After having read the introduction and first chapter of Nettl's "Heartland Excursions", what can you say about the ability of an ethnographer to assume the role of both the 'insider' and 'outsider'? Write two to three pages weighing the pros and cons of writing an ethnography as both the 'insider' and 'outsider'. Can this ever truly be a polyphonic discourse, or is this type of self-dialogue inherently limited?
In Titon's "Knowing Fieldwork" (Chapter 2 in Barz and Cooley), he asks the question, "What is the future of fieldwork?" on page 36. He then outlines three charges against the field of ethnomusicology:
1) an asymmetry of power and authority between the researcher and researched
2) the fieldworkers' enactment of a 'heroic quest' to conquer cultural boundaries
3) the poststructuralist notion that denies the existence of an autonomous self, and that an encounter between self and other is though to be a delusion.
Reread this paragraph and attempt to answer his initial question - "what is the future of fieldwork?"
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Critical Review 7: Miller intro and Chap 1
Questions for the author:
Have you ever been a part of a Sacred Harp singing group as described by Timothy Miller - where a group of friends celebrate the music as secular art? Have you ever been in a group of singers who celebrate Sacred Harp music as a liturgical experience? Have you noticed if these two types of group differ with location (southern vs. midwestern or northern groups)?
Question for the class:
In spite of the different 'goals' of these two types of groups, do you believe that both are authentic? What 'goals' lend themselves to be more authentic? What defines an 'outsider' to this musical tradition? Are boundaries merely religious, or are they geographic as well? Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Critical Review #6: Shelemay 2001
In her study of 'early music', Shelemay attempts to aim ethnographic study toward music of Medieval and Renaissance Europe. She does so by discussing the Boston Early Music Festival, "a gathering where thousands of practitioners and aficionados of early music world swarm[ed] over the Boston landscape" (page 6). She attempts to lay down boundaries about what early music is, and then delves into defining the early music movement. As she compares and contrasts 'early music' to 'western music', she quotes Joel Cohen, saying that "Chinese music is early music, Arabic music is...". She begins her postscript by saying, "I therefore offer two related proposals...", mentioning that musicologists should be trained in ethnographic experience with living traditions, and that these studies should include some "Western repertories", which aren't studied as much (at the time).
Why is it the job of musicologists to study living tradition? Shouldn't historians of early music be concerned with 'dead' tradition?
Monday, October 20, 2008
Interview with Sam Potasznik
Interview Part 2
Part Two.
A: So i guess we were talking about the shows. What is your typical show like?
S: So the difference between an off campus and on campus show: off campus will be more likely brought on by an [off campus] group, often times a Jewish group around Providence will just have us play for them - more of a concert setting or event where we will be the music. That will be just us playing for about an hour, hour and a half, where people are sitting and listening or walking around and listening. (Played RISD museum). Whereas on campus is more of like a dance show, which are way more fun to play because we'll play somewhere like in Leung. Or we’ll play at the tech house's “Java Spook Party” every year, which is sweet, cause you get all your friends to come to the tech house and just go nuts on the dance floor. So playing for people that get into it and dance is like the ultimate.
A: Do you consider klezmer a dance music?
S: Definitely, Even the songs, a lot of them are about dancing. "Keep playing klezmer band, so I can keep dancing".
A: What do you mean by “keep playing”?
S: Some of the vocal songs we have is from the perspective of [the dancers]. One of the songs is from the perspective of a homeless guy, which amounts to "these rich people can’t dance cause their bellies are so full, but I can dance all night, so keep playing, klezmer band, ‘cause I'm poor.
A: Is a vocalist typical in a klezmer band?
S: There are klezmer vocalists, I'm not sure how typical it is. All of the songs we do, though, are in yiddish, so we need someone who can speak or fake-speak yiddish. Our singer Anna is actually fluent in yiddish, among other languages. So it's awesome to have that oral tradition continue with the musical tradition.
A: So, who leads the rehearsals?
S: We had a lot of the band graduate last year, we graduated four seniors. They were kind of the leaders of the band. There's no like, politics, it just makes sense that they graduated, so now Sara Mann, clarinetist - it was just assumed that she would lead the band. She's really organized.
A: I saw that she was teaching. Is everything taught aurally?
S: Yeah, everything is by ear.
A: Even complicated melodic lines?
