PDF

PERFORMING IN THE SHADOWS: LEARNING AND MAKING MUSIC AS
ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL PRACTICE AND THEORY

Author(s): J. Lawrence Witzleben
Source: Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 42 (2010), pp. 135-166
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41201383
Accessed: 21-06-2019 16:09 UTC
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Yearbook for
Traditional Music
This content downloaded from 175.176.91.56 on Fri, 21 Jun 2019 16:09:28 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
PERFORMING IN THE SHADOWS:
LEARNING AND MAKING MUSIC AS
ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL PRACTICE AND THEORY
by J. Lawrence Witzleben
In this article, I am concerned with the ways in which engagement w

ance has shaped - and continues to shape - the ideas and theoretical
of ethnomusicologists. In many ethnomusicology programmes (inclu
have been in as a student or teacher), graduate students are required
in performing ensembles, take lessons both at home and in the field,
in performance as part of their thesis or dissertation research, yet th
these widespread practices is not easy to decipher from contempora
or overviews of the field. While my formal studies of ethnomusicolo
in the United States, and much of the literature discussed here is a
of North American practices, my perspectives are also shaped by m
decades of teaching, research, and interaction with scholars and perf
Asia. Although I will make reference to researchers and developmen
Kong, mainland China, Japan, and Korea, the stories of ethnomusic
formance in those locales deserve articles of their own, and I do no
to speak for practices and issues elsewhere in Asia or in Europe, Lat
Africa, or Oceania. Nevertheless, I believe that the issues raised here
potential interest to all those involved in the intersection of music an
and I hope that these preliminary ideas will inspire comparative pers
scholars elsewhere.
If we look at the recent work of ethnomusicologists, including - perhaps even
especially including - those whose primary training is in anthropology, it is obvi-
ous that the practice of making the study of musical performance an integral com-
ponent of fieldwork continues to be widespread. To illustrate this point, I will dis-
cuss the centrality of performance study in two influential musical ethnographies
from the 1980s, a variety of recent writings (focusing on Southeast Asian music
as a case study), and the multiauthor anthologies Shadows in the Field (Barz and
Cooley 1997, revised and expanded in 2008) and Performing Ethnomusicology
(Solis 2004). A key article by John Baily (2001) offers several conceptual links
between these two seemingly unrelated collections. A reconsideration of Charles
Seeger's idea of "music space-time" in conjunction with recent developments in the
study of music cognition suggests that his intuitive concept and empirical scientific
evidence both argue for the special nature of the musical experience. Finally, an
examination of some representative publications and practices of East Asian schol-
ars provides some comparative perspective on the ways in which musical perform-
ance and ethnography intersect in (at least) one region far removed from the North
American context. These latter examples suggest that despite the great diversity of
approaches to music scholarship, the issues and practices discussed here are hardly
unique to the Anglophone world of ethnomusicology .
Yearbook for Traditional Music 42 (2010)
136 2010 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
To begin, I would like to consider the propagati

study as research in the early days of the Ameri
along with its somewhat shadowy legacy in the fi
In a seminal 1960 article, Mantle Hood argued
ing to study non-Western music must develop
"bi-musicality."1 This notion later became a core c
his personal manifesto for the field:
It has long been recognized and accepted that the

trating on one or another style of the European trad
that his background includes training in the skills o
These constitute his ABCs of musical literacy. By th
ogist researching one or another style of the non-
if he is trained in the pertinent skills of non- Western
(Hood 1982:242-43)
In one sense, the term bimusicality suggests an un

is assumed that the ethnomusicologist already "sp
to acquire a second musical language in the "other"
However, I suggest that the crucial element in H
is his insistence on musicality, in the sense of bec
investigating for scholarly purposes.
Where does the study of performance fit into co
sicology today? In the 1992 anthology Ethnomusi
Helen Myers devotes several paragraphs to bimus
and elsewhere, attributing the idea not only to H
who argued: "I find that the imputed meaning of m
meanings ascribed to the functions of music in s
ings in speech contexts" (Myers 1992a:9). In her ch
gests that "Learning to sing, dance, play in the fi
... Savour the joy of being a student again; establ
a master musician is a common and successful
(Myers 1992b:31). Still, she devotes far more t
frivolous pursuits such as interviewing, note-takin
More recently, the most extended overview of
multiauthor article "Ethnomusicology" in the
Music and Musicians (Bohlman 2001; Myers 20
eighteen densely-packed pages on "Post- 1945 Dev
Theoretical Issues," the study of musical perfo
on Mantle Hood and bimusicality under "Disci
2001:381).
More broadly, the legacy of bimusicality is tied
so-called musicological branch of ethnomusicolog
1 . Many later scholars have dispensed with the hyphen,

follow, except when quoting others who use the hyphen
WITZLEBEN PERFORMING IN THE SHADOWS 137
the anthropological branch exemplified by Alan Me

ades, the anthropological component of ethnomusic
being ascendant, and with bimusicality relegated to
history in overviews such as the New Grove articles
run its course.
This is not to say that engagement with musical
appeared from discussions of theory and methodolo
Baily's article "Learning to Perform as a Research T
(2001) is a notable exception that will be discussed la
Netti expands upon the earlier notion of bimusicalit
work in which a scholar would learn to participate -
poser - in the music he or she was studying" (Netti
cultures have been and are themselves natively bim
nizing and keeping separate two or more musics in
handle two languages" (ibid.). In other words, he us
both a research practice and a characteristic of per
traditions - the same dual usage employed by Hood
Contemporary ethnomusicologists have expanded
cal performance to include playing turntables, and
certainly play active roles in the realization of a m
performance studies has taught us how gender and
"performed" in the sense that Richard Schechner (1
ing at human behavior - individual and social - as a
expansive usage of the term has in some ways super
which musicians, dancers, or actors rehearse or pres
in the present article I am focusing on "musical perf
tive sense of playing musical instruments and/or sin
Musical performance and fieldwork
Stephen Feld' s Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weepin

Expression, based on his fieldwork in the rainfores
something of a sensation when it was released in 1
here was published in 1990). Originally trained as a
work with the Kaluli after hearing the field record
(Buck) Schieffelin; he found the music to be "terrib
how to make it and how to understand it" (Feld 19
present article, the priorities implied by the word or
insignificant; like many ethnomusicologists, Feld h
performer (in his case, jazz) before becoming an et
cally, Feld not only learned singing and drumming
songs and performed them for the Kaluli:
During my last months of fieldwork, I played my dru

posed many new songs . . . Some of my songs and d
138 20 1 0 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
were the cause of laughter and embarrassment for Ch

man from a powerful culture with medicine, mission
to be crazy to want to learn these things. Yet for me
of vocalizing and drumming that brought me closer
and brought some Kaluli closer to talking with me ab
1990:237)2
Participation in musical performance also plays a central role in Anthony

Seeger's monograph Why Suya Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian
People, based on his extensive fieldwork in the Brazilian rainforest. Seeger and
his wife, Judy, brought their banjo and guitar to the field, not only learning to per-
form the Suya repertoires appropriate to their gender, but also singing their "own"
music:
The Suya thought we were quite good at singing . . . [it] was one of the few things we
could do well. As hunters, fishers, manioc-scrapers or language-learners, we were
definitely inferior to their own children . . . We sang when they asked, regardless
of how we felt. And we were famous throughout the Xingu National Park for our
songs. Some of them ... became intertribal hits ...
It was satisfying to be appreciated for something besides the power of our rela-
tives ("Would your father drop a bomb on the Txukahamae if they raided us and you
were killed?" they asked) or the usefulness of our trade goods.
On 29 January we were part of the ceremonial euphoria. We provided the music
that made people "happy"... We were part of the ritual process, but only at certain
moments and in certain ways. Most nights we were hardly remarked on, and the
Suya sang their own music and did other things they found satisfying and right. (A.
Seeger 2004:20)
The Seegers' involvement in performance during fieldwork included singing

and playing American folk music on the guitar and banjo, and he suggests that
their own performances were part of an ongoing process of cultural exchange and
indigenization:
Throughout their history, the Suya have learned the songs of powerful strangers. In
the distant past they learned songs from jaguars, mice, and enemies who lived under
ground . . . More recently they learned them from the Indians and non-Indians whom
they met. (A. Seeger 2004:134)
In terms of the fieldwork practices described in recent musical ethnographies, it

is obvious that these examples are far from unusual. As a case study, I have looked
at a number of recent ethnomusicological monographs on Southeast Asia, and a
large majority of these scholars include significant study of musical performance in
the field as an integral part of their field research. A brief summary of some of their
approaches (four examples focusing on mainland Southeast Asia, five others on
2. Although the second edition of Sound and Sentiment includes a lengthy postscript in
which Feld describes presenting his research results to and discussing them with the Kaluli,
the only "performances" mentioned in the postscript are his public readings of passages
from his book.
Indonesia) tells us much about the nature of ethnom

