Ethnomusicology Commons^™

Benefit Concerts: Truly For The Benefit Of The Cause?, Emma C. Gardner

Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal

Benefit concerts have been used as a fundraising method for urgent issues for centuries, beginning in 1749 with concerts put on by George Handel. The first modern benefit concert was the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, which proved that these concerts could raise large amounts of money for their cause. Live Aid was put on by Bob Geldof in 1985 Live Aid in response to the famine in Ethiopia. The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness in 1992 was staged following Freddie Mercury’s death and worked to raise money for awareness and a cure for HIV/AIDS. The Concert for …

Kajian Konseptual Silabel Ritme Gandang Minangkabau, Aryuda Fakhleri Fallen, Yudi Sukmayadi, Tati Narawati

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This article tryes to initiate the concept of Minangkabau rhythm syllables, which is a method in music learning related to audiation in rhythm learning, the urgency in this study explores the basic elements of the audiation system that can be applied to music learning related to rhythm syllables based on local approaches, taking into account previous concepts that have been popular in recent schools. In West Sumatra, the concepts of syllable rhythm such as Zoltan Kodaly, Kannokol, American Style Syllables, and Edwin Gordon are not so popular, but environments such as schools and art studios have their own ways of …

"If The Gyil Has Died, Dagara Itself Has Died": On The Relationship Of Dagara Music, Food, And Costume, Gordon Cortney

Honors College Undergraduate Theses

The Dagara people, located primarily in the Upper West region of Ghana, take pride in their careful preservation of traditional customs, amidst years of brutal colonization and ethnocide. Previous ethnomusicological research has recognized the gyil, a Ghanaian xylophone, as the focal point of Dagara society, noting how it interacts with and is inherent in all aspects of their culture. Recent developments to the gyil’s design, practice, and performance have created concern for a lost or dying culture among the Dagara. If the gyil is experiencing change, then so too is the rest of Dagara culture. In June and July 2022, …

“And The People Sang In All The Ways Of The City:” A Speculative Ethnomusicology Of Gondor, Kelsey A. Fuller-Shafer

Journal of Tolkien Research

The music of Gondor is one of the more elusive musical traditions in Middle-earth, described only briefly throughout the text of The Lord of the Rings, and thus often neglected in scholarship on music in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. However, an ethnomusicological line of inquiry brings to the fore questions of performance, perception, and meaning that contribute to our interpretations of the many levels of symbolic transformation seen in Gondor at the beginning of the Fourth Age. The evidence of both musical activity and silence in Gondor mirrors conclusions that have been documented in real-world ethnomusicological studies in …

The Cålåpitå Past The “Dull Edge” Of Extinction: A Shaggy Dog Story Of Repatriation And Refusal In Bali, Tyler Yamin

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

“Systems Are Changeable”: Reading Moments Through Movements Available, Lei X. Ouyang

Music Faculty Works

This article considers how recent moments of racism and violence in the United States, ethnomusicology, and the Society for Ethnomusicology are linked to larger movements. I examine the work of Asian American and Asian Canadian artists and activists to engage with conversations about violence, racialization, and solidarity. I bring these conversations in concert with recent discussions of racism in music studies to connect moments to movements and examine models for change through processes of decolonization. I call upon readers to embrace discomfort, listening, and reflection to engage with work that is relational and intergenerational and that demonstrates hope, care, and …

Time And Imagined Futures In Eastern African Art Forms, Alex Perullo

Politics, Law, and Society Faculty Journal Articles

This article introduces the NJAS special issue “Art and Imagined Futures in Eastern Africa”, edited by Alex Perullo, Claudia Böhme, and Christina Woolner, and has not been peer-reviewed. Artists in eastern Africa use songs, poems, fiction, cartoons, and other artistic forms to explore their lived experiences and future possibilities. Through their art they can envision alternatives to their current experiences, contest social and political problems, and reveal the dangers of complacency. They can also grapple with regret at missed opportunities or develop a sense of longing for a future that could or should have been had different decisions been made. …

Metric Schemas And Projections In Three Colombian Folk Genres, Lina S. Tabak

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores how stylistic expertise can affect metric perception, through the analysis of three Colombian folk genres—cantos de boga and currulaos from the Pacific region and joropos from the Eastern plains bordering Venezuela. Specifically, it considers the tension between metric perceptions which arise from bottom-up mechanisms for entrainment (such as projections), and those which are based on top-down mechanisms (such as schemata). This tension is at play when more and less musically enculturated listeners perceive entirely different metric structures when listening to identical music.

Taking bottom-up and top-down metric perception as a thread, this dissertation isolates three additional metric …

A Música Na Tradição Indígena Wai Wai, Roque Yaxikma Wai Wai, Ruben Caixeta De Queiroz

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Este trabalho trata da história da música na tradição do povo indígena wai wai, um grupo de língua caribe da região guianense. A pesquisa se passa entre os Wai Wai do rio Mapuera (norte do Pará), tendo como foco os conhecimentos de anciãos e as músicas antigas que eles conhecem. Aqui tratamos da definição do que é música e instrumento musical para os Wai Wai, quem pode e quem não pode tocar e/ou ouvir música. Descrevemos as histórias dos lugares antigos de habitação dos Wai Wai, onde moravam outrora, no rio Baracuxi (Kikwo), os nomes das aldeias e os nomes …

The Influence Of Western Music And The Wind Band In The Republic Of Korea, Mark Reimer

Journal of Global Awareness

Beginning with the arrival of American missionaries in 1885, the music of South Korea continues to reflect Western tonality, aesthetics, education, and popular taste. Through this musical and historical evolution, however, the country has not forsaken its traditions, musical imprint, and cultural identity, as will be discussed in the examination of select composers and music compositions.