S: Yep. I'm always amazed because I'm not so great at picking runs and lines up by ear. But most of the band, you can just play something once, and they can just play it right back. It's uncanny. I find that it's so much easier to remember this stuff since it's learned by ear, as opposed to sheet music. I feel like I always had a terrible time memorizing things when i played with sheet music, cause I would think of the sheet music and not the actual sounds. But here it gets in your fingers, like instantly. I'm amazed that when I came back after my freshman summer, at the beginning of sophomore year, picking up the songs was just instant.
A: One of your band members commented "Yarmulkazi is always studied every ethnomusicology semester by someone, and maybe it’s because it's the next best thing than going to Russia and seeking out an authentic klezmer band to study". How do you compare your group really culturally?
S: I would have a hard time doing it. It's weird cause there's this klezmer revival that has taken place recently, which is a lot of bands popping up in America recently, in the past 20 or so years. We're more along in that tradition, and with that goes composing new songs, playing old songs, but also [adding] a little more jazz, rock influences - more fiddling around with it. We don't try to replicate what original klezmer music was. We don't try to be old time Europe. I don't imagine that we would be similar to them in that respect, but some of the music is still the same, but I'd say we are more of this new wave.
A: So the “study of klezmer music” is really only a shared title, because you're sort of renewing the tradition?
S: Yeah, I'd say that's true.
A: Cool, well thanks.
S: Thanks for having me.
A: So i guess we were talking about the shows. What is your typical show like?
S: So the difference between an off campus and on campus show: off campus will be more likely brought on by an [off campus] group, often times a Jewish group around Providence will just have us play for them - more of a concert setting or event where we will be the music. That will be just us playing for about an hour, hour and a half, where people are sitting and listening or walking around and listening. (Played RISD museum). Whereas on campus is more of like a dance show, which are way more fun to play because we'll play somewhere like in Leung. Or we’ll play at the tech house's “Java Spook Party” every year, which is sweet, cause you get all your friends to come to the tech house and just go nuts on the dance floor. So playing for people that get into it and dance is like the ultimate.
A: Do you consider klezmer a dance music?
S: Definitely, Even the songs, a lot of them are about dancing. "Keep playing klezmer band, so I can keep dancing".
A: What do you mean by “keep playing”?
S: Some of the vocal songs we have is from the perspective of [the dancers]. One of the songs is from the perspective of a homeless guy, which amounts to "these rich people can’t dance cause their bellies are so full, but I can dance all night, so keep playing, klezmer band, ‘cause I'm poor.
A: Is a vocalist typical in a klezmer band?
S: There are klezmer vocalists, I'm not sure how typical it is. All of the songs we do, though, are in yiddish, so we need someone who can speak or fake-speak yiddish. Our singer Anna is actually fluent in yiddish, among other languages. So it's awesome to have that oral tradition continue with the musical tradition.
A: So, who leads the rehearsals?
S: We had a lot of the band graduate last year, we graduated four seniors. They were kind of the leaders of the band. There's no like, politics, it just makes sense that they graduated, so now Sara Mann, clarinetist - it was just assumed that she would lead the band. She's really organized.
A: I saw that she was teaching. Is everything taught aurally?
S: Yeah, everything is by ear.
A: Even complicated melodic lines?
S: Yep. I'm always amazed because I'm not so great at picking runs and lines up by ear. But most of the band, you can just play something once, and they can just play it right back. It's uncanny. I find that it's so much easier to remember this stuff since it's learned by ear, as opposed to sheet music. I feel like I always had a terrible time memorizing things when i played with sheet music, cause I would think of the sheet music and not the actual sounds. But here it gets in your fingers, like instantly. I'm amazed that when I came back after my freshman summer, at the beginning of sophomore year, picking up the songs was just instant.
A: One of your band members commented "Yarmulkazi is always studied every ethnomusicology semester by someone, and maybe it’s because it's the next best thing than going to Russia and seeking out an authentic klezmer band to study". How do you compare your group really culturally?
S: I would have a hard time doing it. It's weird cause there's this klezmer revival that has taken place recently, which is a lot of bands popping up in America recently, in the past 20 or so years. We're more along in that tradition, and with that goes composing new songs, playing old songs, but also [adding] a little more jazz, rock influences - more fiddling around with it. We don't try to replicate what original klezmer music was. We don't try to be old time Europe. I don't imagine that we would be similar to them in that respect, but some of the music is still the same, but I'd say we are more of this new wave.
A: So the “study of klezmer music” is really only a shared title, because you're sort of renewing the tradition?
S: Yeah, I'd say that's true.
A: Cool, well thanks.
S: Thanks for having me.