the turn of the millennium.
Like Feld and A. Seeger, Pamela Myers-Moro w
but also had a strong background in music. Describ
in Bangkok, she notes that "my data were obtained
sociocultural anthropologists," but these methods a
ethnomusicologists:
I conducted interviews with a variety of informants

several instruments, which enabled me to build relatio
colleagues; helped me gain entry to places and occas
gate such as performances, rehearsals, lessons, and
about what kinds of questions to ask during interview
Also working in Bangkok, Deborah Wong places p

research, "not only teaching but also more broadly t
control created by the transmission of knowledge" (
the khawng wongyai gong circle, she was allowed - a
ticipate in the performance of the wai khruu ritual
I must say that Thai performers' traditional pedagog

end of the spectrum from mine. I continue to find th
ful and convincing, however, and I simply accepted it
extended periods when I immersed myself in it as a p
to consider myself a participant in it, as the ties it cr
and space. (Wong 2001:6)
Tan Sooi Beng's study of Malaysian popular ope

historical in nature, but her interest in the genre w
a week-long workshop culminating in a performan
learn the rebana drum and knobbed gong. Although
drum and participation in performances are not for
acknowledge their important contribution to her u
"Direct participation through the study of musical i
with a bangsawan troupe, observations and recordin
troupes, and transcriptions and analyses of bangsaw
troupes during the time of fieldwork further help
bangsawan in the 1980s" (Tan 1993:xi-xii).
Many ethnomusicologists enter the field with prev
genres or instruments that are the focus of their
instrument because of its similarity to one that they
Malacca, the former Portuguese settlement in Mala
a somewhat more unusual route:
At the outset, I intended to produce the kind of musical ethnography that has
abounded in my discipline, ethnomusicology. To that end, I adopted the "participant
observer" approach and started to learn about music by learning to play it. Since my
own instrument, the trumpet, was not part of the

to take up something that was - the accordion. This
fíeldwork move because, despite having no prior e
great demand. Though competent guitarists were a
Settlement, there was only one other accordionist
for one group. Within three months of my arrival,
(after a fashion), learned most of the regular repert
made the decision to play in public, was performi
groups. (Sarkissian 2000:5)
In his study of tembang Sunda song and music

explains how his study of performance underlay h
systems, musical structures, ornamentation, and p
Learning to sing, and to play the instruments, was

way, that is, by participant observation, I gained kn
which could not easily have been obtained otherw
If the researcher is not aware, at least to some exten

music-making, he risks building models irrelevant t
Elsewhere, he also points out how his teachers' in

ing his lessons reveal a great deal about aesthetic
related to their musical tradition: "In this study I
musicians themselves on tembang Sunda. Which c
their classification principles, and which models d
music?" (van Zanten 1989:5-7).
Sean Williams's investigation oí tembang Sunda
combined two different approaches to learning pe
ing through small group-lessons with fellow Sun
her teacher, while also taking private lessons on
the bamboo flute, suling. For the latter, she note
to the way that an American would study a West
tape recorder and plenty of questions" (William
regularly, although, perhaps like many other ethn
ture far from their own, realized that "my perfo
a novelty act to lighten things up rather than as g
ances" (ibid.: 13).
In his book Music of Death and New Creation, M
many years of experience playing Balinese gam
learning to understand and perform a different ge
as follows:
I sought out opportunities to play the music I was studying in as many contexts
as possible and put a high priority on establishing a place of belonging for myself
within the communities of Balinese musicians with whom I worked. My experi-
enees as a musician in Bali shaped the questions I as

as a scholar. (Bakan 1999:5)
His book narrates his encounters with gamelan bela

unfamiliar to him that he only learned its name after
in a lengthy rehearsal. A good portion of the book
of his experiences in learning drumming and acquiri
ticipate in belaganjur competitions.
Benjamin Brinner's study of competence and in
lan draws heavily from his own experiences as a stu
of the tradition, and he makes an explicit argumen
bimusicality:
The collision of Western and Javanese expectations and cognitive systems, which
I have encountered in my own experience as a student, researcher, and teacher of
Javanese music . . . has been a particularly fruitful source for the study of competence
and interaction, validating the utility of bimusicality championed by Mantle Hood
... as an approach to the study of a foreign musical tradition . . . The most direct
access to a different way of thinking and making music ... is gained by making an
intense, long-term effort to absorb those ways of music from within, attempting to
get inside other peoples' heads and fingers. (Brinner 1995:8)
Later, he elaborates on the ways in which learning, teaching, and participating in

the performance of Javanese music have interacted with other sources of informa-
tion in developing his understanding of the interpersonal dynamics that shape the
tradition:
I have attempted to assess the nature and extent of the actual competence of par-
ticular musicians through interviews, peer evaluation, and observation in lessons,
rehearsals, and performances. This is supplemented by my experience studying and
teaching gamelan, in the course of which I have had the opportunity to compare the
skills and problems of non- Javanese with those of Javanese, noting who adapts best
to what and which situations are more problematic. (Brinner 1995:46)
While Brinner's own role in these interactions only appears sporadically in his
narrative, it plays a major role in establishing his authority to discuss perform-
ance practice in great detail and with considerable nuance, and this authority gives
strength to his theoretical arguments.
Finally, Michael Tenzer's book Balinese Gong Kebyar is a not so much a musi-
cal ethnography as it is a summing up of his understanding of Balinese music, a
culmination of many years of performing and composing for the tradition. His
goal is to allow readers "to come as close as possible to furnishing a blueprint and
tools for analyzing and perhaps even composing it in a stylistically credible way"
(Tenzer 2000:4). "As an experienced participant in the music, I have imagined it as
if it were my own (which, for my purposes, it surely is), thinking creatively 'in' it
as well as about it" (ibid.:5).
1 42 20 1 0 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
For various reasons (including the popularity and v

Balinese gamelans in music programmes in locales suc
United Kingdom, and Japan), a comprehensive survey
sicologists might well reveal that an atypically high p
gists working in Southeast Asia have a strong engage
ance in their research. Nevertheless, the musical enc
hardly anomalies in the literature of ethnomusicology
ples describing research in Bulgaria, the Central Afric
India, Mexico, Taiwan, and the United States discusse
Performing in the shadows
Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork

collection edited by Gregory Barz and Timothy Coole
many prominent ethnomusicologists. Many of the ar
with performance as a component of field research m
discuss this in considerable detail.
Michelle Kisliuk, for example, describes her contribution as follows: "In this
chapter I address three interrelated questions, drawing illustrations from my own
experience with the singing, dancing, and everyday lives of BaAka pygmies in the
Central African Republic" (Kiskliuk 1997:23). One of her questions is particularly
relevant to the present discussion: "What new approaches to writing are suggested
by the changing, developing relationship between field experience and the ethnog-
raphy of performance, particularly musical performance?" (ibid.:24). As a partial
answer, she suggests poetics, since "music lends itself, even demands on occa-
sion, poetic description" (ibid.:37).3 More broadly, she espouses "ethnographies
of musical performance that are fully experiential" and "interactive, performative
writing" (ibid. :41).
Carol Babiracki's alternation between her roles as a female dancer and as an
"ungendered" researcher documenting performance in rural India was central to
her exploration of neglected issues of gender in fieldwork, both in practice and in
received notions of "normative" field research. Here is one excerpt:
One of the purposes of communal singing and dancing is to bring together potential
marriage partners at periodic festivals to give them an opportunity to get to know
each other. I was expected to join the women's line ... It was a role I gladly accepted
and thoroughly enjoyed, but one that precluded documentation of the event or con-
versation with others - particularly men - in attendance. My solution was to docu-
ment as much of an event as I could early in the event, before my age and gender
identities were clearly established and understood. With tape recorder in one hand
and microphones in the other, I positioned myself between the head of the women's
line and the group of men dancing in front of them, then simply moved around
the circle with the flow of the dance, neither male nor female - the ungendered
3. In the book's second edition, she uses the phrase "embodied poetic description" (Kisliuk
2008:197).
researcher. Once I put my equipment away and joine

myself female after all, there was no going back. (B
In his chapter titled "Knowing Fieldwork," Jeff T

that should by now be familiar: "As it did most, if
music caught hold of me before ethnomusicology d
to describe his involvement in a "blues musical com
Bill Lucas: "we played music together, we ate Bill's
a superb cook), drank Fox Deluxe beer, and became
article, he articulates his sense of "musical being in
Knowing people making music begins with my exp

fiddle, banjo, or guitar with others, I hear music; I
internally; I move, externally. Music overcomes me w
power within me. Now I have moved from what phen
attitude," the normal everyday way of being in the w
but to a self-aware way. (Titon 1997:93)
In his "Toward a Mediation of Field Method

