Is Western Art Music Superior? Author(S): Judith Becker Source: the Musical Quarterly, Vol

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Is Western Art Music Superior? Author(s): Judith Becker Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 72, No. 3 (1986), pp. 341-359 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/948146 . Accessed: 25/03/2014 21:22

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JUDITH BECKER

AMONG musicologists,music educators,and evensome ethnomusicologists, the doctrinethat Western European art musicis superiorto all othermusics of the world remainsa given,a truism.Otherwise intelligent and sophisti- cated scholars continue to use the word "primitive"when referringto the music of Africa, American Indians, aboriginal Australians,and Melanesians,among others. A moresubtle form of thisdogma is the concept that Westernart musicis intrinsicallyinteresting and complex,while other musicalsystems need theirsocial contextto commandour seriousattention. According to this version of the theory of Westernsuperiority, some exceptionsare allowed, and music systemssuch as Persianclassical music, Hindustaniand Carnatic music, or Javanesegamelan music are classified among those musics which can stand on theirown, be usefullyextracted from context, are susceptible to intricatelycomplex analyses, and are aestheticallysatisfying in theirown right.This, the most liberaledge of the theoryof Westernmusic superiority,has adherentsof greatpersuasiveness among scholars who are deservedlyrespected within the disciplinesof musicology and ethnomusicology.The following quotations illustrate thispoint of view:

"All humanlanguages are apparentlyof the same orderof complexity,but that is notthe case forall musicalsystems" [Powers' quote from Ruwet]. If thisbe true-andI cannotimagine anyone would think otherwise once it is called to his attention-ithighlights a fundamental deficiency in thegeneral analogy of musical structuringwith the structuringof languages.... To Ruwet'stelling observation I would add not only thatmusical systems are muchmore varied than languages not only as to orderof complexity but also as to kindof complexity.l

The conceptualfoundations for this belief in the superiorityof Western art music seems to consistof threemain axioms: (1) that Westernmusic

1 Harold S. Powers, "Language Models and Musical Analysis," Ethnomusicology,XXIV/1 (January, 1980). Powers is a fine musicologistand ethnomusicologist.My quarrel with this small aspect of his writingsin no way detractsfrom my greatadmiration for his workas a whole.

341

This content downloaded from 128.114.163.7 on Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:22:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 342 The MusicalQuarterly generally,and art music in particular,is based upon naturalacoustic laws, the naturalovertone series providing a link betweenman and nature,that is betweenculture and the phenomenalworld; thisintrinsic bond providesa physicaland metaphysicalbase (withits Pythagoreantranscendental orienta- tion) whichinforms all music so created;(2) thatWestern art music is struc- turallymore complex than other music; its architecturalhierarchies, involved tonal relationships,and elaboratedharmonic syntax not onlydefy complete analysisbut have no parallelin the world;and (3) thatWestern art music is more expressive,conveys a greaterrange of humancognition and emotion, and is thusmore profoundand moremeaningful than other musical systems in theworld. No one, I think,denies that Westernart music has a foundationin the naturalworld, is verycomplex, and is deeplymeaningful to its musicians and audiences.The problemlies in denyingthese attributes to otherpeoples' music. Because we often cannot perceiveit, we deny naturalness,great complexity,and meaningfulnessto other musical systems.Despite all pro- testationsto the contrary,to deny equivalencesin all threepillars of belief -that is, naturalness,complexity and meaningfulness,to the musicalsystems of others-is ultimatelyto implythat theyare not as developedas we are. The doctrineof the superiorityof Westernmusic is themusicological version of colonialism.Thus the issue is not only an intellectualproblem, it is also a moral one. Since moral issues are notoriouslydifficult to argue,I will base what I have to say on what I perceiveto be the faultythinking whichunderlies this widespread belief. 1. Naturalness The idea that one's own musical systemhas a naturalfoundation, is rooted in the realmof nature,and is not merelyan artificeof men'sminds is a concept which is maintainedby many peoples of the world. There are many ways to be "natural" musically.One concept commonlyfound in many parts of the world (India, the Middle East, parts of sub-Saharan Africa,Western Europe) is thatone s musicalsystem is based upon acoustics, a phenomenonof thephysical world.2 The quotation below is representativeof writingson music history, aesthetics,or theoryby Westernscholars: As is wellknown, when a noteis soundedby vibratinga string, not onlydoes the whole stringvibrate, producing the fundamentalnote whichis all thatthe untrainedear can 2 For a recent publication which representsthis approach to Westernmusic, see Leonard Bernstein,The UnansweredQuestion (Cambridge,Mass., 1976), pp. 35-37. However,the correspond- ence between intervallicstructures in Westerntonal music and the overtone systemhas not gone unchallenged.For an illuminatingdiscussion of the issues and furtherbibliography, see Norman Cazden, "The Systemic Referenceof Musical Consonance Response," InternationalReview of the Aestheticsand Sociology of Music, 111/2(1972), 217-43.

