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	Music as Expressive Culture Robert Garfias Chapter II Culture as a Determinant and Definer of Music Structure How Culture Defines the Elements of a Music Finding Meaningful Segments When we listen to music we seek something familiar in it. If we find no recognizable guideposts, we must then try to make sense out of what we hear from scratch. Our culture, that is, our past experience and exposure establish these guideposts for us. These guideposts mark off areas or periods of the music into meaningful segments. One step towards understanding a new music is try to isolate what may be significant units or subsections. In a situation in which we are faced with a music style with which we have no familiarity, we naturally try to first make sense of it using our previous experience with music with which we are already familiar. Should this not yield a key, and should we decide to continue, we must then try to make sense of the music in its own terms. Until we can figure out somethingabout how the music was put together, attempting to identify the meaningful segments of that music may be difficult. The key to finding these segments lies in the culture. What is Music Music seems to be everywhere and is very important to many of us. Music and language are two elements that appear in all human societies and thus are part of what defines us as human. Music, like language communicates to us, from us and between us, but unlike language, we cannot be certain just what is that music communicates. All human societies have music. Among some peoples, music is heard only at certain special times, for example, when the entire community is together and all participate in the ceremony or in the performance as a group. In other societies, such as our own, we can each select our own favorite music, something which often changes for us as the time passes, and we tune in and drop out as we lose ourselves in the deep and private world created by a pair of headphones over our ears. Universal Values While music may be universal in its prevalence in every civilization known to us and among the cultures of the people known to exist on this planet in rich and complex variety, musical preferences vary from one region to another, from one time to another and from one individual to anther. Like culture itself, although music may be ubiquitous, the manner in which it appears in any culture is abitrary and the result of history, development and cross cultural contact. The existence of music is everywhere, but the aesthetic choices of each culture are so widely different as to make one culture's ideal sound abhorrent to their neighbors. Music develops in each society as a result of the historical and cultural events to which the people in that society have been exposed. Music is a reflection of the society which produced it and it then changes to reflect changes in that society. While music may not be a universal language, it is certainly universal. In every society known to us and in every period of history, music has played a very important role. But each music is a complex system of some preferred elements and others rejected. These same rejected elements we may find preferred in another culture. It shouldn't surprise us, given that people all over the globe live in a wide range of environments, that their ideas of music must be very different as well. People living in the far Northern regions of the globe, live and interact in ways that are very different from those who live and survive in the dense tropical forests of the world. Music for all these peoples is both an expression of the individual as well a consensus of the group ideas about what music should be. Although travel is much easier today than it was even only thirty or forty years ago, still few of us travel to places that are far off the beaten track. We may have visited London, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, or Tokyo, but even so only a few will have ventured to the Amazon, to Central Kyushu, or the Caucasus. We would be very wrong to assume that in all those hundreds of thousands of communities which lie between the major cities of the world, that because we know little about them, that nothing there exists. Up until about forty years ago, the cultural isolation of most areas of the world, outside the major cities, was much greater than it is today. In this environment, musical traditions were also isolated from each other to a much greater degree than they are today, and thousands of local, regional and national traditions of musical expression were much more clear and distinct from each other. Media and communication systems have made the world much smaller and it is difficult to find a place where these media systems have not reached nor have had their effect. We, as humans, have quickly moved in a few short generations, to defining our favorites on a local basis to today, whenwe do so on a global basis. today, a newly defined and accepted style of music quickly spreads over almost the entire globe in a matter of weeks. It is the ever changing and complex pattern of transmission, variation, modification, creation and adoption in the realm of music which is the subject of this book. To do this we must consider basic questions about music, not as it exists only in one culture, but what the study of the musics of many very different cultures can tell us about music itself. Music and Culture The word culture is used in two different ways in our language. It was common for English speakers to use the word as something synonymous with good manners, learning and knowledge particularly in the areas