Rice 2010 Ethnomusicological Theory

8/11/2019 Rice 2010 Ethnomusicological Theory

1/36

ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL THEORYAuthor(s): Timothy RiceSource: Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 42 (2010), pp. 100-134Published by: International Council for Traditional MusicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41201382.

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2/36

ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL THEORY

byTimothyice

"Ethnomusicologicalheory,"

espite

tsname nd

despite

hefact hat t n

some

ways permeates

ur

field,

as

yet

to

take

firm

oot

n

our

disciplinarymagina-

tion.1

ndeed,

he

phrase ppears

o be used

rarely,

n

comparison

o

references

to an unmodified

theory"

n

or for

thnomusicology.inimally,

thnomusicol-

ogy today ngages

with

hree

ypes

f

theory:

ocial

theory,

music

theory,

nd

discipline-specificthnomusicologicalheory.

nmodified eferenceso

theory

have tended o obfuscate he nature fethnomusicologicalheorynd have left

ethnomusicologists

bit

unsure,

nd

perhaps

ven

nsecure,

bout herelevance

and

place

of

theory,

owever

nderstood,

n

theirwork.

Three ecent

ublicationsyMervyn

McLean,

Ruth

tone,

ndme llustratehe

problem

have nmind.McLean

2006),

n

hisbookPioneers

fEthnomusicology,

laments hat American

thnomusicology

s now awash with

heory"p.

337)

"derived

mostly

rom utside

isciplines"p.

259),

when,

n his

view,

more

olid,

straightforwardescription

s what s

really

needed.2 n

the

contrary, y

recent

review fthe iterature

n

the

ournal

thnomusicology

n the heme f

music nd

identity

evealed

irtually

o referenceso

theory

rom utside he

discipline

r

indeedmuch n thewayof ntradisciplinaryheorizingRice 2007). Viewed from

this imited

ngle, thnomusicology

ould

hardly

e said obe awash n

heory.

his

small

urvey otwithstanding,

t

s

probably

air o

say

thatAmerican

thnomusi-

cologists

oday ypically

ite wide

range

f

theory

rom

variety

f

disciplines.

Against

McLean's

implication

hat

reading

ater

n

theory

rom ther isci-

plines

istractss frommore

mportant

asks,

tone

2008:225),

n

her

ook-length

survey heoryor Ethnomusicology,rgues

hat

theory

s theessential

omple-

1 I

cannot

esist he

se

of our"

here nd lsewhere

n

his

aper,

ecause

regard

disci-

pline

s,

among

ther

hings,

onstituted

y

conversations

mong community

f scholars.

But want obecareful,articularlyn his orum,opoint ut hat he isciplinaryonversa-

tions am

speaking

bout re

xpressed

n

English,

hich,

erhaps nfortunately,

ominates

not

only

onversations

n

the

US, UK, Canada, reland, ustralia,

ew

Zealand,

nd

parts

of

Africa,

ut

n

nternationalorumss well.

Meetings

fthe

CTM illustrate

roductively

the xtent o which ifferentational

nd

anguage

raditions,

ndthus ifferentthnomusi-

cologies,

xist ll over heworld.

he

CTM

is

an

ideal

body

for

reatingnterdisciplinary

conversations

mong

hem.

ttemptsy

theUS

Society

or

thnomusicology

o

encourage

such onversationsnclude ts2005 fiftieth

nniversary eeting

see

Ethnomusicology

0/2

(2006))

and its 2008 annual

meeting

n

Mexico

City,

whichused the

slogan

Borderless

Ethnomusicologies,"

imultaneous ranslationsf some

sessions,

nd

papers

delivered

in

Spanish

o

signal

he

desire

f

many

o broaden he conversationo all corners f the

world.

2. Inthisnarrative,cLean,

distinguished

thnomusicologist

rom ewZealand, s a

stand-in or thers

ho

argue gainst

he

mportation

f social

theory

nto he

discipline

f

ethnomusicology.

uch

arguments

arely ppear

n

print

nd,

n

myexperience,

re more

typically

oiced

n

nterpersonal

nd casual

communications.e is

an excellent

thnomusi-

cological

heorist

n

the

ense

proposed

ere

e.g.,

McLean

1979,

1986).

Yearbook

or

Traditional usic42

(2010)

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3/36

RICE

ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL THEORY 101

ment o therich

thnographic

etail

of

ethnographicescription."

owever,

he

points ut hat,houghmany thnomusicologistsspouse he entralityftheory"

to

the

field,

theoreticaliscussions re ..

typically

rief nd

cursory

n most

th-

nomusicological

ccounts"

p.

ix).

If

theory

s central o the

field,

why

s it

only

treated

riefly?

his s not

logicalproblem,

ut n accurate

haracterization

f

the

discipline's

reatment

f

theory.

Without

ngaging

n

an extended

ritique

f

individual

orks,

think t

s fair o

say

that

thnomusicologists

ften eference

theory

rom

utside

he

iscipline

or he

uthority

nd

nterdisciplinarity

t

ppears

to

give

to their

work,

ut t is

rarely

he

object

of

sustained

rgumentation.3

s

Stone

2008 ix)

puts

t,

A

very

ew

thnomusicologists

ngage

n detailed

heo-

retical iscussion These

ethnomusicologists

re

definitely

n the

minority."

What s this heoryhatMcLean,Stone, nd arereferringo?For hemost art,

it s

theory

rom he ocial sciences ndhumanitieshat

oes by

various ames: or

example,

ocial

theory,

ultural

tudies,

ritical

heory,

iteraryheory,inguistic

theory,sychologicalheory,ostcolonial

heory,

eminist

heory,

nd

philosophi-

cal

theory

or

simply hilosophy).

n

these iscursive

omains,

heory

s

associated

bothwith deas

deconstruction,

ermeneutics,tructuralism,eminism,

mbodi-

ment,

nd

so

on)

and with henames f "theorists":arlier

writings

ith heodor

Adorno,

mile

Durkheim,

laude

Lvi-Strauss,

arl

Marx,

nd Max

Weber,

or

instance;

more

recently

ith

ArjunAppadurai,

Homi

Babha,

Pierre

Bourdieu,

Judith

utler,

estorGarcia

Canclini, acques errida,

Michel

Foucault,

lifford

Geertz,

ell

hooks,

Jacques

acan,

Raymond

Williams,

nd others.4

These

heorists,

nd heir

heories,

ake old laims bout he ocial nd ultural

world,

laims hat avereorientedr

changed

much

hinking

bout

ociety

ndcul-

ture ndthat ave

mplications

or

many

ields

f

tudy.

or he

ake

of

implicity

will

call all these social

theory,"egardless

f heir ource

n

particular

ntellectual

3. The

practical,

f

awdry,

unctionf

brief

nd

cursory"

eferenceso social

theory

or

the

urpose

f

establishing

ntellectual

uthority

as

brought

ome o me

when,

ome

years

ago, applied

for small

grant

o

do

some

very

asic,

pedestrian,

ut

necessary ollow-up

field esearch

n

Bulgaria

or

project

was

working

n.

My application

as honest

n

ts

depictionf theratherrosaicnature f theresearchask, ven as thebroader opicwas,

thought,

orthy

f

nvestigation.

he

application

as denied. he next

year

infused

twith

somenot

rrelevant,

utnot

eally ecessary,

eferenceso social

theory,

nd was

given

he

award.

Clearly

cholars

n

other ieldswho review

rant

pplications

n

theUnited

tates

think

thnomusicologists

hould e

participating

ith hem

n,

nd

contributing

o, broad,

interdisciplinary

iscussion fthemes

nd ssuesof common nterest.

4.

I

am ware hat his

ist,

with

few

xceptions, ay ppear

oreinscribe

system

hat as

been called white

r

high

r Eurocentric

heory,

system

hat as been

critiqued y many

scholars,

ncluding

thnomusicologists

see,

e.g.,

Loza

2006).