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hear,but the two halvesof the stringvibrate in theirown rightat the sametime; and so do the thirds,the quarters,the fifths,and so on, producingthe risingsuccession of notescalled the harmonic series. Taking the note C belowthe bass clef as fundamental, thefirst twenty-four notes of theseries are as follows: ** * * * * * 24 9 20 21 22 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 I2 o t. lo "o ? o 2

. . .This meansthat in natureitself, a singlenote sets up a harmonyof its own; and this harmonicseries has been the (unconscious)basis of WesternEuropean harmony, and thetonal system.3 Among those who share with us the overtone series as the natural physical basis for the construction of a complex musical edifice are several musical systems in Southern Africa. Players of the musical bow, an instrument which looks exactly like a huntingbow but with a resonator attached, sing songs whose melodies at some points coincide with and at other points veer away from the tones of the harmonic series. Simultaneously, the fundamental, or two differentfundamentals (plus overtones) are reiterated by the rhythmicstriking of the bow string: Thestring gives forth its fundamental note, usually a deepsound, with great clarity, and one hears,in addition,several of theharmonics generated by thatfundamental, even, at times, up to the eighthharmonic, the resultbeing to the ear of theperformer a clear chord.4 Ex. 1

- i

0) A ^T B

A. Detailof ugubhu musical bow, showing playing technique: (i) 'Stopped'note, with string pinched between forefinger and thumbnail; (ii) 'Open' note,with free string. B. Umakhweyanamusical bow with centrallymounted resonator and dividedstring, 'stopped'with back of forefinger.

3 DeryckCooke, The Language of Music (London, 1959), p. 41. 4 P. R. Kirby,The Musical Instruments of theNative Races of South Africa (London, 1934-53), p. 198.

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Ex. 2. Instrumentaland vocalnotes used in ugubhubow-songs: a. Openand stoppedfundamentals and secondpartials b. Selectivelyresonated harmonics c. Vocal notes,shown in relationto ugubhufundamentals

a. b. Resonator c. Vocal scale open < , closed Resonated (*3f1 Pait ial

Open / Stopped 5 2nd Partials

' /*?/ 1 () ( ) (W) ( ) (~) () Fundamentals

Ex. 3. Example of an ostinatomelody on the ugubhu,produced by selectiveresonation of harmonicpartials 3 to 5 (recordedon Rycroft,1969, side A, band 1)5

J.=66

J 1=1 II1Rf^ fj ^ l^~'~^::: ^ f

The South Africanmusical bow is not the only sub-Saharaninstrument with which musiciansmanipulate overtone structures in the composition of instrumentaland vocal pieces. This techniqueis documentedby both indigenousmusicians and Westernscholars for the mbira of Zimbabwe:

The presenceor absence of tuned overtonesis an additionalfactor in distinguishing the (tunings)of differentmbira. John Kunaka, for example, reported that the instru- mentshe buildsare differentfrom those constructed by otherlocal blacksmiths because he "givestwo voices" to the lowestpitch (B1) on his instruments.To achievethis he forgeskeys which produce an overtoneof approximatelya fifth or a third,two octaves above the fundamentalpitch. He regardsthese tuned overtones as "helping"the music duringthe performance of an mbirapiece. His preferenceis foran overtoneof a fifth,but he feelsthe third also helpsthe music.6

While basing a musical system upon the overtone series enhances the claim of "naturalness" and is not unique to Western music, a much larger question is at issue. To say that a musical system is "natural" is to endow it with a kind of necessity, a kind of power which it otherwise might not

5 David Rycroft,"The Zulu Bow Songs of PrincessMagogo," AfricanMusic, Journalof the AfricanMusic Society, V/4 (1975-76), 59 and62. 6 Paul F. Berliner,The Soul ofMbira (Berkeley,Los Angeles,and London, 1978), p. 69.

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have. One way musical systemsgain "naturalness"is to be conceptually linkedwith some otherrealm of discoursewhich is highlyvalued and whose validity is unquestioned.7 The linkage of music with acoustics, that is, science,is to create a coherencebetween a verypowerful realm of discourse (science) and a less powerfulone (music). Anotherway of linkingmusic with a highlyvalued systemis the interpretationof music as the setting of texts, as in logocentricArabic cultures.Another powerful linkage, this time metaphoric,is found in the idea that music is mimeticand imitates the sounds of nature. Music as the organizationand elaborationof the sounds whichwould be in the world even if men werenot is a theoryfairly widespread in China, Indonesia, Melanesia, and ancient Greece. Among the 'Are 'Are of the Solomon Islands

instrumentalmusic is "programme-music."Each piece,composed according to strict rules,carries a title which is a generalresum6 of the "programme." Bird calls, frog croaks, buzzingof insectsand thecries of otheranimals, the patter of raindrops on a leaf, the'murmur of a riveror theroaring of the ocean, the crackle of branches in thewind; all the soundsof naturecan furnishthe theme for a composition.Man-made sounds canas well:children crying, the groaning of thesick or wounded, the snoring of sleepers, words,work noises, etc. ... Certainpieces translate a visualtheme such as the swaying ofa spideror the come and go of people.8

Among other peoples of the world, frequentlythe source of music is the world of gods, spirits,or other supernaturalforces; powers which are forcefullynatural for those who live close to them. Alan P. Merriam delineates the concepts of the Flathead Indians of Montana for whom songsmay be eithercreated by men or supernaturallybestowed:

For the Flathead,the most important single fact about music and its relationshipto thetotal world is itsorigin in thesupernatural sphere. While it is recognizedthat some songsare individuallycomposed by humanbeings, and thatsome other songs are borrowedfrom neighboring peoples, all trueand propersongs . . . owe theirorigin to

7 Conceptuallinkages of musicalsystems with the naturalworld are not restrictedto thetwo mentionedin thisessay, i.e. acousticsand imitation.For an iconiclinkage with nature, see Alton and JudithBecker, "A MusicalIcon: Powerand Meaningin JavaneseGamelan Music," in The Sign in Musicand Literature,ed. WendySteiner (Austin, 1981), an analysiswhich is derivedfrom Burke's analysisof how wordsrefer to therealms of nature,the socio-political realm, language itself, and the supernatural(Kenneth Burke, The Rhetoricof Religion:Studies in Logology[Boston, 1961], pp. 14-15). 8 Hugo Zemp, "'Are 'Are, Flfitesde Pan Melanesiennes"(record notes) (Paris,1971). The mimesisof Platodiffers from the kind of mimesis described for the 'Are 'Are. For Plato, the musician was to imitate(among other things) "the utterances and theaccents of a braveman who is engaged in warfare"(Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in MusicHistory [New York,1950], p. 5), or divine comedy(Monroe C. Beardsley,Aesthetics from Classical Greece to thePresent [New York, 1966], p. 34).