Ethnomusicology," Timothy Rice's nuanced discussi
ence and knowledge stems directly from his study
and his eventual acquisition of a "bagpiper's fingers
In learning to play an instrument, I had no particular

ing, but as a musician I wanted to learn to play and p
retrospect, I realize that I separated fieldwork from fiel
career in a rather unprofitable way. (Rice 1997:107)
Many years later, despite his growing understandin

acquisition of what his teacher called a "bagpiper's
with the compartmentalization of two kinds of kno
When I distanced myself from music making and trie

insider perspective through words about music, I w
felt that they represented significant advances over
but when I fully engaged with the music, overcame m
attempted to appropriate the style to the point where I
play it as well, I ran into the limits of this language-b
theory of culture. I had encountered precisely the "lin
Charles Seeger ... would have predicted for me. (Ric
Like Titon, Rice uses the lens of phenomenological

experience of "being in the world," in this case wit
When the field researcher engages in acts of musica

the ontological condition of the self and other agen
ontological priority normally given to observable mus
events in epistemologically driven ethnomusicologic

1997:118)
In Timothy Cooley's "Introduction" to the collection, he suggests that "Because

of the potential for truly participatory participant-observation ... through actively
joining in a society's 'music culture'... we believe ethnomusicologists are well-
positioned to offer unique perspectives on postmodern fieldwork processes for all
ethnographic disciplines" (Cooley 1997:4).4 Later, he argues that "the value of
anthropological and related literature on fieldwork for the ethnomusicologist is
not disputed here, but it fails to address fieldwork problems that are specific to
ethnomusicology" (ibid.: 14).
Despite the potential of these observations, in my estimation the contributors
do not convincingly develop their experiences into a "truly participatory partici-
pant-observation." In fact, several seem to back away from suggesting a research
method or theoretical model specific to the field of ethnomusicology, despite the
rather special types of interpersonal encounters and cultural knowledge acquired
through fieldwork on music. Although it is undeniable that Rice, Titon, and others
have made fruitful use of the work of European philosophers such as Heidegger
and Ricouer, I remain unconvinced that the last words on the nature of musical
performances and experiences can be provided by scholars who are outsiders to
those experiences.
In an earlier article, I have argued that the kinds of participation in which eth-
nomusicologists are typically involved often turn the tables on the power relation-
ships that have shaped much of ethnographic research:
The study of music allows the possibility of a high degree of participation, which
may significantly alter the power relationships between the research and the culture
studied. Bruno Netti has quite accurately observed that so-called "informants" are
in fact the "principal teachers" of many ethnomusicologists (1984) and a deferential
attitude is common (though by no means universal) in both fieldwork situations and
the resultant writings. By the very nature of the study of music, ethnomusicology
has thus avoided some of the problems which anthropology as a whole has inherited.
(Witzleben 1997:236)
In entering the field as a student or musical apprentice, the ethnomusicologist

often not only becomes a participant in a local system, but also takes a clear and
subservient role in that system. The implications of this fact with respect to the
"crisis of representation" in ethnography and the colonial legacy of asymmetrical
power relationships seem enormous, and Cooley's introduction hints at his aware-
ness of this possibility, but the subject is not really pursued elsewhere in the first
edition of the book.
4. In the book's second edition, this passage is revised as follows: "through actively joining
in a society's music cultural practices ... we believe ethnomusicologists are well positioned
to offer unique perspectives on postmodern processes" (Cooley and Barz 2008:4), substitut-
ing "music cultural practices" for "music culture" and deleting the concluding phrase "for
all academic disciplines."
In 2008, a much-expanded second edition of Shado

and several of the new chapters centre around perf
with several examples discussing the fieldworker/st
chapter "Working with the Masters," James Kippen
led to an ongoing immersion in an Indian ustäd:
As I prepared to travel to India where I would undertak

I remember being strongly influenced by Daniel Ne
get all I needed for my dissertation on the hereditary
ply by becoming like a son to a great master. More th
tablä and was especially keen to become a good play
By becoming an apprentice musician, Kippen exper

nial asymmetry that hangs over the legacy of fieldw
a master, "we submit ourselves to a peculiar type o
which we cannot participate as equals . . . the cultur
they are like omniscient masters and we their discip
must accept unquestioningly what we are told if we
to understanding" (Kippen 2008:126). Like many
enter the field as students, Kippen learned that ch
a teacher to that of a "disciple-researcher" required
boundaries of what was deemed acceptable behavior
I have already mentioned Deborah Wong's engagem
research on Thai Buddhist music. Her contribution to t
in the Field describes her ongoing research on taik
her development of a "performative ethnography."
with Kaluli music, the primacy of musical performa
I didn't go to taiko in search of a research project:

was drawn to it as an Asian American audience mem
learn how to be Asian American through the loudne
Watching taiko made me want to do it, and all that th
me want to play it, or maybe it's most accurate to s
a taiko player, because that confluence of grace, str
noise, and visibility planted a longing in me (Wong
Finally, Jonathan Stock and Chou Chiener's col

Home" describes two types of fieldwork encounter
pants was working in their home country and nati
was not. Chou's path to the field parallels that o
North America or Europe to study ethnomusicolog
their home country for their fieldwork:
5 . The chapters by Barbiracki, Cooley and Barz, Kisliuk,

included in the new edition (the Cooley and Barz "Intro
alone in the first edition). The passages I have quoted from
with the exception of those changes (for the Kisliuk and
the two preceding notes.
Chiener began to learn nanguan in her twenties, so it was

musical experiences. (She studied piano and then the
zither zheng and mouth organ sheng before coming to
was a tradition she entered as a musician, not a resear
while living in her home society . . . Chiener revisited
overseas, working with the ensembles she had joined
built on trips back to her parents' home. (Stock and Ch
Chou's entrance into the world of performance was

James Kippen. For some months, she quietly observ
permitted to sing. After six months, she was promot
ally began to take a more active role in the music:
Gradually, she was able to take a regular performing

other musicians' permission or special invitation. On
Chiener decide to train as an ethnomusicologist and
music. This existing experience and access shaped th
quently performed her fieldwork. (Stock and Chou 200
I would now like to turn to another influential an

lection that appeared in 2004: Performing Ethn
Representation in World Music Ensembles, edited by
contributors make clear, their intensive engagement
the field provided a basis for their subsequent transla
geographically displaced performance ensemble. The
Mantle Hood and his UCLA programme. Starting in
helped to develop many of the major ethnomusicolo
States, including those at Wesleyan University and
Michigan, and Washington: the editor and all but tw
volume are or have been faculty or students at one or
the course of this dissemination, study groups taught
from Asia or Africa became ensembles taught by et
challenges of translation and representation multipli
eration traditions of Americanized gamelan music we
ple, Bowling Green, Tempe, London, or Hong Kon
cal issues explored in this book are outside of the p
be mentioned that in these and other cases, so-calle
6. Mantle Hood, Ali Jihad Racy, and Hardja Susilo have

Harnish, Scott Marcus, Anne Rasmussen, Ricardo Trimillos
and Trimillos have taught at the University of Hawai M
Roger Vetter, and I studied there; David Hughes studied
Gage Averill and Sumarsam have taught at Wesleyan, wh
Netsky, and Sumarsam studied there; Kisliuk did her PhD
is also part of this same lineage, since she received her M
Locke teaches; Kelly Gross was Kisliuk's student. If we w
ing faculty appointments, postdoctoral fellowships, or col
network of interactions would become even more complex
have not only become widely essentialized as rep

