MUSC105 Exam Prep

Essentialism

Essentialism presupposes that a group or category of objects or people share some defining features exclusive to the members of this particular group or category. Essentialism is evident in hip-hop as there are many stereotypes created from this culture. Hip-hop artists are often criticised for being materialistic and their historical context is derived from rough places such as the Bronx. As discussed in lectures, Eminem is in contrast to the essentialist ideas of hip-hop and defies our pre-conceived notions of hip-hop stereotypes. This is evident in his race and background.

Authenticity

Historical Authenticity: · Authenticity as authorial intention · Authenticity as contemporary sound: reflects the particular context it is in Authenticity as contemporary practice: the way in which people are interacting

Exoticism

In music, exoticism is a genre in which the rhythms, melodies, or instrumentation are designed to evoke the atmosphere of far-off lands or ancient times and romanticise these exotic qualities. Closely linked to orientalism but exoticism focuses more on the technical musical aspects and not on a movement necessarily associated with a particular time or period. An example of exotic music is Rameau's Les Indes Sauvages (1735) as it represents an exotic/ethnic difference as it may be perceived in the 19th/20th century. It also shows a cross-cultural encounter.

Historiography

'-graphy' = writing, 'hitorio-' = to do with history The writing of history. Related to canon, the works/composers that are used to tell the story and what/who are left out. Artists who fit the narrative (maintaining dominant style or teleoligally leading to new style) get included and those who don't fit/help progress the narrative get left out. Linked with DeVeaux's "Constructing the Jazz Tradition" discusses the creation of a canon of musician's to create Jazz historiography.

Bartok, "The Influence of Peasant Music on Modern Music"

- A number of composers at the beginning of the 20th century visited small Hungarian villages - The peasant music which was played in these areas strongly influenced the music to come - Bartok questioned that the effects of the music could not be deep or permanent unless the peasant music, history and tradition, had been studied to gain a full understanding - This also raises ideas of authenticity and can be related to terms such as: • Aura

Reich, "Music as Process"

- Argues that it is better to have a perceptible process in one listening rather than having to re-listen - Composed pieces that exemplify the use of perceptible processes through listening. E.g. "Come Out" and "Music for 18 Musicians - Pulse". Reich wasn't interested in hidden structural devices - Acquiring insight into how music is constructed demands a different type of listening focus, different from what you listen for when listening casually - "To facilitate closely detailed listening, a musical process should happen extremely gradually."

Berg, "Why is Schoenberg's Music so Hard to Understand?"

- Argues that music is meant to be listened to more than once - Uses the example of Schoenberg's music to show how music such as this can be explained through "thematic, contrapuntal, and rhythmic beauties" (i.e. The theory behind the compositions). These aspects are what contribute to the difficulty of understanding his music. - His view opposite to that of Reich's

Race and Ethnicity

- Biological vs. Cultural - Related to essentialism - Musical ideas reflect ideas about ethnicity rather than race - E.g. Hip Hop rappers are meant to be black

DeVeaux, "Constructing the Jazz Tradition"

- By creating the jazz tradition, there is a selection of people that 'tell the story' - Creating a canon of the Jazz genre by fitting only influential people in at certain times - Simplifying the Jazz story so it can be explained in a book - As a result, a large number of musician are not mentioned - An example of this is the contents of a book we were shown in a lecture on music and narrative in early May. The only artists it listed in the history of Jazz development were: • Duke Ellington • Count Basie • Miles Davis • John Coltrane • And a combination of Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans - Can be related to such terms as: • Canon • Historiography (the writing of Jazz history)

Madrid, "Dancing with Desire"

- Ethnography of Nortec music - About finding North-Mexican identity

Cusick, "On Musical Performances of Gender and Sex"

- External and Internal à can you change your voice inside???