This content downloaded from 128.114.163.7 on Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:22:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 346 The MusicalQuarterly a varietyof contactsexperienced by humanswith beings which, though part of this world,are superhumanand the sourceof both individualand tribalpowers and skills. Thus sharpdistinction is drawnby the Flatheadbetween what they call "make-up" and all othersongs. "Make-up" songs are those whichare composedby individuals in a consciousprocess of creationand thosewhich are knownto be borrowedfrom otherpeoples. These songshave no inherentpower, and, accordingto the Flathead, are "used for enjoyment."Non-make-up songs, on the otherhand, are thosewhich are taughtor givento humanbeings by superhumanforces in a varietyof situations. The Flatheadbelieve that in formertimes all songsderived from such experiences and thatnone were made up by individualsor borrowed from other tribes.9

What is felt to be natural,correct, and true depends upon the cor- respondencebetween the musical event and some other realm of human experience. Naturalnesshas to do with relationships,with what aspect of the world outside of man is believed to be intimatelyconnected to musical expression: natural, believed iconicitiesbetween music and the worldoutside music.

2. Complexity

Learning to perceive "naturalness"as a relationshipbetween what a musiciandoes and how he and his audiencesconstrue his actionsis easier than tryingto perceive"complexity" in the same way. We tend to equate complexityin music with one particularkind of complexity,and then look for that kind in othermusics. Not findingit, we designatethat music as simpler.Among Western musicologists, our imageof musicalcomplexity correlateswith levels of hierarchicalstructures, to the numberof musical "lines" occurringsimultaneously, to the relationshipsbetween similar musical elementsfound in differentsections of the composition,and in some sense to the lengthof the composition.In Westernmusic theory or music literatureclasses, complex, hierarchical,structural diagrams of "masterpieces"are offeredas supportingevidence of the "greatness"of the work. In my teachingof worldmusic, I have learnedthat if I produce a complex structuraldiagram of a piece of music from anywhere,the studentswill listento thepiece morecarefully and willregard it withgreater respect.'1 A structuraldiagram gives the music a legitimacyit does not have without the analysis. If, however,I am dealingwith a piece which cannot easily be analyzed as hierarchical,which is basically reiterative

9 Ethnomusicologyof the Flathead Indians, Viking Fund Publicationsin AnthropologyNo. 4 (New York, 1967), 3. 10 The importance of structuralanalysis in the interpretationof music became increasingly importantin the twentiethcentury. The Germanmusicologist, Carl Dahlhaus, has writtenperceptively on this phenomenonin Foundationsof Music History,trans. J. B. Robinson (Cambridge,1983), p.77.

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(a basic melodic phrase which repeatsindefinitely), it is verydifficult for studentsto focus on the tiny variationswhich make the phrasenew each time.Complexity on a smallscale, on a microscopiclevel, even if attentively listened to, rarelymoves students.We tend to equate repetitionwith a lack of variationor imagination,with boredom." Music which "doesn't go anywhere"is rarelyvalued by Classical concertaudiences in the West. Complexityis not intrinsicin the music itself;it is therelation between the sophisticationof the intent of the player, the musical performance, and the sophisticationof the receptionby a listener.Accidental variation, even though infinite,does not count. Skill does. Calculated, deliberate alterationof pitch, duration,rhythm, overtone structure (tone quality), attack, or release according to prescribedconstraints creates a kind of complexityin a singleline whichis as demandingof the artistas any single passage in a Beethoven symphony.A Japaneseshakuhachi player or a solo singerof a Mongolian"long song" are particularlystriking examples of thiskind of complexity.Closer to home are the iterativesongs of many American Indian traditions. Repetition in Shoshone music has been describedas like a branchwith many leaves. A willowleaf has an elongatedshape, a stemwhich runs through the center from which veinsradiate out. Althoughsimilar, the particularpattern for every willow leaf is unique. Shoshoneverse repetition is like a branchof willowleaves; each repetitionoutlines a newleaf, now simple, now subtle.12 Basicallyiterative music sometimes exhibits (when transcribed) an aston- ishingtemporal architecture. The followingexample'3 is a partialtranscrip- tion of an initiationchant fromBenin (Ex. 4). The chant is analyzed as bipartite,consisting of an A and a B section.The transcriptionis to be read as continuous,the verticallayout facilitatingcomparison between repeti- tions. The chant is memorizedand must be repeatedperfectly each time. The A sectionis almostidentical with each repetition,except forthe short A's which recur at irregularintervals. The B section,by contrast,exhibits greatirregularity and is sometimesomitted entirely. One mightbe tempted to describe this structureas a "verse refrain"were it not for the great irregularityof the B sectionand the occasional deviationsof the A section. Iterativestructures, or strophes,imply predictability. Yet theBenin chant is an example of the seemingparadox of an iterative,nonpredictable structure.

