History in Ethnomusicology Author(s): Ludwik Bielawski and Ludwik Wiewiorkowski Source: Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol.

17 (1985), pp. 8-15 Published by: International Council for Traditional Music Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/768434 Accessed: 20/12/2009 07:47
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HISTORY IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
by Ludwik Bielawski Investigations into any music require two supplementary and interdependent orders: the systematic order (of quality and quantity) and the historical order in time and space (contact and continuity). This basic truth has not always been realized. It is the systematic musical knowledge which from antiquity has been prevailing in Europe. The turning point took place only in recent times. In the last centuries European historism had dominated the scholarship of music. An illustration of the domination of history and its theoretical consequences is the classification of musical science by Guido Adler. Its characteristic feature is a division of music into two parts: one treated historically (classical music) and one treated systematically (Vergleichende Musikwissenschaft), as if any music could be studied without consideration of these two perspectives. Much has changed since Adler's classification and two opposing trends have emerged. The stronger of the two has expressed itself in an expansion of history. We can see this in the tendency to stress the historical aspect in ethnomusicology. Conversely, historians of music are now increasingly concerned with the folk music of various periods and stress its role in culture. This trend towards an historical approach in ethnomusicology can be seen in the work of various scholars and has also found its expression in the activities of the ICTM study group, set up to investigate historical sources of folk music. This study group was initiated by Walter Wiora and organized by Benjamin Rajeczky and Wolfgang Suppan. The group's efforts led to the two separate publications with the joint title "Historiche Volksmusikforschung". In a way, this isolates and accentuates a new specialization within ethnomusicology. Another trend, less distinct, but increasingly present these days, has to do with the rapacity of theory, the theory of culture and music. Indeed, the theoretical, systematic knowledge is expanding, trying to embrace and subordinate even history. It may appear obvious, since the entirety of musical knowledge, necessarily including history, can be set in order only through a systematic approach. Moreover, in cultural anthropology, history itself has been criticized as being by no means a uniform continuum capable of giving an ordered picture of the whole past. For instance, Levi-Strauss questioned the idea that history is continuous by pointing out, not without foundation, that history counted in years and decades is different from history counted in centuries and millenia. In other words, history may be viewed from various perspectives, each of which has its own continuity. The limits of historical perspective are of course systematic categories. They are not simply an invention of cultural anthropology being applied to the historical sciences. For example, Braudel speaks of short-term and long-term history. Such

BIELAWSKI

HISTORY IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY / 9

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and orderof time. Sevenprincipal zonescharacterize temporal Fig.1. Systematic successive humanactivityand existence.The first two zones are not perceivedas timebut as light or of sound, though from the physical point of view they are temporal/frequencies light waves and acousticwaves. The next four temporal zonesare experienced time. The last as zone is conceivedonly in traditionand history.

10 / 1985 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

thoughts are related to a broader conception of time, of which history is only a part. Let me refer to the zonal theory of time which I have been developing in recent years. In analyses of time at all levels, there appears a dualism of orders: the order of succession and the systematic order. One such order of succession is history (further divided into various strands). Another order of succession is the cycle of human life, the cycle of days and years. Orders of succession also appear in music, at many levels of musical organization, including the succession of acoustic vibrations, the impulses of man's nervous system, etc. In contrast to the orders of succession is the systematic, hierarchic order of time, an ordering of time units (duration, tempo, frequency). This systematic order can be seen to consist of a number of time zones. Each time zone relates to particular ways of viewing time (see Fig. 1). Even if we exclude the zones of visible light (1) and audible sound (2), there still remain five basic time zones, of which only one is considered truly historical. The zones in question are: 3. the zone of the psychological present, 4. the zone of pieces and musical performances, 5. the zone of ecological time determined by daily, lunar, and annual rhythm, 6. the zone of sociological time and of immediate history testified by the memory of living generations, and 7. the zone of complete history and tradition. Even though history is only one of seven ways of measuring time, it retains its privileged position as it is the most comprehensive measurement of time and the one in which all others find their sense and significance. I should like to stress that my concept of history in ethnomusicology is very comprehensive; it includes the past of music and of musical cultures covered by this discipline, no matter what sources are used, what methods are applied, or how detailed and certain the results are; whether, for instance, it is based on relative or absolute chronology. Any review of the types of history in ethnomusicology should give special attention to the present time, as history must always relate to the present. The latter determines the perspective of historical processes, as it is in the present that views on the past are formed. Historical problems in ethnomusicology can be roughly divided into five major sections, those of: 1. the immediate history of local societies, 2. the mythical past and tradition, 3. the complete history of a given culture or group of cultures, 4. the history of mankind and the stages in the evolution of the world's musical cultures, and 5. the musical aspects in anthropogenesis (see Fig. 2). 1. Immediate history, held in the memory of living generations, must be regarded as particularly important in ethnomusicology since it can be a common denominator for historical investigations into all existing musical cultures, no matter how complex they are and whether or not there are documents to support them. The immediate history of local societies varies throughout the world. It may constitute the first insight into the past and is directly contiguous with the present. If documented by researchers over a period of time, it will include time which belongs to history; and this stresses the importance of immediate history for ethno-