academic institutions, but have also become a vis
manifestation of multiculturalism and thus a conve
rectness for schools and departments of music, whic
of the hegemony of Euro- American elite culture.
Unlike the monographs discussed earlier and the ar
in which most of the authors' involvement with mus
background, all the contributors here have taught pe
sity music programmes. Aside from the interviews w
and Hardja Susilo, only a few of the authors provid
contributed to their research, since the focus of the
sentation. However, the prerequisite to becoming a
extensive training in performance, and most of the
long-term study of performance in places such as J
Haiti, India, or Java, as well as in the United States
vidual acquired different types of knowledge and s
example, Ricardo Trimillos learned Philippine ro
California, studied Philippine kulintang during his
to play the Japanese koto from a Japanese-America
studied Japanese gagaku in Hawai'i and Indian m
his familial roots through marimba music in Mexico
row Trimillos' s term) ensemble teachers interview
interesting contrast in career trajectories: Susilo an
teachers of Central Javanese gamelan and went on t
nomusicology, while Racy (at the time, already an
to the University of Illinois to study ethnomusicolo
acclaimed Middle Eastern ensemble at UCLA.
Many of the contributors discuss the sometimes-haphazard path from taking
ensemble classes or lessons to intensive study during fieldwork to directing an
ensemble. A passage from my own chapter is perhaps typical in its idiosyncrasy:
Learning to play Chinese and Indonesian music was a natural part of my studies and
life as a graduate student. The typical scope of my vision was from lesson to lesson,
performance to performance; even if a course in "world music ensemble pedagogy"
existed, it would have held little interest for me, since the idea of teaching such
ensembles myself was not even on the horizon. The largest picture I saw at the
time related this learning and music-making to things such as research papers, thesis
topics, and chances to study performance abroad, either as an end in itself or as a
component of research-oriented fieldwork. (Witzleben 2004:139)
The intentions of the authors included in these two collections are obviously dif-
ferent - Michelle Kisliuk is the sole contributor to both volumes - yet both books
deal with issues that are central to the field of ethnomusicology today. As the first
extended collection in ethnomusicology which specifically foregrounds musical
performance, Performing Ethnomusicology might seem to represent a corner of
ethnomusicology that is rather remote from anthropology. However, the connec-
tion between field research and performance unde

made explicit in Solis's introduction as editor:
All [the contributors] have undergone the exquisite

tion to the field, and the equally traumatic act of lea
and research collaborators have unselfishly given us
we know that whatever fees or presents or help we o
compared to the worlds revealed to us. Thus we lab
dents and to convey at least something of what we f
a little at each rehearsal. We know we cannot repl
determined to create a meaningful and coherent per
Ethnomusicology we share the lessons of our jour
engaging, vital, bittersweet, and exhilarating task. (
With the alteration of only a few words, this pas

lection of articles by cultural anthropologists of an
edge, insights, and experiences obtained during f
ences for ethnographers, and conveying those expe
is an ongoing challenge.
In a 2001 article, John Baily has made the relation
form" and musical ethnography specific. In his co
ways in which learning to perform in the context
for ethnomusicologists; 1) "The acquisition of per
of musicality, learning, and musical cognition"; 3
the study of performance offers the researcher a
tus in the community";7 4) "Participant observati
period," in which performing ethnomusicologists b
turati ve process of 'transfer and retransfer' of m
socio-cultural environment to another" (Baily 2
offer a conceptual bridge between Shadows in the
3 and 4, also touching on the other three) and Perf
a central focus on point 5, many references to 1 a
related to 3 and 4).
In her Shadows in the Field essay, Deborah Won
audiences who are invested in elite western forms
tible to certain ideological problems" and lists thr
tion that performing evinces automatic and myst
of a composer or to anyone who performs that m
ity to perform is encoded in (your choice) a gene
that it is activated by (your choice) the divine or b
7. The "role, status, and identity" of a fieldworker stu

itself - one that has been touched upon in the writings
ing some of those cited elsewhere in the present article.
gression from "visitor" to "colleague" in his fieldwork o
particularly insightful. I have also discussed this in man
sizhu ensemble music in Shanghai (Witzleben 1995).
standing that performance is categorically different

2008:80). She refers to Performing Ethnomusicology
that "ethnomusicologists sometimes valorize participa
that reenact the problems listed earlier" (ibid.) links to
ductive questions about these matters in the command
some of the contributors are less reflective about the
Later, she refers to the interview with Mantle Hood in
Trimillos 2004), commenting that "Hood's references
both vague and romanticized" (Wong 2008:89, n. 5).
In music departments and schools of music in the Un
ogy has often been marginalized, stigmatized, and or a
the inherent superiority of Western art music has been
growth of our field and a rallying cry for solidarity
In an earlier article, Wong (2006:266-76) has docum
detail) many specific examples of condescension and h
sicology and ethnomusicologists by WEAM (Wester
cialists. Nevertheless, I part ways with Wong in her i
that performance is categorically different from eve
problem" (Wong 2008:80). In throwing out the unwan
inherent superiority of Western art music, perhaps w
may be too quick to dismiss the special nature of the m
premise of the present article is that music and musi
"different" from everyday life in both experiential an
In his Performing Ethnomusicology essay, Ricardo
look at the ramifications of ethnomusicologists' enga
and, more specifically, their attempts to teach the mu
research:
Would a faculty member whose entire orchestral background consisted of playing

four semesters in the second violin section and two courses in string technique be
entrusted with a university symphony orchestra? . . . There exists an apparent ten-
sion between two conflicting perceptions of the musical tradition of the Other: 1)
its complexity requires a lifetime of research, but, at the same time, 2) it can be
taught well enough in sixteen to thirty weeks to be presented in public performance.
(Trimillos 2004:44)
How do we avoid distorting or misrepresenting the genre through its reperformance

by our students, whose mastery of the tradition is, to be charitable, incomplete?
(ibid.:50)
Trimillos also touches upon his different roles and senses of authority and enti-
tlement in teaching music of the Philippines or Japan (Trimillos 2004:28-37), and
Wong's Shadows article is grounded even more specifically in identity politics, as
she articulates the ideal of learning "how performative ethnography creates engaged
encounters that offer strategies for social change" (Wong 2008:88). Of course, not
all ethnomusicologists involved in performance work in areas that lend themselves
to activist involvement, and Wong is certainly not s

ers who have the potential to "learn how to be an As
be learning the music. Aaron Fox has noted the ten
for country music, his at-times-obvious outsider st
nor southern), and his distaste for the political leani
ers and followers, experiencing what he calls a "cri
(first) Gulf War: "I couldn't bear to be in the beer jo
yellow ribbons and 'Smoke a Camel' posters and
More generally, performance-centred communities
participants with widely diverse backgrounds and re
performed. For example, Christopher Washburne h
himself) that his status as an "Anglo" in the world
ates him from those for whom the music is part of
and/or Latino identity. However, as an accomplishe
not always in a conventional way) salsa performer,
musical ecosystem whose participants put up with d
life-threatening) conditions because of their shared l
performance. He asks: Why do musicians continue t
Posing this question to a number of musicians revea

making and the sounds themselves remain central moti
ued participation. Some consider the social and cultu
music scene as significant in their determination to pe
desire to attain the highest degree of competence as
and soulful fulfillment of achieving a "hard-swinging
ing ... [Trumpeter Hector] Colón suggests that through
formance, musicians can transcend their daily and nig
sense of euphoria. (Washburne 2008:104)
Performance, fieldwork, and music space-time
As in fieldwork experience and academic trainin

involvement with performance is unique, but we can
of performance-related activities that took place du
shared by at least two of the scholars discussed above
work practices described above combine two or more
1 . Continued study of instruments or genres the
begun to learn.
2. Continued study supplemented by the addition o
genres.
3. Study of traditions previously known only through recordings (or not at all).
4. Taking up entirely new instruments or genres in response to discoveries in
the field.
5. Encountering intense pressure to concentrate on performance, sometimes to
the potential detriment of the research.
6. Learning to perform a new genre unrelated to

later taking a research interest in that genre.
7. Moving from playing professionally in a certain
on that genre.
8. Composing for the traditions being studied.
9. Using very different approaches to study perfo
and/or at different stages in the researchers' live
The examples cited above provide extensive evi
1) involvement with musical performance accounts
many present-day ethnomusicologists invest in the
teaching; 2) in addition, for many ethnomusicologist
participate in musical performance has been a major
tus for entering the field in the first place. If perf
what ethnomusicology is and what ethnomusicologi
extensive and serious attention in definitions or overvie
is often linked to a "musicological approach," yet wh
terparts in ethnomusicology, graduate students and
torical musicology of Western art music - at least th
typically far less involved with performance. Simil
programmes require - or at least actively encourage
performance ensembles, which contrasts sharply wit
tions for students of (Western) historical musicology
In trying to make our discipline more accessible to
pology, cultural studies, and other disciplines outsid
gists seem to be increasingly hesitant to acknowled
of music. Almost every aspect of our lives can be i
performance, and Jeff Titon has even suggested tha
being read but like a musical performance to be ex
modern-day usage of the word "performance" (as w
phors have become so ubiquitous that referring to li
playing instruments and/or singing (or dancing or
lenge. At some level, the physical acts of making a
distinguished from all the other performance-like p
noted:
we must not underestimate the special difficulties pose

are fundamental, perhaps even irreconcilable, differ
tion of language-based systems of thought and expres
systems of sound. We would do well to keep this tens
emphasis in original)
Anyone who has been involved in the serious p