of literature and arts. Although this usage is not so much in vogue as it was until a few years ago it is still sometimes understood in this way. Anthropologists use the term culture in a much more comprehensive way. Culture in this usage means everything we do that has been learned. What we have learned encompasses quite a lot. Imagine taking a group of newly born humans and setting them in a place where they could grow up without the interference or aid from any adult humans. What would they know how to do? They could not speak to each other without first inventing, then teaching each other and learning a new language. What could they accomplish that they had not first seen done by someone else? All the things we learn to do are part of our culture. This includes, of course, language and music. Some of the ways humans do things is a result of interaction and awareness of their environment. Most of it, however, is arbitrary. The customs and manners, the particular pattern of social organization, language and the music which has been developed in each human society is mostly arbitrary. Had we been born one hundred years ago our thinking and our tastes would have been as different as they might be were we to be born one hundred years after today. The language we speak and the way we speak it, the music we listen to like the food which we eat are matters about which we often have very strongly felt preferences. Nonetheless, they are all the result of what we have been exposed to, what we have learned, thus far. Had we been fed since childhood on food with chilis in it, we would most likely prefer that in our food. But learning also plays a strong part in our culture. We can learn to love Thai food, or Mexican food even though it was not given to us from childhood. In the same way we can learn to love Klezmer, Salsa, Blues, or Mozart, even though we have been born into a society in which this was the preferred tradition. A Japanese box lunch(O-Bento) in an elegant Kyoto restaurant, beautiful to look at, its flavors may require some special cultural aquisition We might think that the major cultural differences in music would show themselves in variations of the length or shape of perceivable units. What we find, however, are that the vast differences of cultural and historical context in combination with human imagination and creativity have resulted in an endless number of possible variants. The manner in which time is conceived, human relationships are delineated, and adjustments are made to the environment, in a culture may have an effect on the structure of that music. The physical nature of the area will determine what materials are available for the construction of instruments. The economic system of the society and the ideas defining religion and mythology will also contribute to the manner in which music will be defined in any culture. It is the combination of all these elements which establishes the parameters within which the music can develop. Lets us look at some ways in which culture creates contrasting structure and practices in music. Repetition as a Cultural Value The mbira music of the Shona of Zimbabwe, like much of the music of sub-Saharan Africa, is based on a principle of a steadily repeated ground pattern over which variations are superimposed. Although the description of this system of organization may suggest similarity to the use of a repeated background or accompaniment. There is also a technique in Western music called a ground in which a bass line repeated many times over which a series of variations are played. There is also the principle of variation in European music, but in fact the Shona ideal is quite something else. For the sake of drawing a sharper distinction between the Western and this particular African approach, let us first say something about what the Shona music is not. For one, there is no sharp nor clear distinction between what we would consider the ground and the "melody". That which we might, from a Western vantage point, consider the melody, is a rather illusive suggestion of a melodic line which rises up from the ground but which, once again from the Western perspective, does not seem to stay there. The principle of variation does not fit exactly either, since there is no theme on which the variations are based. So strongly does our culture affect and color the meanings of words, that it is difficult to describe the basic underlying principle of the Shona music of Zimbabwe without allowing an amount of pejorative coloring to enter into the description. Simply said, repetitiveness is a positive factor in this music. This is not to suggest that the music goes on endlessly without change, but rather that the repetition of a basic unit is and of itself a positive and unifying factor in the music. The principle of variation in this music serves to enhance the sense of repetition. Repetition is that element in the music which binds the musicians together and which creates the bond between listener and musician drawing the listener more and more closely in order to sense the minute and detailed variations. From a position of some aural distance, that is, from an untrained Westerner's perception, nothing seems to be happening in the music and it appears only to be repeating itself without any variation at all. Repeating something again and again emphasizes the subtle and minute differences between each occurrence. Repetition and Variation in Shona Culture In fact, the musicians are creating the music on the basis of a principle which the African musicologist, Andrew Tracey, aptly referred to as "kaleidophonic". As the musicians repeat the basic structure of a