Still not convinced? I can't blame you. Because it's not enough to simply identify similarities between one group and another. To establish that such similarities are meaningful, one must also identify significant differences between these groups and all others, then look for patterns based on both. This is where the method Lomax called "Cantometrics" comes in and why it is so important. Using Cantometrics we can search not only for similarities but also differences, seeking out patterns of all sorts, from the strictly local to the most wide ranging, encompassing vocal styles from all over the world.
In future posts I plan to explain how Cantometrics works, how performances are "coded," how the codings are put together into a database, how the data can be queried -- and how a statistical analysis of the data can help us evaluate similarities such as the ones I've been pointing to in the last few posts. Don't be afraid. I'm not a statistician either, so none of this is going to be all that technical.
Many questions have been raised in the past regarding the validity of both Cantometrics and many of the conclusions Lomax reached based on it. There's no need to deal with the latter issue here, that's a whole other story for another day. In my view, the methodology per se is, despite some weaknesses, a viable, reasonably consistent, and indeed powerful tool for systematic research in comparative musicology. And that is as true today as it was back in the Sixties when we created it. Very sadly, and for a variety of reasons, some good, some terrible, both Cantometrics and Lomax were soundly rejected by most ethnomusicologists, to the point that few today are willing to consider it at all.
I could write a lot more on this history, to which I've already alluded a few times on this blog. But for now, I'll share with you an article in which I respond to some very insightful criticisms of Cantometrics by folklorist Fred McCormick, as published in the remarkable online journal, Musical Traditions (which anyone interested in traditional music should be aware of): Cantometrics:Song and Social Structure -- A Response.
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5 comments:
I've been haunted for some time by the idea that Levi-Strauss summed up in saying that music is "the supreme mystery of the science of man". So I'm delighted to have come across this marvellous website and your fascinating ideas and explorations.
Having just watched 'Lomax: the songhunter' this evening, I began googling (which is how I came across this website). I was particularly interested in his feeling that sexual prohibition is reflected in vocal tones. Why? Because years ago I developed an intense repulsion for a certain kind of Irish dancing: in its mechanical rigidity and denial of the erotic body, it seemed to me to embody the vicious repression of sexuality by the Catholic Church. I was told that traditional dancers in various parts of the country were free of this repressed, standardized kind of so-called Irish dancing, and I recalled an American visitor to Ireland in, I think, the 18th century writing of how she watched a woman dance on a Kerry shore, and saying something like "Salome could not have danced more beautifully" (no robotic legs and arms rigidly by the side, then!). Before the Great Famine, Irish peasant society (and perhaps also Irish "high society") was quite sexually free and easy, according to some historians. But the Catholic clamp came down heavily in the Victorian period and early in the 20th century.
Anyway, it's interesting how Irish dancing has become liberated in recent decades, precisely as Catholics in Ireland engaged in a rapid derepressing and rejection of the Catholic Church. Even the kitschier, 'big show' versions of Irish dancing could be somewhat exhilarating in their liberating effect.
Earlier, though, this loosening and modulation into freedom could be found in developments in traditional Irish instrumental music (in the work of Sean O Riada, for one), although that may have been due to musical creativity that refused to be locked into the mechanical rigidity of the 'official' folk music.
I suspect that, in the repressed first half of the last century, the 'official', sexually repressed version of Irish trad. music was maintained and policed by the puritanical middle-class and petit bourgeoisie, but that, above that level (among creative musicians) and below it (among the real "folk"), the energy and freedom of the tradition continued.
On a final note, it has often been said that, in the more isolated and Irish-speaking areas, a pagan and anti-clerical element survived Catholic repression. I wonder if this was reflected in their music.
Excuse the essay. My main point is that, whatever about sexual restraint being reflected in vocal tones, it most certainly was embodied in the official version of Irish dancing for many decades. In effect, it disembodied it.
- David
Earlier, though, this loosening and modulation into freedom could be found in developments in traditional Irish instrumental music (in the work of Sean O Riada, for one), although that may have been due to musical creativity that refused to be locked into the mechanical rigidity of the 'official' folk music.
I suspect that, in the repressed first half of the last century, the 'official', sexually repressed version of Irish trad. music was maintained and policed by the puritanical middle-class and petit bourgeoisie, but that, above that level (among creative musicians) and below it (among the real "folk"), the energy and freedom of the tradition continued.
