Reimagining the archive as thick sound: A case study of Dhrupad from Bettiah and beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-58
Author(s):  
Sumitra Ranganathan
Keyword(s):  
Complex I ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
Indian Classical Music ◽  
And Function ◽  
Archival Work

The ephemerality of music is a consuming philosophical problem; it is also a practical dilemma for archivists and researchers. For oral traditions such as Indian classical music, notations, recordings and transcriptions fail to capture much of what is communicated in musical performance, which problematizes the creation and function of archives. This article explores an approach to archiving musical practices in relation to constitutive processes of emplacement, a complex I denote by the term ‘thick sound’. Using a rich and historic Dhrupad tradition as a case study, I discuss how I used documentary, material, aural, embodied and sensory performance data to construct my archive. I investigate the ways in which such documentation captures ecologies of music-making and the challenges posed for the analysis of histories of (thick) sound. I conclude by discussing the implications for theorizing archival work as active intervention, mediating relationships of past, present and future.

scholarly journals Musical Practices in the Funeral Context: A Case Study of Cemeteries in the Ljubljana Region in 2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-241
Author(s):  
Anita Prelovšek
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Instrumental Ensemble ◽  
Vocal Ensemble ◽  
Musical Practices

In Ljubljana and in its surroundings the music at a traditional funeral still consists usually of a vocal ensemble or a trumpet, but in 2016 this has increasingly tended to be replaced by a girl’s vocal and instrumental ensemble. The choice of music depends largely on the wishes of the relatives of the deceased. Folk music predominates, followed by popular music; the music requested least is classical music. The most frequently performed songs of the year 2016 were: Gozdič je že zelen, Lipa zelenela je and Nearer my God to Thee.

Too Many Notes: Computers, Complexity and Culture in Voyager

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
George E. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Computer Music ◽  
Music Composition ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
And Function ◽  
Independent Behavior

The author discusses his computer music composition, Voyager, which employs a computer-driven, interactive & “virtual improvising orchestra” that analyzes an improvisor's performance in real time, generating both complex responses to the musician's playing and independent behavior arising from the program's own internal processes. The author contends that notions about the nature and function of music are embedded in the structure of software-based music systems and that interactions with these systems tend to reveal characteristics of the community of thought and culture that produced them. Thus, Voyager is considered as a kind of computer music-making embodying African-American aesthetics and musical practices.

Improvisation and Value in Rock, 1966

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-232
Author(s):  
DAVID BRACKETT
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
White Male ◽  
Musical Style ◽  
Cultural Hierarchy ◽  
Musical Transformation ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
Indian Classical Music

AbstractThe mid-1960s has figured as a central period in the historiography of popular music, but the role of improvisation has been little discussed. This article argues that issues of improvisation and value are crucial to understanding the emergence of a high-low split within popular music, a division that figures prominently in criticism and fan discourse up to the present day. This new stratification within popular music made it possible for rock to acquire critical prestige relative to other popular music genres. The formation of rock also relied on its association with a primarily white, male, middle-class demographic. This article demonstrates that rock's prestige rests simultaneously on maintaining this narrow demographic profile while locating aesthetic and spiritual value in musical practices coming from elsewhere (in terms of geography, race, or cultural hierarchy): blues, Indian classical music, jazz. The socio-musical transformation in which improvisation played such an important role is explored through a survey of recordings and an analysis of the development of rock criticism in 1966, the year in which a new constellation of aesthetics, politics, and musical style crystallized.

Practice, performance and the archive: Cases from Indian classical music genres

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Aditi Deo ◽  
Lakshmi Subramanian
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Sound Studies ◽  
Music Genres ◽  
Practice Performance ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
Indian Classical Music ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Musical Networks ◽  
Affective Dimensions

Given their emphasis on oral pedagogy and improvisatory approaches, Indian classical music genres present a challenge for constructing historically nuanced studies of musical practices, shifts in them over time and their links to broader developments. Much scholarship on Indian classical music tends to maintain loyalties to disciplinary silos such as social and cultural history, cultural studies and ethnomusicology, often sacrificing aspects of the spectrum of musical experiences. The dispersed nature of musical networks has meant that the archive for studying the phenomena of listening to, learning and disseminating music is fragmented, mobile and multi-local, not easy to capture with conventional methodologies of historical reconstruction or even purely ethnographic fieldwork. A central concern that drives the articles in this issue is a focus on exploring musical sound, repertoire and practices as archives. Such a focus raises two kinds of challenges. One is the identification of archives that can capture the ephemerality and immediacy of these musical practices; the other is the question of interpretive methods that can faithfully reflect the aesthetic and affective dimensions of musical practice. The contributors to this Special Issue explore a range of historical records centred on music ‐ notations, compilations, repertoires, biographies, texts, anecdotes, performances, recordings, pedagogic tools ‐ as their primary archives. Drawing upon disciplinary insights from cultural history, ethnomusicology and sound studies, and often in conversation with musicians and listeners, they offer conceptual and methodological lenses for reading such archives productively.

