Society for Ethnomusicology

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Society for Ethnomusicology
Formation18 November 1955
Headquarters Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.
Membership
2,500 [1]
Interim President
Tomie Hahn
President-elect
Tomie Hahn
Website https://www.ethnomusicology.org/

The Society for Ethnomusicology is, with the International Council for Traditional Music and the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, one of three major international associations for ethnomusicology. Its mission is "to promote the research, study, and performance of music in all historical periods and cultural contexts." [1]

Contents

Officially founded in 1955, its origins extend back to November, 1953 at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Philadelphia with an informal agreement between Willard Rhodes, David McAllester, and Alan P. Merriam. [2] These three traveled together to the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society in New Haven to enlist the support of musicologist Charles Seeger in their endeavor to create a new academic society. This meeting resulted in the launch of the Ethno-musicology Newsletter, ethnomusicology's first dedicated serial publication, containing notes about current field research projects, a bibliography, and list of recordings of interest to the nascent discipline. The first annual meeting of the society was in Philadelphia, in September 1955.

Over the decades, The Society for Ethnomusicology has created a setting that allows scholars to publish and present their work from the field, better communicate and connect with fellow researchers, and provides leadership opportunities for those striving to improve the field of ethnomusicology. [3]

The society currently publishes a quarterly newsletter, a quarterly journal entitled Ethnomusicology, and an extensive set of "ographies" (bibliography, discography, filmography, videography). It organizes an annual international conference and over a dozen regional conferences, maintains an active website, and presents more than a dozen awards for scholarship and service, such as the Jaap Kunst prize for the best published article in the field. [4]

History of SEM

Before 1953

The founding of the Society for Ethnomusicology was not the first attempt at an organization focusing on the music of the world. Before the work of SEM's founders in the 1950s, several efforts in Europe had taken place through the work of dozens of musicologists and those who would eventually be considered ethnomusicologists, including Frances Densmore, Helen Heffron Roberts, and George Herzog. These and other scholars found inspiration in Viennese Guido Adler and Englishman Alexander Ellis, who both produced articles in 1885 discussing “ethnological studies” of music and the equal treatment of every society's music. [5] Later, scholars turned to Austrian Erich Moritz von Hornbostel, credited with inventing the musical instrument categorization system still used today, and his 1905 article outlining "The Problems of Comparative Musicology." [6] The word ethnomusicology, though casually used towards the mid-1900s, was not widely used officially. The word first appeared in publication in Jaap Kunst's book, Ethno-musicology; a study of its nature, its problems, methods representative personalities, which wasn't published in 1955. [6] [7]

These works are a few of the examples of some of the musical thought taking place at the turn of the century. However, many European thinkers found fewer resources and more censorship with the incoming Second World War. In response, Charles Seeger helped found the American Society for Comparative Musicology to house the number of musicologists fleeing the rise of Nazi Germany. [5] [8] [9]

1953

In November 1953, David P. McAllester, Alan P. Merriam, and Willard Rhodes attended the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association taking place in the city of Philadelphia. The three found they shared a common interest, particularly in North American Indian music, but also had productive conversation about, "the problems of ethnomusicology, historical, theoretical and methodological, and above all, a need for association and communication with persons with similar interests." [9] The scholars believed that the ever-evolving field of ethnomusicology would be better navigated if the scholars, musicologist, anthropologists, and anyone with passion for ethnomusicology formed a society. The three agreed that producing a newsletter was the first step in founding a society, as it would unite the wider community of scholars to better communicate research and ideas of their fellow scholars. Rhodes suggested seeking out colleague Charles Seeger as a fellow conspirator. Following the American Anthropology Association meeting, the team traveled to the American Musicological Society annual meeting the following December. Seeger became the fourth member of the group and, under his consultation and Merriam's editorship, the Newsletter began to take shape.

