07:700:292 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Western Culture, Violin, Vibrato
07:700:292
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Introduction to Musics of the World
9-4
● What is Music?
○ 1. The basic property of all music is sound.
○ 2. The sounds (and silences) that comprise a musical work are organized in
some way.
○ 3. Sounds are organized into music by people; music is a form of “humanly
organized sound”.
○ 4. Music is a product of human intention and perception.
○ 5. The term music is inescapably tied to Western culture and its assumptions;
Ethnocentrism.
● Introduction to Ethnomusicology
○ Ethnomusicology: the study of music in its cultural context.
○ Ethnomusicologists: educators and researchers.
○ Approach music as a social process
■ Not only what music is but why it is.
■ What music means to its practitioners and audiences.
■ How those meanings are conveyed.
○ Highly interdisciplinary field: music, anthropology, performance studies, dance,
gender studies, race or ethnic studies, etc.
● Fundamental Approaches and Methods
○ Taking a global approach to music (regardless of area of origin, style, or genre)
○ Engage in ethnographic fieldwork
■ Participating in and observing the music being studied.
■ Frequently gaining facility in another music tradition as a performer or
theorist.
■ Historical research.
○ Music Ethnography: a written representation and description of a music-culture
organized from the standpoint of a particular topic.
● To understand a music-culture or some part of it from a native’s or insider’s point of
view.
○ Focus on music, performers, audience, time and space.
○ Relationship between individuals/models of interacting.
● Culture
○ Edward Tylor, 1871
■ Culture: that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law,
morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habit acquired by man
[mankind] as a member of society.
● Defining Culture
○ “A culture is defined mainly by a collective worldview shared by its members.” –
Michael Bakan
○ Society - social institutions & social organization.
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○ Culture - ideas, beliefs, and practices that underscore social organization.
● Music and/as/in Culture
○ Music is not a unitary art form.
○ Music is comprised of distinct types of activities.
○ They fulfill different needs and ways of being human.
○ Helps with personal and social integration.
○ Music is socially meaningful.
● Melting Pot versus Salad Bowl
● Music Universals
○ We realize that music is a universal phenomenon but there is no universal
music.
○ This is why researchers and educators prefer the term musics.
○ We attempt to treat every music culture as unique even as we aim to connect
them.
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● “Musical sounds are a powerful human resource, often at the heart of our most profound
social occasions and experiences” - Turino, 2008.
● The creation and expression of emotional inner lives.
● The basis of an international music industry ($$$).
● Pleasure/financial gain alone does not explain why people are drawn to artistic
endeavors.
○ How and why is music socially meaningful
● The Importance of Music and Dance
○ Understanding of the self.
○ Identities.
○ Formation and sustenance of social groups (synchrony with others).
○ Spiritual, emotional communication.
○ Political movements.
● Why Art Matters
○ Many societies around the world practices activities akin to what we call music
and dance.
○ Expressive Cultural Practices: primary way people articulate collective
identities fundamental to forming and sustaining social groups.
■ central to human evolution and human survival.
○ Identity and community:
■ Shared cultural knowledge and style.
■ Participation in performance together.
○ Social Intimacy: a feeling of oneness with others; moving and sounding together
in synchrony.
○ Social Solidarity: depending on social groups to survive emotionally and
economically; belonging to something larger than ourselves.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The basic property of all music is sound. The sounds (and silences) that comprise a musical work are organized in some way. Sounds are organized into music by people; music is a form of humanly organized sound . Music is a product of human intention and perception. The term music is inescapably tied to western culture and its assumptions; Ethnomusicology: the study of music in its cultural context. Not only what music is but why it is. What music means to its practitioners and audiences. Highly interdisciplinary field: music, anthropology, performance studies, dance, gender studies, race or ethnic studies, etc. Taking a global approach to music (regardless of area of origin, style, or genre) Participating in and observing the music being studied. Frequently gaining facility in another music tradition as a performer or theorist. Music ethnography: a written representation and description of a music-culture organized from the standpoint of a particular topic.
