ANTH398D - Ethnomusicology

Meeting 11 – Deviant

November 13, 2007

Wrapping Up

Two Blocks from the Edge

• Next Two Weeks– Attali– Stokes

• Last Week– Singing Stream

Wrap-Up Threads

• “Exam preparation”• Themes/issues came back repeatedly• Linking with specific weeks/readings

Becker

Becker Themes

Musicians

Music Specialists

• Religious parallels• Time spent• Status• Music-thinking• Creativity• Individualism

What musicians are like

• Music as gift (parallel Kingsbury)• Creativity vs. financial well-being• Subversion/reaction toward broader society• “Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll”

Euro-American Conceptions of Musicians

• Hedonism• Money• Specialisation• Performance• Purity (“Art for Art’s Sake”)

Rockstar

• Heavily sexualized• Anti-intellectual• Emotional• Virile• Rebel• Working class• Deviant

Stereotypical portrait of WAM musician

• Pro• Geek, Nerd• Brainy• Bourgeois• Reactionary• Effeminate• Asexual• Technically proficient

Other Actors

• Promoters• Venue owners• Managers• VJs• Music critics• Musickers• “The Public”

Tarantella Neapolitan

Beer Barrel Polka Mitch Miller

On the Sunny Side of the Street

Diana Krall

Giant Steps John Coltrane

Random Abstract (Diddle-It) The Branford Marsalis Quartet

First Thing In The Morning Oregon

Witchi-Tai-To Oregon

Lemon Incest Serge Gainsbourg

J'aurais Voulu être Un Artiste Starmania

Pour un ami condamné Diane Dufresne

Dreamer Supertramp

Becker Research

• Ethnography?• Not upfront (p. 84)• Becker as insider going out to look in• Selected quotes• Insight• Create model

“Culture” in Sociology

• Start from group– Even dyad

• Subcultures–Minority groups– Occupational culture–Marginality and deviance

• Parallels in folkloristics

Marginality or Deviance?

• Topography or law?• Position or statistics?

Defining Group

• Through musical performance– Activity/occupation– Recognised membership (embedded evaluation)

• Internal norms• Social pressure• Distinction Jazz/Commercial• Other dance musicians?• Importance of “exceptions”

Audience

• Social pressure– Giving in to audience needs

• Connection–Making people happy

Identity Negotiation

• Conceptualizing Squares and Squareness• Difference/distinction• Exclusion–Who is excluding whom?

Musician Speech

• Language fads (“daddio”)• Enduring features (swearing)• Informality

Insider language

• “Esoteric” knowledge (“inside joke”)• Signals difference

Ethnic Angle

• Ethnicity matters or not?• Ethnic slurs as almost respectful• Codification of ethnic diversity

Sex Angle

• Machismo and sexism– Gender roles– Attitudes toward sex/gender

• Sexual prowess• Exclusion