Blurred affinities: tracing the influence of North Indian classical music in Keith Jarrett's solo piano improvisations

Popular Music ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-142
Author(s):  
Gernot Blume
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Country Rock ◽  
Western World ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Solo Piano ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Cultural Climate ◽  
Indian Classical Music ◽  
Indian Music ◽  
Musical Traditions

In the first forty years of his career, American pianist Keith Jarrett has established a reputation in multiple stylistic directions. Jarrett has typically incorporated influences as varied as bebop, country, rock, gospel, minimalism, baroque and classical styles into his often lengthy improvisations. Vital to his musical persona, but less obvious, is the influence North Indian classical music has had in shaping Jarrett's improvisatory strategies. Although he never formally studied Indian music, and although his instrument – the piano – is far removed from the conceptual backdrop of North Indian raga performance, Indian music was a central component in the artistic climate out of which his improvised solo recitals grew.A cultural climate of global influences was the backdrop to the development of Jarrett's solo concerts. Therein, perhaps, lies one key to understanding the spell that this music has cast on large and international audiences. With this format, Jarrett tapped into the ambiance of a particular historic moment, which combined a desire for change with the discovery of spiritual and musical traditions outside the Western world.In this paper I will demonstrate how explicit and implicit references to classical Indian principles of music making helped shape Jarrett's unique free solo concerts.

scholarly journals North Indian Classical Music and Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s Generative Theory – a Mutual Regard

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Tonal Music ◽  
Critical Position ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
Musical Knowledge ◽  
Finite Set ◽  
Flow Of Time ◽  
Indian Classical Music ◽  
The One

This article applies aspects ofA Generative Theory of Tonal Musicby Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff to the analysis of Hindustani (North Indian) classical music, with a double-edged purpose. On the one hand, theGTTMmethodology is used to illuminate the workings of anālāp(as performed by Vijay Rajput, a vocalist in thekhyālstyle). On the other hand, the analysis acts as a case study to assess the viability of this methodology for the analysis of Indian classical music, and in particular, to test out Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s claim thatGTTMpresents a universal musical grammar, transcending specific cultures.This pilot study considers what modifications would be necessary toGTTM’s preference rules to make a viable generative theory for Hindustani classical music—or at least for its melodic aspects, governed as these are by the principles ofrāg. With such modifications, it is possible to formally represent levels of musical knowledge involved in the production and perception of this music, and to verify the generative principles whereby a performer is able to improvise a potentially infinite number of musical utterances from a finite set of rules.The investigation also fosters a critique of Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s theories. Among the questions addressed is that of the diachronic modeling of improvised musical performance—which, unlike the score-based studies ofGTTM, cannot be analyzed entirely outside the flow of time. Consistent with this critical position is the conclusion that, rather than the pursuit of universals per se, it is an openness to the tension between universals and particulars that may lead to the most valuable knowledge.

scholarly journals An Overview of the Indian system of Raagas and their Positive Effects on Health

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Nandakishor Mutalik Desai ◽  
◽  
Dattatreya Mutalik Desai ◽  
Kirthana Kunikullaya ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Third Trimester ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
First Case ◽  
Indian Classical Music ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Sample Case

Music is often known to stimulate the neurological physiology as well as physical health due to its therapeutic abilities. This article presents a detailed review about the Indian classical music (ICM) Raagas with their relationship to the time of the day during which it is played, the season of the year during which it has a maximal positive effect as well as its relationship to Vaatha, Pittha and Kapha. Two sample case studies with melodic scales are reviewed wherein the first case study relates to the successful stress reduction using Darbari kanada Raaga for subjects undergoing gastroendoscopy and the second one highlights the reduction of blood pressure and heart rate for hypertensive women in their third trimester of pregnancy. A meaningful conclusion is drawn by providing a comprehensive assessment about these two case studies thereby emphasizing on the positive effects of music therapy.

Karpophoroi deities and the Attic cult of Ge. Notes on IG II2 4758

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 193-203
Author(s):  
Jenny Wallensten
Keyword(s):  
The Earth ◽  
And Function

Karpophoros, fruit-bearing, is an epithet easily considered as “literary”, i.e., a poetic name with little or no relation to cult. The epigraphic sources, however, clearly show us that gods thus named were offered divine worship. The epithet is found in connection with several deities. Goddesses of agriculture, such as Demeter, and Ge, the Earth, naturally carry this name, but so do Zeus, Dionysos and a goddess known as “The Aiolian”, who was sometimes associated with Agrippina. This paper surveys deities known as karpophoroi and examines what their cult entailed. Its focus is, however, on a brief Acropolis inscription, IG II2 4758, where Ge is honoured as Karpophoros, in accordance with an oracle. The case study provides insights into the Attic cult of Ge, the epithet Karpophoros, as well as the use and function of epithets within Greek dedicatory language.

Could There Be Deleuzian Assessment in Music Education?

2019 ◽  
pp. 121-136
Author(s):  
Lauren Kapalka Richerme
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Continuous Assessment ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
Contemporary Education

Authors of contemporary education and arts education policies tend to emphasize the adoption of formal, summative assessment practices. Poststructuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s emphasis on ongoing differing and imaginative possibilities may at first glance appear incompatible with these overarching, codified assessments. While Deleuze criticizes the increasing use of ongoing assessments as a form of control, he posits a more nuanced explanation of measurement. This philosophical inquiry examines four measurement-related themes from Deleuze’s writings and explores how they might inform concepts and practices of assessment in various music teaching and learning contexts. The first theme suggests that each group of connective relations, what Deleuze terms a “plane of immanence,” demands its own forms of measurement. Second, Deleuze emphasizes varieties of measurement. Third, those with power, what Deleuze terms the “majority,” always set the standard for measurement. Fourth, Deleuze derides continuous assessment. His writings suggest that music educators might consider that assessments created for one musical practice or style should not transcend their own “plane of immanence,” that a variety of nonstandardized assessments is desirable, that the effect of measurement on “minoritarian” musical practices must be examined carefully, and that it is essential to ponder the potentials of unmeasured music making.

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