instrument, or participated in musical performanc
which time seems to be stretched, slowed down, or
cite two brief examples; anyone who has studied an

bring to mind many examples of their own:
1 . My studies of ciblon dance drumming with th
Java, would typically involve three or four ho
minute or less of music, which would be follow
of the same units on my own; later, these uni
additional small units acquired over long real-l
recompacted into realization in a space and tim
actual performance with my teacher's gamelan
I finally had a group of my own gamelan stud
piece that Suhardi taught me ("Lancaran Manyu
levels of expansion), and I once again slowed do
reassembled them for a real-time performance.
2. In preparation for a demonstration in a large u
I put aside some time on various days to work
of the dizi (transverse bamboo flute) part for "
long "silk and bamboo" Chinese ensemble piece
to memorization. As I threaded my way throu
once again familiar, recollections of playing th
and places danced through my head, along wit
had played with and learned from, and places
the same piece live, over a loudspeaker, through
I rode a bus or walked a mountain trail.8
One scholar who grappled with and attempted t
musical experiences differ from their everyday c
Throughout his work, Seeger railed against the pr
on speech explanations for musical phenomena - t
to which Rice referred.
In Seeger' s worldview, music exists within the ev
time," but also within its own world, with its own
example, any musical unit . . . Each of the many p
can be regarded as a separate event in general spa
all these performances have been of one single eve
(C. Seeger 1977b:l I).9 Seeger chooses a single pa
Symphony as his example of a musical "unit," but
the different degrees of variability inherent in othe
8. Although the phenomenon of "hearing" music in on

involved is largely unexplored territory in ethnomusi
exception; as he noted in a seminal article, "While Kalu
that I might want to be alone with my music, they coul
do that in my own head, without headphone prosthese
9. In this particular article, Seeger refers to "general s
but he used "general space-time" and "music space-time"
lel word order) in other articles, most notably in his fam
universe (in C. Seeger 1997c). Yung uses the phrase "m
quotations, I have used "music space-time" in the presen
of his seminal articles was an extended study of the

Anglo- American ballad "Barbara Allen" (C. Seege
musical "unit" with which we are familiar, whether
"Ladrang Pangkur," "Makala," or "Taqasim in Maqam
ally spans a rather wide parameter, yet all of these e
endings, and perceivable points of articulation withi
where and when the event occurs in general space-ti
According to Seeger, music space-time differ
in a number of ways, including the following
1977b:8-9):
• There is one general space-time, but "as many pa
there are distinct structures (compositions). It ma
tive in general spacetime, occurring in many pla
successively in one and the same place."
• General space-time is "without known beginning
is a continuum that varies infinitely among variou
beginnings and endings as there are instances of i
• Unlike general space-time, music space-time is en
• It is "measurable as a phenomenon in general
tuted by norms of the art of music known by the c
or traditions in which any structure is cast."
In my understanding of Charles Seeger's ideas, m
ferent from a unidimensional focus on music soun
often used to stigmatize so-called "musicological"
ogy. Rather, it is a recognition of a musical universe
to and in us. As Bell Yung notes in his article on Se
experience of music, whether in making it or perc
existence of a musical space-time in which music is
and beyond simply a sequence or aggregate of sound
also suggested the parallels between Seeger's "space-
of relativity, and I am certain that I am not alone in
that seemed much longer or shorter than the gene
clock.
Cognitive scientists have recently provided empir
sensed intuitively but could not fully articulate: w
music in ways that are qualitatively different from
other phenomena. According to Isabelle Peretz and
als suffer from "acquired music agnosia," in which
melodies (presented without words) that were highly
damage. By contrast, they are normal at recognizin
words, in general), familiar voices and other enviro
Hyde 2003:363). They conclude that "the existen
impairment and sparing of musical abilities is inco
there is a single processing system responsible for
music" (ibid.). In This Is Your Brain on Music, Danie
ent aspects of the music are handled by different n

locate sectors of the human brain involved with th
and memory, performing, tactile feedback, "languag
emotional response (Levitin 2006:86-87). He further
system appears to operate with functional independen
(ibid.: 127). Judith Becker notes that "many areas of
only the specialized acoustic areas in the temporal lob
areas of the brain stem and limbic systems" when lis
(Becker 2004: 1 1 5). She also observes that "We all kn
lar piece invokes thoughts, memories, and feelings t
the musical signal itself (ibid.).
Although my own examples (mentioned above)
remembering music could hardly qualify as "trance"
rience, it is hard to deny the recurrence of trancelik
listening to or performing music, even in such mun
room, and it is no accident that older generations' at
lar music (from swing to rock and roll to metal to r
on supposedly innocent listeners being seemingly
drugged by music. Travis Jackson has celebrated th
performance as ritual" in an article of the same nam
All of these criteria ultimately work in the service of

ence, of getting to "the next level." This next level ha
"spiritual" level of the music, the level during whic
event are in a state akin to what Psychologist Mihaly
as "flow," or what others might refer to as trance or
performance takes place seemingly on its own. Musicia
side of themselves, of their being completely in tune
them musically, of instruments playing themselves. (J
Performers and other participants experience sensat

they describe ... as being literally "out of this world."
ance seems to fit, and each individual appears to be m
is occurring. Some of the feelings associated with po
apparent nullification of time outside of the performa
venue. (ibid.:66)
In his ethnographic study of a Western music conse

Henry Kingsbury compares the constantly shifting
tions of "music" by practitioners in this system to t
(Kingsbury 1988:156-58). Elsewhere, he gives consid
sion with a conservatory faculty member he refers t
Although Andy used some terms in a way that he co

terms in the expectation that no explication would b
he knew that I was a trained musician and music edu
should be able to understand his meanings. The valu
fact that such implicit meanings and practical kno

relations. (Kingsbury 1988:31)
Without denying Kingsbury' s emphasis on social re

and many other examples he cites also suggest the
that Kingsbury (as a sanctioned senior member of
presumed to share with his informants. As scholars
our readers to challenge and explore unexamined bel
ence of musical experience is to fly in the face of e
music in unique and complex ways.
The link between Charles Seeger's concept and
musical performance in ethnomusicology can be m
centage of ethnomusicologists of all persuasions co
with musical performance, and it is in no small pa
the realm of music space-time that attracts us. Les
included on applications for research fellowships, an
of these lessons to broader cultural understanding a
it can also be argued that for many ethnomusicolog
reversed, and the possibility of extended residence
that appeals to us is one of the primary attractions of
sicology itself. For some ethnomusicologists, this i
expanded by travel and geographical displacement;
continuation of an involvement with a music they
either professionally or as an avocation.
Although the passages I have quoted in this brief
tive, they are hardly atypical. If the study of mus
occupy such a prominent role in the practice, und
sional work of ethnomusicologists, why is it given
of the field, or trivialized as "good fun and good m
many ethnomusicologists - including those whose
anthropology - continue to be actively engaged in b
musical performance that the fusion of the anthr
become a de facto reality in practice, if still elusive
Alternative perspectives: Ethnomusicology, ethn

East Asia
Or is this ongoing link between performance and research a particular aberration of

music scholarship in the United States - one that I have misleadingly portrayed as
a widespread practice in contemporary "ethnomusicology" at large? As Joep Bor
has argued:
The time may have come for ethnomusicologists to begin addressing the real ail-
ments from which their discipline is suffering. Based ... on scattered and borrowed
methods, outmoded ideas and controversial research methods, ethnomusicology
may have become an anachronism, a remnant of th