In

doing

o,

I

describe

th-

nomusicology's ast,

not

my

nd others'

opes

for tsfuture. o

ethnomusicologist

ould

object

o Loza's call for

broader,

more nclusive ision f social

theory,

ith

pecial

on-

siderationftheories

reatedn the

particular

ulture

r culture reathat n ethnomusicolo-

gist tudies. utto mplementhat ision, achofus has not nly ochampionandperhaps

translate,

s others

ave the French

heorists)

ur favorite

eglected

ocial

theorists,

ut

to use their heories or

he

writing

f what call

"ethnomusicologicalheory."Merely

o

advocate or herelevance

f social

theory

rom utside

heEurocentricanon

may

unwit-

tingly eproduce

he brief

nd

cursory"

rguments

rom

uthority

hat haracterize

uch f

ethnomusicology's

reatment

f even hat anon.



4/36

102 2010

YEARBOOKOR TRADITIONALUSIC

traditions.ocial theories acilitatehe

"blurring

f boundaries" etween isci-

plinesGeertz1973),because,while heymayoriginatenanthropology,istory,

linguistics,iterary

tudies,

hilosophy,sychology,

r

ociology,

cholars

n

many

disciplines

avefound heir

nsights

seful or wide

range

f

projects.

ot

lways

constrained,

s scientificheories

re,

by

the demands f formal

methodologies

for heir

emonstration,

hey

nonetheless akenoveland

engaging

laims bout

suchfundamentalumanmatters

s how

meaning

s created

nd

nterpreted,

ow

culture

s

inculcatednd

sustained,

he

nature f the elf nd

subject,

ow

power

is exercised nd

resisted,

nd

relationships

etween he

mind nd

body,

he

public

and

the

private,

nd

thematerialnd dealworlds.

Although

ocial

theories

may

notdemand o be

"proven"

hroughxperimen-

tation,heynonethelessuide, nform,nd illuminatempirical,n-the-ground,

often

ualitative

nvestigations

hat an be

udgedby

the

fit

hey ropose

etween

the

heory

ndthe

data ncounteredn the

tudy.5xamples

fthis ort f

produc-

tive heorizationnclude

ierre ourdieu's

1977)

claim hat

onverbal

ractice

s

as

important

n

thetransmission

f culture s verbalized

tatements,

nd Michel

Foucault's

1978)

notion hat

ome

spects

f human

ife aken s

"natural,"

uch

as

sex,

havebeen

onstructed

hrough

iscourse

ied o

powerful

nstitutions.hese

insights,

enerated

n

specific

ultural,ocial,

and

disciplinary

ilieux,

re then

taken

by

scholars

n

other ields

s

potentiallypplicable

o their

wn studies.

Social theories re:

1) interdisciplinary

n

the ensethat

hey

xceed their

isci-

plinary

oots;

2)

suggestive

f new

points

f

view,

nd so

requiringpplication

to

particular

ases but not

proof er

se;

(3)

generative

f

interpretations

ather

than cientific

xplanations;4)

critical f

common-senseotions f what

ppears

"natural" bouthuman

ife;

5)

open-ended

nd

unbounded,

n

the ensethat ew

ones come on the scene rather

requently;

nd

(6)

sometimes

esisted or heir

discomfitinghallenge

o

completemastery

f a

discipline

nd for

oming

rom

outside he

discipline

rthe ulture o which

hey

re

applied.

The

disagreement

etween

McLean,

on the one

hand,

nd

Stone and

me,

on

the

other,

n

the

centrality

f social

theory

o

ethnomusicology

peaks

to differ-

ingnotions f an inside nd anoutside o thefield.McLeanandotherswho resist

social

theory

eemto view

ethnomusicology,

r their

articular

rea of

study,

r

indeed heir

ulture,

s bounded. ocial

theory

hen

ppears

o be an intrusionhat

needs o be resisted. hose who

advocate

or ts

relevance nd

centrality

eem

to

view

ethnomusicology

s unboundedn

terms

f

ts ntellectual

ources;

hey

ave

accepted

Geertz's

notion

f blurred oundaries etween

nd

amongdisciplines,

and are anxious o

participate

n

a

common, hared,

nterdisciplinary

onversation

about henature fhuman

rtistic,

iological,

ultural,

nd social ife

by

contribut-

ing

to

it

studies f music's

mportance

nd role n

making

hose ives what

hey

5.

I

use

empirical"

n he

road ense

dvocated

yTyler

ickford

2010)

o

refero

ny

research,

uch

s

ethnographic

ieldwork,

ased n

observationnd

xperience,

atherhan

in

he arrowense f

esearchased

n

experimentation.



5/36


6/36

1

04

2010

YEARBOOK OR

TRADITIONALMUSIC

1950,

f

we count

omparative usicology),

thnomusicologists

orkedwithin he

domains f cientificndmusic heory.incethe ate1970s,however,hese orms

of

theory

ave been to a

large

xtent

upplanted y

social

theory,

lthough

o be

sure,

oth cientific

heory

nd

music

heory

ontinueo

havetheir dvocates

see,

e.g.,

Becker

004,

2009,

nd

Bakan2009 for he

ormer;

enzer 006 for he

atter;

andArom 985for

oth).9

n

the

arlier

eriod,

omeof

hemost nfluential

igures

in

the

field

elieved hat

thnomusicologists

orkedwithin

scientificrame nd

that

thnomusicology

as a

science,

ndeed

comparative

cience.

Jaap

Kunst

(1959:1)

referredo

ethnomusicology

s "our science."Alan

Merriam

1964:25)

wrote,

The

ethnomusicologist

s,

in

effect,

ciencing

bout

music."Bruno

Netti

(1983:11)

defined

thnomusicology

s "the

science of music

history."

Mantle

Hood (1971) created hardness cales" thatwould allow ethnomusicologistso

compare eliably

nd

objectively

usic rom

round heworld

longmany

imen-

sions

of

musical ound.Around

980,

however,

herewas an

"interpretive

urn"

n

ethnomusicologyway

from

cience,

turn hat

esponded

o the

ttack

y

critical

theory

nd continental

hilosophy

n

positivism

n

the

ocial sciences.

Today,

we

rarely

rite bout

hypothesesenerated

ithin

scientific

heory;

nstead,

e

are

concerned

ith

he risis f

representation,

ultiple

iewsof truth

rom ifferent

social and historical

ositions,

nterpretations

f

meaning,

lumbing eflexively

the

depths

f ndividual

xperience,

nd

so on. This

paradigm

hift,"

hen t

goes

unnoticed,

s

probably

ne source f

confusionbout

thnomusicologicalheory.

McLean,

one ofMerriam's

colytes,

wrote

ecently

hat as a

discipline,

th-

nomusicology

s

more oncerned ith

cience hanwith

rt.

Appreciation

f

exotic

forms f

music,

heirntrinsic

orth,

ndeven desire

o

promote

hem

may

play

small

part,

ut t s not

ssential

[Science]

provides

he

necessary

rame f

mind

for

cholarship"

McLean

2006:21).

He

criticizeshefield f

ethnomusicology

or

an

unproductive

hift

from he

descriptive

o the

heoretical,

rom he what' and

'where' to the

how' and

why'" (p.

331).

McLean fails

o notice he

paradigm

shift rom

cientifico social

theory,

r,

f

he notices

t,

he decries t.

