The Ethnomusicologist, Ethnographic Method, and the Transmission of Tradition

Abstract

Abstract However else they may identify themselves and each other, fieldworker and subject are first and foremost human beings. It is this shared identity that makes field work, with both its problems and its accomplishments, a meaningful mode of mutual learning. Most ethnomusicological discussions of the transmission of tradition attempt to document and interpret the manner in which music is communicated over time within a particular setting, giving attention to both the interpersonal dynamics and communication technologies of these processes. However, I will focus my inquiry neither on the native carriers of tradition nor on the materials these traditions con vey. Rather, I propose to take a reflexive turn and to discuss the role of the ethno musicologist who, while seeking to document the transmission process, becomes a part of it.

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