I JohnCage tellsthe story, "In Zen theysay: If somethingis boringafter two minutes, try it forfour. If stillboring, try it foreight, sixteen, thirty-two, and so on. Eventuallyone discoversthat it'snot boring at all butvery interesting" (Silence [Middletown, Conn., 1976], p. 93). 12 JudithVander, A Viewof Wind-RiverShoshone Music Through Four Ceremonies(Master's thesis,Univ. of Michigan, 1978), p. 8. 13 GilbertRouget, ed., Ethnomusicologie et reprdsentations de la musique,Hors serie du numero 42, augment6de troisarticles et d'undisque 45 tours(Paris, 1981), p. 10.

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Ex. 4.

Structured'uin chant au Dahomey devenu maintenantRepu- ques diffirenteset faisant systemati- blique populairedu Benin.II s'agit quementalterner deux tempi. Cette al- initiatiquedu B6nin d'un de ces longschants d'action de ternanceest figuree,sur la transcrip- grace qu'executentmatin et soir,du- tion,par un traitvertical discontinu. GilbertROUGET rantleur reclusion(laquelle durait a [A] consisteen une phrasemilodique Transcriptionsynoptique de l'epoquedeux ou troisans), les novices chanteeen tout vingt fois dont six (0, 1, TRAN QUANG Hai voueesau cultede Khevioso,dieu de la 6, 12,18 et 22) avecvariantes. [B] con- K a notne m r e foudre,I'un des principauxvodoun siste,d'une part en quinze phrases e de 'ancienneCte des Esclaves(cf. G. melodiquestoutes diff6rentes mais de ci-dessousest celle d'un chant cinitiaiueenistr duans un Rouget1961 et 1980). mimecaractire, d'autre part en une initiatique,enregi 1958dNan Structure : courtephrase sur un rythmede danse, couventde la stridede Porto generale rigion Novo, ? Deux constituants[A] et [B], de caracteredifferent des pricidentes O Tran Quang Hai est technicienau complementaires,s'opposant par des maisde memetempo, inoncee a trois CNRS. caractiristiquesmelodiques et rythmi-reprises (19, 20, 21) et composanta

J=108 A J=144

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10 LE COURRIERDU CNRS ] Used by permissionof GilbertRouget.

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elle seule la deuxiime partie du chant. tait d'en digager la structureet d'en ccuvrequ'une sirie assez limitie d'Xl& * Deux parties, I et II, tris inigales, donner une representationglobale. ments milodiques et rythmiques,et se pr6cidies par une introduction[i] et Le rite veut que ce chant, qui dure renouvelantsans cesse, car ne donnant suivies par un da capo partiel(la partie pris de treize minutes,soit ripiti qua- lieu i aucune r6gularitiformelle imm6- [Al de la piriode 22 est l'exacte reprise tre fois, avec de tris petites variantes diatementperceptible. En icoutantune de [A] de 1). La premierepartie est de detail et se terminepar une derniire suite vocale aussi longue, qu'appren- composie de dix-huitp6riodes toutes siquence, de dix minutesenviron, cons- nent par cceur et que doivent chanter diffirentes,la plupart enchainant [A] titukede chants plus courts,de mime sans faute des enfants entre trois et et [B], la seconde d'une courte phrase style,mais d'un autre caractire. Chan- douze ans d'&ge,on ne peut pas ne pas inoncie troisfois de maniire identique, ties i la suite et durant, par consi- se demander comments'opire sa m6- hormis pour ia demiire note. quent,une heurequinze en tout,ces six morisation. C'est i coup stir la tris On voit qu'il s'agit d'une architec- sequences composent une tris longue fortestructuration de cettemusique qui ture temporelle tris complexe. Seule piece vocale a la fois extremementri- la rend possible, et c'est ce qui rendait une transcriptionsynoptique permet- ptitive, car ne mettantvisiblement en si nicessaire qu'on puisse se la repr&- senter. II y aurait beaucoup i dire,bien en- a tendu, sur les intervalleset lea duries qu'utilisecc chantet dont le systimene N pouvait Etrevalablement itudi6qu'une fois digagic Ia structured'ensemble. Bornons-nousi indiquerqu'une transcription automatique foumie par un ThirtyChannels Analyser(sorte de so- nagraphe ilkmentaire, mais ayant l'avantage de donner une demi-heure de lecturecontinue) a permisd'appri- cier tris pricisiment - grice, ici en- core, i une mise en formesynoptique - Ia stabilitRdes durces (1). Pour ce qui est des intervalles, l'utilisation d'un Melograph (non celui de Los Angeles, mais celui de Jerusalem) n'ayant pas donna les risultats escomptis, Jean Schwarz, inginieurdu son de l'ER 165, Echelle + Lt -a+tvf-t a mesuri un certain nombre de hau- teurs au Stroboconn,appareil dont on connait la tresgrande precision.La di- versit6de rialisation de ces intervalles, MoRoff.-iffif 4- jointe aux fluctuationsde la hauteurde reference(tris sensible i l'Ncoutedu disque, par suite de l'interruptionsipa- rant les deux extraits successifs du chant) pose un vaste problime.Celui-ci met en cause un si grand nombre de donn6es et une combinatoiresi complexe que seul le recours a d'autres mi- thodes (analyse automatique et traite- ment informatisi)permettrait de le r6- soudre. (1) Cottetranscription automtiquc a ai td alimaole- mootrealisme pour nous par Franois-Bernard MAche. Qu'il ae soit vivementremnrad.