Interview Part 1
Interview Transcription with Sam Potasznik (Trumpet player for Yarmulkazi)
Monday, October 20th, 2:15 pm. CIT
Andy: Let's get started with how you joined Yarmulkazi. Did you have any history playing klezmer music?
Sam: I had never played klezmer before, I had really liked playing [trumpet] in high school, in jazz groups the most. And it seemed like a pretty improv [based] group, you know, not learning from sheet music, and just learning everything by ear was completely new to me. How I joined - they had posters up for auditions, which didn't have a time or date on them; they were just advertising for auditions. I ended up running into a friend of a friend from Jewish summer camp, and she was in the klezmer band. So I basically went to a rehearsal, didn't really have a formal audition, and they were like, Yeah, you're in.
A: So you said you played in jazz bands in high schools. Do you still see parallels between klezmer music and your jazz band? Specifically is Yarmulkazi's interpretation more like jazz?
S: The improvisation is pretty much in klezmer music throughout. There will be people playing melody, and all the texturing and fooling and fiddling around on top of that is prevalent throughout every song. Very rarely is everyone playing the melody. Usually someone is doing some little trill, above and beyond. As far as jazz, it's definitely less structured. We'll have some solo sections, but it's not written out like "ok, in this place you're gonna trade fours with the drummer". It's just, whenever the melody is going on, someone can just go off and start soloing.
A: So in these solo sections, are they predetermined solos or are they improvised on the spot?
S: Yeah, it's definitely improvised. At least with respect to jazz, it's a little more. In what we play, and in the traditional songs, there aren't as many changes, you're not playing over a lot of chords. You can almost just vamp on a section. There's actually long form improv, called a doina, which is an intro to a song, and it's usually that someone will start off, and there will be one or two bass instruments, and maybe a melody playing on one chord for a long time. And they only change chords after a signal from the melody instrument. So it's a long drawn out solo, building and fall and building and falling.
A: So it's pretty much based around the melody itself, and that's what determines the harmony that supports it?
S: Yeah.
A: So I read on your website that Yarmulkazi does modern interpretations of traditional klezmer music as well as traditional klezmer music. What would you say are the differences between these?
S: So the modern interpretations, what we play, some of our repertoire is taken from more modern klezmer bands, and these will have more jazz infusion - little more 'rocky', and less traditional. More major [key songs] will be modern. But the traditional stuff is still modernized in the way that the improvisations are happening. The solos over them can be whatever the soloist wants. If someone plays a lot of jazz, they will solo sort of like a jazz artist. But I guess the more modern stuff, things like playing around with crazy time signatures, will be in more modern pieces. Also, just not sticking strictly to the klezmer scale [is more modern].
A: What is the klezmer scale?
S: There's like the Freygish mode. I'm not super clear, behind this. It's kind of minor, it's based on... I don't even know. It's almost a minor scale. It's pretty much what most of the songs are in. Any variations from that is where you get the cool texture.
(The "Freygish" mode is also called the Phrygian dominant scale, or the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale. It is like the Phrygian mode, but with a major 3.)
Monday, October 20th, 2:15 pm. CIT
Andy: Let's get started with how you joined Yarmulkazi. Did you have any history playing klezmer music?
Sam: I had never played klezmer before, I had really liked playing [trumpet] in high school, in jazz groups the most. And it seemed like a pretty improv [based] group, you know, not learning from sheet music, and just learning everything by ear was completely new to me. How I joined - they had posters up for auditions, which didn't have a time or date on them; they were just advertising for auditions. I ended up running into a friend of a friend from Jewish summer camp, and she was in the klezmer band. So I basically went to a rehearsal, didn't really have a formal audition, and they were like, Yeah, you're in.
A: So you said you played in jazz bands in high schools. Do you still see parallels between klezmer music and your jazz band? Specifically is Yarmulkazi's interpretation more like jazz?
S: The improvisation is pretty much in klezmer music throughout. There will be people playing melody, and all the texturing and fooling and fiddling around on top of that is prevalent throughout every song. Very rarely is everyone playing the melody. Usually someone is doing some little trill, above and beyond. As far as jazz, it's definitely less structured. We'll have some solo sections, but it's not written out like "ok, in this place you're gonna trade fours with the drummer". It's just, whenever the melody is going on, someone can just go off and start soloing.
A: So in these solo sections, are they predetermined solos or are they improvised on the spot?