Furthermore,

he errs

n

his

understanding

f

science.While

description

fthewhat

ndwhere s

fundamentaloscience,tgains tspower verhumanhoughtecauseof tswell-

tested heories bout hehow

and

why

f

the

physical

world. f

ethnomusicology

were

ruly

ased on

science,

s he

claims,

henwe would

ll,

with een

methodo-

logicalprecision,

e

observing,esting,

nd

experimenting

ithin

heories bout

thehows nd

whys

f

musical ehaviour

nd

practices.

f

we everdid

that,

t

would

have

been,

with

few

xceptions,

n

the

past,

not he

present

see

Becker 009 and

Bakan2009 for

he

prospect

f a

"scientific

re)turn"

n

ethnomusicology).

s we

think

bout

thnomusicologicalheory,

t s

important

o

keep

n

mind his hift

around 980 from

cientific

heory

nd method

oward ermeneuticsnd

social

9.

I

am

grateful

o

Michael

enzer or

eminding

e hat imha

rom's orks

relevant

here.

n

personal

ommunication,

enzer

rote,

He has

been damant

bout

sing igor-

ous

methodology

o

generate

cientific,

ocial,

nd

music

heory

nductively.

n

this

way

he

systematically

ules

ut

ossibilities

ne

by

one o

confirm

onclusionshat

re

xplicitly

validated

y

he

music-makers."



7/36

RICE ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL THEORY

105

theory,

shift

marked

y,

ndeed

ausing,

concomitantecline

n

publications

devotedolely o themethods f music nalysis, ranscription,nd fieldwork.

Stone's

2008)

welcomereview f

"theory

or

thnomusicology"

s also not

clear n thedistinctionetween cientific

nd

social

theory.

With

few

xceptions

she focuses n

ethnomusicologists'

se of social

theory,

lthough

he doesn't all

it that.

Although

hese heories re

interpretive

ather han cientific

n

their ri-

entationnd

claims,

he describes hem

sing

herhetorical

pparatus

f scientific

theories

methods,

ethodology,xplanatoryower)

ndclaims

hey

ll

display

o

varying egrees

"scientificttitudend

approach"p.

220).

On

the

ontrary,

t s

useful o

distinguish

cientific

rom ocial

theory,

ecause each leads to different

demands nd

expectations

n

terms f methods nd

procedures,

n theone

hand,

and fact r truthlaims, n theother. cientificheoriesmakeclaims hat an be

tested ndverified

hroughxperimentation

nd

observation;

fter

epeated

onfir-

mation

n

observationalnd

experimental

ettings,

cientists

egard

he

heory

s a

"fact,"

t east

until uturebservations

nderminet.

Social

theories,

n theother

hand nd as Stone

points

ut,

provide

s

with

orientations"nd

"assumptions"

that

uideparticular

tudies nd

help

us ask

interesting

research

uestions."

A

social

theory

illuminates"

ome

matters,

hile

bscuring

thers. ather han

ro-

ducing

acts,

t nvites

s to

consider lternative

nterpretations.

s

the

hilosopher

Paul Ricoeur

1981:193)

put

t,

Between bsolute

nowledge

nd

hermeneutics

t

isnecessaryo choose."10

What s

ethnomusicologicalheory?

Ethnomusicologicalheory

nvolves

he

writing

f

descriptions,

lassifications,

comparisons,nterpretations,

nd

generalizations

bout

music

and

possibly

ound)

in

general,

bout

particular

usical

raditions,

bout

music n a setofrelated om-

munities,

r aboutmusic

n relation o

cognitive,

rtistic,

xperiential,

ocial,

cul-

tural,

olitical,

nd economic

ssues, hemes,

nd

processes.

thnomusicological

theorymay

have tsroots

n

scientific,

ocial,

or music

heory,

ut

t s notfunda-

mentally

bout

borrowing

deas from ther

isciplines,

houghtmay ntail oing

so as a

startingoint.

t

may

lso have tsroots

n ourown and our

predecessors'

field bservations.

n

other

words,

t

may

arise

entirely

romwithin he field f

ethnomusicology

ith ittle r no reference

o social

theory.

o matterts

roots,

10. This horthand

haracterizationf differencesetweencientificnd

ocial

heory

flies ver

many

ubtleties.ne ofthemore

nteresting

s

the onflict

n

science etween

foundationism,

ssociated

ith

arl

opper'snjunction

o

ttempt

o

falsify

heoriesather

than o

prove

hem

hroughepeated

bservation,

nd

naturalism,

ssociated

ith

homas

Kuhn' view

hat

falsification

pplies

o

ogic

nd

not

o

empirical

tudies"nddoesnot

comportithheway ciencesactuallyractisedProctorndCapaldi 006). amgrate-

ful oUCLA

professor

f arthnd

pace

cience,

hysics

nd

stronomy,

ndmathematics

William

.

Newman,

or ur iscussionsf fact"nd

truth"

n

ciencend or

eferring

e

to

his

ource,

hich ontains

very

seful eview

f he

hilosophy

f

cience,

specially

as it

pplies

o

qualitative

tudies

n

psychology

nd,

y

xtension

erhaps,

o

musical-eth-

nographic

tudies.



8/36

1 06

2010YEARBOOKOR TRADITIONALUSIC

however,

thnomusicologicalheory

s

integral

nd

ndispensable

o thefield nd

not ptionalwindow ressing.11

One

ofthereasons

we

may

nothave a clear dea ofthenature

f ethnomusico-

logical

theory

s that

t

too often emains idden

rom iew n our work.Part f

the

purpose

f

aying

ut

he errainf

ethnomusicological

heory

n this rticle s

to enable

he

writing

f

explicit

thnomusicological

heories

y

all of us

in

all our

work.

Theory

houldnotbe an "an

important

ark f a

distinguished

thnomusi-

cologist"

Stone

008:ix),

ut

taken-for-grantedart

f

very thnomusicologist's

intellectualoolkit.


n

some forms

always mplicit

n

our

particular

esearchnd

s

inescapable,

ut

t

contributes ore

ffectively

o the

advancement

f thefieldwhenmade

explicit.

As

Stone

p.

xii)

puts

t,

Theory

underliesthnomusicologicalnquirynd even mplicitheories ave a bearing n

the

nalyses

hat esult rom urfieldwork

Theory

hould

ltimately

ake deas

transparent

nd

strengthen

he

uality

f

the ntellectualonversation."

Writingthnomusicologicalheory

nvolves,

t tsminimumnd as Stone

ug-

gests,

onversations

mong thnomusicologists.

uch

theorizing,

n

essence,

akes

one

or

nother

f he

ollowing

orms

explicitly

r

mplicitly):

1)1

haveread

your

work,

find trelevanto

my

wn,

ndthis s how

'm

going

o

apply

t;

2)

I

have

read

your

work,

find t imited

n

certain

ays,

nd ts

nsights

ouldbe

expanded

if

omenew deas or observations

hat

provide

were aken nto

onsideration;

3)

I

have

read

your

work

andeverybody

lse's

who

has

writtenn this

opic)

and

I think here s a

significantap

inthese tudies hat

propose

o fill

by taking

new

approach.

t

is

through

onversationsf

this

ort

theorizing

n

this

manner,

that

s)

thatwe build he ntellectual

apacity

f

ethnomusicology

o make

power-

ful,

rovocative,

emorable,

nd

nsightful

tatementsbout he

articular

usical

traditions e

study

nd boutmusic

n

general.

Whenwe

neglect

o

have hese on-

versations,

he

ntellectualichness f thefield s

compromised.

ithout

xplicit

ethnomusicological

heory eveloped

n

conversations

mong

urselves,

hefield

is in

danger

f

being

ittlemore han he um fa succession f

diographiceports

from ere nd

there,

kind facademic

ournalism

f

fleeting

nterest,

ut

f

ittle

or no ong-termonsequence.

11. The label

"ethnomusicologicalheory"

oes not

mply

hat

ethnomusicology"

s,

for ll

time,

n

adequate

r

appropriate

amefor ur

discipline.

ome are

seriously

rou-

bled

by

the abel.

