Ethnomusicologists believe that all humans, not just those we call
musicians, are musical, and that musicality is one of the essential
touchstones of the human experience. This insight raises big
questions about the nature of music and the nature of humankind,
and ethnomusicologists argue that to properly address these
questions, we must study music in all its geographical and
historical diversity. In this Very Short Introduction, one of the
foremost ethnomusicologists, Timothy Rice, offers a compact and
illuminating account of this growing discipline, showing how modern
researchers go about studying music from around the world, looking
for insights into both music and humanity. The reader discovers
that ethnomusicologists today not only examine traditional forms of
music-such as Japanese gagaku, Bulgarian folk music, Javanese
gamelan, or Native American drumming and singing-but also explore
more contemporary musical forms, from rap and reggae to Tex-Mex,
Serbian turbofolk, and even the piped-in music at the Mall of
America. To investigate these diverse musical forms, Rice shows,
ethnomusicologists typically live in a community, participate in
and observe and record musical events, interview the musicians,
their patrons, and the audience, and learn to sing, play, and
dance. It's important to establish rapport with musicians and
community members, and obtain the permission of those they will
work with closely over the course of many months and years. We see
how the researcher analyzes the data to understand how a particular
musical tradition works, what is distinctive about it, and how it
bears the personal, social, and cultural meanings attributed to it.
Rice also discusses how researchers may apply theories from
anthropology and other social sciences, to shed further light on
the nature of music as a human behavior and cultural practice.
About the Series: Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers
concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects-from
Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to
History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of
definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and
provocative-yet always balanced and complete-discussions of the
central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short
Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question,
demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has
influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every
major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and
abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one
deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates
the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy
and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.
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