the two main factions of Sacred together. Is this popularity because they exemplify best the qualities for which Sacred Harp singing wish to be known?


Discussion Question

What are the qualities that Sacred Harp singers wish to protect? What kind of qualities do Sacred Harp singers wish to project? How does the use of conventions help further these goals?

Campbell Review

Campbell’s article concentrates on the history and mixed reactions of change to the Sacred Harp shape note singing. He talks of the history of preference of seven-shapes over four by many groups, and the contrasting belief that the Sacred Harp book shouldn’t change its four-shape edition. Many compromises came to be through cautionary modification and updating of the book. Attempts to drastically change the literature were condemned. Loyalty, tradition, and religion were all pressing factors in the pressure to keep the Sacred Harp book enduring as a timeless yet relevant piece of culture.

How are recent revisions looked upon by Sacred Heart practitioners? Are the revisioners careful to make only small changes, keeping out gospel sounds? Also, is seven-shape note singing still popular among areas today?

Challenge Questions

Titon often takes an idealistic view of ethnomusicology, equating music and field relationships directly with friendship. He also writes of the naiveté that an ideal field relationship will always result in friendship. If such a relationship, one that is more contractual or involves student/teacher roles, ends with little mutual gain, is the study flawed? Does the ethnographer still have authority?


In creating a culture specifically for the literate in Western notation, does the Western art music culture take on an elitist persona, amplified by the fact that certain composers are deemed more talented and revered than others? How does this elitism affect outsiders who are new to the music?

Interview with Jordan Cannady

"Whatever the character is I always try and tailor, if I know songs that would go for that particular event then I try and do those.
So I did, I came in thinking I was gonna do a lot of old, old, old, you know, 30s and 20s music, and so there I came in with all these very, very old songs and people kept coming up to me and asking me “Did I do the beach boys, did I do the beatles?”, and suddenly, to my horror, I suddenly realized that all of these grandparents were my age, which meant I was a grandparent too or I could easily be. And that grandparent music, the age of the grandparent was my generation, and it really kind of shook me up."

“Oh no!”

"Yeah, so every event I always try and come up with a different persona if possible. Spooky zoo Sunday I've done this now this is my third year that I've come back and done it and I love doing it, and I have a few Halloween songs that I do, and that’s what I do.
But I love this it's pretty much my favorite venue to play in."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah I love it."

"Yeah, I love all of the people walking around."

"Well the kids are great and the people that run it, Joe Os who's in charge of this is just a pleasure to work with, very friendly. So what else, what would you like to know?"

"Do you cater songs to various audiences, like now?"

"I do select the songs based on, I do keep in mind the age groups of the kids that come through. So I’ll thrown in a lot of songs that maybe I wouldn’t normally do like
Old MacDonald had a farm, songs like that, gear the age level down somewhat
Although I still do a lot of songs, rock and roll songs that I think have a universal appeal.
And I have found that the kids all seem to like it, it doesn’t seem to matter whether it's rock and roll, or Old MacDonald, or hillbilly music or country western they all seem to like all of it as long as its done well, and as I mentioned before I do try and look for songs that go with a particular event. That’s probably the biggest challenge, when Joe says I think one day, I'm trying to remember specifically, there was a day that was Flowers and Trees Day, so the idea was to try and come in if I knew any songs that had to do with trees and flowers to try and gear it that way, and I didn’t have a whole bunch that went with that, but I wanted to be sure that if I did any, that I’d do that."

Nettl Review

In looking at Nettl’s own musical culture, he focuses on the history and the canonization of specific Western music composers. In looking at Western art music from a ethnomusicological point of view, Nettl observes that the stories and myths behind the music and composers are very important in determining the importance and relevance of the music to present day audiences. Nettl also makes an interesting point, noting the denationalizing of composers. Musicians and audiences are not critical of the fact that the most acclaimed composers are all German, and can identify with the music without this cultural bias.
The focus on a select few composers creates a mythological hierarchy which musicians follow for the most part over time. How is this like Blackfoot Indian’s music? Both come from “mythological” or “supernatural” beings, but can one really compare these musical cultures? Also, in creating a culture specifically for the literate in Western notation, does the culture also take on an elitist persona, amplified by the fact that certain composers are deemed more talented and revered than others?