A

discussion hat hosted t the2005 annual

meeting

f the

Society

or

Ethnomusicology

nded

n

a contradiction:ome would ike to

change

he name

of our

discipline,utnot t thismoment hen he elativelyecent idespread nderstandingnd

adoption

fthe

erm

ethnomusicology"

n

the

cademy

n

theUnited tateshas

given

s a

brand

dentity

ndthus

practical dvantage

n the

marketplace

f

deasand

academic

obs.

Those readers

nhappy

ith he ocution

ethnomusicologicalheory"

an

get

to the dea

I

am

driving

t

by

calling

t

"anthropology-of-music

heory"

r "world-music

heory"

r

"cultural-musicologyheory"

r

something

imilar.



9/36

RICE ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL THEORY 107

The field f

ethnomusicologicalheory

What


as beenfor he ast

hirtyears

an

perhaps

est

be understood

y considering

hat

t

exists

within

"field f

ethnomusicological

theory"figure

).12

Ethnomusicologyoday

s,

at its

core,

discipline

ased on

field esearch

n

one or more ocal

environments,

nd so the entre f

thefield f


s

occupied

y

what take o be the entre

f

gravity

f

ethnomusicological

esearch:

ocal,

diographic,

thnographic

or historical),

om-

munity-based,

hematically

ocused tudies.13

t

s

from

hese

ocal,

particular

tud-

ies

thatwe have built nd

presumably

ill

continue o build he

discipline,

nd

t

is the

elationship

etween hese tudies nd


hat s elu-

cidated ere.Therightideofthe hartnfigure proposes hat thnomusicologi-

cal

theory

xists

n three

onceptual

ocations:

within

ocal

studies,

eyond

ocal

studies,

nd

beyond

hebounds

f our

discipline,

here

t

may

ontributeo more

general

ocial and scientific

heories,

o

area

studies,

r to

subjects

uch s media

studies,

ender

tudies,

ducation,

ognition,

edicine,

nd so forth.14he arrows

indicate

hemovementhat ccurs

withinhis

heoretical

ield.

thnomusicological

theory

ithin he ocal

may,

nd n

my

view

hould,

ontributeo

ethnomusicologi-

cal

theory eyond

he ocal evel nd

vice versa:

thnomusicological

heory eyond

the ocal

will

almost

nevitably

nform,

ither

mplicitly

r

explicitly,

ocal studies

andthe heorizinge do inthem.The chart fthefield f


oes not

uggest

n obvious

narrative

rder;

t

certainly

hould

notbe "read"from

op

eft o bottom

ight.

he

charts meant o be taken

n

as a

whole,

hough

t s difficulto do so at first

ight.

Writing,

owever,

equires

he

mposition

fnarrativerder. he various ocations

in

thefield re taken

p

in this

rder,

eginning

ith

he

onceptual

entre f

the

field:

ocal,

diographic

tudies,

nd

ending

with

eneral

heories bout

he

nature

of human ife:

12. I

use

the field"

metaphor

n

ts ommon ense

of

a field f

study,

fertile

round

or

intellectualnquiry. aving aid tout n thisway, tprobablyouldbe analysed s a "field

of cultural

roduction"

Bourdieu

1993),

that

s,

a social

space

with

gents,

ules,

hierar-

chies,

rthodox/heterodox

pinions,

nd doxic

practices.

hatwould be

fascinating,

ut

havenotundertakenhat

roject

ere.

13.

Historical esearch

as

increasingly

ecome

mportant

n

our

field,

nd

yet,

would

argue,

ts core

principles

ave

arisenfrom

ynchronie,thnographic

esearch. his core

practice

hen

eeps

nto hekind

f

history

e

write. hat

s,

historicaltudies end o be

community-based

nd

thematically

ocused.

omeday

t

may

becomemore ifficult

o make

this

rgument

onfidently,

ut

ne

of the

igns

f the scendance f historical

tudy

n

eth-

nomusicology

ill

be

graduate

urricula ith ourses n

historical,

s well

as on

fieldwork,

methods.

14.

Although

situate


ithin

general

ield f

social, ultural,

cognitive,ndbiological heory, usic heory,neverythingromerminologyo detailed

musical

nalyses

nd

explanations,

emains

n

important

ethod

n

developing

thnomu-

sicological heory.

Music

theory

ries o

explain

how

music s structured

nd,

n

the

most

engaging

ork

or

umanistsnd social

scientists,

o uncover he

ognitive, sychological,

biological,

nd

creative

rocesses

hat

ring

hose tructuresnto xistence nd allow them

to be

perceived

nd acted n.



10/36

1 08

20

YEARBOOK

OR

TRADITIONALUSIC

The Field

of

Ethnomusicological

Theory

Contributionso the Contributionso Contributionso

Ethnomusicological

nature f

ocial,

media,

ender,

area

and

community

theory:

cultural,

nd

human

medical

tudies,

tc.

studies

beyond

he

discipline

(cognitive

nd

biological)

ife

eneral

heories

Cross-cultural

Interlocal

heories

Ethnomusicological

about

henature

f

theories

bout

about

musical

theory:

music

music

nrelationo

processes

n

related

beyond

he ocal

themes f nteresto communities

ethnomusicologists

f A

local,

community-based,

hematically

ocused

study

j

Theory

nrelationo

previous

ocal

Theory

n ocal

ethnographic

Ethnomusicological

studies

descriptions:articular,

ormative,

theory:

interpretive

withinhe ocal

Figure

.

Thefield

f

thnomusicological

heory.

1

local,

diographic

tudies;

2.

general

heoriesbout

henature

f

music;

3.

ethnomusicological

heory

ithinocal

ethnographic

tudies;

4.

theory

n

relation

o

previous

ocal

studies;

5.

interlocal

heory

bout

musical

rocesses

n

related

ommunities

nd

their

contribution

o

community

nd area

studies;

6. cross-culturalheoriesboutmusic n relationo themany hemesf

interest

o

ethnomusicologists

ndtheir

ontribution

eyond

he

discipline

to

general

tudies

fthose

hemes;

nd

7.

general

heories

bout he

nature f

social,

ultural,

ndhuman

cognitive

and

biological)

ife.

Local,

idiographic

tudies

Our

ocal,

diographic

tudies

an be

understood

o

have,

minimally,

wo dimen-

sions:first,hey re basedinsomeform fsociety rcommunity;econd, hey

tackle

ne or

more fthe hemes

r ssues round

which esearch

n

ethnomusicol-

ogy

has

historicallyrystallized.

Ethnomusicology,

s

a kindof social

science,

ends o focus

on communities

of

people

as

the

tartingoint

or

tudy;

his ontrasts

ith n

emphasis

n some



11/36

RICE

ETHNOMUSICOLOGIC

AL

THEORY

109

other

music

disciplines

n

the

ndividual,

hemusical

work,

he

repertoire,

r

the

genre s the tartingoint. orexample, ven whenwe focuson individuals,s

many

have

done,

we tend

o examine

hem

n

relation

o a

community: irginia

Danielson's

1997)

study

f Umm

Kulthm

n

relation

o nationalism

n

Egypt;

Steven

oza'

s

(1999)

study

fTitoPuente

n relationo a

musical

enre opular

n

theLatino

ommunity;

harlotte

risbie ndDavid

McAllester's

utobiography

f

FrankMitchell

n relation o

Navajo

culture

Mitchell

978),

nd so forth.15

tone

(2008:20)

lists

ommunities

longside

ther

study bjects,"

uchas

individuals,

song,repertories,

vents,

musical

processes

ike

mprovisation,

nd musical

gen-

res,

ut

prefer

o

argue

hat

thnomusicologists

end

o embed ach

of

these

tudy

objects

within n

overarchingoncept

f

community

r

society.16

Four ypes f ommunityrefundamentalothe rganizationfour ommunity-

based

studies:

1)

communities

efined

eographically,

uch

as

nations,

egions,

cities, owns,

nd

villages;

2)

communities

efined

y

ethnic,

acial,

eligious,

nd

kinship

family) roups;

3)

communities

ormed round

shared

tyle,

ffinity,

taste,

r

practice

uch

s

punk

ock,

urfing,

otorcycle

acing,

rBarbieDolls

see

Slobin

1993

for

ffinityroups

ndCaudron

006);

and

4)

communities

rganized

as,

or

within,

nstitutions,

uch

s musical

nsembles,

chools

nd

conservatories,

recording

nd broadcast

ompanies,

laces

of

worship,

he

military,risons,

nd

clubs nd

bars.When

thnomusicological

heory

s

written

ithinocal

community

studies,hat heoryanin turn ontributeobroader,eyond-the-localheorizing

aboutmusic

n the ame

or similar ommunities.