On a final note, it has often been said that, in the more isolated and Irish-speaking areas, a pagan and anti-clerical element survived Catholic repression. I wonder if this was reflected in their music.
Excuse the essay. My main point is that, whatever about sexual restraint being reflected in vocal tones, it most certainly was embodied in the official version of Irish dancing for many decades. In effect, it disembodied it.
- David
Hi David. I'm really pleased to learn of your interest in this blog and also your interest in Alan Lomax, who was in my opinion an extraordinarily important figure not only in music, but cultural studies generally.
His ideas about the relation between music and sexual repression (as reflected in the repression and control of women) are fascinating, I agree. And you'll be interested to learn that Lomax also did extensive studies of world dance. If you go to the website of the organization he founded, the Association for Cultural Equity (see the links section of this blog), you'll find more information about his research into various aspects of "peformance style." And you'll be able to order a DVD containing films illustrating some of the most important findings of his research on dance and movement style.
However, as far as Irish music and dancing are concerned, most of the stylistic elements you've pointed to actually predate not only the Catholic church but Christianity itself, and are most likely of "pagan" origin, going back many thousands of years.
The rather rigid and "impersonal" style of Irish dancing is in fact very similar in many respects to traditional dance styles found in the rest of the British Isles and also Europe.
Some of the most interesting research on the history of traditions of this sort, in relation to sexuality and the treatment of women, has been done by the archaelogist Marija Gimbutas. I discuss her work on this blog, beginning with post 122 (January 26, 2008). And I discuss Lomax's ideas on sexual repression and music beginning with Post 124.
I have a very limited knowledge of the field of cantometrics, and this question may have arisen countless times before, I don't know.
I would like to know whether or not, during the gathering of data on songs from around the world, any of the singers themselves were asked how they felt while they were singing. Perhaps this may shed some light on why/how song evolved in humans.
This question stems from the increasingly popular notion that the evolution of human song goes hand in hand with sexual selection. From a singers point of view, I find this idea most intriguing, but I think it fails to take into account the great pleasure that most singers derive from 'singing to themselves'. Even non-singers would appreciate the enjoyment that can be derived from singing in the shower when no-one else is around!
Could you post a summary on the latest data available on this area of cantometrics if possible. (Or if you already have, please point me in the right direction)
D.Kim
D. Kim: "I would like to know whether or not, during the gathering of data on songs from around the world, any of the singers themselves were asked how they felt while they were singing."
Alan Lomax was one of the first folklorists to pay close attention to the thoughts and feelings of the performers he recorded, as well as the social context in which traditional music was performed. Whenever possible, he interviewed his informants, sometimes extensively, and much of this material has been published in one form or another, either in books (such as "Mr. Jelly Roll") or films (such as "An American Patchwork").
This sort of information is certainly very meaningful, but, for a variety of reasons, was not included in our Cantometric codings. For one thing, Cantometrics is based on recordings of musical performances from all over the world, and in a great many cases, the thoughts and opinions of the performers were simply unavailable. Also, while it's possible to be reasonably objective when encoding music, it's very difficult to be objective when considering things like personal opinions and feelings.
While this sort of material isn't covered by Cantometrics per se, it WAS very often taken into consideration in the research as a whole, as reflected in many of Lomax's publications of his Cantometric results.
I must confess, however, that, as I see it, the personal thoughts and opinions of informants generally, while certainly of genuine interest and importance, can also be very misleading. This is a trap that far too many folkorists and anthropologists fall into. It's often assumed that the "native" informant knows a great deal more about his or her own traditions than the researcher, but a little reflection should make it clear that the reverse is very often the case.
As far as sexual selection is concerned, I agree with you that the role of music in this realm has been greatly exaggerated. Music can take on a wide variety of functions in various societies, from singing in the shower as you say, to all sorts of rituals and social events which have little to no association with the relation between the sexes.
While the topic of sexual selection hasn't ever, to my knowledge, been a part of Cantometric research, Lomax did pay close attention to sexuality per se, particularly the degree to which any society's music reflected the presence of sexual sanctions, repression and the control of women. I discuss this issue in post 124 et seq.
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