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Posts Tagged ‘ethnomusicology’

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JHI: Music in Mass Performance

In My Work on May 4, 2011 at 9:31 pm

The Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI) is home to cross-discipline research groups who run symposiums and lectures that are opened to the public. Martin Stoke’s keynote at this event caught my eye, and I had a chance this past Friday and Saturday to meet some new and familiar faces in the ethno department at Faculty of Music. Ken McLeod and Joshua Pilzer were gracious hosts and gathered together a small but dynamic group of scholars who have an overlapping interest in the music and sounds heard when a large number of people gather.

Martin Stokes discussed his preference for the use of the word ‘crowd’over the use of the word ‘public’, which like so many words have come to mean everything and ultimately nothing due to its frequent reference. He raised issues of epistemology (the language valence between the word ‘crowd’and ‘public; types of crowd;) and methodology (studying mass behaviour through the lense of the individual; as socio-political perspectives; as cultural phenomenon). While his talk was situated within a desire to generate relevant theories for the field of ethnomusicology, the issues he touched on are also that echoes those within the field of information studies, and echoes the issues that frequently bubble up whenever I try to explain to others the type of work I do.

I missed the presentations Friday afternoon, but below are some of my own notes as well as some really unexpected thoughts that related the conference theme back to my own research at the moment. Read on about Chindon’ya troops in Osaka, concert riots at the turn of the 20th century, and some thoughts offered on Beatlemania.

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Music Knowledge Conference III

In music-esque, My Work on May 18, 2010 at 12:36 am

(Sorry for the radio silence, I have been away for the first half of May on travels to East Asia, and the last two weeks in April were rather packed.)

There were many interesting projects that I encountered, each in my mind contained great implications and lessons learned for the future music information landscape. What they all have in common, is a musical community. Where they differ is the context with which such communities exists, and are engaged. I am sharing a few highlights below, in no particular order or for particular reasons. They reflect the diversity of nationalities and research interest that was present at the British Forum for Ethnomusicology.

Heather Maclaughlan studied the Copy-Tachin musicians of Burma, which is essentially the music of emulating western pop artists, the more accurately, the better. I’m curious to learn of how this phenomenon is influenced by the existing Burmanese government. In particular, the lengths with which these musicians go to smuggle instructional videos on how to play guitar, the parts to make their own electronic instruments, and the way they did it prior to the availability of the internet and after sounds like a wonderful and untold story. It’s not only a great example of the creativity with which individuals confront the digital divide, but a case with which to study the impact of evolving information policy and access.

Kiku Day practices and teaches Shakuhachi (Japanese flute). More interestingly, she conducts lessons via skype. YouTube has been all the rage along with all the other public forms of social media. Click to read more highlights.

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Music Knowledge Conference I

In music-esque, My Work on April 8, 2010 at 5:31 pm

For those who missed my Oxford presentation at the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, I have uploaded my slides and talking notes from my Oxford presentation.

Today was the first day of the conference, and I was participating in the “Online Exchanges” panel, one of many concurrent panels that kick started the conference. My panel mates were Thomas Brett from New York’s Bard High School Early College, and Fiorella Montero-Diaz from the UK. Both presenters addressed issues that I have an interest it. The sharing of knowledge in the culture of electronic music, as well as issues of identity and power with indigenous cultures both highlighted the need for ethnomusicologists to engage in more collaborative work with specialists in other social science fields, information science being one of them.

The planetary session was absolutely wonderful. As each speaker as well as the chair shared their thoughts on “Ethnomusicology, Musical Knowledge & Theory”, I got progressively excited as each of them touched on topics that I could relate back to information science directly. This music knowledge conference may mark the beginning of my dedicated efforts (now that most of my course work is over) on my master’s thesis work on music knowledge.

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