The seconddimension

f

local,

diographic

tudies

s

populated

y

the

major

themes round

which

ethnomusicologistsrganize

heir

work,

hemes

uch as

music nd

dentity,

he

eaching

nd

earning

f

music,

he

politics

f

music,

en-

der and

music,

nd

many

more.

By my

count

thnomusicologists

urrently

eal

withmore

han

forty

ifferent

hemes.17

lan Merriam reated

he first

ompre-

hensive

istof such hemes

twelve

f

them)

n

his 1964

book,

The

Anthropology

of

Music.

Most reto one

degree

r another

till

with

s,

ncluding

ative

oncepts

about

music,

he

ocial behaviour

f

musicians,

he

meaning

f

music,

nd music

learning.nthe1970s, vent nalysis, rban ndpopularmusic,ndividualmusi-

cians, motion,

uphoria,

ndtrance

s

responses

o

music,

nd a number

fothers

15. I

may

eem obe

arguinggainst

myself

ere.

n Rice

2003)

I tried odefine he

aram-

eters f

"subject-centered"

usical

thnography.

ut the elf

or

subject

eferred

o

in

that

paper

s

a

thoroughly

ocial self

s

it

merges

rom ndreattaches

tself o an

emergentrray

of social units nd

communities.

16.

In

this

paper

argue

t a number

f

points

withRuth tone's account

f

"theory

or

ethnomusicology."

do so with he

greatest espect,

ecause

hers s

arguably

hefirsteri-

ous,

extended

ttempt

n a

quarter

f a

century

o take

on

ethnomusicological

heory

n

a

systematic

ay.

The most

mportantrevious

iscussions re

by

Alan Merriam

1964)

and

BrunoNetti

1983).

I

do so

in the

pirit

f

thekind f

friendly,

ut

productive,

isciplinary

conversationse both dvocate.Herargumentsre, o echo ClaudeLvi-Strauss,oodto

think ith.

1

. The

Society

or

thnomusicology

ebsite

http://webdb.iu.edu/sem/scripts/home.cfm)

listsmore han

ninety subjects

nd theoretical

ategories."

he

Internationalouncil

for

Traditional

Music website

http://www.ictmusic.org/)

ists ten

studygroups

devoted

o

themes,

ix devoted

o communities

areas

of

the

world),

nd

two hat ombine

oth.



12/36

110

20 1

YEARBOOK OR TRADITIONAL

MUSIC

emerged.

n the

1980s,

gender,

he

history

f

music,

ndividual

gency, dentity,

andmedia ndtechnologyamealong. nthe1990s,politicsndpower, iaspora,

and

globalization

madethe ist. n

thefirst ecade of this

entury,

ourism,

usic

in

relationo

war, iolence,

nd

conflict,

ndtheuse of

music

n

relation o llness

and

theHIV/AIDS

epidemic

ecame

prominent.

Stone

2008)

points

utthat ome

scholars efer o these hemes

s

theory

nd

perhaps

or

hat eason he

ncludes onsiderationf

a number f them

n

her

ur-

vey

of

theory

or

thnomusicology.

he calls

gender, thnicity,

nd

dentity

theo-

retical

rientations"nd

"issues,"

nd

acknowledges

hat

hey

re "of a somewhat

differentrder han ther

social]

heories e have

previously

onsidered"

p.

145).

Indeed,

hey

re of a

different

rder;

hey

re not heories t all. It s

important

o

distinguishhese hemes romhe ocialtheoryhats theprincipal ocusof her

book and that orms

he

general

ntellectualnvironment

n

whichmost thnomu-

sicologists

work

oday.

Each of these

themes r

problematics

ay

have social

theory

ssociatedwith t

e.g.,

Stuart all

1996

on

dentity,

ean

iaget

nd Brbel

Inhelder 969 on

learning heory,

nd

ArjunAppadurai

996 on

globalization),

but

dentity,

earning,

nd

globalization

renot

heories.

hey

rethemes

o which

social

theory

an be

applied

nd

which

enerate

iscipline-specific

thnomusico-

logical

heorieso lluminate

he ssues

particular

o

each ocal

study.

These

two

dimensions,

ommunity

nd

themes,

nform ll our

local studies.

With his n mind

we can now

examine ow

theory

nters hese tudies.

he first

and mostobvious

way

is

through eneral

heories hat

thnomusicologists

ave

created bout henature f

music.

General theories

bout the nature f

music

Ethnomusicology

as made

extraordinarily

mportant

ontributionso understand-

ing

thenature

f music

hrough

he

writing

f


eyond

the ocal. ts

principal

nd

most

mportant

nterventionas been a

sustained

rgu-

ment

vermore han half

enturygainst

he

notion,

urveyed

n

most

Western

scholarship,hatmusic s onlyorprimarilyn artformmade for ts ownsake,

mystically

ranscendent

n

ts

effects,

nd with

ittle r no "social or

civic

signifi-

cance."18

y employing

ocial

theory

rom

ther ields

nd

connecting

t to what

ethnomusicologists

ave earned bout

henature f music s a

human ehaviour

and

practice

n

hundreds,

erhaps

housands,

f

particular

tudies,

e

havecreated

a far

ifferent,

nd dare

ay,

richer

icture

f

thenature f music nd ts

ignifi-

cance forhuman

ife

han

hat

reated,

ntil

ecently,y

historical

musicologists

studying

estern rt

music.

Among

ther

hings,

thnomusicologists

ave

taught

us

that

t

demeansmusic

o

regard

t

only,

r

perhaps

ven

primarily,

s an

art.

1

. The

hrase

social

r ivic

ignificance"

omes rom. E.

Sparshott's

elightful

rticle

onthe

esthetics

f

musicn

the 980

ditionf

he

New

Grove

ictionaryf

Music nd

Musicians. e

continues

aconically,

Whenn rt

laims

utonomy,

t

may

e

a

sign

hatt

accepts

peripherallace

n

he

ulturef

ts

ay" Sparshott980:123).



13/36

RICE

ETHNOMUSICOLOGIC

AL

THEORY

111

One form f

ethnomusicological

heory

onsists f

metaphors

bout he ssen-

tialnature f music Rice2003). Against hemetaphoricallaimthatmusic s an

art,

theory

uttressed

y

referenceo certain

treams

n

theWestern

hilosophical

tradition,

thnomusicologists

ave

proposed

many

ther

ompetingmetaphors

o

capture

heir

nderstanding

fthenature f music.

Music s a form

f

entertainment,

theory

hat

robably riginates

n

Western

common

ense,

but

hen as beentransformed

nto

theory

mbedded

within

structural-functionalist

ocial

theory

Merriam 964).

Music is a

system

f

signs apable

of

bearingmeaning,

rom

hilosophical

semiotics

nd

inguistic

emiology

Turino

999;

Nattiez

990).