tion functions as the centre of the world and Weste
objective truth, while cross-cultural dialogue rema
main question, of course, is whether a discipline th
flourished in neo-colonial America and has remained eurocentric in orientation can
still be meaningful in today's world. (Bor 1993:73)
Despite the multiethnic and multinational origins of the scholars cited in the pre-
ceding pages (including authors originally from China, England, Ghana, Indonesia,
the Netherlands, Malaysia, and Taiwan, as well as Americans of African, Asian,
and Hispanic descent), it is undeniable that much of the discussion has centred
around ethnomusicology as taught and practiced in North America. Is this fasci-
nation with musical performance something of an American anomaly that holds
little interest for scholars of music elsewhere? Although I am aware of a number
of scholars combining performance and ethnography in Europe,10 Oceania,11 and
Africa,12 my knowledge of the literature and practices in these areas is sketchy
at best. A brief look at some scholarly and anecdotal evidence from an area with
which I am relatively familiar - East Asia - indicates that while the confluences
of scholarship, fieldwork, and performance discussed in the preceding pages are
hardly universals, they are at the very least not unique to North America. In the
final section of this article, I will discuss some examples of East Asian scholars
representing various countries and multiple generations who productively incorpo-
10. In the process of revising this article, I attempted to gather some information on prac-
tices in Europe. Although I quickly realized that trying to incorporate a few examples of
European practices and perspectives into the present article could not possibly do jus-
tice to such a rich and complex topic, I would like to mention some of the revelatory (for
me) information that scholars in Europe graciously shared with me. Joep Bor sent me an
extremely useful article of his (Bor 1993), and he and Wim van der Meer described the
impressive world-music department at the Rotterdam Conservatory, also echoing Ricardo
Trimillos in their concerns about superficial training in non- Western music masquerading
as "bimusicality"; David Hughes provided valuable details on performance and scholar-
ship at SOAS and pointed out the recent conference papers by Britta Sweer (Switzerland)
and Elena Kallimopoulou (Greece) on topics closely related to the present article; Henry
Stobard described the performance ensembles at Royal Holloway, and also provided help-
ful information on world-music ensembles at Goldsmiths, City University, York, Sheffield,
Darlington, and Belfast. I am also aware of the work of European scholars such as Jean
During (France) and Antoinet Schimmelpenninck (the Netherlands) who have had extensive
engagement with performance in the course of their research.
11. ror example, Amy Ku uleialona òtillman has been involved witn Hawaiian nula and
vocal performance throughout her career, and is currently director of the Great Lakes Hula
Academy; Allan Marett has been studying wangga songs for so long that he is now invited
to perform these songs in ritual contexts (pers. comm.).
12. For example, the late Willie Anku - my classmate, teacher, and friend - was a skilled
performer and teacher of West African drumming, and his scholarly publications such as
his dissertation (Anku 1988) were also informed by his jamming with percussionists in the
Pittsburgh parks. Although I was unfortunately unable to attend the 2009 ICTM conference
in Durban, South Africa, friends who did attend have told me that performance is currently
a theme much-discussed by African scholars.
rate musical performance into their scholarly work

separate scholarship and performance.
When I attended the Shanghai Conservatory in th
the Chinese Music Theory programme (the locus
music in the conservatory at that time) were requi
ments and take theory courses on folk song, Chines
also included a practical component of singing the
comm.) has confirmed similar requirements for stu
ogy programme at the Central Conservatory in Bei
of Chinese music theory and history participated i
though some (notably the late Li Minxiong) had con
ers.13 (Qin scholar and teacher Lin Youren was a no
conservatories and schools of music around the w
made between performance faculty and academic f
and teachers on the academic track, becoming a sch
something of a higher calling.14
With a few notable exceptions, these distinctions
formers" were also held by the stream of mainland C
ing our programme at the Chinese University of H
received training in Chinese instruments and singing
for the Shanghai and Central Conservatories, over th
only two of these students had any involvement w
fieldwork: Yang Chunwei, who drew upon her expe
player in her PhD dissertation on the Guangling sc
2002), and Qi Kun, who sometimes played pipa in th
Jiangnan sizhu in the outlying areas of greater Sha
a high percentage of the Hong Kong students in th
fieldwork that centred around their own ongoing ex
two examples, Anthony Law Bing-Kuen learned to
cultural-linguistic group as part of his research
Man Wai analysed the world of freelance performe
world in which she had already been involved for m
As in mainland China, identities as "scholars" and
chosen and assigned, and Yu Siu Wah has made insig
plexities that resulted when performers' perception
Chinese University of Hong Kong) became both an
participating in a recording session. In the end, he ar
13. During my years as a senior advanced research stud

(1981-82 and 1984-85), I never heard Li perform formal
fieldwork, he did offer an impromptu demonstration for
in a park. He later revived his career as a percussionist, re
major Chinese orchestras.
14. Somewhat paradoxically, many scholars and teache
much of their expertise during periods of what might be
during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) when they, like
to rural areas to learn from "the masses."
kind of engagement: "Through my participation, ob

conversations between the singer and musicians dur
sessions, I learned a lot about the genre [nanyin nar
tional process from an angle that most researchers w
2004). In Chinese music, the seven-stringed zither
to stand apart, in that virtually all notable contemp
ment - from Lin Youren and Bell Yung to recent Ph
Yang Yuanzheng - are accomplished performers. As
of the literati, the qin continues to be associated with
players are sometimes even disdainful of nonperfor
gathering of qin players in Hong Kong was the only
where I was frankly told in advance that if I was no
come.) Although expressing serious reservations about
cology" and its influence in China (Yung 2002:21), Be
argument for something that quite resembles "bimu
cated by Mantle Hood:
My scholarly interest in qin also returned me to serious

[he was already an accomplished pianist] . . . The qin is
and highly introspective, like a little brook, deep in the
the world; the piano is assertive, often brilliant, and al
ence, like a torrential river, sweeping bystanders along
nate to have had the chance to know both instruments an
think that serious music lovers should be involved in at
idioms, to increase their appreciation of each. (Yung
Elsewhere in East Asia, both published and anecdot

relationship between ethnomusicology, performance
form. In Japan, Tokumaru Yosihiko (syamisen) and Y
and koto) are active performers of their instruments;
sicology programmes include Japanese performance
age those in schools without these courses to study
pers. comm.). In his description of the evolution of h
sicology, Tokumaru notes that:
Returning to Merriam's classification, I was not satis

physical behavior. At first, I was not able to underst
ized that I had felt his descriptions of physical behav
he had used a telescope without contacting the peopl
dissatisfaction, I began to incorporate descriptions of t
ditional musicians into my own research. I tried to desc
cal behavior by receiving direct oral transmission from
scriptions of a purely auditory nature. Rather, I imitat
15. I have tried to faithfully follow East Asian scholars' pr

tion and the order of surname and given name. For the Japa
surnames are Tokumaru, Yamaguti, Terauchi, Tsukada, an
and all the Chinese except those who use English given nam
WITZLEBEN PERFORMING IN THE SHADOWS 1 59
words, I got the necessary information by being scold

2006:339)
Tokumaru's "invisible music theories" (Tokumaru 20

from his experience as a performer.
In addition to his ongoing activities as a perfor
Yamaguti engaged in extensive participant observatio
in Palau, and has discovered many examples of his ow
ings (pers. comm.). Naoko Terauchi is an accomplishe
gagaku, and has used this experience to discuss "con
in her analysis of the repertoire (Terauchi in press;
describes his involvement with Japanese performan
in ethnomusicology in Japan:
As a Japanese, I felt it irrational to be ignorant of my

cially because I considered myself an ethnomusicolog
in syakuhati (a bamboo flute), syamisen (a three-str
mouth organ) of gagaku, and utai (singing) of nö dram
each genre . . . The syakuhati and the syamisen mean
gist, what the piano meant to John Blacking. (Tsuka
Tsukada goes on to describe his continuing develo

including performances with orchestras in the US a
learning drumming and "nonsense syllables" from r
work in Cape Coast, Ghana (Tsukada 2002:29). The
with those in China and Korea in that it is more common for scholars to conduct
extended fieldwork on music outside of East Asia, as in the cross-cultural work of
Tsukada (1988), Yamaguti (1968), Tokumaru (who has done fieldwork in Vietnam
and Burma, as well as Japan), and Mashino Ako (2009), who has not only studied
in Bali, but also teaches Balinese gamelan in Japan.
In Korea, a somewhat different picture emerges. Park Mi-kyung (1998) and
Chae Hyun-kyung (1999) have both lamented the poor state of musicology/eth-
nomusicology in Korea, and Chae lays at least part of the blame on the exces-
sive influence of performers: "departments of performance-oriented personnel are
still promoting only performances and neglecting historical and theoretical music
education . . . Furthermore, incoherent use of the term, musicology, in higher edu-
cation also creates much doubt. Many graduate programs in music bear the title,
musicology, even though the program is in reality a joint program of performance,
composition, and in some cases theory as well" (Chae 1999:101). However, inter-
nationally acclaimed performers such as kayagum master Hwang Byungki are also
well-respected as scholars, and many scholars of Korean music such as Hwang
Jun Yon (1999) also have extensive training in the music they write about and
analyse.16
16. Hwang revealed this fact in his lecture during the 2001 Korean music workshop for
overseas music scholars. When his authority for discussing sanjo performance was chal-
lenged by one of the participants, he replied that he had in fact learned to perform the formi-
Finally, the complexities of the relationship betwee

in Thailand described by Deborah Wong (1999) ar
She notes that in Bangkok's ethnomusicology progr
have a strong background in Thai classical performan
that area (ibid.:56). Still, one of the by-products of
sicology programmes in Thailand has been the deval
authority held and passed on by performers:
Thai classical music is, and has always been, a traditio

sion and the direct passage of important knowledge (wh
tice) from teacher to disciple. While books are respec
bolic embodiments of knowledge, the deepest kinds o
and guarded. Contemporary degree programs are inste
and the accessibility of knowledge that the written w
[in the Mahidol and Prasanmit ethnomusicology prog
conflict, but even see themselves as engaged in a pursu
traditional systems of knowledge and, by implication
that traditional knowledge resides. (Wong 1999:45)
If some articles on the nature and practice of locali

cology from places such as China (Shen 1996, 199
2003) give little or no attention to the role or contrib
ance,17 it does not mean that performance does not
work of many scholars; as Yang Mu has suggested t
PRC publication that particularly and explicitly adv
as methodology ... In fact, in the area of Han music
actively participate in performance as part of their
done is to particularly and explicitly carry out any
subject of 'performance as methodology'" (pers. com
the US and UK, we have seen that performance is giv
overviews of ethnomusicology (Myers 1992a, 2001
Netti 2005), and despite the fact that reflexive ethn
in both ethnomusicology and anthropology in recen
highlighted in the present article are buried in lengt
not even noticed by any but the most diligent reader
to performance as research method appear in the tit
as the Yearbook for Traditional Music or Ethnomusic
the practice is not widespread; perhaps it is not unre
musical ethnographers in other parts of the world ma
the shadows while engaged in the research leading to
dable komungo sanjo that he was analysing.

