Applied Ethnomusicology

ETHNOMUSICKING: A VALUED MUSIC OCCUPATION OR AUDACIOUS ANTICS IN THE PURGA MUSIC MUSEUM

by Sandra Kirkwood

This paper appears was delivered at the Cultural Diversity in Music Education Conference held at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 11 January, 2010. It appears in the Conference Proceedings -- peer reviewed and accepted for publication 31 October, 2009.

Music history research of Indigenous and Scottish groups in Ipswich, Australia, reveals that people have had varying... more Music history research of Indigenous and Scottish groups in Ipswich, Australia, reveals that people have had varying levels of access and engagement in music making that is related to their music heritage and culture. There is no suitable terminology to describe this active cultural engagement, so I propose the term ‘ethnomusicking.’ In this paper I will outline my concept of ethnomusicking and discuss examples from participatory action research. The aim is to critically analyse the social significance of ethnomusicking and the role of the music museum curator in facilitating community-based education – particularly the design of programs for reconciliation and healing.

Teaching Music and Dance of Namibia

by David Hebert

Hebert, D. G. (2006). Teaching Music and Dance of Namibia: A Review Essay. International Journal of Education and the Arts, Vol. 7 [http://www.ijea.org/v7r1/index.html].

Book Review and Interview Essay Book Review and Interview Essay

Doing, being and becoming more active through playing part in community-based museum scenarios

by Sandra Kirkwood

The concept of occupational performance can be applied to museums in regard to how we synthesise relationships between... more The concept of occupational performance can be applied to museums in regard to how we synthesise relationships between person-environment –occupation. The transactions between these three dynamic elements are at the core of creative participation which can facilitate planned social transformation.  Mary Law and colleagues devised the Person-Environment-Occupation Model (1996) initially to reveal how occupational therapists could work with people with a disability to empower them to analyse and manipulate their social roles, environmental context, and capacity for action to achieve better adaptation to life circumstances. This approach was founded on the belief stated by Mary Reilly that, “Man through the use of his hands, as they are energized by mind and will, can influence the state of his own heath.” Hands are the tools that are most used by people who wish to understand and change the state of their world. Museums that offer people a safe ‘locus of control’ for relating to one another and manipulating social roles through play can be a research wonder world that is not necessarily grounded in physical facilities. The capacity for occupational performance can be played out through doing, being and becoming involved as a player in game scenarios, or through being an actor in real life community-based rehabilitation projects. This article describes the application of the P-E-O model to museum participation and provides examples of how communities can achieve higher levels of self-determination through supporting people to play chosen roles in identified scenarios which allow them to explore and creatively plan the effect of their actions on the world around them during a designated time period.

Special Issue on Popular Music Pedagogy, Journal of Popular Music Studies

by Susan Oehler Herrick

Susan Oehler, co-guest editor with Jason Hanley. Peer-reviewed journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US Branch. Issue 21, No. 1. 2009.
Note: I published as Susan E. Oehler through 2009.

Ethnomusicology as tool for the Christian Missionary (aka Ethnomusicology's Missionary Position)

by John Vallier

Vallier, John Bellarmine. 2003. "Ethnomusicology as Tool for the Christian Missionary". European Meetings in Ethnomusicology. 10: 85-97.

I originally presented this paper at the 46th Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM): Detroit, MI. October 27, 2001.

Music has an impressive capacity to influence human behavior. From jingles marketing the consumption of goods and... more Music has an impressive capacity to influence human behavior. From jingles marketing the consumption of goods and services, to protest songs galvanizing real political change, music's potential effect is both potent and manifold. Beyond activists and capitalists there is another segment of society making use of music's persuasive power: contemporary missionaries.

These evangelical Christians are refiguring secular music found within particular non-Christian communities—or "target cultures"—so they deliver salvation-oriented messages and, eventually, spiritual conversion. To accomplish their goals, this growing contingent of missionaries is drawing upon the discipline of ethnomusicology. By studying ethnomusicology's methods and techniques, they are better able to analyze a community's music. This then allows missionaries to compose new songs— with missionary-approved sentiments—in the style of the indigenous target culture, or subtly refashion already existing songs so they promote missionary values. For these missionaries the discipline of ethnomusicology is a tool that enables them to realize their agenda. As missionary Rick Wood notes, ethnomusicology is, for his purposes, "the science of helping every people worship Jesus through their indigenous music."[1] With this paper I will provide specific examples of how missionaries use ethnomusicology to refigure music so that it instills religious homogeneity while in a sense maintaining a facade of musical heterogeneity. I will also look at the long relationship secular ethnomusicologists and missionaries have had, focusing specifically on the ethical implications these issues raise for both groups.

Footnote [1]
http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/mf-behind-the-scenes19 (accessed June 9, 2011)

Reply to Schrag-Coulter's Response

by John Vallier

This is my reply to Coulter and Schrag's response to my paper, "Ethnomusicology As Tool For the Christian" (presented @ SEM in 2001 & published in EME in 2003). Writing a reply to their response was complicated by the fact that I received two different versions of their response. Both versions included many of the same criticism of my paper, but they differed in one significant way: the first unpublished response included the following honest description of their motivation, while the second published response did not:

"We are, first and foremost, followers of Jesus Christ.  We believe that God created musical and social diversity around the world that is stupefying in its beauty and creative genius.  We also believe that God wants–even requires–all people to create for him, acknowledging him as their ultimate source.  Approaches, ideas, and methodologies in the field of ethnomusicology help us to understand, appreciate, and respect the musical cultures in which we work, but that does not mean we uncritically accept the ethical values of everyone around us as equally valid" (Coulter and Shcrag, unpublished version, 2003).

Not only did the second published response not include this admission, it also excluded the statement that the ethnomusicianary “fight is … against Satan and all evil, which ultimately is for the benefit of all people and cultures.” In the second published version, the authors sidestepped any discussion of  “winning the lost” and instead focused exclusively on the practice of encouraging the development of indigenous hymnody among existing churches. Though I was concerned with the theosophical nature of these statements in their first response, I did respect their candor. I also believed these statements to be essential in understanding the ethnomusicianary: viewed in this context, it is clear that any professional code of ethics becomes subservient to a bulwark of moral certitude.

Unfortunately, the co-authors’ honest self-portrayal was replaced by, among other things, a diversionary accusation that my paper re-examined charges already explored in the field of anthropology and with a curious analogy between the activities of missionaries and the experience of 1960s blues revivalists. They also criticized me for not interviewing any of the ethnomusicianaries I cited: “insight from even a single interview would have helped the paper immensely” (Schrag and Coulter 2003). In an effort to address this criticism, I applied for and attained special funding from the Librarians Association of the University of California (LAUC) to travel to, attend, and speak with ethnomusicianaries at the 2003 Global Consultation on Music and Missions Conference (GCOMM): http://www.gcommhome.org. Since I was unable to find a way to register for the conference, I called one of the co-authors and asked for instructions on how to accomplish this. These efforts were met with resistance. I was told that I was “immoral” and that the GCOMM participants—to put it mildly—would not welcome me. I canceled my trip and returned the funding.

I was asked by the EME editor not to refer to the co-authors' unpublished version in my response.

Exchanges of song Migration, gender, and nation in Nepali dohori performance [PhD Dissertation]

by Anna Stirr

Etnomusikologia tekemisen meininkinä

by Lari Aaltonen

published in "Musiikin suunta" 4/2009.