Music

s a social behaviour nd

thus ts structures

ay

be

homologous

o

or

iconic fotherocial structuresndbehaviours,romMarx,Weber, ndLvi-

Straussian

tructuralism

mong

thers

Lomax

1968;

A.

Seeger

1980).

Music is a nonverbal

ractice

hat

can,

outside verbal

discourse,

reate

gendered

ndividuals

nd other

socially

constructed

ubjectivities,

rom

Bourdieu's

ractice

heorySugarman

997).

Music s a text

hat anbe readfor

meaning,

rom icoeur's

henomenological

hermeneutics

nd Geertz's

nterpretiventhropology

Roseman

1991).

Makingmetaphors

s not he

nlyway

ethnomusicologists

rite

eneral

heory

about he

nature fmusic. ometimes

thnomusicological

heory

ells s whatmusic

does or how tcameto betheway t ppears obe. Here re someexamples.

Music's

particular

orm nd

effects

epend

n itsmeans f

production,

rom

Marxism

Manuel

1993).

"Large-scale

conomic nd

political

tructures

rticulate

ith nd

broadly

condition

he ocalized

microprocesses

f musical

performance"

Waterman

1990a:3),

a claim

perhaps

nfluenced

y

Marxist

hought

nd

by

Immanuel

Wallerstein's

2004) world-system

heory.

Music,

when

performed,

reates

community,

rom

Durkheim,

ourdieu,

Giddens,

nd others

Askew

2002).

Musical tructures

eflectultural

nd social

structures,

rom

vi-Straussian

structuralismnd othersBecker nd Becker1981).

Musical

performances

onstruct

nd

produce

ocial structures

nd cultural

values,

rom

urkheim,

ourdieu,

nd

others

A.

Seeger

1987).

"Jazz

and

music

generally)

[is] always

lready

irected oward

ower

relationships"

Wong

2004:318-19),

from

Amiri

Baraka,

Harold

Cruse,

Cornel

West,

nd

others,

ndthemusicians

with

whom

he

uthor

orked.

Ethnomusicologists

o notneed

o

apologize,

s

they

ometimes

o,

for orrow-

ing

ocial

theory

o

help

hem

make hese

eneral

laims bout

henature f

music.

By applying

ocial

theories

n a careful

way, grounded

n

detailed

thnographic

and

historical

esearch,

thnomusicologistsngage

n

discipline-specific

thnomu-

sicological heoryfpotentiallyreat mportance.ertainlyur olleaguesnother

disciplines

re

doingpretty

uch he

same

thing:

orrowing

ocial

theories hat

may

ome

from utside heir

riginal

isciplinary

ome

o

help

hem sk

new

ques-

tions nd see

the

bjects

f

their tudies

n novel nd fruitful

ays.



14/36

112 2010 YEARBOOK OR TRADITIONALMUSIC

Sometimes

thnomusicologists

ake laims bout henature fmusic hat eem

tobedisciplinepecificndnot bviouslyndebtedoa particularocialtheory. n

example

s

Benjamin

rinner's xtensive heorizationf musical

ompetence

n

his bookon Javanese

amelan

musicians

1995).

In

it,

he makes he

general

laim

that excitement

ay

be one

of

the more

widespread oals

of

musical nterac-

tion"

p.

206).

The nteraction

ay

be

"positive

r

negative

n

nature,

goal

to be

achieved

r failure o be averted"

p.

207).

This s not hemost

mportant

heoreti-

cal

workhe does

in

this

book,

butfor hose nterested

n

nteractionetween nd

among

musicians

n

particular

ases,

this

might

e an

interestingeneral heory

about henature f music o be examined nd

applied

o other

articular

ases.

In

any

case,

t s an

example

f

ethnomusicological

heory,

hich,

n

order o build

ourdiscipline,twouldbea good deatowatch or.

Obviously

here s no

shortage

f


bout he

general

nature f

music.The

principal

eaknesses

n

this

part

f

thefield

f ethnomusi-

cologicaltheorymay

be the unasked nd unanswered

uestions

hat rise from

a consideration

f these heories. or

example,

how

do we understand

ur

eth-

nomusicological

heories

bout henature

f

music?Are

they

aken s "facts"

n

the

way,

for

xample, iological

cientistsakethe

theory

f evolution s a fact

demonstrated

yrepeated

bservationsver

century

rmore?

9

Are

hey

heories

that re still

n

needof demonstration

hroughpplication

o more

ocal,

particular

contexts r do we take hem s

assumptions

o

longer

n

need of demonstration?

Do

they

eed o be fleshed ut nd

critiqued?

What ssuesdo

they

aise?Are

they

worth

othering

ith?Have

they

een

uperseded

nd

are no

longer

elevant?

We

might

nswer

hese

uestions ifferently

or

ach

of the

thnomusicological

heo-

riesmentionedbove.


s weak not

n

theexistence f

theories f this

ype,

which re

legion,

but n

our critical xamination f them.

We havenot

ngaged

n

rich

nough

onversations ith hese

thnomusicological

theories,

ither rom he

perspective

f our

particular,

ocal studies r

by putting

them

n conversation ith

ne another. oretheoreticalonversationsbout ach

of hem ndtheir

mplications

or he

discipline

ndfor ur

ocal,

particular

tudies

would urely ut thnomusicologicalheorybout hegeneral ature f music n

more table

ground

nd

give

us more onfidence

n the

power

nd

mportance

f

ourown

heorizing.


within ocal

ethnographic

tudies


boutthe nature f music s created t the ntersec-

tion f our ocal musical tudies

with

ocial

theory

nd


beyond

he ocal. The

ssue,

which emains

mbiguous

n

Stone's

2008)

account,

19.

Evolutionaryiologist

rnst

ayr

2001264)

writes:

It

s

very uestionable

hether

the erm

evolutionary

heory'

hould eused

ny

onger.

hat

volutionccurrednd akes

place

llthe imes a fact o

overwhelmingly

stablishedhatthas

becomerrationalo all

it

theory

Scientific

rguments

bout

common

escent,

peciation,

ndnaturalelec-

tion]

.. donot n

nyway

ffecthe asic

onclusionhat volutions such s a

fact."



15/36

RICE

ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL THEORY

1

13

is whether e

regard

heory

nd

ethnographicescriptions

s distinct rom

heory

and"complementary"o tor whether e believe hat heorynescapablyuffuses

description

nd that

description

ithout

heory

s

impossible.

n

my

view,

eth-

nomusicologicalheory,

hether

idely

hared r

diosyncratic

othe

nvestigator,

inevitably uides

nd frames he

production

f what

Stone

2008:225)

calls "the

rich

thnographic

etail f

thnographicescription."

hisview s

expressed

n

fig-

ure

1

by

placing

thnographic

escriptions

ithin hefield f

ethnomusicological

theory.

will llustratehe

way ethnomusicological

heory

uffuses

thnographic

description

ith

xamples

rom

my

wn

work.20

Ethnomusicologicalescription

omes

in

three

orms:

articular,

ormative,

and

nterpretive.21

ach

of these

descriptions

ngages xplicitly

r

mplicitly

ith

ethnomusicologicalheory.22he theoretical ature fdescriptionan be hidden

from

iew

when

notmade

xplicit.

xplicit

se

of

theory,

ften

ntheform f elf-

reflection,

pens up

the

possibility

f theoretical

onversations,

hich re

at the

coreofhow

effective

heorizing

orks.23

Particular usical

escriptions

re

ttempts

o characterize

henature

f

single

item,

or

xample,

musical

erformance,

musical

work,

musical

nstrument,

musical

vent,

nd

so on. For

my

doctoral issertation

worked

n what

Bulgarian

20. The

division etween

hosewho

separate

escription

rom

heory

nd those

who

pre-

fer o understandescriptions embeddedntheorys well knownn sociology.Robert

Emerson

1988:96)

writes:

Grounded

heoristsend o view data and

theory

s distinct

phenomena:

heory may uggest

where

o collectdata nd

whatkinds f

datato

collect,

but

theory]

s not een as

inherent

n

the

very

notion

f data

n

thefirst

lace.