17. Tang's article does make reference to Lü Ji's 1942 gu
where Lü "laid stress on researchers' music practice, i.e. cr
study consisted of music history, creation, singing, aesthet
2000:58).
Acknowledgements
This article has had a long gestation, beginning with a

ogy colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong K
back I received after my keynote lecture at the 2009
Southeast and Caribbean Chapter meeting was parti
Joe Bosco, Jamie Cunningham, Gavin Douglas, And
Rebecca Sager, and Andy Sutton are among the man
ments on earlier presentations or drafts. In the fin
Bohlman, Joep Bor, David Hughes, Henry Stobart,
Meer, Yamaguti Osama, Yang Mu, and Yu Siu Wa
and generously to my email queries. Finally, even m
ments by the Yearbook guest editor and the two ano
and insightful, helping me to clarify my own ideas
REFERENCES CITED
Agawu, Kofi
1 992 "Representing African Music." Critical Inquiry 1 8/2 : 245-66.
Anku, William O.
1988 "Procedures in African Drumming: A Study of Akan/Ewe Tradition
African Drumming in Pittsburgh." PhD dissertation (ethnomusicology
University of Pittsburgh.
Babiracki, Carol M.
1997 "What's the Difference? Reflections on Gender and Research in V
In Barz and Cooley 1997: 121-36.
Baily, John
2001 "Learning to Perform as a Research Technique in Ethnomusicology." British
Journal of Ethnomusicology 10/2: 85-98.
Bakan, Michael
1 999 Music of Death and New Creation: Experiences in the World ofBalinese
Gamelan Beleganjur. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Barz, Gregory E., and Timothy J. Cooley
1 997 Ed. Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology.
New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2008 Ed. Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology.
2nd ed. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Becker, Judith
2004 Deep Listeners; Music, Emotion, and Trancing. Bloomington and Indianapolis:
Indiana University Press.
Bohlman, Philip V.
2001 "Ethnomusicology III: Post-1945 Developments." In Sadie 2001 : vol. 8, 378-86.
Bor, Joep
1993 "Studying World Music: The Next Phase." In Teaching Musics of the World, ed.
Margot Lieth-Philipp and Andreas Gutzwiller, 61-81. Affalterbach, Germany:
Philipp Verlag.
162 20 1 0 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
Brinner, Benjamin
1 995 Knowing Music, Making Music: Javanese Gamela
Competence and Interaction. Chicago and London: U
Chae Hyun-kyung
1999 "Contemplating Alternative Musicology in Contem
for 'Integrative Musicology.'" Tongyang umaklY. 9
Cooley, Timothy J.
1997 "Casting Shadows in the Field: An Introduction.
3-19.
Cooley, Timothy J., and Gregory Barz

2008 "Casting Shadows: Fieldwork Is Dead! Long Live Fieldwork!" In Barz and
Cooley 2008: 3-24.
Feld, Steven
1988 "Aesthetics as Iconicity of Style, or 'Lift-up-over Sounding': Getting into the
Kaluli Groove." Yearbook for Traditional Music 20: 74-1 13.
1 990 Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression.
2nd ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. (1st ed. 1982).
Fox, Aaron A.
2004 Real Country: Music and Language in Working-Class Culture. Durham, NC,
and London: Duke University Press.
Hood, Mantle
1960 "The Challenges of Bi-Musicality." Ethnomusicology 4/2: 55-59.
1982 The Ethnomusicologist. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press. (Orig. pub.
1971).
Hood, Mantle, and Ricardo D. Trimillos
2004 "Afterword: Some Closing Thoughts from the First Voice." In Solis 2004:
283-88.
Hwang Jun Yon M&lM

1999 Yongsanhoesangyon'gu 9:{U^^M^ [A study of yongsanhoesang]. Seoul:
Seoul National University Press.
Jackson, Travis A.
2000 "Jazz Performance as Ritual: The Blues Aesthetic and the African Diaspora." In
The African Diaspora: A Musical Perspective , ed. Ingrid Monson, 23-82. New
York: Garland.
Kingsbury, Henry
1988 Music, Talent, and Performance: A Conservatory Cultural System. Philadelphia:
Temple University Press.
Kippen, James
2008 "Working with the Masters." In Barz and Cooley 2008: 125-40.
Kisliuk, Michelle
1997 "(Un)doing Fieldwork: Sharing Songs, Sharing Lives." In Barz and Cooley
1997: 23-44.
2008 "(Un)doing Fieldwork: Sharing Songs, Sharing Lives." In Barz and Cooley
2008: 183-205.
Jvoning, Jos
1980 "The Fieldworker as Performer: Fieldwork Objectives and Social Roles in
County Clare, Ireland." Ethnomusicology 24/3: 417-429.
WITZLEBEN PERFORMING IN THE SHADOWS 1 63
Law, Anthony Bing Kuen ü^Ä