Back Review

Les Back credits the success of the White Power music scene to the internet and the information age. He provides a background of the skinhead movement in Britain, that of a society promoting the white proletariat working class as a backlash to the cultural upheaval. He brings up an interesting point that skinheads often danced to the music of black reggae artists. When he tells a skinhead that his music will go with the black people if they are thrown out of the country, the skinhead replies that he’ll still have the tapes. In continuing with present music, Back addresses the influences of modern white supremacist music, noting that it is dominated by rock and metal. In quoting Burdi, a founder of a white power record company, Burdi says, “You can go into dance clubs and you can hear these bastardised versions of these beautiful compositions which have been ruined by including rap lyrics.” Then Burdi goes on to say that a white power band is heavily influenced by Wagner, and often lifts chord progession straight out of Wagner’s compositions. How is this different then rapping over classical music? Is it because they trace their lineage back to these artists, and that blacks have no right to exploit their ancestors music?

Agawu ch.3 review

Agawu attacks views of Africa as a whole. He points out that ethnomusicologists then (before 1950) and now have lifted up rhythm as an all-important African characteristic. The rhythmic complexity spoken of only comes from a few places that were first studied, for example, Ghana and the West African coast. There are many different types of African music, the countries are not like the states of the US, they are separate entities. Agawu also makes the argument that notation should not change to accompany these rhythms, because standard notation enables the pieces to be more widely performed. He suggests the only way to counter our invention of what African music is, is to work towards direct empowerment. This would take away the outsider perspective, hopefully, and create a truer picture of the depth and diversity of African music.

Waterman Review

In Waterman’s review of African influence, he views “American negro” music to be composed of half European and half African styles. He stresses the differences between the two, focusing on African music and its lack of complex harmony, its dominance in percussion, and its call and response patterns. He connects the idea of jazz and freeform to West African music. He quotes, “We know, in general, the African sie of the equation,” which is to say that Waterman generalizes much in his ideas. His focus on West African tribal music is relevant, it points to the fact that the influences he speaks of come from a specific place, and that Africa cannot be generalized in the way he is doing.

First zoo fieldwork 10/5

Entrance to zoo:
Fun, danceable music as I came into the zoo and paid for my ticket

Little German Band
In coming up past African dogs and next to elephants, a noise of trumpets, euphoniums, and drums. The Little German Band was playing in the pavilion, outside of the eatery. Kids applauded every time the band finished a song, when there were kids there. There were only two picnic benches outside protected from the rain, so there were limited listeners. The singer/trumpeter of the band asks the audience if they know the Polish Prince. In the store adjacent to the pavilion and the eatery, the cashier bounces her head to the music played. The music is sometimes sung in German, depending on which songs. They wore traditional German outfits, with hats, green and white costumes, knee socks. The band was composed of a tuba, 2 trumpets, clarinet (doubling on sax, didn’t hear the sax though), drums, and singer. He gives history behind each piece (one time mentioning Elvis) and how popular songs came from German/ East European folk music.

I continued my walk up the zoo. I passed the giraffes, turned right, and made my way by the Farmyard porch. There sat a man with a stand in front of him holding a guitar, and playing for people walking by. Unfortunately, nobody really stopped, it seemed to be in a bad location for stopping because of its isolation. It was rainy weather too, and he looked less than happy to be there in the rain.

Music played at the “Fun Tent” from speakers on the ground:
“Monster Mash”, then instrumental soundtrack for a scary movie. Is it meant to be intimidating? Inviting? Or just in the Halloween spirit? Inside the tent there were smoke-filled bubbles, mini-golf, beanbag toss, etc. “I put a spell on you” comes on. The music helps create a much more popular event, with popular songs in the fashion of how people usually know them.

Music at food concession stand:
Boom box- instrumental music, spooky involving synth strings and bells, tympanis, and a drumbeat. Where do these CDs come from?

Pop music plays in the gift shop. It is tuned to a radio station. The radio plays “I am barely breathing” song and I sing along to it while I search for a birthday present.

Speakers are set up along the wildlife trail. They are set in stop places but hidden in the brush or underneath benches. “Bing Bang walla walla bing bang” song is on. Then ghostly moaning; it would be creepy to walk this alone in the dusk. Addam’s family theme song comes on. A 6-year old boy dances to the song in front of his family.

Before I leave I come face to face with a peacock like bird. It spikes its feathers as I come close, and then issues rhythmic honks towards me against the glass between us. Is this music? It has a pitch, a purpose, rhythm, and I am fascinated by the interaction. Should animal-made music be included in an ethnographic project of zoo music? They are the focus of the zoo, and are clearly what people come to be entertained by.

I exit the zoo at a run, trying to catch the bus back home. The music at the entrance accompanies my exit with a Michael Jackson like quality of the 80s, again quite danceable and inviting.