Brooks, "On Being Tasteless"

- Giving equal value to music is being tasteless which is impossible - He recognises that it is not hard to have bad taste and this idea of bad taste simply means making choices that offend those with good taste - "It is hard to be tasteless" - Being tasteless requires great dedication as it means to give all music equal value but we are always forced to choose - Framework of taste is socially constructed - Taste reflects the listener, not the music and choice of music helps form individual identity - Can relate to terms: • Taste vs. Value • Distinction (construction of good taste) • Pseudo-individualisation

Shuker, "NZ Popular Music, Government Policy, and Cultural Identity"

- Government willingness (NZ on Air) to get behind local music is the key for the industries growth through this period of global economic downturn - Government supports the industry because of its economic values - Provides statistics about NZOA funding of local music - 90% of all NZ music is supplied by multinational record companies - Difference between 'local music' and locally recorded music - 'Local music' is music which is influenced by international music but includes elements of a distinctive New Zealand identity - Locally recorded music is music that is constrained by international ideas and has no local context. It is just international music recorded in New Zealand by New Zealand bands and record companies

Burkholder, "Museum Pieces"

- He compares the museum to the "Ivory Tower" of the classics - Discusses new music competing for a place in the museum of the great composers - New composers don't just write music to be popular now, but rather specifically write to have a place in the 'museum'. This establishes a divide between popular and museum pieces. - Essentially talking about a canon as these composers that are competing want to be categorised hierarchically above others to establish a place in the 'museum'

Taruskin, "On Letting the Music Speak for Itself"

- His article begins with an anecdote which may misinform the reader that Taruskin believes that the music can speak for itself but in actual fact, he believed the opposite. - Authenticity: Taruskin makes the point that musicians want to be authentic in their performances....

Abramovitch, "Nevermind"

- How political rock became opposed - In Abramovich's "Nevermind", he discusses the artists Rage Against the Machine, Woody Guthrie and other political bands. He argues that Rage Against the Machine's lyrics are quite vague compared to Woody Guthrie's which are more specific. He goes on to say that Rage "had all the trappings of even the most political bands that had come before it" but their lyrics were so simple that it was often hard to tell what stance they were taking. Politics can be expressed in music through the lyrics and/or performance and/or commentary.

Iyer, "Exploding the Narrative in Jazz Improvisation"

- Iyer asks how an improvised solo can convey meaning or "tell a story." He develops a theory of jazz improvisation around his idea of hearing the body. To Iyer, the effectiveness of improvisation, particularly its rhythmic aspect, depends on an awareness by producers and listeners of the physical actions involved and their situation within a shared social environment, which creates a cascade of meaningful events in an "exploded" (i.e., not conventionally linear) narrative.

Levitin, "What Makes a Musician?

- Levitin discusses the 10,000 hours practice to become an expert at something - Questions what it takes to be an 'expert' musician - Musical expertise has been defined as technical achievement - mastery of an instrument or of compositional skills - This expertise is either a result of talent or brain training and practice - Talent is the idea that people acquire musical skills faster than others (usually children) - Levitin argues that practice is the cause of expertise - 10,000 hours theory of practice equates to someone becoming an expert - A combination of talent and practice is what makes a musician - Talent can be under utilised by not practicing and practice is pointless if the brain does not learn new techniques

Usner, "Dancing in the Past, Living in the Present"

- Neo-swing in the 90s - Neo-swing is a reinvention of the swing dance present in America in the 1930's and 1940's - Neo-swing was created by a subculture of White, middle-class, suburban youth - Is a practice of one of the positive aspects of 1940's American youth culture behaviour - Nostalgia, taking idealised aspects - Identity, historicism and historical re-enactment

Seeger, " a D.I.Y. Ethnography of Performance"

- Outlines what makes a performance ethnography. He makes the point that an ethnography should start like journalist research with the 5Ws and H. However, an ethnography is not complete without the collaboration of different perspectives to influence the research carried out and add to the knowledge of the subject. An ethnography is to give the reader a full understanding of the social context of the experience.