BIELAWSKI

HISTORY IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY / 11

present immediate history of local society

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Fig. 2. Present and types of history in ethnomusicology.

musicology. However, one must remember that history contained in living memory is not wholly objective, because old people tend to idealize the years of youth. These years appear, as a rule, as a period in which culture and folk music were at their finest. This musical paradise is usually at the same historical distance, going back 40 or 50 years from the present. The particular features of such an immediate history should be an object of comparative studies both within separate musical cultures and within the history of music as a whole. It would be unwise to ignore its significance. Beverley Cavanagh's paper at the 1984 ICTM Colloquium in Wiepersdorf, GDR, was an excellent example of studies in immediate history. 2. In traditional folk cultures, immediate history does not pass into full history in the latter's scientific sense, but dissolves in tradition and myth. If we want to look at the past and the sources of music not only from the point of view of present-day learning but also from the point of view of a given culture (which is one of the premises of contemporary musical anthropology), then the tradition, faith, and musical awareness which characterize the musical past cannot be ignored by us and must be an object of comparative studies. These views have recently come into prominence. Let me recall in this connection a paper read by Steven Feld at the First ICTM Colloquium in Kolobrzeg, Poland (1981). The presence of myth and tradition in cultural awareness is not only a feature of undeveloped cultures. I think detailed investigation would reveal these features even in today's highly developed cultures, in the shape of national and social myths and in music being derived from the national spirit, from ancient folk sources, from the purity of race, and from the feeling of truth and beauty. Statements by contemporary composers suggest that they are often thinking in this way.

12 / 1985 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

3. The complete history of a given culture or group of cultures is not demonstrated simply by the memory of living generations and is therefore a traditional object of the history of music, being based primarily on extant documents. This may seem to be the main, if not the only, characteristic of music history. Ethnomusicologists envy historians this particular feature of their science, and would like to adopt this approach, too. In their science, apart from traditional history, there is a place for a retrogressive evaluation of the past on the basis of subsequent sources, including those of the present time. An example of this approach may be found in Poland in Anna Czekanowska's research on the ethnogenesis of Slavonic music. It should also be stressed that there is still much scope left for comparative and systematic studies of the history of various cultures, notwithstanding the fact that historical investigations are concerned with the documentation of the past of all the world's cultures, trying thus to establish a universal history of music. 4. The history of human cultures, as approached broadly, calls for classification, and is presented through a theory of evolutionary stages. These stages began in primitive communities and subsequently have been determining the character of music. This is far-reaching history, going back to the origins of musical culture. Once again, this is a type of and not a history which is very much a concern of ethnomusicology, concern of traditional historical musicology. In the past, in place of this far-reaching history, there were speculative theories of the origin of music or schematically conceived evolutionism (that is, attribution of some morphological qualities, especially the tonal ones, to particular stages in the evolution of cultures). More recently, an attempt has been made to recreate the image of past musical cultures from the cultures that are still with us. An attempt of this kind has been published jointly by Alan Lomax and Norman Berkowitz as a result of the Cantometrics project. 5. There is no reason why anthropogenesis, the most far-reaching type of history, should be eliminated from the sphere of ethnomusicology. One can refer to the example of Georg Knepler, who devoted the opening chapters of his history of music to this major dimension of history. In ethnomusicology, it has been the object of interest for Doris Stockmann, among others. Very valuable information can be provided by various neurobranches such as bioacoustics, psychology, specialized psychology, psycholinguistics, and others. Music can be seen as resulting from a succession of periods a, b, c, . .. n, which has led to contemporary music. From the point of view of ethnomusicology, such a simple model is quite unacceptable. In the light of ethnomusicological data, one must question the very idea of a simple succession of historical periods in which one period perishes to be replaced by a new, more complex one. This may be true of the main course of the evolutionary process, the one on which historians have been concentrating. Among the variety of musical cultures we also find the very primitive ones which are much less developed than the most ancient musical cultures that have been recorded in musical sources. Indeed, the