S: Yeah, it's definitely improvised. At least with respect to jazz, it's a little more. In what we play, and in the traditional songs, there aren't as many changes, you're not playing over a lot of chords. You can almost just vamp on a section. There's actually long form improv, called a doina, which is an intro to a song, and it's usually that someone will start off, and there will be one or two bass instruments, and maybe a melody playing on one chord for a long time. And they only change chords after a signal from the melody instrument. So it's a long drawn out solo, building and fall and building and falling.
A: So it's pretty much based around the melody itself, and that's what determines the harmony that supports it?
S: Yeah.
A: So I read on your website that Yarmulkazi does modern interpretations of traditional klezmer music as well as traditional klezmer music. What would you say are the differences between these?
S: So the modern interpretations, what we play, some of our repertoire is taken from more modern klezmer bands, and these will have more jazz infusion - little more 'rocky', and less traditional. More major [key songs] will be modern. But the traditional stuff is still modernized in the way that the improvisations are happening. The solos over them can be whatever the soloist wants. If someone plays a lot of jazz, they will solo sort of like a jazz artist. But I guess the more modern stuff, things like playing around with crazy time signatures, will be in more modern pieces. Also, just not sticking strictly to the klezmer scale [is more modern].
A: What is the klezmer scale?
S: There's like the Freygish mode. I'm not super clear, behind this. It's kind of minor, it's based on... I don't even know. It's almost a minor scale. It's pretty much what most of the songs are in. Any variations from that is where you get the cool texture.
(The "Freygish" mode is also called the Phrygian dominant scale, or the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale. It is like the Phrygian mode, but with a major 3.)
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Critical Review 5: Barz (Chap 13)
In this chapter, Barz discusses the value of the notes taken while doing fieldwork. Barz discusses the impact of field notes, their interpretation, and their value as they lead to understanding of the situation observed. He begins by placing a high value on the notes themselves, as they are in the position of bridging the "field research action and [the] ethnographic production", which is to say they are the strongest link between the cultural performance and the concrete writing that aids understanding in the reader. He presents his own field notes, with his three voices in different fonts. His three voices are the present, reflective, and analytical.
One of his excerpts that struck me was on page 212-213. He discusses his influence on the community he is observing. He describes the missed-messages as 'elitism', where he discovered that his community was just trying to include him - as a courtesy. This example made me wonder how he has affected his own subject of study. Is this 'good practice', to allow your own musical background to influence the culture you are studying?
One of his excerpts that struck me was on page 212-213. He discusses his influence on the community he is observing. He describes the missed-messages as 'elitism', where he discovered that his community was just trying to include him - as a courtesy. This example made me wonder how he has affected his own subject of study. Is this 'good practice', to allow your own musical background to influence the culture you are studying?
Monday, October 6, 2008
Fieldwork Notes: Yarmulkazi
Oct 5, 2008, 12:16 pm
2nd Floor Music Room, Hillel House
Warming up - tuning. Present there is a violinist (Andrew), trumpeter (Sam), clarinetist (Sara), electric bassist, flutist, bassoonist
I’m given a CD they made last spring.
Sara calls rehearsal to order - I am then introduced to the group.
Group explains how they are used to this - ethnomusicological study. Nat Seelen did it as his thesis, another student had done it last year. Bassoonist notes that it’s funny a bunch of “white, american students” come together to play Jewish music, and all of a sudden it’s a subject of ethnomusicological study. The vocalist, a pragmatist, says it’s not really possible to go to Russia to hear Jews there.
The group splits into the melody section and other (I’m assuming rhythm). The melody section goes outside (including trumpet, violin and flute).
The rhythm section starts to play some lines from a piece. The two chord progression vamps between two chords a whole step in distance with an unusually rhythmic transition (making it a bit difficult).
The music seems to be very melodically driven. The melody is in a harmonic minor key, with a fair amount of augmented 2nd steps. The rhythm section is teaching the bass players the changes - he appears to be new to the group.
Their music doesn’t seem to be written - they are teaching the bassist from a recording made last spring as well as orally.
The section of music that both the melody and rhythm sections are playing involves a lot of fast runs. It sounds more traditional (in the sense that it is attempting to be more of a replication of the past than a reinterpretation).
This snippet of an entire piece makes me curious of the scope of the piece - as well as the absent parts. Does the drummer or vocalist alter the interpretation of tradition? The two are not presently playing.
The rhythm section continues playing different sections of the same piece. “AABBCCDAABBCCD” is described as the form of the whole piece. They’re taking the whole tune at tempo, and it has come together. Instead of teaching, the clarinetist has assumed the role of player.
The bassoonist is relearning the D section, completely by ear, from the clarinetist.