DeNora, "Music and Self-Identity"

- Performance of self to self - Performance to others - De Nora discusses how music can reflect your growth and development of yourself due to changes in music taste and preferences. She also uses the term 'prosthetic biography' which can be used when talking about how music is a tool that can revoke past feelings or emotionally heightened events.

Small, "Music and Musicking"

- Small introduces the idea that music is not a thing (noun) but an action (verb). The idea of "musicking" can be exemplified in a performance where it is the contribution of many sources, not just the specific musicians who are performing. For example, in a concert performance, the "musicking" action could be performed not only by the rock band, but also by the sound engineers, lighting crew, and even the roadies who clear the stage after the music has finished being played.

Cook, "Musical Values"

- The value we put into different types of music - Music in television commercials - Authenticity in music: Cook argues that if musicians lack authenticity, they are "at the bottom of the hierarchy of musicianship". Authenticity elevates a musician in the hierarchy. - Words and music

Davis, "Sexism and the Art of Feminist Hip-Hop Maintenance"

- Uses the example of Queen Latifah and how she raps about female empowerment - Davis writes how there will always be songs objectifying women but there is always the option to not let these influence you

Merriam's Social Functions

1. Physical response 2. Aesthetic enjoyment 3. Entertainment 4. Emotional expression 5. Communication 6. Symbolic representation 7. Enforcing conformity to social norms 8. Validating social institutions and religious rituals 9. Continuity and stability of culture 10. Integration of society

4'33"

4'33'' is a piece of music written by John Cage in which the performer(s) just simply do nothing for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. John Cage's idea was that there is music in everyday life. The performer(s) do nothing for 4'33'' but other things around them make music. E.g. the wind outside, people murmuring or the sound of people leaving.

Historicism

A cultural object can only be understood in its historical context. Historicism presupposes that a cultural artefact or performance can only be understood in the historical contexts of its production and/or reception. It can be argued that knowing the historical context of a piece makes a difference on your listening. Schoenberg and Stravinsky's works are examples of benefiting from knowing the historical contexts when listening. Schoenberg was a Russian composer of the middle 20th century. He used Serialism and 12 tone music and this musical development seemed to reflect broader external pressures of his time. Stravinsky wrote Symphony of Song and The Rite of Spring. Riots broke out at the premier of The Rite of Spring.

Hip-hop

A musical genre closely associated with essentialism. - Aspects of Hip Hop that are 'required' are to be black and from the Bronx - Eminem is an obvious exception as he is white and from a middle class neighbourhood

Ideology

A set of beliefs or ideas

Gesamtkunstwerk

A term first used by Richard Wagner(1813-1883) and reflected his aesthetic ideals. Wagner used Gesamtkunstwerk as a new kind of opera that unified all works of art through theatre.

Value and Education

A term which discusses cultural capital and the NCEA system. *see cultural capital

Neoclassicism

A trend in early twentieth-century art music composition in which composers "look back" to broadly defined ideas, forms, or aesthetics of musical "classicism." An example is Nortec music, a hybrid dance music which comprises of North Mexican folk music and techno.

Talent

As discussed in the Levitin reading.

Aura

Aura describes the process of a piece of art or music being reproduced and made into copies. It reflects on the idea of what we see as authentic or fake and the feeling we derive from this original or imitation. It extends on the ideas of autographic and allographic.

Hepburn/ACDC

Both iconic images - Audrey Hepburn from "Funny Face" and ACDC's song, seemingly opposites, combined in an ad to promote and advertise GAP's "skinny black pants". In correlation with the term "Song Topology" as the ad exemplifies both musical and non-musical ideas.