Rap In The United States And Cuba: A Genre Uniquely Emblematic Of The Paradox Of (De)Colonization, Maya Rose Bliffeld

Senior Theses

Music, as a profound and resonant cultural expression, captures the nuance of societal dynamics, political climates, and the collective emotions of communities throughout time. Colonialism, more specifically the Atlantic slave trade and the experience of suffering, has been reflected in the music as much as it has pioneered styles of new global music in the present. Music, specifically rap, contextualized in the hip-hop movements of the United States and Cuba, reveals primary sources of the effects of systemic racism and the marks of slavery in the contemporary context. The United States and Cuba each have a close relation to the …

Arranging, Teaching And Performing The Cypriot Folk Song, Αχερόμπασμαν (Aherombasman), Georgia Orfanides

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This paper documents my process of arranging, teaching, and conducting the Cypriot folk song, Αχερόμπασμαν (Aherombasman) to JMU’s Treble Chamber Choir. I am Cypriot-American and I wanted to create an accessible arrangement of a Cypriot folk tune in order to introduce the musical culture and language of Cyprus to a Western audience. The first section of this paper provides a brief history of the cultural and political influences on Cyprus, and an introduction to common practices in the Cypriot folk tradition. The second section details the process of transcribing the original tune from Alkinoos Ioannides’ arrangement, creating the final arrangement …

Plenty Good Room: Using Negro Spirituals To Bridge The Racial Divide, Darnell Allen St. Romain

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

In 2020, the United States experienced a global pandemic and the murder of Mr. George Floyd. With the murder of Floyd, many churches were confronted with the racial divide in the United States. This thesis is a response of one community, the Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Plano, Texas. Using the folk song of Black Americans, namely the Negro Spirituals, as the foundation of an ethical-theological framework, this thesis poses one way for addressing the anti-Black structure prevalent in the Catholic Church in the United States of America. This work progresses from despair to hope, addressing the link between …

Impressionism In The Hands Of Griffes, Bauer, And Howe, And The Musical Climate In Early 20th-Century America, Elaine Sara Lim

Dissertations, 2020-current

American composers Charles Griffes (1884-1920), Marion Bauer (1882-1955), and Mary Howe (1882-1964) are considered “Impressionist” composers by some scholars. This document will explore selected piano works of each composer to determine the extent to which impressionistic traits are present. Topics such as tonality, harmony, texture, and individual style will be examined, as well as the significant relationship between music and poetry. American Impressionism was short-lived but served as a link to Modernism, as all three composers eventually experimented with other styles. Early 20th-century American audiences, accustomed to the influx of European artists and music, were slow to embrace the new …

Canciones De Cuna En La Frontera: Las Canciones De Cuna En El Valle De Juárez / Lullabies In The Border: Lullaby Singing In El Valle Of Juarez, Emma Alvarez De La Rosa

The Agora

Resumen en español:

Las canciones de cuna desempeñan un papel importante en el desarrollo de los niños, el bienestar de la madre y las relaciones sanas entre padres e hijos. Estas canciones también representan acervos musicales de valores y tradiciones culturales. Este trabajo resume la investigación y los resultados obtenidos para mi proyecto final Honors Capstone para la New Mexico State University, que examina la preservación de las canciones de cuna en la región del Valle de Juárez y Ciudad Juárez. Basadas en análisis etnográficos y etnomusicológicos para entender su importancia en la historia y cultura de la región fronteriza, …

Rebetiko In Nyc: New Ideas Of Greek Diaspora, Mihalis Alisandratos

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores ideas of Greekness within the modern rebetiko space of New York City through the use of both ethnographic and reflexive techniques. Combining thick description, interview analysis, and extensive self reflection, this thesis endeavors to better understand how Greek American rebetiko musicians in NY today conceive of their experience in diaspora.

“Here’S My Brown Soul!”: Identity And Transformation In Tejano Music, Joseph Guzman

Theses and Dissertations

The music genre of música tejana, known later as Tejano music, is the musical celebration of Texas-Mexican, or tejano, identity and transformation. This paper explores and reflects on the topics of transformation, identity, and current state of Tejano music, including first-hand experiences and recent conversations with Tejano musicians.

Bringing Recess Music Indoors: How Attention To Musical Play In The Classroom Impacts A School Community, Angelina B. Scolari

Theses and Dissertations

Why should elementary music teachers learn about the games their students play at recess? This paper discusses the process of recovering children’s folklore at a Bronx elementary school, what findings can teach us about the children in our lives, and how music teachers can use “kid culture” in the classroom.

Native American Choral Music: Strategies For Celebrating And Incorporating Music Of Indigenous People, Mary Ruth Young

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

*Language usage is fluid and evolving, representing past and present people groups. During my discussions with my Indigenous composer colleagues, I've found that they hold varying preferences regarding how they wish to be addressed and the terminology they prefer. Because of this, I use the terms Native, Native American, First Nations, Indigenous, American Indian, and First Peoples interchangeably.*

This document will discuss the historical exclusion of Native American music in the Western art forms, specifically the choral tradition, and provide solutions to incorporate it in modern choral performances. Considering first the wars, disease, displacement, colonization, and missionization, it is no …

An Unnecessary Barrier: A Critical History Of Efforts To Define A Core Repertoire For The Wind Band, Trevor Frost

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The wind band saw significant development in its literature, instrumentation, and programming practices throughout the twentieth century. Midway through the twentieth century the identification of a “core” repertoire began to make its way into the forefront of the wind band profession’s priorities, resulting in three significant studies by Acton Eric Ostling Jr. (1978), Jay Warren Gilbert (1993), and Clifford N. Towner (2011). Along with these studies many smaller studies and surveys were being published with this same goal of identifying either a “performance core” or an “intellectual core.” However, with new works of serious artistic merit constantly being written and …