CAT 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Piedmont Blues, Crazy Blues, Melodic Pattern
Agenda
● Roy’s purpose
â—Ź Musical genre
â—Ź The effects of technology
â—Ź Racialization of shared musical practices
Housekeeping
â—Ź Blog post now due on Monday 10/16 11:59pm
â—Ź Next week viewing: Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
â—‹ On reserve.ucsd.edu. Check TritonEd
Roy’s critique of “old” homology
â—Ź Reductionism - a complex phenomena can be analyzed and understood through simpler
phenomena
â—‹ Ex. behaviorism in psychology - any behavior can be explained by processes of
reward or punishment
● A “static view” of music and culture
● Based on a Marxist conception of “base” (the behavior of people) and “superstructure”
(cultural, economic, or political forces)
Reductionist homology
● Alan Lomax’s “cantometrics” - qualities of a culture’s vocal-based music indicate social
values and beliefs
â—‹ Musical qualities rated according to 37 different elements (e.g. breathiness,
raspiness, high tension)
â—‹ Statistically correlated to culturally qualities from 1940s era study
â—‹ 10 songs from 400 different cultures
â—‹ Ex. multi-voice singing was more prevalent in cultures with less restrictions on
women
● An attempt to find “universal truths” about music production
A different take on homology
● Roy’s definition: “Homology is thus a synchronous state of affairs denoting a
correspondence between aesthetic boundaries, such as genres, and social boundaries,
such as race, gender, or class” 267
â—Ź Each instance of music/culture requires its own analysis
â—‹ No over-arching categories
â—‹ No persistent modes of causality
Two modes of relationships
Bridging
â—Ź Moving between racial groups
â—Ź Exchange and fusion when in symmetrical power
â—Ź Appropriation when in asymmetrical relationships
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Blog post now due on monday 10/16 11:59pm. Next week viewing: pete seeger: the power of song. Reductionism - a complex phenomena can be analyzed and understood through simpler phenomena. Ex. behaviorism in psychology - any behavior can be explained by processes of reward or punishment. A static view of music and culture. Based on a marxist conception of base (the behavior of people) and superstructure (cultural, economic, or political forces) Alan lomax"s cantometrics - qualities of a culture"s vocal-based music indicate social values and beliefs. Musical qualities rated according to 37 different elements (e. g. breathiness, raspiness, high tension) Statistically correlated to culturally qualities from 1940s era study. Ex. multi-voice singing was more prevalent in cultures with less restrictions on women. An attempt to find universal truths about music production. Roy"s definition: homology is thus a synchronous state of affairs denoting a correspondence between aesthetic boundaries, such as genres, and social boundaries, such as race, gender, or class 267.