I rr fllWUfliJTa rHlItfCIU~~rrfrrr?[1dr ~tflT~81rir ~ltrrllgt~r 'rto REFERENCES - * Un a. I'Homme. I G. Rouget, chromatismeafricain If d tlifirlI fltlfhl f 'ft f Rerueftanralsed'ianthropologie, 1-3: 1-IS, 1961. - G. Rouget,La musque etIarrtraRse, Paris GOali- mard,1950.

4 Comme toute transcription synoptique, cette notation dolt itre lue eontinimnent,en passantd'une ligne i la suivantesans tenir comptedes irregularitesde longueur.Les sont r o G.cn- Raaajt segmentschantes par une soliste indi- ~ qucs par un S et un trait suscrit. - La partie encadree en couleur eat celle qu'il n'a pas ets possible de faire figurer,faute de place, sur Ic disque. Cf. disque, le Courrierdu CNRS, face B.

42 LE COURRIERDU CNRS I1

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Other kinds of complexity,many-leveled polyphony, and long com- positions,are readily found in areas where music is often designatedas "primitive."The reasons why this fact has been so often overlookedare variousand complex in themselves.The simplestreason is ignorance.One still finds textbooks of music historywhich imply that polyphonywas inventedin medievalEurope or thatnon-Western music exhibits no complex architecturalforms.14 Complex polyphonicmusic is characteristicof large parts of the worldincluding highland New Guinea and sub-SaharanAfrica. Improvedexposure, however, does not necessarilychange people's thinking. One reads accounts by Britishcivil servantsdescribing the Burmeseoboe as ". . . noise . . . not relished by people who do not care for the bagpipes"'5 or the multilayered,constantly shifting relationships of Akan drummers in West Africaas "the simple beatingof the tom-toms."These statements reflectthe writer'sproblem of perception.Oftentimes, our own listening habits preclude our hearingthe subtletyand complexityof a different music.We listenfor harmonic richness where the simultaneityof variations is the interestingpart (the Burmeseorchestra or McCoyTyner). Not hearing what we expect, we hear only "noise." Nothingin our musicalexperience preparesus to hear Akan drummingas a set of fixed,repeated patterns which are "out of sync" so that the relationshipbetween the partsis con- stantlyshifting and thereis no properbeginning and ending. False perceptionsalso result from certain assumptionsmade inside and outside academia concerningthe relationshipsbetween written music and memorizedor "read" performanceon the one hand and oral trans- missionand performanceon the other. For a long time,at least untilthe publicationof Albert Lord's Singerof Tales, many scholarsassumed that musics which were not writtendown, compositionswhich had no identi- fiable composer,were "improvised"in the sense that one would improvise a makeshiftshelter thrown togetherhaphazardly with whateverwas at hand if caughtin the rain.We now know (and should have alwaysknown) that "improvised"music is more systemthan not,and thatlack of notation by no meansimplies freedom of expression. A more subtle formof the bias in favorof notatedmusic and literacy, one held by many ethnomusicologistsof the 1950s and 1960s,16was that

14 E.g., see ChristopherHeadington, History of WesternMusic (New York, 1974), p. 45; Joseph Kerman,Listen (New York,1972), p. 35; LeonieRosenstiel, Schirmer History of Music(New York andLondon, 1982), p. 77. 15 ShwayYoe, TheBurman: His Life and Notions (New York, 1963), p. 317. 16 The followingquotation exemplifies this attitude: "Many of the musicalcultures of the Orienthave retained their practices . .. throughthe powerful channels of oral tradition.... Through imitationand rotelearning the mostdetailed and complicatedmusical practices have evolved with littleor no supporting'theory' written or oral. ... To the ethnomusicologist,therefore, falls the responsibilityto communicateto those people ... the regulativeprinciples underlying their tradition,

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"preliterate"peoples did not have anythingcomparable to a theoryof music, a well-articulatednotion of the relationshipsbetween the parts of a composition,and did not knowhow pieces are constructed.The fieldwork of Westernscholars with more than a minimal command of the local language,and a broaderdefinition of what consitutesa theoryof music, has begun to dispel the myththat only Westernpeoples (and Indian and Chinese peoples) have a theoreticalframework and a technicallanguage fortheir music systems. The musical practices and music theoryof the 'Are 'Are from the Solomon Islands have been extensivelydocumented in a seriesof articles, records, and films by Hugo Zemp.17 'Are 'Are panpipe ensemblesare classifiedunder the firstof fourgeneral types of music: Ex. 5. Schematicrepresentation of the fourpanpipes in the 'au paina ensembleplaying the samevoice quadrupled by octaves.Only the "octaves" (aano suri)of thelongest pipe of thefirst instrument are indicatedbetween brackets, but the 'Are'arerecognize all the octavesoccurring on two different-sizedinstruments and on the same instrument.18

kii maripoe rarf ni hero kikimeo

C6 11

? 1979 by the Society of Ethnomusicology,Inc. Used by permission.All rightsreserved. forit is only in Westernsociety that a long and conscientiouseffort has been made ... to establish objective methods for the study of music and 'speech' communicationabout music" (Mantle Hood, "Music,The Unknown"in Musicology[Englewood Cliffs,N.J., 1963], pp. 302, 304). 17 Zemp's films are "Musique 'Are 'Are" and "La Coupe des Bambous," produced by the CentreNational de la RechercheScientifique (SERDDAV), 1978. 18 Hugo Zemp, "Aspects of 'Are 'Are Musical Theory,"Ethnomusicology, XXIII/1 (1979), 12.

