Professional Documents
Culture Documents
JOHN BLACKING
IN O C T O B E R , 1 9 6 1 , M r . J o h n D a n z , a S e a t t l e pioneer, and
his wife, J e s s i e D a n z , made a substantial gift to the U n i v e r -
sity of W a s h i n g t o n to establish a perpetual fund to provide
i n c o m e to be used to bring to the U n i v e r s i t y of W a s h i n g t o n
each y e a r ". . . distinguished scholars of national and inter-
national reputation w h o h a v e c o n c e r n e d themselves with the
impact of science and p h i l o s o p h y on m a n ' s perception of a
rational u n i v e r s e . " T h e fund established b y M r . and M r s .
Danz is now k n o w n as the Jessie and John Danz Fund, and the
s c h o l a r s b r o u g h t t o t h e U n i v e r s i t y u n d e r its p r o v i s i o n s are
known as Danz Lecturers or Professors.
M r . D a n z wisely left t o the B o a r d o f R e g e n t s o f the U n i -
versity of W a s h i n g t o n the identification of the special fields
in science, philosophy, and o t h e r disciplines in which lecture-
ships m a y be established. His major concern and interest
were that the fund would e n a b l e the U n i v e r s i t y of W a s h i n g -
ton to bring to the campus s o m e of the truly great scholars
and thinkers of the world.
M r . D a n z authorized the R e g e n t s to expend a portion of
the i n c o m e from the fund to p u r c h a s e special collections of
b o o k s , d o c u m e n t s , and other scholarly materials needed to
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X PREFACE
the m a t t e r o f m u s i c a l i t y i n t h e kind o f b o u r g e o i s e n v i r o n m e n t
in w h i c h I w a s raised and seemed to acquire a degree of
musical c o m p e t e n c e . ( I s a y " s e e m e d , " b e c a u s e a n essential
point o f m y a r g u m e n t i s that w e d o n o t k n o w e x a c t l y w h a t
m u s i c a l c o m p e t e n c e is or h o w it is acquired.) M u s i c is played
while we eat and try to t a l k ; it is played b e t w e e n films and
at the t h e a t e r ; it is played as we sit in crowded airport
l o u n g e s , and o m i n o u s l y as we wait in t h e p l a n e to t a k e off; it
is played all day long on the radio; and even in c h u r c h few
organists allow m o m e n t s o f silence t o intervene b e t w e e n
different stages o f t h e ritual. " M y " society claims t h a t o n l y a
limited n u m b e r of people are musical, and yet it b e h a v e s as if
all people possessed the b a s i c capacity w i t h o u t w h i c h no
musical tradition can e x i s t — t h e capacity to listen to and dis-
tinguish patterns o f sound. T h e m a k e r s o f m o s t films and
television serials hope to appeal to large and varied audiences;
and s o , w h e n t h e y add incidental music to t h e dialogue and
action, t h e y implicitly a s s u m e that audiences c a n discern its
patterns and respond to its e m o t i o n a l appeal, and that t h e y
will hear and understand it in the w a y s that its c o m p o s e r in-
tended. T h e y assume that music is a form of c o m m u n i c a t i o n ,
and that in a c o m m o n cultural c o n t e x t specific musical s e -
q u e n c e s can e v o k e feelings that are fearful, apprehensive,
p a s s i o n a t e , patriotic, religious, s p o o k y , and so on.
T h e film m a k e r s m a y n o t b e aware o f the grounds for their
a s s u m p t i o n s ; but w e c a n b e sure that, i f e x p e r i e n c e had
proved t h e m wrong, t h e y would h a v e rejected all incidental
and m o o d music as u n n e c e s s a r y . Instead, t h e y seem to h a v e
s h o w n increasing confidence in their audiences' musicality by
a b a n d o n i n g continual b a c k g r o u n d music in favor of m o r e
selective heightening of the drama. T h i s m a y be o n l y a re-
sponse t o the pressures o f m u s i c i a n s ' u n i o n s ; b u t , even i f this
were s o , film m a k e r s c o n t i n u e to c o m m i s s i o n c o m p o s e r s of
m u s i c , at considerable e x t r a expense. It is interesting that
these a s s u m p t i o n s should b e made b y m e n and w o m e n w h o s e
HUMANLY ORGANIZED SOUND 9
Layout of the "keys" of a 14-note kalimba (A) and a 14-note niimba (B).