composition, they listen carefully, yet effortlessly and gradually some particular regrouping of the notes they have been playing leaps into the mind. That is to say that, as yet, nothing has changed in what is being played but only in the player's perception of it. Since this music consists of several superimposed layers of sound, the musician may be hearing one or two of the notes he is playing suddenly combined with a note which someone else in the group is playing to form a new pattern in his mind. He might then add a note or two to better establish the pattern and by this means enable others to hear the new pattern also. At the same time, the principle of unity and repetition is too important in this music to allow constant variations to take over or to destroy the basic structure of the performance. So the principle of variation is exercised with great restraint. Gradually and over the years certain variations come to be associated with one musician, and then his group and eventually they can become the standard form used in one village or area. The variation principle in the mbira music of the Shona is thus an outgrowth of the principle of unity and repetition. The basic form of each composition contains the seeds of several different possible variations and any one performance of the composition, even of the basic ground pattern is already one of the countless different possible variations. Therefore one can understand how in the world of this music with its minute and subtle variations uniquely occurring at each performance, no two performances can ever be exactly alike. In addition as the listener hears different patterns arising out of the music, he is encouraged to contribute to the performance by either singing out a short repeated pattern based on what he hears, or to get up and dance out the rhythmic pattern of what he has heard. The repetitive basic pattern of the music helps to cement the relationship between the listener and the players so that this type of participation is facilitated. The distinction between player and listener is in Shona performance is blurred. The repeated pattern of the music bonds the players and audience into one. The Shona Mbira dza Vadzimu The conceptualization which must take place in order to perform and to listen to this music must begin on a very different basis of expectation. When the music begins performer and audience alike expect to recognize the pattern, or construct in their minds the beginning of a range of possible common factors which would serve as the parameters of the performance. All expect that the beginning pattern will be repeated in recognizable form until the end of that particular performance. Listener and performer both will expect to listen actively and creatively, not only to what they are actually hearing, but to what they might contribute with their own imaginations as well. Variation in North India The classical music of North India presents another very different example of the type of mental imaging required when listening to music. In the tradition of North India today, improvisation plays a prominent role and consequently, each performance is valued as a demonstration of the musician's skill in a unique exposition of the principles of the music. The main components of this system, raga and tala require a bit of explanation. The term raga is used to refer to the melodic system of India music. The raga is a group of notes, usually conceptualized in scale order, but with specific and fixed relationships between them. In this system certain pitches are always grouped with certain others, other notes might only be approached only after certain others, some notes might only be heard in ascending passages and would be replaced by others or perhaps omitted in descent. Thus the raga is a matrix or complex of tonal relationships and is much like a nuclear melody or an abstracted version of a melody. It is clearly much more than a scale in the Western European sense. Tala refers to the underlying rhythmic structure of the music and is a system of complex rhythmic patterns or structures which are multiplied, divided, regrouped into new patterns, etc. An instrumental performance begins with an improvised exposition of the raga in an opening section in free rhythm called alap. The alap can be of varying length depending on the mood and preference of the soloist. After the alap, a fixed melody known as a gat is introduced which also establishes the particular tala for the performance. After the statement of the gat the improvisation in the raga continues now against the matrix of the tala and alternately weaving in and out of statements of the gat. At performances of Indian music today it is not uncommon for the name of the raga and the tala to printed in a program or to be announced and nothing else in the way of a title for the particular piece to be performed. However the performance of Indian classical music is structured in expectation that the audience be conversant with the requirements of the style and to therefore be in a position to appreciate the unique contribution which this particular performer is to make. The audience does not really need to be informed as to which raga is to be played because the performance itself begins by explaining, without words and entirely in sound, the structure of that raga. The musician has two responsibilities in performance: he must clearly etch out the contours of the raga in order that the audience will recognize its pattern, its accented pitches and characteristic melodic turns. Then in addition he must show in his performance how he is taking the raga and with his own skill and interpretation, giving