The Anthropology of Music

Alan P. Merriam’s novel, Anthropology of Music, deals with his approach to the understanding of music. The novel is split up into three different segments. Part one explores the study of ethnomusicology, part two deals with the concepts and behavior of music, and part three discusses the problems and results that occur due to music. Each part delivers intriguing information that opens up an array of knowledge to both anthropology and musicology. The breakdown of each section is worth exploring in more depth to further deepen the understanding of the anthropology of music.

Part one of the novel showcases how ethnomusicology is the study of music in different regions of the world and cultures. It explains exactly what ethnomusicology is, what it does, and the reasoning behind it. Merriam explores the ideas of how a human’s behaviors and actions relate to music. He strives to make it known that he believes the ethnology aspect of ethnomusicology has not received enough attention and notes its importance. Early on in the novel, Merriam says, “Ethnomusicology carries within itself the seeds of its own division. For it has always been compounded of two distinct parts, the musicological and the ethnological, and perhaps its major problem is the blending of the two in a unique fashion which emphasizes neither but takes into account both.”1Studying music brings about different styles of exploration, giving humans a wider view of self-discovery. Merriam speaks on the topic, saying how the quote above is an extremely broad explanation of what ethnomusicology does. The aim of ethnomusicology can be broken into three different responsibilities, the author explains. These responsibilities are for the ethnomusicologist to always refer to during his studies.

The first of the three is technical. This is the first step to understanding what music is and how it is created, and the structure of sound. An ethnomusicologist has to be able to understand the configuration of music, analyzing all parts. They must be able to see how the parts all fit together with one another. The technical aspect of ethnomusicology is very descriptive; therefore it is hard for others to understand if they are not trained in music. The next responsibility to learn is the viewpoint that music does not only deal with sound, but it heavily deals with human behavior. Merriam says, “Music cannot exist on a level outside the control and behavior of people, and several kinds of behavior are involved.” 1 One of the behaviors the author speaks about is a person’s physical activity and how it affects music. A musician uses their body parts to play certain types of instruments or they use their voices to create different sounds while singing.

The last responsibility of an ethnomusicologist deals with how there is always one professional who studies the technical side of musical sounds, saying that it is a system of its own. Yet then there is also another professional who will say that music is a functional part of human lifestyles and heritage which is just a small part of the bigger picture. These two different divisions are the social sciences and the humanities. Social sciences are more commonly known to deal with the political, financial, and social sides of humanity. This viewpoint deals a lot with the needs of the body—also known as the technical side of musical sounds. The humanities are more concerned with the creative aspects such as art, philosophy, and religion. This viewpoint uncovers the main purposes of humans and their values in life are the main concerns.

Merriam’s goal is to take these two perspectives and turn them into one because he believes that a true ethnomusicologist will study all sides of the musical and the ethnological world. He states that the connection to both the sciences and humanities is how both sides are intrigued in the reasoning of why people act the way they do and what drives their actions. There needs to be an understanding that the laboratory-based and anthropologically-based sides of ethnomusicology are just two different parts of a bigger picture in the world of understanding music. Later in the book, Merriam notes how there are only a few musicologists who are interested in the broader study of music and how it is a human phenomenon. Others, however, seem to limit themselves to one Western culture. When it comes time for those limited musicologists to speak on the history of music, they only glance over the idea of music in other cultures, using it to support their theories of where music originated from. It is spoken about how the Western historical musicology focuses heavily on music being one standard style, yet the strongest point of ethnomusicology is the idea of studying music of different cultures.

Merriam has a strong belief that music is created by humans based on their behaviors and culture. Throughout the book, he pushes this belief that one cannot fully understand the music structure if he does not take the time to understand the humans who created the music. In turn, it is impossible to study music to the truest form if there is not a solid understanding of human beings and why they act in the ways and styles that they do. Merriam believed three main principals formed the foundation of ethnomusicology.

Speaking on the first principal, Merriam states, “The music of other peoples of the world is much abused and maligned: that such music is, in fact, fine and worthy both of study and appreciation: that most Westerners do not give it its due.”1 That leaves the job of the ethnomusicologist to look past the negative judgments on the music and cultures of the other parts of the world. It is their job to protect and explain the wonders and importance of each point of view when it comes to human behavior around the world in relation to music. This principle leads directly to the second with its beliefs. The second principle deals with the idea of fear that the music of the folk is disappearing, so it is important to study it as much as possible before that transition happens and the folk disappears. The third and last principle is about how the purpose of ethnomusicology is to use music as a form of communication and understanding of the world as a whole.

In part two of Merriam’s novel, he deals with the concepts and behavior of music. He discusses how every music system has concepts that mix the music into the lives of society. These concepts underline the practice and performance of music including the production of musical sound. It is explained how the most important concept is the distinction between music and noise. It is the most basic concept needed to understand music. Merriam explains, “It is logical to assume that if no distinction can be made there can be no such thing as music, for either all sound will be music or no sound at all will be music and thus music cannot exist.”1 This concept differs immensely based on the different cultures and societies that one is a part of. In some parts of the world, for example, a community could express the sounds of the birds to be called music, while others would disagree in other parts of the world. This is exactly why the idea of defining what music is becomes extremely difficult because it differs from every region.

Another idea that is explored in part two of Anthropology of Music, are the four major types of behavior that contribute to the production of sound. These four behaviors include physical, verbal, social, and learning behavior. Physical behavior is the use of a person’s mouths, fingers, and diaphragm to create a sound. Verbal behavior is the use of words and lyrics to create songs and folk stories. Social behavior deals with the musician. It is the musician’s job to discover what their role is in society and how to best approach the world with their talent. Society has a way of setting stereotypes upon musicians, which shapes how they present themselves to the world. It is in part two of the novel that Merriam speaks on the subject of how the composition of songs works. An interesting concept discussed is how new songs are created by taking certain parts of old songs and rearranging them for the new. Every culture holds its own styles of music and melodies that showcase the stories of their region (such as Persian music and the Iranian people). The special cultural styles have been passed down from generation to generation. This leads to the people of the region wanting to reserve their family heritage; therefore they use the same types of melodies as the older songs when creating the new.

The last part of Alan Merriam’s novel deals with the problems and the results of ethnomusicology and how the issues must be approached. Two questions the author asks in this part of the book include, “What do we learn from music? What can we learn from the broad study of ethnomusicology viewed as a discipline which treats music as one further aspect of human behavior taking its place beside man’s other multiple activities?”1 One of the best ways to try to understand human behaviors when it comes to music is to study the lyrics or song text as Merriam calls it. The language can influence the sound of music, the patterns of the songs, and the story of human behavior altogether. This idea brings the novel full circle, back to Merriam’s first goal: understanding how musicology and anthropology can come together as a whole rather than reminding us as two different parts of one big picture.

The Anthropology of Music is a novel that challenges the structure of ethnomusicology and strives to understand it more deeply. Alan Merriam speaks on the questions that arise on the subject of ethnomusicology and seeks out answers to the unknown. Each section of this book dives into very useful information to an individual studying either anthropology or musicology. Merriam studies every angle of the field. He voices how important it is to remember that not only is there a social science side to ethnomusicology, yet there is also a humanity side. He expresses profusely how both sides must fit together to further the understanding of what music is and why humanity can connect to it in such a deep, passionate way.

Reference

1. Merriam, A. Anthropology of music. Northwestern University Press; 1964.