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The most importantinterval in the compositionsfor "grouped bamboo" ensemblesis a second, smallerthan our major second (C-*D), largerthan our minor second (C-+C$t),called rapi 'au, which means "bamboo twins of differentsizes," that is, "The tones produced by the 'twin bamboos' are thus consideredas two close, but neverthelessdistinct entities." The termis used to designatethis second played eitheron one instrumentby blowing simultaneouslyinto two adjacent pipes, or by two musicians, each blowing only one pipe. In 'Are 'Are panpipe music, contrapuntal lines coincideeither on rapi 'au (a second) or the octave,aano suri.Another kind of second, a major second (hari 'au), is only used melodically,never as a kindof chord,as is therapi 'au. Melodic segmentsare called ro'u mani'au, meaningthe folds or joints of something,or the section betweenthe joints. 'Are 'Are musicianswill fold a piece of string,or draw lines on the groundto help a beginning musicianvisualize the properprogress of a piece.

Ex. 6. "Folds" or "joints"in a piece of string,visualing the conceptof ro'u mani'au "melodicsegment."'9

In some typesof composition,one of the voices may play a constantly repeated figure,an ostinatocalled uuhi ta'a po'o, which means to blow a singlepart. A melodic segmentplayed at a differentpitch level from one just performed-a sequence in English-is called haimaaniha,or "imitation" in 'Are 'Are. If the last part of an imitationis replaced by a cadential formula,the segmentis called uuhiha'arua, "to blow twice." There is much more to 'Are 'Are panpipemusical theory, but perhaps this is enough to demonstratethat peoples with simpletechnologies may have complexverbalizations about musicalstructure. Related to the difficultyof not being able to perceivecomplexity in the music of cultureswith a simpletechnology is the factthat we tend to equate simple musical instrumentswith simple music. In our culture, where only children'sinstruments are simple,where any seriousmusician eventuallyhas access to a complex instrument,jew's harps and penny whistlesare not the focus of intensecreative expression. A seriousmusician

19 Zemp, ibid., p. 14.

This content downloaded from 128.114.163.7 on Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:22:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WesternArt Music 353 who does not advance to a more acceptablycomplex instrument will never be consideredentirely legitimate and will be interpretedas some sort of clown. Equating a simple instrumentwith simple music is one of many unconscious assumptionswhich serve us ill when dealing with a distant musical system. Among New Guinea highlandersastonishingly complex music may be produced on a jew's harp. The intricacyand difficultyof performingon the Australiandigeradoo, a hollowed eucalyptuslog which is played as a trumpet,has been documentedby severalscholars, and there are now whitevirtuoso digeradoo players on thiscontinent.20 Like a violin, a digeradoo may be played simply or complexly.All degrees of complexityof intent,along with degrees of ability to carry out complex intent,exist in all cultures.If, with or withoutinstruction, we cannot readily perceive the complexityof a digeradoo performance, the fault does not rest with the musician.One must always assume that a musician of another culture is as sensitiveto fine musical distinctions, is as caring about tone, attack, and phrasing,as our good musiciansare. Not all are, of course, but variationsin complexityof intent,and skill in carryingout intent,are not determinedby geography,race, or culture.

3. Meaningfulness

As one moves from discussingissues of naturalness,to the question of complexity,to the problemof meaning,the relationshipsinvolved and the ways one discussesthem seem to become even more complexin themselves. In terms of meaning and expressiveness,music systems resist comparison,defy structural analyses, and cryout forparticularized, detailed descriptions.21If music systemsare comparableat any level,such as scales, formalstructures, instrumental techniques (and this can be argued either way), they become trulyincommensurable in relationto meaning.Musical systemsof differentcultures "mean" differentthings. It is most difficult to extract oneself from the systemof meaningof one's own music and imaginativelyproject oneselfinto the meaningsystem of another.At best, we make fartheror closerapproximations. Two strikinglycontrastive systems of musicalmeaning are those which frame WesternEuropean nineteenth-centuryClassical traditionsand the

20 For an illustrationof thesubtleties of performanceon thedigeradoo, consult the recording "TheArt of the Digeradoo," Wattle Ethnic Series, No. 2, Australia. 21 See the essay,"Thick Description: Toward an InterpretiveTheory of Culture,"in Clifford Geertz,The Interpretation of Cultures (New York, 1973), pp. 3-30,for a compellingargument for and demonstrationofrichly detailed ethnography.

This content downloaded from 128.114.163.7 on Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:22:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 354 The MusicalQuarterly epistemologyof the song traditionsof the Kaluli of Papua New Guinea.22 Two ideas of musicalmeaning predominate in WesternEurope, both in the scholarlyand philosophicalliterature and in thecommon everyday realm of the intuitionsor expressedconcepts of loversof Classicalmusic. One is that music has no meaningoutside of itself,that meaning is inherentin its structure.The otheris thatmusic expresses human emotions. While it might seem that one could hold both theseviews simultaneously or sequentially,in the historyof musicalscholarship of the past centuryand a half theyhave tendedto be mutuallyexclusive and antagonistic.The structuralistposition came to prominencein the nineteenthcentury, in part as an outgrowth of eighteenth-centuryrationalism, and in part as a reactionagainst certain seintimentalexcesses of Romantic music critics. Edward Hanslick, the nineteenth-centurymusic criticand philosopher,was the most influential representativeof thistradition: The word"Anschauung" ("viewing," "contemplating") is no longerapplied to visual processesonly, but also to the functionsof the othersenses. It is ... eminentlysuited to describethe act of attentivehearing which is nothingbut a mentalinspection of a successionof musicalimages. ... In the pure act of listening,we enjoy the music alone,and do notthink of importing into it any extraneous matter.23