it new and heightened personal meaning. To recognize the raga, the audience need not necessarily know its name but by the careful manner in which he states the structure during the alap section, the audience should be able to grasp the general shape of the raga and the rules which govern movement within it. Then the player expands on this, without departing at all in the slightest from the structural pattern established by long tradition for that raga , but by delving deeply into the mood created by that structure and then attempting to surpass his own previous performances by expressing himself with more grace and subtlety than ever before. The main exposition of the raga occurs in the opening section of the alap. Instruments which provide a continuous drone on the fundamental pitch of the raga and, usually, also the fifth, are sounding before the soloist begins. The performance of the alap by the soloist almost invariably begins in the lower register and on the lower notes of the raga, that is, beginning on the low fundamental pitch of the raga and then gradually working up the scale. As each new note is touched upon the player carefully shows how it will be characterized in the raga, how it will be stressed or ornamented, how it will be related to those notes surrounding it, and thus he will gradually show the characteristic patterns which identify that raga. This process can and frequently does last for as much as three quarters of an hour and longer is also common. Beginning from the lowest fundamental of the raga, the opening can require twenty minutes or more to gradually work up to completing the exposition of the first octave. As the listener perceives each note, he is to remember how the note is played, what sort of ornament or inflection it is given, how it is related to other notes. Then he adds to that his impression of other notes, one by one and to the characteristic phrases of the raga. Thus step by step the listener scans quickly back over what he has just heard and adds to it that which he is hearing at the moment. In this manner the listener is being prepared to recognize an entire musical structure of complex interrelationships, without which he would not be able to appreciate the excellence of the that particular performance. Parallels Between Social Structure and Music Structure It has been already said that music is a reflection of the culture which produced it. Still, we cannot often see the ways in which this can happen if we consider only our own culture. In some societies there is a cohesive communal structure in which all members are regarded as equal, having equal right and responsibilities. In other societies there is a high degree of stratification, distinct social levels ranging from rulers, enforcers, artisans and craftsmen, to workers and peasants. In communal societies, the interdependence of members of the community can be reflected in the structure of the music. One of the common characteristics shared between the communal societies of Central and South West Africa and the Hill Peoples of South East Asia and the Philippines is the use of interlock patterns in which each player plays a note or set of notes while another player plays another note or set of which interlock with the first set. The notes of the second player fit in the spaces left by the first players pattern. The combination of these two or more independent patterns fit together to create a whole pattern, much like the pieces of jigsaw puzzle. In this way the interdependence of the members of the community is reflected in its music. In more highly stratified societies in which there are specialized roles and professions, the music usually reflects this stratification. In complex and multilayered societies one finds multi layered music. Some examples are the symphony orchestra with its special instruments whose duty it usually is to provide bass lines, and others to provide harmonic accompaniment and still others to play the melodic lines. Similar specialized functions can be found in Rock bands as well as in the gamelan orchestras of Indonesia, Chinese, Japanese and Korean court orchestras, numerous drum ensembles of West Africa and Western and Eastern European folk dance ensembles to name just a few. Such manifestations of social order in music structure are merely the result of the way people in each culture see order and this same vision is reflected in music and in society. We organize our music in just the way we naturally organize other things in our culture. Generic Classifications of Music In today's contemporary Popular music, one encounters many labels and ways of applying them that are new and innovative in themselves. Still, it is difficult to find agreement and consensus among several people about these descriptions. This may mean that the categories are still unclear and are slowly developing, that people are looking and perhaps willing to force similarities between different musical styles in order to make sense and organize them in their own minds. In the process of selling popular music, performers, producers CD manufacturers attempt to place other recordings that they have produced into a category similar to another in which they or a competitor has hits. By this means gradually a consensus of descriptive labels arises and comes into current usage. Most often we do not think much about labels and yet they are used freely and sometimes carelessly, which does create difficulties. Certain broad categories that are applied to music would seem to be self evident. Folk music, religious music, popular music, jazz and blues might at first seem to be such clear descriptive terms that