Understanding Titon (ch. 2)

Titon, throughout his paper, presents the idea that understanding is more important than explanation, and that the history of ethnomusicology has been laden with explanations and data-gathering, and only now is moving towards a focus on understanding and experience. In shifting the focus and position to understanding, he emphasizes people over objects, interpretation over analysis, and humanities over science. His definition of music as a socially constructed, cultural phenomenon also reflects an idea that music is a group activity, and that the self merges with the others until the reemergence of universal knowledge. In using this definition of music defining people, giving people knowledge, and bringing them together, Titon makes a case for music as a replacement for language as the basic form of communication. Music is about the person and experience, not about analysis and comparison.
Titon also addresses the fundamental flaws of current ethnomusicology: the authority of representation, the quest narrative, and the incompatibility with poststructuralist thought. He acknowledges that he cannot give adequate answers for these flaws, but at the same time makes note that the disappearance of self comes with the experience of music-making, and that the communal experience can answer for the ethnomusicologist’s authority and lack of self. In the postscript, Titon mentions that in experiencing music as a visitor, one avoids the quest-narrative and instead musicology is based on visiting and friendship. Having dealt with the three main flaws of ethnomusicology, Titon ends with saying that fieldwork brings mutual gain and shared experiences.
Titon often takes an idealistic view of ethnomusicology, equating music and field relationships directly with friendship. He also writes of the naiveté that an ideal field relationship will always result in friendship. If such a relationship, one that is more contractual or involves student/teacher roles, ends with little mutual gain, is the study flawed? Does the ethnographer still have authority?

The creation of S.E.M: what changed and what remained

The Ethnomusicology newsletter for the Society of Ethnomusicology has changed greatly over a span of 50 years, but in many ways it has remained similar with its core ideas. In examining old 1950s newsletters, I found the 6th issue to be most interesting, for it was in this newsletter that the formation of S.E.M. was announced. The society came from the American Society for Comparative Musicology, which had stagnated several years after its creation in 1933. The ASCM itself built upon the ideas of the GVM, a German group to which ASCM subscribed their members. The depression wiped these groups away, basically, and not until 1953 did a group of ethnomusicologists meet in Boston at an anthropological conference. A small group of enthusiasts put together the first newsletter, because they thought that the newsletter needed to be well-established before a group could be imagined. After the mailing list grew from 75 to 600, S.E.M. was thought up and the primary concerns voiced furthering communication and promoting research. These objectives, though obvious goals for a newsletter, have remained at the core of the newsletter. In the 2001 winter newsletter of Ethnomusicology, the official object remains to provide “advancement of research and study in the field of ethnomusicology,” a vague goal, but one that is necessarily vague because the definition of ethnomusicology keeps changing. These changes are especially evident in the 1950s. In issue six, one agreement the founders of S.E.M. come upon is that ethnomusicology is not limited to primitive music. By denoting the music they primarily study as primitive, they are already limiting their views, and creating comparative musicology, a word that reinforces antiquated ideas of ethnomusicology. The change from comparative musicology to ethnomusicology came around this time period, and yet research was still decidedly comparison-based. Examples of these comparisons abound in the 1956 issue. One example addresses the universal laws that determine tonal construction in tribal music, another compares Navajo and Apache music and culture, and yet another provides an overview of African rhythm patterns and compares the parts to western concepts. These comparisons have mostly made their way out of ethnomusicological research, because of much more understanding and respect for the researched cultures. There is still the same type of focus on cultures, however. In the 1956 issue, the end of the newsletter asks for information on courses on ethnomusicology. The newsletter asks for information about courses dealing with folk and primitive music, primitive music alone, or Oriental music. This is hardly how one would refer to such music now; to indicate that a culture’s music is primitive or Oriental is close to forms of racism. Funnily enough, in the 2001 winter issue of Ethnomusicology, it is interesting to read the titles of three articles in a row: Powwows and Identity on the Piedmont and Coastal Plains of North Carolina, All That Is Not Give Is Lost: Irish Traditional Music, Copyright, and Common Property, and The Sonic Dimensions of Nationalism in Modern China Musical Representation and Transformation.

Moving - Critical Review

Wong introduces her research on taiko, or rather how she defends going about her research on taiko. The research is based on autoethnography, and she explains how she first was the performer, then the ethnographer, and that the two are very different but she strived to put them together. She speaks of the draw that Asian-American culture had on her, as an Asian-American, and notes that taiko has continued to be defined and dominated by the Asian-American culture. In her final statements, she confesses that she yearns to find or to start a taiko group that would be completely about Asian-American identity, or even feminist Asian-American identity. Her idea is that performance ethnography will help her create encounters to forward social change. It is a fine idea. However, in practicing performance ethnography, relationships might become strained, because of how the research is written and presented to the scholars, and not aimed towards the fellow musicians. How can an ethnographer who wishes taiko was more visionary or progressive comment on it without too much bias or underlying motivations? Is the change of a kind of performance due to performance ethnography still representative of the previous culture and traditions?