Another tune is started. It’s a faster, and the clarinet and bassoon are in harmony. They just play a phrase from it. Stylistically it seems pretty similar, a little faster.
The rhythm group is now waiting for the melody group to finish up and join them. Meanwhile a new bass-line is being created for a different tune.
Briefly they talk about inviting new members. They are hesitant to take on a pianist for the tunes a piano doesn’t work with.
My only questions really arise on how the band views themselves. Are they a traditional klezmer band, trying to respect and preserve tradition? Do they think of themselves as ‘newer’ and more ‘progressive’ in their reinterpretation of traditional music?
2nd Floor Music Room, Hillel House
(These are my notes, taken on my computer during the rehearsal)
Warming up - tuning. Present there is a violinist (Andrew), trumpeter (Sam), clarinetist (Sara), electric bassist, flutist, bassoonist
I’m given a CD they made last spring.
Sara calls rehearsal to order - I am then introduced to the group.
Group explains how they are used to this - ethnomusicological study. Nat Seelen did it as his thesis, another student had done it last year. Bassoonist notes that it’s funny a bunch of “white, american students” come together to play Jewish music, and all of a sudden it’s a subject of ethnomusicological study. The vocalist, a pragmatist, says it’s not really possible to go to Russia to hear Jews there.
The group splits into the melody section and other (I’m assuming rhythm). The melody section goes outside (including trumpet, violin and flute).
The rhythm section starts to play some lines from a piece. The two chord progression vamps between two chords a whole step in distance with an unusually rhythmic transition (making it a bit difficult).
The music seems to be very melodically driven. The melody is in a harmonic minor key, with a fair amount of augmented 2nd steps. The rhythm section is teaching the bass players the changes - he appears to be new to the group.
Their music doesn’t seem to be written - they are teaching the bassist from a recording made last spring as well as orally.
The section of music that both the melody and rhythm sections are playing involves a lot of fast runs. It sounds more traditional (in the sense that it is attempting to be more of a replication of the past than a reinterpretation).
This snippet of an entire piece makes me curious of the scope of the piece - as well as the absent parts. Does the drummer or vocalist alter the interpretation of tradition? The two are not presently playing.
The rhythm section continues playing different sections of the same piece. “AABBCCDAABBCCD” is described as the form of the whole piece. They’re taking the whole tune at tempo, and it has come together. Instead of teaching, the clarinetist has assumed the role of player.
The bassoonist is relearning the D section, completely by ear, from the clarinetist.
Another tune is started. It’s a faster, and the clarinet and bassoon are in harmony. They just play a phrase from it. Stylistically it seems pretty similar, a little faster.
The rhythm group is now waiting for the melody group to finish up and join them. Meanwhile a new bass-line is being created for a different tune.
Briefly they talk about inviting new members. They are hesitant to take on a pianist for the tunes a piano doesn’t work with.
My only questions really arise on how the band views themselves. Are they a traditional klezmer band, trying to respect and preserve tradition? Do they think of themselves as ‘newer’ and more ‘progressive’ in their reinterpretation of traditional music?
My observations for the day lean more towards the first; they are more traditional than re-interpretative.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Critical Review: The Ethics of Representation
Agawu's chapter on ethics spans an array of topics. He begins with a generic definition of 'ethics', which he applies to different aspects of music - performance and interpretation, re-appropriation, copyright infringement, etc. But above all, he uses ethnomusicology as an example because it 'is the subdiscipline that has dealt most directly with ethical questions'. He discusses a few examples of fieldwork - his stay in the village of Akpafu-Odomi, Ghana, as well as the village of Avenui-Awudome. His anecdote about photographing the war-drum is quite interesting; the consequences of revealing the true identity of the man from Peki certainly absolve the group's lie.
Agawu discusses deception on page 204. He then provides examples of his deception in the field, as an ethnomusicologist. Was it morally wrong to deceive the chief of the Avenui-Awudome village? Is it 'good enough' to have the intention of full disclosure, while employing deception in only life and death situations? Is Herbie Hancock 'deceiving' his listeners and his 'brothers' by re-appropriating the pygmy music?
Agawu discusses deception on page 204. He then provides examples of his deception in the field, as an ethnomusicologist. Was it morally wrong to deceive the chief of the Avenui-Awudome village? Is it 'good enough' to have the intention of full disclosure, while employing deception in only life and death situations? Is Herbie Hancock 'deceiving' his listeners and his 'brothers' by re-appropriating the pygmy music?
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