we would not question their validity and their applicability. They are, in fact, our own cultural view of the matter and even there, we will find difficulties in applying these labels to our own music. There are, understandably ever greater difficulties when we attempt to apply these labels to the music of other cultures. Nevertheless, it is useful to have some broad labels and categories by which to measure the man's musical activities that can then be changed, refined or amplified as we understand the cultural context better. Such labels as classical, popular, folk and religious divide music into broad functional categories which are useful. Nevertheless, we encounter difficulties as for example in the Islamic word, the musically intoned recitation of the sacred Koran is not regarded as music at all, but part of a religious observance and practice. To label this "religious music" would be offensive to the adherents of that religion, which must also mean, therefore, that as a description of musical practice in that culture the label, `religious music' for this practice is inaccurate. It remains true, however, that such labels imposed from outside the definitions developed within the culture help us to see patterns across cultures and to better understand the larger pattern of music in human existence. Let us look at the broadest and easiest categories of music. Folk music Folk music as a term was first used to refer to the music of peasant societies and for societies in which there were also other musics like classical or professional (see below) music and possibly religious music. The term is better used for Europe and The Americas where this specific kind of stratification exists although it can also be applied to the village or peasant music of India and the Far East. By implication the term means that the music comes out of a tradition and that the specific composers or creators are anonymous and have been absorbed into the collective memory of the community. It is incorrect to think of the musics of sub Saharan Africa as folk music, nor the musics of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Neither does the term primitive music apply since those musics may posses aspects which are highly sophisticated and complex when viewed and understood in their own context. Neither should all the musics of Asia be labeled folk music, although there are some musics in Asia which could more appropriately fall under that label. Polish Folk musicians from the Zakopane region Popular Music In complex and multilayered societies there often evolve forms of music, usually drawn from folk traditions and which are then elaborated upon, which are enjoyed by large segments of the society and very often, the dwellers in dense urban environments. We refer to as popular music, that music which seems deliberately intended and created for the purpose of broad dissemination and to achieve great popularity most often using mass media distribution systems to aid in that broad dissemination. In popular music, the particular composers are usually known and very often it is particular performers who come to be associated with it as well. It is not that creators and performers in other types of music do not which to be popular or that they do not seek to please their audiences. It is that popular music as a genre has the immediate goal of seeking popularity and dissemination. It also follows that popular music is generally not predicted to remain consistently so for a long period of time. There is another sense of the term popular music. It can come to refer to a style of music as well as its social function. Thus in contemporary popular music there are some artists whose work would not ordinarily be considered popular music but because of the genre in which the music is set, they may find themselves classified there. Such contemporary artists as Laurie Anderson, John Zorn and Faust are examples of this. During the 1940s when the older form of American popular song was current, songs like Lush Life by the Black composer, Billy Strayhorn were clearly too difficult and serious in content to be considered popular in the functional sense, but nevertheless belonged to the popular music genre because of general stylistic characteristics. Classical or Art Music Like the two previous terms, the idea of a classical or art music fits better in some cultures than others. Classical music, is a term which best only applies to the Western European tradition and even there it has two meanings, one referring to the music of the Classical period of the 18th century and its second and more general meaning referring to all of the music of the great European tradition. In its largest and more general sense, art music may better describe a music in a culture in which the emphasis is on creating challenging and complex or highly refined forms of musical expression and the resultant music which is generally intended for the appreciation of only a smaller and initiated portion of the population. Usually these elitist forms require long years of training for the artists and composers to reach a level of proficiency adequate to achieve status. This is a condition which requires wealth, patronage or state or community support. There are many music traditions in Asia which fit the description on all counts. There are also musics in Africa which fit these prerequisites. In the Western tradition the associations with terms such as classical music or art music imply refinement and a high cultural level, much like the use of the word culture itself. In Asia and Africa where highly developed and complex music forms may also be found, the Western elitist