Transcript Geography of Music: Day 2

Discussion of Nettl; “Music Moves the World”
Housekeeping Items
 Any reactions to the TED talk I showed on Tuesday?
 The white soul singer I was trying to think of was
Michael Bolton, though Michael McDonald (formerly of
the Doobie Brothers) is largely from the same mould.
 The notes are up from Tuesday.
 I may miss part of next to attend to a family emergency,
but I will make sure the class is covered.
 Nettl makes a number of points about music: that North
America is one of the few places where music is primarily
seen as a source of entertainment. It is about interacting
with the supernatural; identifying clans, classes and
elites; curing the sick; marking life passages. [see also the
discussion of “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart.
Housekeeping Items
 He also argues that one should adopt a relativistic view
of the nature of music: no one music is inherently
better than another, each is suited to its particular
cultural context. Each music is a system, so that when
one element changes – for instance, through
interaction with other cultures – the music itself can
change.
 Also: borrowing from Merriam, music’s three
components – sound, the behaviour associated with
music, and how people view music – are related and
differ from culture to culture.
Housekeeping Items
 They note certain universals – all societies have music, all
peoples sing, music is used in religious or spiritual rituals,
sub-genres of music exist in all cultures, and music always
exists in identifiable ‘units’ (songs or pieces).
 Also: the role of women in music varies enormously around
the world.
 The spread of Western and Islamic values through
conquest and colonialism have impacted on music, as has
‘space-time compression’ (David Harvey).
 Today I’m going to show you a film about the universality of
music and the important role it plays in a wide diversity of
cultures:
http://viu.summon.serialssolutions.com/search?s.q=Music+moves+the
+world&s.fvf[]=ContentType%2CVideo+Recording%2C.