Berger

Berger explored the use of phenomenology as a means of obtaining more "accurate" well rounded research in ethnomusicology. He felt as though modern ethnomusicology still retained too much "colonialism" in thought and process. In his experience, romantic view were much to prevalent in how many ethnographers relayed their subjects in research, this phenomenon resulted in exotification and hegemony within much of the ethnographic research.
Question: Berger claims that although and ethnographer's perspective can come close, it can never truly provide and authentic view of the culture of study; if this is true, does this apply to ethnographers who can have a background in more than one culture (ex: Americans studying popular American music)?

SEM history

The journal Ethnomusicology was essentially started to forge a more visible community amongst ethnomusicologists and to promote the field. Apparently, early 1950's music ethnographers lacked umbrella organizations as a means of support for researches. Even worse, ethnomusicology education was scarce at the university level, so students aspiring to enter the field were left without resources on how to engage in the field.

Particularly in Germany, many researcher/ professors left during the Nazi regime thus leaving the country nearly dry of ethnographers (vol. 1, no. 1). To somewhat combat the shortage of support for ethnomusicology at the university level, the journal started a list of available courses at various universities (Survey of Courses in Ethno-Musicology and Related Subjects). The journal was also sent to various institutions thus introducing it to students interested in entering the field. This survey as well as the Bibliography section of the journal provided reading references on various topics relating to current ethnographic research. Eventually, the Survey of Courses stopped being produced in the journal (fizzled out by the late 50's) and was replaced by an even better resource, articles and dissertations. Because the journal reached its intended goal of fostering a community amongst ethnomusicologists, it was able to replace rudimentary listings of “news and notes” with feasible research material. By the 1960's it was a full fledged journal serving as a viable resource for the ethnographic community.

One interesting aspect of the ethnomusicology journal was its avid inclusion of art forms other than music. Even the early-on “Survey of Courses” sited materials having to do with dance and the visual and literary arts. Subjects like Folklore, Folk-Literature, and Primitive Art were referenced as being important to ethnomusicology education. Dance in particular was seen as almost inseparable from the study of ethnomusicology (vol. 1, no. 7). The aspect of performance would be of more importance in fieldwork when including dance in the research. A number of articles relayed ethnomusicology reseach that included dance as a crucial subtopic. Some of those include Song and Dance in St. Lucia; Dance-Music Interdependence; Ponca Dances, Ceremonies and Music; Dance, Music and the Daily Bread; Teaching and Research in Ethnic Dance; Folk Dances of the USSR; and The Development of Taos Dance. The 1961 no.3 issue even lists an entire collection of Dance reviews.

Barz and Titon

Both the Barz and Titon readings thoroughly informed the reader about the importance of utilizing materials (notebook, recorder, video, etc.) to conduct research. While Titon gave a very informative run-down of some key essentials while engaging in ethnographic fieldwork, I found Barz's questioning of the usefulness of fieldnotes very interesting.

The two main themes standing out in the Barz article are the reliance upon oral and auditory "documentation" versus reliance upon text and the function of the fieldnote as secondary or primary to the end result in research. Barz often talks about the notion of an "original" experience, and from what I gathered, he feels as though the fieldnote is one way to move towards relaying that notion to the audience. At one point, he recalled a conversation with Mzee Masanga in a fieldnote. He denotes it as an "innocent"/"original" experience, because both his words and thoughts were reflected in the same setting, and this was achieved using text. Later in the article, Barz somewhat rebukes fieldnotes as a necessity when he suggests that conveying an experience through text might be a hindrance to having a true connection. He even sites anthropologist Michael Jackson as saying that only one's senses can truly allow one to revel in an experience, but Barz doesn't completely dismiss the power of fieldnotes which brings me to the next topic, how important are field notes?

Barz presents two diagrams that place fieldnotes as an important conduit to the final ethnographic interpretation. He feels as though, although fieldnotes aren't completely necessary (the interpretation can be drawn directly from experience), they are a beneficial anchor for the overall research, but he claims that fieldnotes are much more beneficial to the ethnographer than the reader.

I would have to disagree that fieldnotes are majorly more benefical to the ethnographer than the reader. Of course, unpolished (or as he stressed without the use of headnotes) fieldnotes are fairly useless in a final interpretation because they're out of context, but if fieldnotes are presented in a fashion similar to how they were presented in the Barz article, they provide a very rich narrative which heavily enforces the reader's perspective when viewing the research. If anything, wouldn't the presence of fieldnotes make the material (including the interpretation) more objective, because the reader has a chance to derive his/her own interpretations from the text depicting the experience pre-interpretation? An interpretation from experience alone would be sufficient but wouldn't providing the fieldnotes make for a more "accurate" account of the research on behalf of the reader?

Fieldwork: Contra Dance Society

I will be conducting research on the Contra and Folk Dance Society here at Brown. It consists of both students and people throughout New England. Here's a link to their description page. http://students.brown.edu/Body_and_Sole/contra.htm

My 24 hour Log #1

9:40-11:00 am
While at home after waking up

preparing sequences of my own compositions (a flute sonata and a string quartet)
iTunes while getting dressed and checking email:
-Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald- “Take the A Train”
-Bach 3rd Cello Suite
-My roomate upstairs is playing what sounds like Lil' Wayne “I Milli”
-Chrisette Michelle- Best Of Me
-Chrisett Michelle- Love is You
-Dvorak Cello Concerto, Movement I
-Bach Mass in B Minor- I let it play until left

11:00am – 3:00pm

While in Steinert:
-I practiced modulation exercises, Stravinsky “Five Fingers”, and Prokofiev “Rain and the Rainbow”
-someone was playing a Mozart piano sonata
-a piano trio practicing some piece obviously from the Romantic Era, but I can't recall the composer
-a trumpeter practicing
-various pianist practicing music I can't quite hear well enough to decipher.

While in Orwig before my 2:00pm class:
-going over the sequences of my compositions with Professer Shapiro.
In Advanced Musicianship:
-Several modulation exercises on the piano using chromatic chords as the conduit for modulation.
-Arlene playing a two measure excerpt for dictation.

3:00-6:00pm

-While on my way from Owrig to Hatian Creole which meets in the Rock, I heard serveral cars bumping music: three hip-hop (I did not know the song) and one Rhianna “Live Your Life”
In Hatian Creole: two and a half hours

6:00pm – into the night

-Back at home: my next door roommate was playing some sort of Top 40 techno remix
-I took an hour nap: SILENCE
-When I woke up, I put my iTunes on random: Thelonius Monk “Blue Monk” and “It Don't Mean a Thing”
Went to a meeting
-Back home: My roommates and I watching Ru Paul's Drag Race, then Project Runway, various bumper music and what not for television programming.

Itunes in my room until bed while checking email and reading:
-Ravel “Tombeau de Couperin”
-Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
-Tchaikovsky String Serenade
-Vaughan Williams's Partita for Strings Walton Sonata for String Orchestra
-Vaughan Williams Concerto Grosso
-Stravinsky Violin Concerto
-Handel Rinaldo “lascia ch'io pianga”
-Handel “venti turbini”, Corelli La Folia,
-Miles Davis “So What”
-Ellington “C Jam Blues”
-Ellington/Strayhorn “Lush Life”
-Sarah Vaughan “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
-Kirk Franklin “Love”
-Miles Davis Bitches Brew Album
-I let Bitches Brew run while I took a shower and got ready for bed “John McLaughlin” was on when I returned.
-Last song before posting this log: Erykah Badu “Orange Moon”

I'm on my way to bed...or maybe not