connotation may not apply because the music is associated with a high state or civic function but accessible to the entire population. For example, ensembles playing complex music may provide such music for the entire community but the musicians themselves and often the instruments, may belong to a ruling noblemen, monarch or the state itself. Professional Music Chopi musicians of Mozambique. They form timbila orchestras that perform a new repertoire of songs and dances every year Sometimes a distinction is made when music is played by professional musicians rather than by amateurs. The implication is that professional musicians would as a matter of course, spend more time learning the trade and practicing their music, thus being more proficient than those who took it up only now and again or when a community function required it. This would separate into a different class, musicians who were paid for their performances or were compensated in some other way, from those who were more or less randomly selected from the group and asked to perform. As we look closer at this distinction we would have to separate musicians who performances provided the means of their livelihood from those who, although they might be compensated for their playing, might do so only occasionally, and who would need others avenues to provide their livelihood. In some cultures, amateur musicians are more highly esteemed than professionals, that is those who are paid to perform. In cultures like Turkey and Iran and also in Okinawa and in the Chin music of China, the most highly acclaimed musicians had other means of livelihood and devoted their free time to playing music as an avocation. They would prefer to have another means of earning a living in order to devote their spare time to music and would not wish to be seen as a person who accepted money for playing. This is an example in which the professional musician might not have as high an artistic status as an amateur as defined within that culture. Culturally Derived Classifications of Music New forms of music are continually developing. Some are accepted, imitated by others and remain while others fall from popularity or acceptance and gradually fade from collective memory. The process of being accepted most often begins with a single piece of music or with a single performer or innovator. Very often the role of this innovator may be hidden in the slow and anonymous process of collective evolution. Gradually, as the distinctive form is recognized as such, its distinction from other forms within the culture are noted and when this occurs, usually a unique label is applied in order to establish in that society's consciousness an awareness of the distinction. These labels are quite different from those delineated above. Rather than being useful labels by which an outsider can establish the cultural context of certain forms, these labels are derived and accepted by members of the culture itself in order to help them define and distinguish new forms. In recent times the evolution in American popular music of "Hip-hop" out of "Rap" was just such a use of terms, just as many years previously the term "Jazz" can into use to distinguish it from the earlier "Ragtime" and then later "Rock" was accepted as a term to define the new popular music of the late 1960s. In many other societies, particularly in highly stratified ones, the coining of terms to distinguish different musical forms and practices serves an important function in each culture. Even in less highly stratified societies, labels may be applied to distinguish different musical types in order to allow for more efficient function. In numerous cultures, the labels indicate different dance types and in the case of social dancing the labelling helps the dancers know which dance and type and consequently which steps will be required. But labels are frequently use to distinguish distinct melodic and formal types of music, as well. In flamenco, for example, the various labels, Granaina, Malaguena, Sevillana, or Bulerias, indicate specific formal musical patterns in particular rhythms. To those who know the repertoire, the labels also indicate something of the place which a performance on one of these pieces might have in the performance of a larger set and also gives an indication of its origins. The use of labels to define culturally important functions and distinctions can be found in numerous cultures, throughout Asia, Africa, Oceania, Europe and the Americas Sometimes labels are are a recognition of an important musical function. Among the Are-Are peoples of the Solomon Islands, there is a practice of playing a great number of fixed and remembered compositions on various ensembles of pan pipes. All of the compositions represent sounds, natural or humanly produced. Performances are set in groups of ten compositions played one after the other. In order to keep track of the number of compositions played, every eleventh piece performed is always a "marker" piece, a special composition, one for each of the four different panpipe ensemble types, whose function it is only to aid in the counting of the number of pieces played at festivals and celebrations. Thus in this case the label, "Toto `au" in the 'Au Tahana ensemble indicates the special 11th composition played after any sequence of ten other pieces. It is certainly possible to enjoy or to use music without attaching labels to it. It does happen most often, however, that as peoples recognize and make use of distinctions between musical types and forms, the application of specific labels aids in the efficient functioning of the music in fitting within the context of that culture.