Ignited and led by McAllester, Merriam, Rhodes, and Seeger, Ethno-musicology Newsletter No. 1 was mailed to about 300 individuals and institutions. While the initial effort towards the creation of the Newsletter lies solely with these four men, many other scholars were working towards the goals the Newsletter set out to promote. A letter separate from the Newsletter signed by the aforementioned four, but also Manfred Bukofzer, Frances Densmore, Mieczslaw Kolinksi, Curt Sachs (who worked alongside Hornbostel), Harold Spivacke, and Richard Waterman, was sent to about 70 individuals. The letter stated, "It must be emphasized that the present effort is the prerogative of no individual or group of individuals rather, the project is conceived as the joint effort of all those interested in seeing contact reestablished among ethnomusicologists." [9]

1955-1962

The popularity of the Newsletter increased dramatically, jumping to 472 recipients by April 1955. [9] With the intense interest in ethnomusicology, it was felt that the society could soon be founded. The September Newsletter announced that an organized meeting of ethnomusicologists would take place at the 54th Annual Meeting of American Anthropology Association in Boston on November 18, 1955. McAllester, Merriam, Rhodes, Seeger, and several others, nearly all recipients of the Newsletter, founded the Society for Ethnomusicology and elected its first council:

President: Williard Rhodes,

Honorary President: Curt Sachs

Vice President: Mieczlaw Kolinski

Sectretary-Treasurer: David McAllester

Editor: Alan Merriam

The first official annual conference for the Society for Ethnomusicology was held the following year in alongside the 5th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences on September 5, 1956, in Philadelphia. The constitution was drafted, officer positions expanded, and mission statement defined: “…to promote the research, study, and performance of music in all historical periods and cultural contexts." [9] It was also decided that the hyphen would be removed from ethno-musicology with some disapproval." [10]

The following year, it was recorded that 25% of the Society’s membership was made up of non-U.S. residents and only 7% of that were Canadian. [11] The Newsletter expanded and added David McAllester and Bruno Nettl as editors. In 1962, Wesleyan University took over the publication of the printed pamphlet newsletter, which had until this point been sponsored by the founding four.

1963-1955

In 1963, The Society for Ethnomusicology produce a special, tenth anniversary issue with articles that looked back at the Newsletter and Society’s accomplishments. Challenged to find a way to measure these successes, David McAllester and Donald Winkelman both commented on the impressive efforts made at academic institutions around the country to include courses entirely or partially related to ethnomusicology. In McAllester’s “Ethnomusicology: The Field and the Society” article, he quoted Winkelman's finding that about 30 institutions offered anywhere from one to fourteen courses related to ethnomusicology. [12] This is an incredible number when compared to the findings of Bruno Nettl, who had been charged to construct a survey of the institutions that offered courses in ethnomusicology in 1954, which showed that only fourteen institutions made the list. [13] Winkelman found that the number had doubled in about ten years.

Among these institutions, a few stood out as academic leaders in ethnomusicology in 1963. UCLA offered one of the largest graduate program, which believed that the “actual performance of an exotic music is essential to the full understand of its structure and purpose." [14] UCLA was also praised for sending its graduate students abroad to be immersed in a culture and its music. The University of Hawaii was well known for its ability to harmonize the relationship between the anthropology and music departments, drawing from both to create well-rounded ethnomusicology courses. Alan Merriam had made significant headway at Indiana University, having been made a professor of anthropology in 1962, equipped with skills in African music, music analysis, and Indian music. He worked closely with music professor and ethnomusicologist, Walter Kaufmann. At Columbia University, Willard Rhodes had already been teaching some ethnomusicology course since he was made full Professor in 1954. [15] He helped develop the ethnomusicology depart alongside Nicholas England, but later traveled to Africa and Asia to conduct and bring back research. [16] Bruno Nettl and Richard Waterman were able to bridge the gap between the anthropology and music departments by teaching across both departments, bringing up Wayne State University as one of the countries strongest ethnomusicology institutions. [17] Of course, Wesleyan University had already proven its great strength and devotion to ethnomusicology by printing the Newsletter, but McAllester continued to develop the ethnomusicology department throughout his time there. [17] [18]

