FTX-781 - THE
WORLD ENCOMPASSED -
vol 1
This World Music Course introduced by Alan Lomax, the leader of the team
who put it together in the 1960s, was originally titled "Cantometrics -
the measure of song". As "Folk Song Style and Culture" it was
published by The American Assocation for the Advancement of Science in 1968
and in 1976, the team published the recorded samples from the Lomax field recordings
as well as others from outstanding international field collections, and thus
produced an ethno-musicology course with tests for researchers and students.
So now, "Music from around the World" is available on 8 CDs together
with a ninth forming a final Graduation CD.
Peter Kennedy used this course with his students at Dartington College of
Arts from 1972 and found it particularly successful in all three: Art, Music
and Theatre depts.
THE SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE VOCAL GROUP
The notes that follow suggest the ways in which the singing groups of a
culture reflect the organization of groups in other of the culture's activities.
Two elements of group organization are considered - (1) the prominence of a
solo or leader part; 2) the type of group organization involved. Solo and leader
dominated group singing tends to be more common where males dominate productive
systems; group-oriented performance without prominent leaders is clearly more
frequent where females are productively dominant. Thus, the northern world of
hunting, fishing, pastoralism and plough agriculture is solo or leader-oriented.
The warmer world of gardening and horticulture is group-oriented. The group
organization a culture employs in song performance seems to vary with economic
factors. Interlock, where the parts are most equal, is commonest among acephalous
bands of the non-complex producers, especially gatherers. Unison, the simplest
technique of coordinating effort is resorted to everywhere, most prominent in
the performances of small tribal societies, especially among planters without
large herd animals. Overlap of parts is most typical of the larger agricultural
societies with large herd animals and a complementary productive system. Alternation,
where clear divisions between parts of the performing group are more clearly
stressed, is typical of complex productive systems, especially those with plough
agriculture (see Lomax et al 1968: 139ff).