(i): Approximate pitches of the scales most commonly used (transposed),
(ii): Numbering of "keys" from left to right of the "keyboard." (iii): "Keys"
numbered symmetrically according to their use in contrary motion by the
right and left thumbs. Shaded "keys" and underlined numbers above and be-
low the music staff indicate pitches in the upper manual of the "keyboard."
FIGURE 1 continued
HUMANLY ORGANIZED SOUND 15
Scale diagram of two Venda ocarinas, made from hollowed fruits (A: of Strychnos
spinofto Lam., the wild orange; B: of Oncoba spinosa Forsk.)
FIGURE 3 continued
Example 1
scious e x p e r i e n c e is ordered i n t o c y c l e s of s e a s o n a l c h a n g e ,
physical g r o w t h , e c o n o m i c enterprise, genealogical depth or
width, life and afterlife, political s u c c e s s i o n , or a n y other r e -
curring features that are given significance. W e m a y say that
ordinary daily experience t a k e s place in a world of actual
time. T h e essential quality of m u s i c is its power to create an-
other world o f virtual time.
In the musical s y s t e m of t h e V e n d a , it is r h y t h m t h a t dis-
tinguishes s o n g (u imba) from speech (u amba), so that pat-
terns of words that are recited to a regular m e t e r are called
" s o n g s . " B o t h S t r a v i n s k y and t h e V e n d a insist that music
involves m a n . T h e regular b e a t s of an engine or a p u m p m a y
sound like the b e a t s of a drum, b u t no V e n d a would regard
t h e m a s m u s i c o r e x p e c t t o b e m o v e d b y t h e m , b e c a u s e their
order i s n o t directly produced b y h u m a n b e i n g s . T h e sound
of electronic i n s t r u m e n t s or of a M o o g synthesizer would n o t
be excluded from their realm of musical experience as long as
it was o n l y the t i m b r e and n o t the m e t h o d of ordering that
was outside h u m a n control. V e n d a m u s i c is founded n o t on
melody, b u t on a r h y t h m i c a l stirring of the w h o l e b o d y of
which singing is b u t o n e e x t e n s i o n . T h e r e f o r e , w h e n we s e e m
to h e a r a rest b e t w e e n two d r u m b e a t s , we m u s t realize that
for the player it is n o t a r e s t : each d r u m b e a t is t h e part of a
total b o d y m o v e m e n t in which the h a n d or a stick strikes the
drum skin.
T h e s e principles apply in the children's song Tshidula tsha
Musingadi ( E x a m p l e 3 ) , w h i c h for t h e V e n d a is m u s i c , and
n o t speech or p o e t r y .
O n e m i g h t e x p e c t the b e a t to fall on the syllables -du, tsha,
and -nga-, w h i c h are stressed in p e r f o r m a n c e . B u t if people
clap to t h e s o n g , t h e y clap on the syllables Tshi-, -la, -si-, and
-di, so that there is n o t a rest on the fourth b e a t , b u t a total
pattern o f four b e a t s that c a n b e repeated a n y n u m b e r o f
times, b u t n e v e r less than o n c e if it is to qualify as " s o n g "
and n o t " s p e e c h . "
28 HOW MUSICAL IS MAN?
Example 4
music m a k e r s b e l o n g . E t h n o m u s i c o l o g y is n o t o n l y an area
study c o n c e r n e d with e x o t i c m u s i c , n o r a m u s i c o l o g y of the
e t h n i c — i t is a discipline that holds out h o p e for a deeper
understanding o f all music. I f s o m e m u s i c can b e analyzed
and u n d e r s t o o d as tonal e x p r e s s i o n s of h u m a n e x p e r i e n c e in
the c o n t e x t o f different kinds o f social and cultural o r g a n i z a -
tion, I see no r e a s o n w h y all m u s i c should not be analyzed in
the s a m e w a y .
