[FA Worldmusic] Fw: CMS Announces Institute on the Pedagogies of World Music Theories

[Sasa Music]

I have no doubts that the academic world of ethnomusicology has done
extremely important fieldwork, research, documentation etc . My problem is
stylistic and the question of ultimate ambition. I imagine many of us have
been through tertiary education and learnt how to decipher and critique,
say, 19th century literature. It teaches you to think in new ways which is
fine, and hopefully increases our ways of appreciating all our reading in
later life. But all such academic disciplines are set in certain methods and
styles. One reason for this, and I might apply it to ethnomusicology, is to
self-perpetuate the field of study. By couching it all in scholarly language
such as the Boulder conference seminar titles, the subject beefs up its
importance and legitimacy, thereby leading to ongoing grants and funding to
keep the subject alive. All academic disciplines function like this.

However music is not literature. It has an emotional, social, cultural
you-name-it , life in the real world (as Dimitri writes). These are aspects
that attract us practitioners most of all. I don't think the two approaches
would ever truly meet and shake hands

I'd cite, as an example of how to do it today, Dr Lucy Duran, known to all
of us for her broadcasting, CD productions, and for being the first to the
dance floor everytime. I haven't attended her SOAS courses (School of
Oriental and African Studies at London Uni) but would bet my house that they
are not dusty and academic, but fun, illustrated, amusing, vital affairs.
She knows her subjects as well as anyone (primarily Cuba and West Africa)
and I bet, this time my car, that her forthcoming book on Mali will be as
entertaining as her courses. She won't write a dry boring book because it's
not her style and she doesn't need to. Like Banning's book.
Ethnomusicologists largely do though because that is how they are trained
and brought up, and probably know no other way, and wouldn't be published if
they didn't stick to the house-style (I suspect)

That is the point I'm trying to make. If in your life you never have that
Road to Damascus moment that switches you on to a particular NOW music style
that sets you off, then you might get stuck in academia. The approaches are
miles apart; you are one or the other I would say (very sweepingly)

Actually I don't mind in the slightest what ethnomusicologists get up to,
and my friend's friend is off on her Fulbright scholarship to Bangladesh and
is very happy - but it's fun sounding off

David


----------
From: "Dmitri Vietze" <music at rockpaperscissors.biz>
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 07:45:50 -0500
To: <fa-worldmusic at folk.org>
Subject: Re: [FA Worldmusic] Fw: CMS Announces Institute on the Pedagogies
of World Music Theories

> Thanks for drawing my attention to this. I'll be signing up, and first in
> line for the seminar on "the concept of periodicity as a theoretical
> construct".

Thanks for the chuckle, David. (more below)

> I recently met an American ethnomusicologist at a Tinariwen show [SNIP]
> She was
> rather sheepish about her field of work, though loved the show, and told
> me
> that her crowd all hate what we know as world music as basically you're
> not
> supposed to dance and have fun because this shows you are entirely missing
> the point of the 'tradition' in front of you.

I think effective culture-crossing requires some flexibility on the part of
the voyeur (and, yes, we are all--global music fans and academics
alike--voyeurs to some extent). I think some academics think that if their
exploration is either (A) clothed in scholarly lingo and "serious
methodology" or (B) places "authenticity" as the highest value, that their
exploration will be void of exploitation and exoticization. I think those
two criteria have been critiqued to some extent. A third criterion is to try
to place the music in its "original context." I think it is legit to
understand the original contexts of musical forms, but a rigid framework
about original contexts does not acknowledge the changing nature of the
world and how music and cultural values have been transmitted from culture
to culture for centuries. Yes, performing ghazals on stage or desert trance
music at a festival in Europe is not the traditional context... but is it so
bad to take a tradition out of its context so that others may appreciate it?
Especially if the musicians do it in a consenting way (as opposed to doing
it because of some colonial power). Tinariwen, for example, WANT to be
playing for the world in stage settings so that people will understand the
plight of the Kel Tamashek/Tuareg/Saharan people.

> I've tried to read some of that stuff but it's impossible. In the end it's
> hidebound by its own methodology and style (obligatory 15 footnotes a
> page).

