Ethnomusicology Commons^™

Kachin Sound Instruments Within The Context Of The Kachin Baptist Convention Of Northern Burma: History, Classification, And Uses, Walter Brath

Masters Theses

This organology identifies and describes the Kachin's sound instruments, classifies them according to the Hornbostel-Sachs' system, and considers evidence of an indigenous classification scheme. Very little research exists to date on the music of the Kachin peoples of Northern Burma. This paper cites the only known indigenous organology and is the first English language study to extrapolate evidence into an emergent classification system. This qualitative study is based on ethnographic interviews, the minimal literature available on the topic, and participant observation drawn from fieldwork conducted in the Kachin State of Northern Burma (modern day Myanmar) during the months of May …

Juan Luis Guerra And The Merengue: Toward A New Dominican National Identity, Raymond Torres-Santos, Cuny Dominican Studies Institute

Publications and Research

This research monograph offers a historical account about the development of merengue in the Dominican Republic from the late 1800’s to the present.

Hispanismo En Seis Cuerdas, Roberto Hermosillo

Global Tides

This article is a survey on the role that the guitar plays in the Spanish-speaking countries of the world. The guitar, introduced by Spaniards in Spanish America, reflects the culture of every country that has adopted the instrument as part of their culture. Such reflection can be observed by finding traces of cultures of some countries such as Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and Cuba in the guitar music of each of those nations. The guitar, as a cultural icon, can also be observed in other forms of art from such places such as literature and painting. Finally, the article gives a …

Czech Bluegrass Fiddlers And Their Negotiations Of Past And Present, Lee Bidgood

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: Proc ty housle? ("Why the fiddle?") - "Fiddlers are all bad here - Why not write about the banjo or something else that Czechs are good at?"These questions about my ethnographic fieldwork came from musician colleagues with whom I working in researching bluegrass music in the Czech Republic, during a jam circle around a table. While these colleagues were mainly banjo and guitar players, these critiques of Czech fiddling are common even among Czech fiddlers, who are in many cases not as accomplished (in technical skill or musicality) as are their banjo-playing and mandolin-picking compatriots.

China’S Musical Revolution: From Beijing Opera To Yangbanxi, Yawen Ludden

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This study seeks to investigate the modern derivative of Beijing opera, known as yangbanxi, through macro and micro approaches. The first part of the thesis surveys the development of Beijing opera under the historical context and in its social, political, and cultural perspectives. The second part, taking a microscopic perspective, undertakes an in-depth analysis of the compositions that were solely created by composer Yu Huiyong. First, it assays the application of Yu’s theory to his compositions of various Beijing opera arias. Second, it analyzes Yu’s instrumental music in compositional dimensions such as material, structure, and techniques, considering the larger implications …

How Bebop Came To Be: The Early History Of Modern Jazz, Colin M. Messinger

Student Publications

Bebop, despite its rather short lifespan, would become a key influence for every style that came after it. Bebop’s effects on improvisation, group structure, and harmony would be felt throughout jazz for decades to come, and the best known musicians of the bebop era are still regarded as some of the finest jazz musicians to ever take the stage. But the characteristics of bebop can easily be determined from the music itself. [excerpt]

Misa Mo Unama Coñoca, Gustavo Leone

Department of Fine & Performing Arts: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Music of the Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos

The Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies in South America in 1767, leaving behind a remarkable musical legacy that was buried for over two hundred years. But the music did not disappear completely. Thanks to the Chiquitos people of Bolivia, the music was played and preserved throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 1985, Swiss architect Hans Roth discovered 9,000 of these musical manuscripts and in 1990 UNESCO declared the churches of the Chiquitos a “patrimony of humanity”. Dr. Gustavo Leone of Loyola University Chicago's Department of Fine and Performing Arts …

Democratizing Indian Popular Music: From Cassette Culture To The Digital Era, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

The history of Indian popular music constitutes in itself a significant development in modern culture, as this set of genres—especially but not only in their Bollywood forms—have been cherished by hundreds of millions of listeners not only in South Asia but internationally as well. At the same time, the trajectory of Indian popular music represents a dramatic case study of media culture as well, as its patterns of ownership, consumption, and even musical structures themselves have been conditioned by technological changes. Most striking is the way that a highly monopolized, streamlined, and homogeneous popular music culture dominated for several decades …

Music Cultures Of Mechanical Reproduction, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

Popular musics arc best understood as comprising those genres whose styles have evolved in an inextricable relation with their dissemination via the mass media and their marketing and sale on a mass-commodity basis. While much popular-music activity takes place independently of the mass media, other essential aspects of popular-music production and marketing arc inevitably inseparable from technologies of mechanical reproduction, which perforce condition aspects of music culture in general. Hence, just as one could speak of military cultures based around the stirrup, or later the firearm, or agrarian cultures based on the hoe, the ox, or the tractor, so do …

Retention And Invention In Bhojpuri Diasporic Music Culture: Perspectives From The Caribbean, India, And Fiji, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Two Sides To A Drum: Duality In Trinidad Orisha Music And Culture, Ryan J. Bazinet

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents an ethnographic and historical study of music and culture in the Yoruba-derived Trinidad Orisha religion in Trinidad and New York City. Its objectives are: (1) to provide description and documentation of Trinidad Orisha music, an understudied music genre in the African diaspora; (2) to shed light on the historical, cultural, and demographic factors contributing to the development of Trinidad Orisha music by its practitioners; and (3) to provide substance for meaningful comparisons between Trinidad Orisha music and other Yoruba-derived musics.