In the early twentieth century, the influentialtheorist, Heinrich Schenker,taught essentially the same philosophy,but strengthenedit with an awesomesuperstructure of analysesbased upon the concept of a simple chordal progressionwhich underlies all nineteenth-centurytonal music and whose transformationsresult in the complexityand varietyfound in the scoresof nineteenth-centurycomposers. Stravinskyalso embraced the concept that music is structure,and any othersource of meaningis irrelevant: One couldnot betterdefine the sensation produced by musicthan by sayingthat it is identicalwith that evokedby the contemplationof the interplayof architectural forms. I considerthat music is, by its verynature powerless to expressanything at all, whethera feeling,an attitudeof mind,a psychologicalmood, a phenomenonof nature, etc. ... If, as is nearlyalways the case,music appears to expresssomething, this is only an illusion,and nota reality.24

Strongly held as this idea has been, the concept that music expresses emotion has probably had more popularity among music lovers-as well

22 For the Kaluli material,I am indebted to the book by Steven Feld, Sound and Sentiment, Birds,Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression (Philadelphia, 1982). 23 The Beautifulin Music (Leipzig, 1885; New York, 1974), p. 21. 24 Chronicleof My Life (New York, 1962), pp. 91-93.

This content downloaded from 128.114.163.7 on Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:22:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WesternArt Music 355 as adherentsamong scholars-than the idea of musicas abstractform.25 In 1687John Dryden wrote in theSong for St. Cecilia'sDay:

The softcomplaining flute In dyingnotes discovers Thewoes of hopeless lovers, Whosedirge is whisper'dby thewarbling lute. Sharpviolins proclaim Theirjealous pangs and desperation, Fury,frantic indignation, Depthsof pains, and height of passion For thefair disdainful dame.

Threehundred years later, Deryck Cooke, in The Languageof Music, exploresand describesthe multiformiconicities of musicalexpression in theWestern Classical tradition. From the first pages of thebook, Cooke takes directissue with all the formalists,rationalists, and structuralists who(like Schelling and Stravinsky) find architecture to be "frozenmusic":26

The widespreadview of music as "purelymusic" limitsthe listener'sunderstanding of the greatmasterpieces to theirpurely aural beauty-i.e. to theirsurface attraction -and to theirpurely technical construction. This latteris no more (and no less) than the magnificentcraftsmanship whereby composers express their emotions coherently: it is foreverunintelligible to thelayman, except emotionally, and ultimately inexplicable to almostanyone but a potentialcomposer. Music is, in fact,"extra musical" in the sensethat poetry is "extra-verbal,"since notes, like words, have emotional connotations; it is, let us repeat,the supremeexpression of universalemotions, in an entirelypersonal way,by thegreat composers.

In addition to the meanings of music as structure and as expressing emotion,there is yet anotherconcept: music is an expressionof theinfinite, the ineffable.Either the formalistposition or the emotionalistposition can be transformedinto the idea thatmusic is theultimate expression of infinity.The Pythagoreandoctrines of musicaland planetaryratios, each a reflectionof the other,the conceptof the "musicof the spheres"and its reiterationin earthlymusic, are the earliesthistorical antecedents for consideringEuropean music as suprahuman.In the thirdcentury A.D., theNeoplatonist Plotinus wrote:

Anyskill which, beginning with the observationof the symmetryof livingthings, grows to the symmetryof all life,will be a portionof the PowerThere which observes and

25 For a theoryof emotionin musicbased on musicalexpectations and fulfillment, see Leonard Meyer,Emotion and Meaning in Music (Chicago, 1956). 26 The characterizationby Schellingof architectureas "frozenmusic" is discussedin Beardsley, p. 233.

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meditatesthe symmetryreigning among all beingsin the IntellectualCosmos. Thus all music-sinceits thoughtis uponmelody and rhythm-mustbe the earthly repre- sentationof the music there is inthe rhythm ofthe Ideal Realm.27

Transmutedand transformedbut stillrecognizable, the idea thatmusic induces a sense of eternity,of the infinite,became an importantelement of aestheticspeculation in nineteenth-centuryGermany.28 Through either approach, music as design or music as emotion, the listenercould gain glimpsesof "the innerlife of the worlditself':

For feeling,in the Romantictheory of art,is notonly the primary cause and most importanteffect of art;it can alsobe a sourceof knowledge. The antecedents ofthis emotionalintuitionism, or insight-theory, can, likeother Romantic ideas, be traced back into the 18th century. . . at least to the theoryof sympathy,or the moralsen- timent,in Humeand AdamSmith. But in the Romanticpoets and novelists,these epistemologicalconcepts blossomed into a moreambitious if muchless clear, notion of a specialgift, the ability to participatefeelingly, not only in theinner life of other humanbeings, but in the inner life of the world itself.29 In 1813, E. T. A. Hoffmannwrote: It [music]is themost romantic of all the arts-one might almost say, the only genuinely romanticart-for its sole subject is theinfinite.30