In addition to the rise in institutions teaching ethnomusicology courses, Williard Rhodes found that students were able to produce more dissertations that ever before. Rhodes believed that this was because the Newsletter's Bibliographies and Reviews sections had given students access to material and research that had previously been unavailable to them: “In comparison with the limited ethnomusicological literature in English that appeared during the first half of the present century, the production of books and monographs during the past decade is remarkable in quantity, quality, and range of subject matter." [19] Rhodes found that Frank Gillis’ 1962 supplement (Ethnomusicology 6: 191–214) written for Alan Merriam's 1960 “Annotated Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations in Ethnomusicology and Folk Music Accepted at American Universities” (Ethnomusicology 4: 21–35) showed an increase from 180 to 197 titles nationwide. [20]

Stance on Music as Torture

The use of music as torture became mainstream in 1989 in the United States, and until the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) took a stance against it in 2007 music was used as means to torture. [21] The SEM condemns the use of torture in any form and in 2007 called for full transparency in how the US used music as torture, comdemned the use of music as torture, and demanded that the US government and its agencies stopped using music as a means of delivering physical and psychological torture. [22]

Organization

Governance

The society is governed by a constitution, board of directors, council members, and stands by its strict nylaws. There are several standing committees that members can participate, ranging in size from 4-15 members. Some of these committees organize national events, such as the annual conference, while others operate local events, nominations, awarding of prizes, publications, and student concerns.

Membership

The society offers Individual and Institution Memberships, which offer benefits and additional resources not available to the public. Individual membership fees are determined by annual income and academic enrollment (full-time student), but also one-time lifetime memberships are also available. Members receive copies of SEM publications, such as the newsletter and journal, gain voting rights, can submit papers for meetings and conferences, can access a members-only section of the website, and receive discounts for certain databases, such as JSTOR.

Annual conferences

The first official SEM meeting was September 2–9, 1956, and since then, the Society of Ethnomusicology has continued to host annual conferences throughout the country and occasionally abroad. Locations for these large-scale gatherings require a host university with a strong ethnomusicology department, hotels that can house the huge number of attendees ranging, which ranges from 800 to 1000 people, at an affordable price, and has access to air travel. Locations are typical chosen three years in advance by the SEM's board. The conference is then executed by the program committee, local arrangements committee, and business office.

The annual meetings are made up of programs, paper presentations, lectures, banquets, and special events, which include diverse performances, formal concerts, and dances. Video-streaming will be available for several paper presentations.

Publications

Alongside the Ethnomusicology journal, The Society for Ethnomusicology publishes a variety of works, nearly all of which are peer-reviewed. The SEM website itself serves as a communicative and archival device, enabling members to discuss the latest news, share project updates, and gives digital access to many of the print publications. The SEM website offers free access to the last fifteen issues of the journal (currently volumes 43-57 from 1999 to 2013), the student newsletter, and on-going lists of Ographies, including bibliographies, discographies, and dissertations. Issues of the SEM Newsletter are also available from between 2002 and 2010, volumes 36–44, however, the latest digital copies are only available to members. A full list of SEM's publications available through the website can be found here.

Prizes

SEM awards prizes on national, chapter, and sectional levels. These awards are designed to recognize the work of individuals in the field of ethnomusicology. Awards vary in purpose, financial prize (if any), eligibility, where and how often the prize is awarded, and application deadline. For a full list of awards and their descriptions, click here.

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Musicology is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some music research is scientific in focus. Some geographers and anthropologists have an interest in musicology, so the social sciences also have an academic interest. A scholar who participates in musical research is a musicologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnomusicology</span> Study of the cultural aspects of music

Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dimensions or contexts of musical behavior, in addition to the sound component. Within musical ethnography it is the first-hand personal study of musicking as known as the act of taking part in a musical performance.

Bruno Nettl was an ethnomusicologist who was central in defining ethnomusicology as a discipline. His research focused on folk and traditional music, specifically Native American music, the music of Iran and numerous topics surrounding ethnomusicology as a discipline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Seeger</span> American composer and musicologist (1886–1979)

Charles Louis Seeger Jr. was an American musicologist, composer, teacher, and folklorist. He was the father of the American folk singers Pete Seeger (1919–2014), Peggy Seeger, and Mike Seeger (1933–2009); and brother of the World War I poet Alan Seeger (1888–1916) and children's author and educator Elizabeth Seeger (1889-1973).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mantle Hood</span> American ethnomusicologist