Field

data,

however,

re never

heoreticallypure,'

but are

alwaysproducts

f

prior

nterpretive

nd

conceptual

ecisions

made

by

thefieldworker."

am

grateful

o UCLA

sociology rofessor

Gail

Kligman

or

eferring

e to this

ource,

which aises

many

ssues

of

potential

nterest

to

ethnomusicologists.

21.

An excellent

xample

f the

productive

ixof

particular,

ormative,

nd

nterpretive

description

o create

richly

heoreticalocal

ethnography

s

Jane

ugarman's

ccount f

singing

t

weddings

mong

Albanians

rom he

Lake

Prespa egion

f the entral alkans

(1997).

Beginning

ach

chapter

ith

particular

escription

efore

assing

n to normative

descriptionsfhowmen ndwomen ing tthese ommunityocialevents,he sable, om-

bining

er

thnographic

bservations

ith deas from

ocial theorists

ierre ourdieu

nd

Michel

Foucault,

o arrive t

an

interpretation

fhow

singing,

ndthe

ommunity's

valua-

tions f

particular

erformances,

penetrated

o the

bedrock f the

ommunity's

ocial

de-

ology

..

[Their inging]

echniques

ontribute

o the

ommunity'sngoing

ormulation

f

itsnotions f

society

nd

morality"pp.

21-22),

including atriarchy,

ender, ersonhood,

male

honour,

emale

modesty,eciprocity,

ierarchy,

nd

equality.

his

s

ethnomusicologi-

cal

theorizing

f a

high

rder bout

musical nd

social

processes

n a

particular

ulture

ith

significant

mplications

or hose

wishing

o

engage

n

a conversation

bout

how music

helps

o

constructocial

deology

n anotherulture

r

cross-culturally.

22. As

Harris

erger

nd

Juniper

illreminded e

n

personal

ommunications,

n

rguing

for he heoretical

nderpinnings

f

particular,

ormative,

nd

nterpretive

escriptions,

am

eliding istinctionshat omemay tillwish o draw etweenocal-leveldescriptions"nd

"interpretations"

n the

ne

hand,

nd

"theory"

bout

general

r cross-cultural

rocesses

n

human

ife

n

the ther. hese

twoviews

re not

ontradictory

nd can

be held

ogether

y

those

who wish o do

so.

23.

Stone

1982,

2008)

provides

xcellent

xamples

f

aying

ut ne's

assumptions

theo-

ries)

xplicitly

efore

eginning

local

ethnographic

tudy.



16/36

114

20 1 YEARBOOK OR TRADITIONALMUSIC

scholars

alled two-voiced

inging," style

hat ttracted

e,

haveto

admit,

or

its strangeness"omparedo Western orms,specially fharmonyRice 1977).

Using

Westernmusic

heory,

he heoreticalramework

brought

ith

me nto he

field,

coulddescribe

ne

aspect

f

particularong

nthis raditionike his:This

song

was

performed

n

two

parts;

ne woman

ang

the

melody,

nd two women

performed

n

accompanyingart

hat lternated etween hetonalcentre nd a

pitch

ne

step

below

t,

creating

rich exture f

frequently

ounding

armonic

seconds.

The research

roblem

set

myself

as to

try

o understand

not

o

explain)

how

nonliterater

barely

iterate

ulgarian illage singers hought

boutand under-

stood heir wn radition.o

gain

hese

nderstandings,

turned

o a

social

theory,

in this ase,an approachnculturalnthropologyalledcognitive nthropology,

which s concerned ith ow

people

n

culture

erceive, rganize,

nd hinkbout

theworld nd

how

they

xpress

hat

ognition

nd

knowledge

n

language.

his

approach,

widely

used

by ethnomusicologists

n

the ate 1970s and

early

1980s,

gave

us theemic-etic

ichotomy,

hich s now a

largely aken-for-grantedart

of the

thnomusicologist's

heoreticaloolkit

Zemp

1979;

Rice

1980;

Feld

1981;

Koskoff

982;

Sakata

1983).

Using

nterview

echniquesuggested y

this

heory

of

culture,

learned hat

ingers

adtheir wn

ways

of

describing

hese

arts,

nd

couldwrite

particularescription

asedon "native" r"ernie"

heory.

nterviews

with

ingers

evealed

hat

hey

o

not

ppear

o have a native

oncept

f

melody;one

singer

aid that he was

"crying

ut,"

not

singing melody."

hetwoother

singers

aid

they

followed" hewomanwho "cried ut."This verb

pointed

oth

to their

osition

ehind hewoman

rying

ut and to how

they

ollowed er ead

rhythmically.sing

ocial

theory

was able to move

beyond

Westernmusic

heory

into hemusical ulture fthese

ingers,

culture hat

was,

according

o the enets

ofthe

heory,

n

theirminds nd

expressed

n

anguage.

Normative

escriptionspply

notto

single

tems ut o a collection f items:

how musical

erformancesharacteristically

re

organized,

ow a musical nstru-

ment s

typically

ade,

he

musical

tyle

f

a

collection f

pieces

or

performances,

and so on.Bulgariancholarse.g.,Kaufman 968)had created normativeabel

for n

important

raditionf

singing

n southwest

ulgaria:

two-voiced

inging"

{dvuglasno een).

The notion

hat

his

abel

representednything

ther han

relativelytraightforward,

ccurate,

ormative

escription

ever ccurred o

me

until ran nto n

exception uringmy

fieldwork

Rice

1988,

2004).

In one vil-

lage

the

inger

who cried utascended ne

step,

while he

ingers

who followed

descended ne

step, reating

he

nterval f a

third,

type

f

"voice-leading"

ot

normative or his

tyle.

Even

worse,

while

my transcription

f the two voices

showed

third,

was

hearing

second. was

deeply

onfused.

ventually,

ome

singers

n

a

nearby

illage

oldme that

hey

idn't

ust

sing

n

two

voices,

s the

normativeescriptionfthe tyle uggested. hey ang nthree oices:onesinger

"criesout"

izvikva);

ne of them

follows

traight"pravo

buchi, it.,

roars"),

that

s,

sings single itch

n the onal

entre;

nd theother ne "follows rook-

edly"

krivo uchi)

moving

etween he

tonal entre nd thenote

below

figure

2).

The

singing

rom

hese wo

villages

ontradictedhenormative

escription

f



17/36

RICE

ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL

THEORY 115

^1 1 i jiiJiJJi i J JiJ JiJ i^ J *^

i

Da

-

na

kon

ja pri

bi

-

ra

-

la en

-

g

ven

gi

vi

-

te len

g

Vi

-

toS ka

voj

-

ff.^EjE^^^

JiJ)J)Jl

E^E

JlJlJlJl

J>

JlJlJl

J|y,

|

JiJi

JiJi

J> ) i

|

J J> )Ji

j>

Ji i

Ji|j

Ji

i

Jff

m

Ji i i

i|f

J>

J

J'J'

J)

g

Ji

^

^

i

J

i' i' i'

vo

I

do

-

le

po

-

le

pod

ma ra

So

-

fi

-

ja

So

-

fi

jan

-

ka So

-

fij

ska ke

-

^

JhT^^n JJiJiJ^pJ^Ji^^

|

jiT

j>1

i j) )

l

j) j ji i )

ji

Ij

ji i h

|

>

^

ra

-

i

-

a

-

ce

^LJ

ve mo-me

e

i

Ij'Tjlrjj.^j. j.^j jijij^jj

Figure

2.