M u s i c in
I H A V E D E S C R I B E D m u s i c a s h u m a n l y organized sound. I
h a v e argued that we ought to l o o k for relationships b e -
tween patterns o f h u m a n o r g a n i z a t i o n and the p a t t e r n s o f
sound produced as a result of organized interaction. I rein-
forced this g e n e r a l s t a t e m e n t by referring to the c o n c e p t s of
music shared b y the V e n d a o f t h e N o r t h e r n T r a n s v a a l . T h e
V e n d a also share the experience of music making, and with-
out this experience there would be very little music. T h e pro-
duction o f t h e patterns o f sound w h i c h the V e n d a call music
depends, first, on the c o n t i n u i t y of the social groups w h o
perform i t and, second, o n t h e w a y the m e m b e r s o f those
groups relate to each other.
In order to find out w h a t m u s i c is and h o w musical m a n is,
we need to a s k w h o listens and w h o plays and sings in a n y
given s o c i e t y , and w h y . T h i s is a sociological question, and
situations in different societies can be compared w i t h o u t any
reference to the surface forms of m u s i c b e c a u s e we are con-
cerned o n l y with its function in social life. In this respect,
there m a y b e n o significant differences b e t w e e n B l a c k M u s i c ,
C o u n t r y and W e s t e r n M u s i c , R o c k and P o p M u s i c , O p e r a s ,
S y m p h o n i c M u s i c , o r P l a i n c h a n t . W h a t turns o n e m a n off
32
MUSIC IN SOCIETY AND CULTURE 33
Example 6
Example 7
Example 8
T h e u . e of left and right hands (which may be reversed) in the drum parts is shown by the direction ol the t a i l s of the n o t e s .
54
CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN MUSIC 55
Example 10
R e - c o r - da - re J e - su pi - e,
60 HOW MUSICAL IS MAN?
Example 11
Example 12
No-Lod-y knows the trou-ble I see, Lord, No-bod-y knows the trou-ble I see.
Example 13
Example 14
Andante
n a t i o n — w h e t h e r they w e r e written b y M a h l e r o r b y D e r y c k
Cooke!
N o w , h a v e I received t h e attitudes that p r o m p t e d M a h l e r
to c o m p o s e t h o s e n o t e s , or h a v e I reinterpreted t h e m in t h e
light o f m y o w n e x p e r i e n c e ? A n d does a n y o n e else feel a b o u t
t h e m in the s a m e w a y ? Am I out on a l i m b , like t h e n o v i c e s
in the tshikanda girl's initiation, listening to M a h l e r b u t n o t
hearing h i m ? Can a n y o n e else h e a r those n o t e s as I do, or as
M a h l e r did? Is t h e purpose of musical experience to be a l o n e
i n c o m p a n y ? I s there n o h o p e o f establishing c o m m o n r e l a -
tionships through music e x c e p t w h e r e there is a fairly specific
extramusical program? Could "soul" music affect Black
A m e r i c a n s if its forms were n o t associated with a w h o l e set
o f e x t r a m u s i c a l experiences w h i c h B l a c k A m e r i c a n s s h a r e ?