But what I think you have hit upon with your comment that some books are
accessible is that people can get some of the context and background on a
music form and culture through good story-telling... Probably more people
than if it was just hidden away in the Ivory Tower of academic jargon.

I used to tell everyone that everything I learned about music was from liner
notes. They're just a better match for my learning style and attention span.
A lot of times
academics have been the first to "get to" a particular culture or music
form/style... Sometimes I think our role in the music biz is to take some of
what they have come across and translate it to a broader audience. I think
there does need to be more dialogue between the two camps though. That could
accelerate the speed at which musical forms get revealed to the larger
public. And some potentially cool collaborations could emerge. Anyone who
has ever dug an elaborate CD package from some place like Smithsonian can
imagine the type of thing I mean. And I do think not only is it possible to
present intriguing background on intl/roots music, it is often effective in
developing new audiences.

Much respect,

Dmitri Vietze
rock paper scissors, inc.
216 W. Allen St., Suite 137
Bloomington, IN 47403
TEL +1-812-339-1195
FAX +1-801-729-4911
music at rockpaperscissors.biz
www.rockpaperscissors.biz

{{music of global significance}}

p u b l i c i t y   f o r   t h e   w o r l d



----- Original Message -----
From: "Sasa Music" <rab at sasa.demon.co.uk>
To: "Dmitri Vietze" <music at rockpaperscissors.biz>; <fa-worldmusic at folk.org>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 1:56 PM
Subject: Re: [FA Worldmusic] Fw: CMS Announces Institute on the Pedagogies
of World Music Theories


> Hi
>
> Thanks for drawing my attention to this. I'll be signing up, and first in
> line for the seminar on "the concept of periodicity as a theoretical
> construct".
>
> I recently met an American ethnomusicologist at a Tinariwen show in
> Scotland, who was on her way to 6 months fieldwork in Bangladesh. She was
> rather sheepish about her field of work, though loved the show, and told
> me
> that her crowd all hate what we know as world music as basically you're
> not
> supposed to dance and have fun because this shows you are entirely missing
> the point of the 'tradition' in front of you. What a po-faced bunch they
> seem, with the most pretentious jargon I've come across in a long-time.
> Academics breed academics breed academics breed academics breed academics
>
> I've tried to read some of that stuff but it's impossible. In the end it's
> hidebound by its own methodology and style (obligatory 15 footnotes a
> page).
> The nearest I got is Robert Farris Thompson who I doubt would have much
> truck with them even if he does teach at Harvard. And Ned Sublette on
> Cuba,
> now there's a great book. But they make it pretty entertaining if you can
> take on board all the info. Can anyone recommend any other serious books
> on
> music like theirs?
>
> David Flower
>
>
> > Hmmm...
>>
>>>
>>>> From: The College Music Society <cms at music.org>
>>>> To: <horn_in_b at yahoo.com>
>>>> Subject: CMS Announces Institute on the Pedagogies
>>>> of World Music Theories
>>>> Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:27:37 -0600
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The College Music Society
>>>> Institute on the Pedagogies of World Music Theories
>>>> May 29 - June 2 2007
>>>> University of Colorado - Boulder
>>>> Boulder, Colorado
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ****************************************
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The University of Colorado at Boulder will host for
>>>> the second time the
>>>> "Institute on the Pedagogies of World Music
>>>> Theories" May 29-June 2,
>>>> 2007. This cutting-edge institute introduces
>>>> theoretical musical
>>>> constructs that operate in different world cultures,
>>>> responding to a
>>>> growing interest among instructors of
>>>> university-level music theory
>>>> courses in drawing upon concepts and pedagogies from
>>>> a variety of world
>>>> traditions. The value of teaching music theory from
>>>> a global perspective
>>>> becomes increasingly self-evident in an era during
>>>> which composers and
>>>> performers from West and South Africa, South and
>>>> East Asia, and the Near
>>>> East are creating works that engage new listeners
>>>> and suggest new
>>>> compositional possibilities. For further information
>>>> regarding this
>>>> institute, including faculty, course content,
>>>> lodging, and registration,
>>>> please visit www.music.org/PWMT.html
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ******************************************
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The College Music Society
>>>> 312 East Pine Street
>>>> Missoula, Montana 59802
>>>> cms at music.org
>>>> www.music.org
>>>>
>>>> .
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