Standardization

Certain aspects of a song (standard) that are required for a song to be a part of a specific genre - Relates to essentialism but refers to the music rather than the performer - E.g. 12 Bar blues is a standard feature of blues music

Authenticity v. Novelty

Music that was merely entertaining was banished from the concert hall, opening a schism between serious and popular music. Within the concert repertoire, the status of old and new music was inverted; the classics gained tremendous prestige, and new works had to compete with them for performances and recognition. Composers came to conceive of their work as creating classics, pieces that aspired to the same prestige and permanence as the masterpieces of the past. Composers have sought simultaneously to join in the tradition yet proclaim their individuality by revising the forms, the procedures, and even the music of their predecessors. Composers and musicians in competing camps have sought to define themselves in relation to the past tradition and to each other.

Music and Politics

Music used as a political vehicle. In Abramovich's "Nevermind", he discusses the artists Rage Against the Machine, Woody Guthrie and other political bands. He argues that Rage Against the Machine's lyrics are quite vague compared to Woody Guthrie's which are more specific. He goes on to say that Rage "had all the trappings of even the most political bands that had come before it" but their lyrics were so simple that it was often hard to tell what stance they were taking. Politics can be expressed in music through the lyrics and/or performance and/or commentary.

Song topology

Musical and non-musical ideas combine to help people associate with and remember different things. In lectures, we discussed the GAP "skinny black pants" ad which featured Audrey Hepburn from "Funny Face" and ACDC's song, "Back in Black". Audrey Hepburn and ACDC seemingly total opposites combine to advertise a product.

Pseudo individualization

Notion of Adorno. People express their individual identities despite other peoples creativity which resulted in the formation and writing of the piece. However, standardisation means that this could be the same for millions who all think they can associate with it and that it displays their individual identity.

Expressionism

Presenting the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist composers used atonality self-consciously to free their work from traditional tonality. - E.g. Schoenberg and his 12 tone work Opus. 23

Stimulus progression

Related to MUZAK or elevator music. Stimulus progression is a system which provides people with a psychological "lift" - a subconscious sense of forward movement achieved through programming sounds broken up into different blocks of time. Within each of these segments, tunes are ordered from least to most stimulating. The stimulus value of each segment is determined by factors such as tempo, rhythm, instrumentation and orchestra size.

Formatting

Related to Radio. Description of the overall content of the radio station.

"the music itself"

Relates to the idea of letting the music "speak for itself", talked about by Taruskin. The idea of execution (adhering as closely to the direction of the composer/score as possible in order to express the 'true' meaning of the work) against the idea of interpretation (the performer brings what s/he knows, has experience etc, to the piece to produce their own interpretation of it). The term implies that a musical text or piece exists in its own right, outside of a composer, performer or listener, and that it can ever have its own ideas or emotions to portray. E.g. Schoenberg wishing that people could simply read the musical score instead of hearing a performance, so that the music would be able to speak for itself.

Claim v. Opinion v. Fact

Relevant in the argument essay we completed in the last weeks of the course - Claim: something that can be contested and discussed - Opinion: A subjective belief that can not be discussed or debated - Fact: Something that can be verified and can not be discussed or debated

Sound v. Discourse

Similar to listening vs. talking. When you listen to music yourself you get a very different opinion than when listening and discussing with someone else.

Biology v. Culture

The "innate" vs. "learned". The difference between what is biological (i.e. who we are) and what is culture (i.e. aspects that we have learnt as being part of a culture). This term can be discussed when talking about the ways in which music reflects/inflects our ideas about differences between people. This can be linked to essentialism and can be exemplified with the stereotypes of hip-hop and the contrast Eminem has in comparison with these stereotypes. We can ask how much biology and culture is a part of the differences between the two.

Strategic Essentialism

The deliberate invocation of essentialist ideas for a political purpose.

Place v. Space

The idea that music can exist/happen anywhere. "Place" refers to fixity, security, tangibility, physicality, experience and the individual. "Space" refers to movement, opportunity, conceptual, abstract, constructed and social. Music's "space producing qualities" can be explored through "the relationship between the identity of the artist/performer and the music produced". Different forms of music are produced and consumed in different 'spaces' or contexts.