BIELAWSKI

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historical evolution is more like a branching structure than a straight line of succession (see Fig. 3). The present day in music is more or less a reflection of the whole history of music in the world. The various periods of ancient history have left a mark which is still visible. The remains of primitive gatherers, hunters, incipient producers, and so on, with their characteristic forms of musical life can all be seen. It appears that contemporary cultures can tell us more about the deep past of the world's musical cultures than all the historical documents put together. It is no wonder that, based on contemporary documents, conceptions have been formulated of the evolution of musical cultures in the broadest perspective. The model by Alan Lomax and Norman Berkowitz is founded on the hypothesis that the historical antiquity of a culture is inversely proportional to its differentiation. The less differentiated a culture, the farther in the past are its sources. How much this hypothesis is well-founded remains, of course, arguable. So far the Lomax-Berkowitz model can be interpreted only in the categories of relative chronology. In contrast to the method used in traditional historical musicology, the studies of the past in ethnomusicology should be based on both historical

14 / 1985 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

sources and on comparative investigations into the variety of musical cultures in the world. For the time being, however, the two lines of research seem to be developing independently of each other, and yet their synthesis is necessary. There are many different spheres of history which are essential in ethnomusicological research, and it does not matter if professional music historians agree on a systematization of these spheres. They may indicate that immediate history is not yet history, because it lacks distance and is too subjective. Music seen from the point of view of anthropogenesis is no longer history, they may say, since the distance is too great and anthropogenesis is more a biological, an exact science. The internal perspective of a given culture explaining the past of music, that is, the perspective of social awareness, myth and tradition, is not history as it cannot be verified. The far-reaching history of the stages in the evolution of musical cultures is not history, because it utilizes relative chronology and appears too hypothetical. Thus, only one "true"history remains, the one based on historical documents. In this case, we would have to assume that the various approaches to the music's past, including the "true" history in its narrow sense, are only particular areas in a broad theory and that they are part of a systematic knowledge, which also comprises ethnomusicology. But it would be simpler to describe the investigation of the past as a history seen from varous points of view. Terminological considerations are here only of secondary importance. What does matter is to show the various aspects of the musical past. This is essential for our knowledge of music and particular musical cultures the world over. To study music from various historical points of view should be the aim of contemporary ethnomusicology. Translated by Ludwik Wiewiorkowski

BIELAWSKI

HISTORY IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY / 15 REFERENCES

"Umfang, Methode und Ziel der Musikwissenschaft." Vierteljahrsschrift fur Musikwissenschaft. 1: 5-20. "The Scope, Method and Aim of Musicology." Yearbook for Traditional 1982 Music. 13: 5-21. Bielawski, Ludwik 1975 Strefowa teoria czasu i jej znaczenie dla antropologii muzycznej (Zonal Theory of Time and its Significance for Musical Anthropology). Krak6w: PWM. "The Human Perspective of Time-at the Foundations of Music." Polish 1980 Art Studies. II: 133-144. Wroclaw: Ossolineum. 1981 "The Zones of Time in Music and Human Activity." The Study of Time. IV: 173-179. Edited by J.T. Fraser, N. Lawrence, D. Park. New York: Springer Verlag. Braudel, F. 1971 Historia i trwanie. Warszawa. Cavanagh, Beverley 1984 "Toward an Inuit song chronology: Ethnohistory in relation to historical facts." Paper given at the ICTM Colloquium in Wiepersdorf, GDR, in April, 1984. Czekanowska, Anna 1972 Ludowe melodie waskiego zakresu w krajach slowianskich. Przeglad dokumentacji ir6dlowych, pr6ba klasyfikacji metoda taksonomii wroclawskiej. Krak6w: PWM. Feld, Steven 1981 "Flow like a waterfall: the metaphors of Kaluli musical theory." Yearbook for Traditional Music. 13: 22-47. 1978 Historiche Volksmusikforschung. Kongress-Bericht Seggau 1977 Referate der 5. Sitzung der Studiengruppe zur Erforschung und Edition historischer Volksmusikquellen. Herausgegeben von Wolfgang Suppan und Alois Mauerhofer. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt. 1979 Historische Volksmusikforschung. Bericht uber die 4. Arbeitstagung der Studiengruppe zur Erforschung und Edition historischer Volksmusikquellen im IFMC vom 7. bis 12 April 1975 in Kazimierz Dolny. Herausgegeben von Ludwik Bielawski, Alois Mauerhofer, Wolfgang Suppan. Krak6w: PWM. Knepler, Georg 1977 Geschichte als Weg zum Musikverstiindnis: Zur Theorie Methode und Geschichte der Musikgeschichtsschreibung. Leipzig: Verlag Philipp Reclam jun. Levi-Strauss 1969 Mysl nieoswojona (La pensee sauvage). Warszawa. Lomax, Alan with Norman Berkowitz 1972 "The Evolutionary Taxonomy of Culture: A few behavioral factors account for the regional variation and evolutionary development of culture." Science. 177: 228-239. Stockmann, Doris 1982 "Musik und Sprache in intermodaler asthetischer Kommunikation." Yearbook for Traditional Music. 13: 60-81.

Adler, Guido 1885