2002 "Chaozhou Xianshiyue in Hong Kong: A Case Stud
the Hong Kong Chiuchow Merchants' Mutual Aid So
(ethnomusicology), Chinese University of Hong Kong
Levitin, Daniel J.
2006 This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Hu
Peneuin Books.
Lung, Mavis Man Wai tl^CÄ
2005 "Gaidong (Performance Gigs) in Hong Kong: The Ecology of Commercial
Chinese Instrumental Music Performance." MA thesis (ethnomusicology),
Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Mashino Ako i#!f 35 í
2009 "Competition as a New Context for the Performance of Balinese Gender
Wayang." Yearbook for Traditional Music 41 : 111-37.
Merriam, Alan P.
1964 The Anthropology of Music. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.
Myers, Helen
1992a "Ethnomusicology." In Ethnomusicology: An Introduction, ed. Helen Myers,
3-18. New York and London: W. W. Norton.
1992b "Fieldwork." In Ethnomusicology: An Introduction, ed. Helen Myers, 21^9.
New York and London: W. W. Norton.
2001 "Ethnomusicology II: Pre-1945." In Sadie 2001 : vol. 8, 368-78.
Myers-Moro, Pamela
1 993 Thai Music and Musicians in Contemporary Bangkok. Berkeley: Centers for
South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of California at Berkeley.
Netti, Bruno
1984 "In Honor of Our Principal Teachers." Ethnomusicology 28/2: 173-85.
2005 The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-one Issues and Concepts. New ed.
Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. (1st ed. 1983: The Study of
Ethnomusicology: Twenty-nine Issues and Concepts.)
Park Mi-kyung
1998 "What Is Ethnomusicology in Korea? An Evaluation of Its Current Status."
Tongyang umak 20: 61-91.
Pegg, Carole
2001 "Ethnomusicology I: Introduction." In Sadie 2001 : vol. 8, 367-68.
Peretz, Isabelle, and Krista L. Hyde
2003 "What Is Specific to Music Processing? Insights from Congenital Amusia."
Trends in Cognitive Science 7/8: 362-67.
Qi Kun #^
2007 Lishi de chanshi: Shanghai nanhui sizhuyue qingyin de bianqian yanjiu Míí
mmm : ±mmmBYrm^fàm^WmmiZ [Interpreting history and
place: A study of the evolution of qingyin silk and bamboo music in the south-
ern suburbs of Shanghai]. Shanghai: Shanghai Yinyue Xueyuan Chubanshe
[Shanghai Conservatory of Music Publishers].
Rice, Timothy
1997 "Toward a Mediation of Field Method and Field Experience in
Ethnomusicology." In Barz and Cooley 1997: 101-20.
1 64 2010 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
Sadie, Stanley
2001 Ed. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Music
Macmillan Publishers; New York: Grove's Dictiona
Sarkissian, Margaret
2000 D 'Albuquerque 's Children: Performing Traditio
Settlement. Chicago and London: University of Ch
Schechner, Richard
1985 Between Theater and Anthopology. Philadelphia
Press.
Seeger, Anthony
2004 Why Suya Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an
Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Seeger, Charles
1977a Studies in Musicology 1935-1975. Berkeley, Lo
University of California Press.
1977b "Introduction: Systematic (Synchronie) and His
in Musicology." In Seeger 1977a: 1-15.
1977c "Toward a Unitary Field Theory for Musicolo
1977d "Versions and Variants of 'Barbara Allen' in th
1940." In Seeger 1977a: 273-320.
Shen Qia itfè
1 996 "Minzu yinyuexue zai Zhongguo" S^^^^tì
China]. Zhongguo Yinyuexue [Musicology in Chin
1 999 "Ethnomusicology in China." Translated by Jon
China 1/1: 7-36.
Solis, Ted
2004 Ed. Performing Ethnomusicology: Teaching and Representation in World Music
Ensembles. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Stock, Jonathan P. J., and Chou Chiener
2008 "Fieldwork at Home: European and Asian Perspectives." In Barz and Cooley
2008: 108-24.
Stokes, Martin
2001 "Ethnomusicology IV: Contemporary Theoretical Issues." In Sadie 2001 : vol. 8,
386-95.
Stone, Ruth M.
2002 Ed. The Garland Encyclopedia of Music, Volume 10: The World's Music;
General Perspectives and Reference Tools. New York and London: Routledge.
Tan Sooi Beng
1993 Bangsawan: A Social and Stylistic History of Popular Malay Opera. Singapore:
Oxford University Press.
Tang Yating Ü35íT
1998 "Xifang minzu yinyuexue sixiang dui zhongguo de yingxiang: Lishi yu
xianzhuang de pinggu" B#RJ£W!fc#J&SS*Hft»» : EiHSIR
ff^tfii [The influence of Western music on China: A historical evaluation].
Yinyue Yishu [The art of music] 2/2: 21-28.
2000 "Influence of Western Music on China: An Historical Evaluation." Journal of
Music in China 2/2: 53-72. (Tang Yating's own translation of Tang 1998.)
Tenzer, Michael
2000 Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth-centu
and London: University of Chicago Press.
Terauchi, Naoko ^Ffttti
in press "Surface and Deep Structure in the Tögaku Ensem
(Gagaku)." In Analytical and Cross-Cultural Studies i
ed. Michael Tenzer and John Roeder. New York and L
Press.
Titon,JeffTodd
1997 "Knowing Fieldwork." In Barz and Cooley 1997: 87-100.
Tokumaru Yosihiko 'i%%^iM
2000 L 'aspect mélodique de la musique de syamisen. Paris: Peeters-France.
2005 "Towards a Re-evaluation of Invisible Music Theories." In Musics, Signs and
Intertextuality: Collected Papers, 207-16. Tokyo: Academia Music.
2006 "Regional Perspectives: The History of Ethnomusicology, from My
Retrospective View." Ethnomusicology 50/2: 337-44.
Tnmillos, Ricardo D.
2004 "Subject, Object, and the Ethnomusicology Ensemble: The Ethnomusicological
'We' and They.'" In Solis 2004: 23-52.
Tsukada, Kenichi J^fflÌÉ-
1988 "Luvale Perceptions of Mukanda in Discourse and Music." PhD dissertation
(social anthropology), Queen's University of Belfast.
2002 "Ethnomusicologists at Work: East Asia and North America." In Stone 2002:
27-39.
van Zanten, Wim
1989 Sundanese Music in the Cianjuran Style: Anthropological and Musicological
Aspects ofTembang Sunda. Dordrecht, the Netherlands, and Providence, RI:
Foris Publications.
Washburne, Christopher
2008 Sounding Salsa: Performing Latin Music in New York. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press.
Williams, Sean
200 1 The Sound of the Ancestral Ship: Highland Music of West Java. Oxford and
New York: Oxford University Press.
Witzleben, J. Lawrence
1 995 Silk and Bamboo Music in Shanghai: The Jiangnan Sizhu Instrumental
Ensemble Tradition. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.
1997 "Whose Ethnomusicology? Western Ethnomusicology and the Study of Asian
Music." Ethnomusicology 41/2: 220-42.
2004 "Cultural Interactions in an Asian Context: Chinese and Javanese Ensembles in
Hong Kong." In Solis 2004: 138-51.
Wong, Deborah
1999 "Ethnomusicology in Thailand: The Cultural Politics of Redefinition and
Reclamation." Tongyang umakH: 39-76.
2001 Sounding the Center: History and Aesthetics in Thai Buddhist Performance.
Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
2006 "Ethnomusicology and Difference." Ethnomusicology 50/2: 259-79.
2008 "Moving: From Performance to Performative Ethnography and Back Again. In
Barz and Cooley 2008: 76-89.
1 66 2010 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
Yamaguti Osamu [U P fît

1 968 "The Taxonomy of Music in Palau." Ethnomus ico
Yang Chunwei mWm
2002 "Shehui bianqian de Guangling qinpai" ïti^WM
pai through the Guangling school of q in playing].
cology), Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Yang Mu tíHfc
2003 "Ethnomusicology with Chinese Characteristics?
Yearbook for Traditional Music 35: 1-38.
Yu Siu Wah £'>¥
2004 "From Performance to Scholarship: Juggling among Ethnomusicology,
Performance and Musicology." Unpublished manuscript presented at the
University of Hawaii at Mänoa.
Yung, Bell SSí»tf
1999 "From Modern Physics to Modern Musicology: Seeger and Beyond." In
Understanding Charles Seeger, Pioneer in American Musicology, ed. Bell Yung
and Helen Rees, 172-83. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
2002 "Ethnomusicologists at Work: East Asia and North America." In Stone 2002:
17-26.

PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PERFORMING IN THE SHADOWS: LEARNING AND MAKING MUSIC AS

ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL PRACTICE AND THEORY

In this article, I am concerned with the ways in which engagement w

To begin, I would like to consider the propagati

It has long been recognized and accepted that the

In one sense, the term bimusicality suggests an un

1 . Many later scholars have dispensed with the hyphen,

the anthropological branch exemplified by Alan Me

Musical performance and fieldwork

Stephen Feld' s Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weepin

During my last months of fieldwork, I played my dru

were the cause of laughter and embarrassment for Ch

Participation in musical performance also plays a central role in Anthony

The Seegers' involvement in performance during fieldwork included singing

In terms of the fieldwork practices described in recent musical ethnographies, it

Indonesia) tells us much about the nature of ethnom

I conducted interviews with a variety of informants

Also working in Bangkok, Deborah Wong places p

I must say that Thai performers' traditional pedagog

Tan Sooi Beng's study of Malaysian popular ope

own instrument, the trumpet, was not part of the

In his study of tembang Sunda song and music

Learning to sing, and to play the instruments, was

If the researcher is not aware, at least to some exten

Elsewhere, he also points out how his teachers' in

enees as a musician in Bali shaped the questions I as

His book narrates his encounters with gamelan bela

Later, he elaborates on the ways in which learning, teaching, and participating in

For various reasons (including the popularity and v

Performing in the shadows

Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork

researcher. Once I put my equipment away and joine

In his chapter titled "Knowing Fieldwork," Jeff T

Knowing people making music begins with my exp

In his "Toward a Mediation of Field Method

In learning to play an instrument, I had no particular

Many years later, despite his growing understandin

When I distanced myself from music making and trie

Like Titon, Rice uses the lens of phenomenological

When the field researcher engages in acts of musica

events in epistemologically driven ethnomusicologic

In Timothy Cooley's "Introduction" to the collection, he suggests that "Because

In entering the field as a student or musical apprentice, the ethnomusicologist

In 2008, a much-expanded second edition of Shado

As I prepared to travel to India where I would undertak

By becoming an apprentice musician, Kippen exper

I didn't go to taiko in search of a research project:

Finally, Jonathan Stock and Chou Chiener's col

5 . The chapters by Barbiracki, Cooley and Barz, Kisliuk,

Chiener began to learn nanguan in her twenties, so it was

Chou's entrance into the world of performance was

Gradually, she was able to take a regular performing

I would now like to turn to another influential an

6. Mantle Hood, Ali Jihad Racy, and Hardja Susilo have

have not only become widely essentialized as rep

tion between field research and performance unde

All [the contributors] have undergone the exquisite