Mantle Hood was an American ethnomusicologist. Among other areas, he specialized in studying gamelan music from Indonesia. Hood pioneered, in the 1950s and 1960s, a new approach to the study of music, and the creation of the first American university program devoted to ethnomusicology, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was known for a suggestion, somewhat novel at the time, that his students learn to play the music they were studying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan P. Merriam</span> American ethnomusicologist

Alan Parkhurst Merriam was an American ethnomusicologist known for his studies of music in Native America and Africa. In his book The Anthropology of Music (1964), he outlined and develops a theory and method for studying music from an anthropological perspective with anthropological methods. Although he taught at Northwestern University and University of Wisconsin, the majority of his academic career was spent at Indiana University where he was named a professor in 1962 and then chairman of the anthropology department from 1966 to 1969, which became a leading center of ethnomusicology research under his guidance. He was a co-founder of the Society for Ethnomusicology in 1952 and held the elected post of president of that society from 1963 to 1965. He edited the Newsletter of the Society for Ethnomusicology from 1952 to 1957, and he edited the journal Ethnomusicology from 1957 to 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaap Kunst</span> Dutch ethnomusicologist

Jaap Kunst was a Dutch musicologist. He is credited with coining the term "ethnomusicology" as a more accurate name for the field then known as comparative musicology. Kunst studied the folk music of the Netherlands and of Indonesia. His published work totals more than 70 texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Field research</span> Collection of information outside a laboratory, library or workplace setting

Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct field research may simply observe animals interacting with their environments, whereas social scientists conducting field research may interview or observe people in their natural environments to learn their languages, folklore, and social structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard Béhague</span> French ethnomusicologist (1937–2005)

Gerard Henri Béhague was an eminent Franco-American ethnomusicologist and professor of Latin American music. His specialty was the music of Brazil and the Andean countries and the influence of West Africa on the music of the Caribbean and South America, especially candomblé music. His lifelong work earned him recognition as the leading scholar of Latin American ethnomusicology.

David Park McAllester was an American ethnomusicologist and Professor of Anthropology and Music at Wesleyan University, where he taught from 1947–1986. He contributed to the development of the field of ethnomusicology through his studies of Navajo and Comanche musics, and he helped to establish the ethnomusicology department and the World Music Program at Wesleyan. His recordings of Navajo and Comanche music led to the establishment of the World Music Archives at the University.

Henry Kingsbury is a pianist turned ethnomusicologist. He is notable for his book, Music, Talent, and Performance, an ethnographic study of an American conservatory of music. This book examines the social and cultural nature of musical talent, understood within the anthropological framework of such theorists as Emile Durkheim, E.E. Evans-Pritchard, and Clifford Geertz. The appearance of Kingsbury’s book in 1988 marked an innovative and significant application of principals of ethnomusicology in the study of Western art music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Bohlman</span>

Philip Vilas Bohlman is an American ethnomusicologist.

Judith O. Becker is an American academic and educator. She is a scholar of the musical and religious cultures of South and Southeast Asia, the Islamic world and the Americas. Her work combines linguistic, musical, anthropological, and empirical perspectives. As an ethnomusicologist and Southeast Asianist, she is noted for her study of musics in South and Southeast Asia, including Javanese gamelan, Burmese harp, music and trance, music and emotion, neuroscience, and a theoretical rapprochement of empirical and qualitative methods. Becker teaches at the University of Michigan. In 2000, Becker was named the Glenn McGeoch Collegiate Professor of Musicology at the University of Michigan, and she was named professor emerita of music in 2008. From 1993 to 1997, she was a Senior Fellow of the Michigan Society of Fellows.