Bulgarian

hree-voiced

ong.

two- oiced

inging

nd

taught

me that ormative

escriptionslways

re theories

about he

egularities

f collection fmusical

works r

practices.

ostof

he ime

repeated

bservationllows

us to takenormative

escription

or

ranted

s

"facts,"

but

heir

acticity

ecomes

omplicated

nd

problematic

hen

bservation

roves

them o be false r ncompleten someway.

My findings rovided

n

opportunity

o enter

nto

theoretical

onversation

with

Bulgarian

cholars

who had studied his radition. hen

showed hem his

example, hey

sed their

heory

f

the

tyle

o describe

t

s a

haphazard,nsignifi-

cantvariation

rom ts

norms;

his

particular

nstancewas not

nough

o

dislodge

theirmusical

heory

f the

tyle.

he

singers'

wn

words,

which took

o be an

expression

f theirmusical

ulture,

ontradicted

ulgarian

cholars'

xplanation

and

theory:

his

erformance

learly

was not

haphazard,

ccidental ariationn a

norm,

ut

fully

onscious,

well-understood

ractice,

xpressed

n

anguage.

his

is an

example

f how

a social

theory, amely

hat ulture

nvolves he

cognitive,

mental rganizationfphenomenaxpressedn anguage,anhelp nthe reation

of new

ethnomusicological

heory

f

themusical ulture hat tructures

musical

practice.24

24. As

Juniper

ill reminded

me,

Lila

Abu-Lughod's

1991)

article

Writing gainst

Culture"

peaks

forcefully

fhow certain

eneralizingractices

ssociated

with

he

ulture



18/36

116

2010 YEARBOOK

OR

TRADITIONALMUSIC

Interpretive

usical

descriptions,

hichClifford

eertz

1973)

called

"thick

descriptions,"nvolve he eadingfmusical racticesor heirocialand cultural

meaning,

nd

more

ecently

or he orts

f

power

elationships

hey xpress

r hal-

lenge.

The

language-elicitation

echniques

f

cognitive

nthropology

llowed

me

some

nsights

nto he

meanings

f musical

ractices.

discovered

hat

ulgarian

villagers

id

not eem o

have cover erm

orwhat

called

music,"

n ndication

among

ther

hings

hat

aking

or

granted

term an conceal

a

whole world

f

ethnomusicological

heory

see,

e.g.,

Nzewi

1997 on

"rhythm"

nd

the

ymbolic

violence

t

may

do

to African

musical

oncepts).

nstead

hey plit p

what had

taken

o be

theirmusical

practices

nto

many

omains:

ong/sings/singer

pesen/

pee/pevitsa)',

lay-thing

tune)/plays/player

svirnya/sviri/svirach);

rum/drums/

drummertpan/tupa/tpandzhia);ndso forth. iewing heirmusicalpractices

from

he nside

r

in

their

erms llowed

me to understand

or he first

ime he

social

meanings

mbedded

n their

ractices:

inging

nd

song

were

thedomain

primarily

f

women;

menwere

he

players

f

musical

nstruments

ith ew

xcep-

tions;

nd

drummers

ame

principally

rom heRom

minority.began

o

nterpret

or

readthese

practices

s

gendered

nd

as

marking

thnic

oundaries,

hat

s,

as

having

ocial

and cultural

meaning

Rice

1980).25

A

particular

ocial

theory

ike

cognitive

nthropology

elped

me to

understand

Bulgarian

music

n new nd

productive

ays,

ut ach social

theory

as ts

imita-

tions.

t

provides

ne

perspectivemongmany

hat ould

be

appliedhelpfully

o

the

description

f a musical ulture. ran nto he imitationsf

cognitive

nthro-

pology

when

tried o learn o

play

the

Bulgarian

agpipe

Rice

1994).

Using

Western

music

heory,

could

describe ather

asily

the

scalar,

melodic,

hyth-

mic,

nd

metricaltructures

f

thedancemusic

played

n

the nstrument.

ut

two

aspects

f

the

tyle

luded

me. One was

the

rhythm

f nonmetrical

slow

songs"

(bavnipesni).

o this

ay

havenever

written

particular

rnormative

escription

ofthe

hythm

f hese

ongs

nor

m confident

hat

my

ranscriptions

f

particular

slow

songs

have

any xplanatory

ower

whatsoever;

hey

ertainly

o not

apture

an

insider, rnie,

ulturally

nformediew

of this

practice.

My

evasion

of

sucha

descriptionllustratesowdescriptions driven ytheory,r,more othepointn

concept

xercise

ower

verothers.

bu-Lughod

dvocates

writing

ethnographies

f

the

particular"

nd

argues

hat

generalization,

hecharacteristic

ode

of

operation

nd

writ-

ing

of the

ocial

sciences,

an no

longer

e

regarded

s

neutral"

1991:149-50).

She is

not,

however,

peaking

gainst

ll forms

f

beyond-the-local

heorizing,

ust

n

favour

fbetter

forms

f

writing

o

convey

t,

specifically

riting

evoted

o the

particulars

f

peoples'

"everyday

ives" and actions

p.

155).

It is a subtle

rgument

ith

many

wists

nd turns

between

articularity

nd

generality,

nd

well worth

eading

n

counterpoint

o the

writing

of

ethnomusicologicalheory.

25.

Questions

ike his neabout

henaturend

boundariesf

hemusic

oncept

ave

been

with s at east inceMerriam1964).Butclearlywhether e ask this uestion,ndhowwe

answer

t,

an

guide

he tructure

fourresearch ndthe

uestions

e ask.

n that

way

they

constitute

n

ethnomusicological

heory. ttempts

obroaden

urfield f

nquiry

o "sound"

illustratehetheoreticalurden

f our

concepts

f music nd

the boundaries e

impose

between

t and other ounds

n

our environment

see,

e.g.,

Feld

1982,2009,

and Erlmann

2004.)



19/36

RICE

ETHNOMUSICOLOGIC

AL

THEORY 117

this

ase,

how

description

s avoidedbecauseofthe ack of a

theory

r framework

toguide t.

The other

roblematicspect

of the

tyle

was thedenseornamentationn the

instrument.

n

this ase

deploying

he

techniques

f

cognitive

nthropology

as

unhelpful. y principal

eacheracked

vocabulary

o

describe

many

fthe truc-

tural eatures f his

performances,ncluding

heornamentation.he

problem

or

me was that didn't

ust

want o understand

is

cognition;

wanted o

be able to

play

the

ornamentations he did.

Eventually

learned o do so and

n the

process

gained

new

understandings

f the raditionhat could

express

n

wordsbut hat

he could

not.At

that

moment realized hat

ognitive nthropology

as a rela-

tively

lunt nstrument

or

nderstanding

usical ulture.

ognitive nthropology

depends nlanguage ostudyognition, hereasmuch f music ognition ithin

cultures

language-free

see

C.

Seeger

1977

for

he

linguocentricredicament"

and the

musicological

uncture").

o whereas

much

thnomusicologicalriting

at the

ime

mphasized

hedifferenceetween ticor outsider

nalyses

nd ernie

or nsider

nderstandings,

was forced

rommusical

xperience

o

theorize new

ethnomusicologicalpace

between

hose

poles,

a

space

neither

ompletely

nside

nor

ompletely

utside,

ut

space

n

which,

hrough

elf-reflection,

couldclaim

to

think

bout

Bulgarian

music

n

a

way

hat

ielded dequate erformances

ithin

the

tyle

Rice 1995).

Thistheoryf a spacebetween rnie nd eticrepresentsn ethnomusicologi-

cal

challenge,

r at east n

alternative,

o a basic tenet f

cognitive nthropology:

importantspects

f

musical ulture re

not

xpressed

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