I n spite o f the beautifully stated antiwar m e s s a g e o f B r i t t e n ' s
War Requiem, can all t h o s e w h o share his s e n t i m e n t s s h a r e
the intense m e s s a g e o f his m u s i c ? D o e s i t really m e a n t h e
s a m e to the R u s s i a n , English, and G e r m a n solo singers w h o
made the first recording o f the w o r k ? T o t h o s e w h o s h a r e
aspects of B r i t t e n ' s cultural, social, and musical b a c k g r o u n d ,
the music m a y e n h a n c e the pity o f W i l f r e d O w e n ' s poetry
and create a greater h o r r o r of w a r than could the poetry on its
own. For o t h e r s , the poetry m a y be a stirring e x p e r i e n c e , b u t
the music a b o r e . We c a n n o t say that they share t h e e x p e r i -
ence o f the p o e t r y m o r e than that o f the music, b e c a u s e t h e y ,
like Britten and m o s t of his listeners, did n o t share O w e n ' s
ultimately fatal experience o f trench warfare. W e c a n o n l y s a y
that t h e y share the experience o f the convention o f t h e p o e t r y
m o r e easily than the c o n v e n t i o n o f the music.
Gong
Later, the sounds of boys' voices and an organ recall the hope
and innocence of childhood,
Example 16
[3] Quick crotchets J=:]62
(Allegro)
f smooth
64 H O W MUSICAL IS MAN?
Example 17
Example 18
CULTURE'AND SOCIETY IN MUSIC 65
Example 19
66 HOW MUSICAL IS MAN?
Example 20
Example 21 (continued)
.CHORUS (" tivha khulo)
84 HOW MUSICAL IS MAN?
Example 21 (continued)
(c) (d)
Harmonic Progression
89
90 HOW MUSICAL IS MAN?
or by a m o r e g e n e r a l rule relating m e l o d y to p a t t e r n s of
speech tone, a s i n V e n d a m u s i c ? W h y s h o u l d a p a t t e r n b e
r e p e a t e d at a certain p o i n t ? W h y s h o u l d it be r e p e a t e d at all?
M u s i c o l o g y m u s t be a b l e to a n s w e r these q u e s t i o n s if it is to
e x p l a i n w h a t is g o i n g on in m u s i c ; b u t I b e l i e v e that it w i l l
not succeed in a n s w e r i n g g e n e r a l questions a b o u t m u s i c until
it r e c o g n i z e s the peculiarities of different m u s i c a l s y s t e m s .
E v e n the d i s c o v e r i e s o f s y s t e m a t i c m u s i c o l o g y m a y a p p l y o n l y
to the m u s i c a l traditions of s y s t e m a t i c m u s i c o l o g i s t s a n d to
the p e r c e p t u a l faculties t h a i h a v e b e e n d e v e l o p e d i n their
o w n cultures.
I w i l l reinforce this point w i t h reference to f o u r of the
children's songs included in my book, Venda Children's
Songs ( J o h a n n e s b u r g : W i t w a t e r s r a n d U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 6 7 ) .
T h i s w i l l s h o w h o w a n a n a l y s i s o f their s o u n d a l o n e i s
inadequate and misleading. We will consider the songs
( E x a m p l e s 2 2 - 2 5 ) first a s " p u r e " m u s i c , then a s s o u n d o r g a -
nized in a p a r t i c u l a r cultural a n d social context.
Example 22
Example 23
Example 25
SOUNDLY ORGANIZED HUMANITY 93
SOLO CHORUS
FIGURE 10. Different ways in which the Venda may sing tshikona,
their national dance for reed pipes and drums. The figures indicate
the number of semitones in each interval. D and £ are the nearest
equivalents to a scale that the Venda sing: singers do not complete
the octave, but pause on the seventh tone or repeat the pattern.
The names of one octave of reed pipes are given. Tshikona is here
transposed down a minor third.
quate b e c a u s e they a s s u m e a w o r k i n g k n o w l e d g e of V e n d a
culture and society. I shall n o t discuss t h e m further, b u t I
w a n t to suggest h o w and w h y such rules could be generalized
and refined in terms of a unified t h e o r y of cognition, s o c i e t y ,
culture, and creativity.