"Musiciking"

The idea that music is a verb and not a noun. Music isn't a stable, solid thing. It's something we do that everyone involved has a role to play. "Musicking" isn't just the playing of music, it's also how someone listens to the music and interprets it. "Muskicking" can be used in the context of performing, listening, composing etc. The idea is outlined by Small in "Music and Musicking". For example, the person who puts out the seats for a concert is important and just as much a part as the conductor or composer.

Cartesian dualism

The mind and the body exist as two separate entities. The idea that there is a clear separation between inhumane logic and passionate emotion. - E.g. The common cliché in pop songs about love that: "the heart says yeas, but the head says no"

World Music

The music as it pertains to cultural and ethnic groups around the world. This typically refers to types of music not in the western musical canon, such as tribes in Africa or Papua New Guinea. 1. Music's deep connection to social identities has been distinctively intensified by globalization. 2. Sound recording technologies to amplify sonic exchange to a point that overwhelms prior and contiguous histories of travel, migration, contact, colonization, diaspora, and dispersal. ... Not only does contemporary technology make all musical worlds actually or potentially transportable and hearable in all others, but this transportability is something fewer and fewer people take in any way to be remarkable. 3. Tensions around the meanings of (musical globalization) parallel other tensions that characterize global processes of separation and mixing...

Allographic v. Autographic

The original manuscript is the Autographic. Allographic copy is a form and it is irrelevant if that copy is copied. Copies are meant to be exact so the performance of them can be the same. Related to authenticity and 'The Music itself'.

Genealogy

The pattern of musical genres that have contributed to the development of new genres. Genealogy is how these genres or sub-genres developed from the original. - E.g. Jazz is considered to be a genre with many sub-genres, including New Orleans jazz, ragtime, swing, bebop, free jazz, and Latin jazz.

Distinction

The set of values and standard at which the dominant naturally enforces. We do this just by existing and creating requisites for others to achieve before they can assume equal distinction. For instance, a top musician sets the high level of performance or composition that must be at least matched before an aspiring musician can gain distinction.

Cultural capital

The social value attached to certain kinds of cultural activities that displays some kind of inside knowledge, class or distinction. This idea stems from the Frenchman Pierre Bordieu. Having 'cultural capital' requires a powered move to become higher up hierarchically than others. An example of this is NCEA where gaining merit or excellence endorsements shows gain of cultural capital.

Resistance Vernaculars

The terminology used by people belonging to a specified group or engaging in a specialized activity (Vernacular). Resistance is the idea of refusing to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument. Therefore, Resistance vernacular is the refusal of a group to accept or comply and translating their feelings towards a certain issue through the lyrics in their song. This is common in a lot of Hip Hop music.

Subjectivity

The way in which music is perceived is subjective. Can be linked to the idea of being tasteless found in Brooks reading

Taste v. Value

This is Brooks idea that he talks about in his article "On being tasteless." - Used to distinguish between the subjective and objective values of music - Taste is subjective and value is objective - He also emphasises that is it very hard to be tasteless and it requires dedication to have no opinion

Reification

Treating an idea or concept as a physical thing. A term discussed by Small in "Music and Musicking".

Orientalism

Used by American and European composers to imitate or describe aspects of Middle East and East Asian cultures. E.g. Mozart's Alla Turca.

Musique Concrete

Using sounds of non-musical related objects to create a musical piece. Musique concrete was a post WWII concept often using construction-like sounds (e.g. glass smashing) to create works. Musique concrete can be exemplified in Matmos' compositions such as "Lipostudio... And So On" and "California Rhinoplasty". Sonic arts incorporated in education institutions.

Canon

Where a selection of songs is hierarchically elevated above others and said to be representative of the whole. For instance, the classical canon of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms etc. is seen as representing the whole of classical music at the time, even though some may have been completely different.