Stephen Blum is an American scholar and musician, whose research has primarily been in ethnomusicology. He has lent a multidisciplinary approach to the writing and publication of numerous articles discussing a wide range of musical topics and ideas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Rasmussen (educator)</span> American musicologist and ethnomusicologist

Anne K. Rasmussen is an American educator and ethnomusicologist. Much of her research focuses on Arab music in the US and Islamic ritual and performance. She has been the director of the William & Mary Middle Eastern Music Ensemble since 1994. Rasmussen was named the William M. and Annie B. Bickers Professor of Middle Eastern Studies in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Heffron Roberts</span> American ethnomusicologist

Helen Heffron Roberts (1888–1985) was an American anthropologist and pioneer ethnomusicologist. Her work included the study of the origins and development of music among the Jamaican Maroons, and the Puebloan peoples of the American southwest. Her recordings of ancient Hawaiian meles are archived at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Roberts was a protege of Alfred V. Kidder and Franz Boas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in musicology</span>

Women in musicology describes the role of women professors, scholars and researchers in postsecondary education musicology departments at postsecondary education institutions, including universities, colleges and music conservatories. Traditionally, the vast majority of major musicologists and music historians have been men. Nevertheless, some women musicologists have reached the top ranks of the profession. Carolyn Abbate is an American musicologist who did her PhD at Princeton University. She has been described by the Harvard Gazette as "one of the world's most accomplished and admired music historians".

George Herzog was an American anthropologist, folklorist, musicologist, and ethnomusicologist.

Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dimensions or contexts of musical behavior, in addition to the sound component. While the traditional subject of musicology has been the history and literature of Western art music, ethnomusicology was developed as the study of all music as a human social and cultural phenomenon. Oskar Kolberg is regarded as one of the earliest European ethnomusicologists as he first began collecting Polish folk songs in 1839. Comparative musicology, the primary precursor to ethnomusicology, emerged in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The International Musical Society in Berlin in 1899 acted as one of the first centers for ethnomusicology. Comparative musicology and early ethnomusicology tended to focus on non-Western music, but in more recent years, the field has expanded to embrace the study of Western music from an ethnographic standpoint.

References

  1. 1 2 "About SEM - Society for Ethnomusicology". Ethnomusicology.org. Retrieved 2013-09-26.
  2. ↑ Merriam, Alan. 1953. "Introduction." Ethno-musicology Newsletter 1 (December), 1-2.
  3. ↑ Bruno Nettl, “We’re on the Map: Reflections on SEM in 1955 and 2005,” Ethnomusicology 50 (2006)
  4. ↑ "Jaap Kunst Prize - Society for Ethnomusicology". Ethnomusicology.org. Retrieved 2013-09-26.
  5. 1 2 Nettl 181.
  6. 1 2 Nettl 180.
  7. ↑ Jaap Kunst, Ethno-musicology; a study of its nature, its problems, methods and representative personalities; to which is added a bibliography, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hauge, Netherlands, 1955, 9.
  8. ↑ Willard Rhodes, "A Decade of Progress", Ethnomusicology 7 (1963): 178, accessed 29 September 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 William Rhodes, "SEM History", The Society for Ethnomusicology Website, accessed 29 September 2013.
  10. ↑ David P., McAllester, "Obituary: Willard Rhodes (1901-1992)", Ethnomusicology 37 (1993): 251-262, accessed 29 September 2013.
  11. ↑ Nettl 184.
  12. ↑ David P., McAllester, "Ethnomusicology, the Field and the Society", Ethnomusicology 7 (1963): 182, accessed 29 September 2013.
  13. ↑ Nettl 183.
  14. ↑ McAllester, “Ethnomusicology, the Field and the Society,” 183.
  15. ↑ McAllester, “Obituary: Willard Rhodes (1901-1992),” 255.
  16. ↑ McAllester, “Obituary: Willard Rhodes (1901-1992),” 256.
  17. 1 2 McAllester, "Ethnomusicology, the Field and the Society," 184.
  18. ↑ Bonnie C., Wade, "Fifty Years of SEM in the United States: A Retrospective", Ethnomusicology 50 (2006): 192, accessed 29 September 2013.
  19. ↑ Rhodes, “A Decade of Progress,” 179.
  20. ↑ Rhodes, “A Decade of Progress,” 180.
  21. ↑ Titon, Jeff (2015) What is Applied Ethnomusicology & Why Did They Say so Many Terrible Things About it?. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-8477/.
  22. ↑ Position Statement on Torture (February ... - Ethnomusicology. https://www.ethnomusicology.org/page/PS_Torture.
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