Based on four years of fieldwork (2008-2012) in Trinidad and in Brooklyn, NY, the study explores Trinidad …

Just Sing What You Want To Say: The Importance Of Linguistic Tone In Bai Songs, Lisa Andrews

Masters Theses

The Bai people, a minority group in the People's Republic of China numbering at least 1.6 million, live mostly in the Dali Autonomous Prefecture in northwest Yunnan. Historically, Bai from the central region would gather annually at the base of Shibaoshan Mountain to sing partner style love songs in search for a suitable marriage partner; today, this time is marked by a three-day festival officially titled "Shibaoshan." The annual song competition invites skilled singers to spontaneously compose melodies in response to their counterpart, crafting lyrics to flatter or tease their singing partner. The study quantifies the close relationship between Bai …

Werner Jaegerhuber's “Messe Folklorique Haitïenne”: A Conductor's Guide, Lauren Michelle Brandon Lindsey

Dissertations

Werner Jaegerhuber (1900-1953), a composer and leading ethnographer from Haiti, lived a life and career committed to bringing the folk music of Haiti to international recognition. His most significant work, Messe Folklorique Haïtienne, the background leading to its composition, performance of the work and a conductor’s analysis is the focus of this study. The folk music of Haiti consists primarily of Vodou melodies which are performed in Vodou ceremonies. Haiti’s long history of colonization, slavery, chronic economic struggle, African roots, and Catholic influence all play unique, but significant roles in the life of Werner Jaegerhuber and his passionate study. …

An Undergraduate Seminar On Irish Musical Culture In Ireland And The Irish Diaspora In America, Including The Influence Of Irish Music On Appalachian Folk Music Culture, Frieda Eakins

Masters Theses

The following project establishes a concise, yet multifaceted design for a seminar on Irish musical culture. While it was initially developed as a course for its author to teach in the undergraduate, on-ground classroom, this project provides a framework adaptable enough for use by other instructors and/or for additional music seminars. This project is unique in its two-fold purpose in that the design and resources are directed to assist the instructor with streamlining course curriculum preparation, while the course content specific to the project when utilized offers students in the undergraduate college classroom a better understanding of Irish musical culture …

Tibetan Guozhuang In Diqing Autonomous Prefecture: A Comparative Musical Analysis, Christina Du Breuil

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The song and dance traditions of the Tibetan peoples of Diqing Prefecture are numerous and varied. Of these traditions, Guozhuang is cited as one of the oldest and most centrally traditional pieces of folk heritage. However, Guozhuang varies even within Diqing Prefecture. This paper addresses the basic form and structure of Guozhuang as well as variations between Benzilan and Shangri-la Guozhuang, two places separated not only by geographical distance but also the encroachment of development on traditional culture.

Horses For Discourses?: The Transition From Oral To Broadside Narrative In “Skewball”, Seán Ó Cadhla

Articles

The well-known horse-racing ballad ‘Skewball’ (hereafter, SB) has a well-established oral tradition in Ireland, with versions documented throughout the eighteenth-,nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries. The latest is a 1979 field-recording of Derry folksinger and storyteller, Eddie Butcher (Shields 2011:58-9). The ballad was also assimilated into African-American oral tradition, in which it was reconstructed and renamed ‘Stewball’ (Scarborough 1925:61-4; Lomax 1994:68-71), and was still being documented in American folk tradition as late as the 1930s (Flanders 1939:172-4). In common with countless other folk songs, SB was appropriated by broadside printers and subsequently enjoyed widespread public appeal throughout England in the early- to …

"O My Luve's Like A Red, Red Rose": Does Burns's Melody Really Matter, Kirsteen Mccue

Studies in Scottish Literature

Examines the musical sources and later published settings for Robert Burns's song "O, my luve is like a red, red rose," with particular focus on Niel Gow's setting "Major Graham's Strathspey."

Back To Burns, Fred Freeman

Studies in Scottish Literature

Argues that the published settings of the songs written and collected by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), especially the settings in George Thomson's series A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs, conceal Burns's original intentions, and traces this to anti-Scottish critical prejudice that had driven the genuine folk tradition underground.

On Editing The Merry Muses, Valentina Bold

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the sources and issues in reediting the late 18th century Scottish song collection, The Merry Muses of Caledonia (1799), in connection the 50th anniversary of the first modern scholarly edition, edited by Sydney Goodsir Smith, James Barke, and J. Delancey Ferguson in 1959.

On Translating Burns: A Heavenly Paradise And Two Versions Of "A Red, Red, Rose", Marco Fazzini

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses, and prints, two different verse-translations from Scots into Italian of Robert Burns's well-known song "O, My Luve is Like a Red, Red, Rose," with brief comment on earlier Italian Burns translations. .