Fieldwork: Zoo

In regards to fieldwork, I plan on researching the music played by entertainers at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, specifically Spooky Zoo festivities during the month of October. This is my favorite time to be at the zoo and its a popular time to be there for many others as well. I want to research something that speaks not only to a university student, but to a community broader than College Hill, and focusing on music played will provide an interesting on how musician’s and entertainers relate to the community around them. The Zoo is a place where many different ages and types of people visit, and therefore the setting will be an interesting one and will hopefully provide some insight on a part of Rhode Island tradition.

There are many questions to be considered. Is the focus on the musician? Are the musicians paid, or providing a free gift for the community? Do they play children-friendly tunes, and if they do, what constitutes this type of genre? What is the composition of the audience? Do the same entertainers play every year?

Handler and Linnekin Critical Review

In attempting to define tradition, Handler and Linnekin offer two meanings that have been used previously, one that embraces the idea of tradition as a tangible bounded structure, and one that offers the idea that tradition is only symbolic. Much of the paper is devoted to debunking the first idea of boundedness and handed-down traits, an old concept of tradition dating back to Burke and the 19th century. While their critique of the old definition is a valid point emphasizing the inseparable aspect of the past and present, the idea of tradition as being either genuine or spurious comes up as a point that needs to be addressed. At this point they take a few pages to bash upon the ingenuity of the Quebecois and Hawaiian traditions, taking care to note that the cultures chose to portray themselves the way they wanted seen by the outside. Upon conclusion, Handler and Linnekin decide that the terms of genuine and spurious are synonymous, in that genuine traditions are spurious and vice versa, if tradition is always defined in the present.

In considering tradition, it is true that much is created as a sort of preservation or homage to the past. Is this considered more of a tradition than what had actually taken place? If these reconstructive traditions take the place of an older continued tradition, are the two weighed similarly in a reseacher’s study? Is one still valued more than another? Though the argument is that traditions should not be looked as relations with the past, in society emphasis and importance has been placed on tradition in accordance with historical longevity (i.e. the stature of Ivy-league institutions or the infallibility of Biblical scriptures).

24 Hour Music Log

Sunday, September14, 2008

The day started as all Sundays do: at noon.
12:15 Ob la di, Ob la dah - Beatles (from a friend singing in the refectory over breakfast)
12:30 The Flaming Lips (from this same friend singing)
12:45 Super Smash Brothers (playing in the background as I make my way to my room)
12:52 Love Fool - The Cardigans (from Mac speakers in the lounge during group study)

12:54-1:31 (The following music occurs from my computer with headphones on:)

7/4 Shoreline - Broken Social Scene
Simply - De La Soul
Gobbledigook - Sigur Ros
Calendar Girl - Stars
The Upper Peninsula - Sufjan Stevens
A Postcard to Nina - Jens Lekman
Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
Notorious Thugs - Notorious BIG feat. Bone Thugs and Harmony
Waiting Room - Fugazi

1:41 Love In This Club - Usher (someone singing while studying, chorus of people (5) joins in)
1:50 U+Me=Us (Calculus) - 2Gether (group of students singing)
3:58 Neutral Milk Hotel (AEPi Barbeque)
4:05 Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me For Me) - Blessed Union of Souls (I sang this out loud)
6:20 Bare Naked Ladies (speakers connected to a computer while I was drying dishes)
6:40 Dear Catastrophe Waitress (album) - Belle and Sebastian (speakers)
7:00 Crane Wife (album) - The Decemberists (speakers)
7:50 female singing pop (echo from basement speakers while in my room)
7:55 Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Steely Dan (I sang this out loud)
8:00 Push it - Salt 'n Pepa (someone singing it)
9:11 R+B with female vocals (friends computer during meeting)
10:30 Electronica sounding music (ringtone from friend's phone)
11:00 Leaving - Jesse McCartney (I was singing with 2 people)
11:20 Rap music (from a car on thayer)
11:30 Classical Music (I was whistling)
11:35 Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions (I was singing)
11:37 Rap music (from a car on thayer)
11:45 Make It Rain - Fat Joe feat. Lil Wayne (I was singing)
11:48 Wouldn't It Be Nice - Beach Boys (My friend singing)
12:00 Canon in D - Pachelbel (I was humming)
12:20 Colors of the Wind - Pocahontas (friends serenading me on the lawn)
1:00 9th Symphony - Beethoven (My friend and I were singing)
1:20 Rhapsody in Blue - Gershwin (fantasia 2000 from computer speakers)
8:30 September - Earth, Wind, and Fire (cell phone alarm)
10:00 Killer Queen - Queen (I was singing in the shower)

Such was my day.
~Trevor T