Not all possiblekinds of meaningare partof our everydayverbalizations or scholarlywritings about musicalmeaning. Rather, we choose a fewkinds of meaningas those we feel best expresslinguistically our experiencesat concerts,operas, or recitals. For the Kaluli of the twentiethcentury, the sources of meaningand the way of meaning are very different.Music is not consideredas an exclusive creation of man, but is the reworkingby a composer of bird sounds. For theirmost importantsong genre,gisalo, the call of the muni bird, a kind of fruitdove, is the primarymodel. This associationbetween song and bird call is itselfmultilayered in meaning.When a Kaluli dies, his spiritleaves his body in the formof a bird. Birds which live around villagesand whichsing or call loudly are believedto be both naturalobjects and spiritreflections of deceased relatives.The specificassociation of song, sorrow,and weepingwith the call of the muni birdis articulatedin a myth

27 Quoted in Beardsley,p. 86. 28 Carl Dahlhaus, "The Idea of Absolute Music," paper deliveredat the AmericanMusicological Society Midwest Chapter meetingin 1977; and Leo Treitler,"History, Criticism, and Beethoven's NinthSymphony," 19th CenturyMusic, III/3 (1980). 29 Beardsley,p. 253. 30 Strunk,p. 775.

This content downloaded from 128.114.163.7 on Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:22:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WesternArt Music 357 about an older sisterand a youngerbrother who set out to catch crayfish by a small stream.Rather than givingthem to her youngerbrother (the normaland culturallyvalued reaction),the girlputs themaway to give to other relatives-each time refusingthe plea of her sibling.Finally, in a state of loss and despair,her brotherturns into a muni bird and ever after singsof his hunger,his sense of loss and abandonment.The fourdescending pitchesof themuni bird D-C-A-G

0 ,, l

are not only the core pitchesof all gisalo songs,but are also the "weeping" pitches,the intonationfollowed by Kaluli men and womenwhen weeping in response to a movingand beautifulsong or when attendinga funeral. Gisalo songs are heard in two contexts,both ceremonial.When sung by a spiritmedium during a seance, the song is not consideredto be a creation of the medium,but of the departedsoul who speaks throughthe medium. In the other situationthey are heard duringthe all-nightceremonies held at one long-housewith membersof anotherlong-house as guests.31A few speciallytrained and talentedguests assume the role of singersand dancers and singgisalo withspecifically composed textsintended to evokenostalgia and sorrow in particularhosts. If enough hosts weep, the all-nightsong and dance ceremonyis considereda success. Gisalo textsname the places which are importantin the memoryof a specifichost, such as a garden which he worked with a deceased son, or the place of a formerhouse. Gisalo take the hosts on a nostalgicjourney which is intendedto touch upon the pain of remembranceand thememory of loss. A transcriptionof an actual gisalo is given below (Ex. 7),32 briefly indicatingthe chorus (male membersof the dancer's long-house)in the sa-gulu section. Actually, the chorus sings throughout,followed by the lead singer(the composer-dancer)a fractionof a second behind.This close canon is typical of Kaluli group singing,which is neverin unison (con- sideredunnatural by the Kaluli because wateror birdsdo not do so). The Kaluli composerof gisalo createsa song which he singsat an all- night ceremonydressed as an elaboratelyornamented and seductivebird and in which he evokes throughmelody the muni bird and its associations with ancestors,loss, and abandonment.For the Kaluli, this resultsin an expressiveact which is supremelymoving and is theirmost valued cultural

31 For a general ethnographyof the Kaluli and a descriptionof the long-houseceremony in- volvinggisalo, see Edward L. Schieffelin,The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burningof the Dancers (New York, 1976). 32 StevenFeld, pp. 187, 190.

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Ex. 7.

=- 125 sob- r 3

Ha- li - da- go - ma (i)li -ki yo - o

* . .. t j $ $ * . 1 J J) 1J ? do- wo-- o - o do- wo - o

U - gu- lib (i)li - ki - y o - o wo - o - o - o

:** x I. x. x!

ne no- lo - ma- ka hoi- da -bo

- 3 - - .- - 3- . .

a L J-, m - 6r J ni - i - mo- lo - be i ni - mo -lo - be - i

Sa-gulu

D J. ^ r aJ. J. ^ WO YE

Chorus i' iJY nJ I 1 .r J J y Wo - o-o Ye - e - e

Musical examples from Stephen Feld, Sound and Sentiment,Birds, Weeping,Poetics and Song in Kaluli Expression (pp. 187, 190), Universityof PennsylvaniaPress, 1982. Reprintedby permission of the Universityof PennsylvaniaPress.

This content downloaded from 128.114.163.7 on Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:22:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WesternArt Music 359 expression.Man's relationshipto his own life,his past, and his relationship to those who have died are all broughtto the forefrontof his consciousness for reflectionand for grieving.Musical performanceis personal,intimate, and sorrowful. Individualreactions to WesternClassical performance may be as intense as among the Kaluli, but musical performanceis more commonlyfelt to be somewhatabstracted from a personallyfelt emotion. We feelthe sorrow or the joy vicariously,through the skill of the composerand performer, and we are not requiredto make any directintrospection of our own past. One cannot say which music is more expressive,or meaningful,or which refersto a greaterrange of human cognition.Each should be studiedand understood on its own terms;one cannot usefullybe evaluated against another. Evaluationis only viable withina culture,particularly within a genre. Standardsof excellence are as stringentand as clear cut for a gisalo per- formanceas forSchubert lieder. Expressiveness appears to be closelyrelated to skillin all cultures.The difficultywith comparison and evaluationarises when one compares an intimatelyknown musical genrewith one barely understood.Musical systemsare radicallycontextualized and intermeshed withother realms of cultureand demandparticularized analyses. Westernart music is neither superior nor inferiorto other musical traditions.Musical systems are simplyincommensurable.

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