First, let me outline certain theoretical a s s u m p t i o n s . Emile
Durkheim, in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
( [ L o n d o n : A l l e n and U n w i n , 1 9 6 8 ( 1 9 1 5 ) ] , p . 4 4 7 ) argues that
society is " n o t a nominal being created by reason, b u t a
s y s t e m of active f o r c e s . " I believe that b e h a v i o r is an integral
part of an a n i m a l ' s c o n s t i t u t i o n ; t h a t h u m a n b e i n g s are not
infinitely p l a s t i c ; and that we shall learn m o r e about music
and h u m a n musicality if we l o o k for basic rules of musical
b e h a v i o r which are biologically, as well as culturally, condi-
tioned and species-specific. It seems to me t h a t w h a t is
ultimately of m o s t i m p o r t a n c e in music c a n n o t be learned like
other cultural s k i l l s : it is there in the b o d y , waiting to be
brought out and developed, like the basic principles of
language formation. Y o u c a n n o t really learn to improvise, but
this does n o t m e a n that improvisation i s random. T h e m a n
w h o does it is n o t i m p r o v i s e d : all aspects of his b e h a v i o r are
subject to a series of interrelated, structured s y s t e m s , and,
when he i m p r o v i s e s , he is expressing these s y s t e m s in relation
to the reactions he picks up from his audience. S i m i l a r l y ,
married V e n d a w o m e n do n o t relearn the music of domba
every four or five y e a r s , w h e n a n e w school is set u p : they
relive a social situation, and t h e right music emerges w h e n
that experience is shared under certain conditions of indi-
viduality in c o m m u n i t y .
T h e rules of musical b e h a v i o r are not arbitrary cultural
c o n v e n t i o n s , and techniques of music are not like develop-
ments in t e c h n o l o g y . M u s i c a l b e h a v i o r m a y reflect varying
degrees of consciousness of social forces, and the structure
and function of music m a y be related to basic h u m a n drives
and to the biological need to m a i n t a i n a b a l a n c e a m o n g them.
SOUNDLY ORGANIZED HUMANITY 101
One generation can learn much from another, but that which is
purely human no generation can learn from the preceding genera-
tion. In this respect every generation begins again from the begin-
ning, possessing no other tasks but those of preceding generations
and going no further, unless the preceding generation has betrayed
itself and deceived itself. . . . No generation has learned how to
love from another, no generation begins at any other point than
the beginning, and no subsequent generation has a shorter task
than the generation which preceded it [Fear and Trembling (Lon-
don and New York: Oxford University Press, 1 9 3 9 ) , pp. 1 8 3 - 8 4 ] .
N o w t h o s e w h o are c o n c e r n e d w i t h m u s i c o l o g y and e t h n o -
musicology m a y be disappointed, b e c a u s e I seem to suggest
that there are no grounds for comparing different musical
s y s t e m s ; t h e r e i s n o possibility o f a n y universal t h e o r y o f
musical b e h a v i o r , and n o h o p e o f cross-cultural c o m m u n i c a -
tion. B u t if we consider our o w n experiences, we m u s t realize
that this is n o t in fact so. M u s i c can transcend t i m e and
culture. M u s i c that was e x c i t i n g to the c o n t e m p o r a r i e s of
M o z a r t and B e e t h o v e n is still exciting, although we do not
share their culture and society. T h e early B e a t l e s ' s o n g s are
still exciting although the B e a t l e s h a v e u n f o r t u n a t e l y b r o k e n
up. S i m i l a r l y , s o m e V e n d a s o n g s that must h a v e b e e n c o m -
posed hundreds of years ago still excite the V e n d a , and they
also excite m e . M a n y of us are thrilled by koto m u s i c from
J a p a n , sifar m u s i c from India, C h o p i x y l o p h o n e m u s i c , and
so on. I do n o t say that we receive the music in e x a c t l y the
same w a y as the players (and I h a v e already suggested that
even the m e m b e r s of a single culture do not receive their o w n
music in the s a m e w a y s ) , b u t our o w n experiences suggest
that there are s o m e possibilities of cross-cultural c o m m u n i c a -
SOUNDLY ORGANIZED HUMANITY 109