Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T03:59:51.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Factors affecting the musical choices of audiences in East Suffolk, England*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Extract

In discussing humanly organised sound in How Musical is Man?, John Blacking points out that musical ability is not only the prerogative of those who make music. Without the capacity of an audience for structured listening, he says, there would be no music and no musical communication (Blacking 1973, p. 9). The construction of a sound-ideal, that is the acceptance or rejection of patterns of sound as music or non-music, is part of the musical process. When Merriam constructed his model for ethnomusicological research in The Anthropology of Music, he recognised that those listening to the sounds produced by musicians played an active role (Merriam 1964, pp. 32ff). He also realised the importance of what he called ‘conceptualisation about music’ to the process. Figure 1 illustrates simply the three analytical stages of his model and the feedback system involving the acceptance or rejection of sound. The weakness of the model lies in the assumption that those listening will react uniformly to the sounds produced. As I shall show, such a consensus on the classifications of sound is not to be found in large differentiated societies.

Type
Part 2. Audiences and Musical Tastes
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Books and articles

Arensberg, C. M. and Kimball, S. T. 1940. Family & Community in Ireland (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Blacking, J. 1973. How Musical is Man? (London)Google Scholar
Dunn, G. 1980. The Fellowship of Song, Popular Singing Traditions in East Suffolk (London)Google Scholar
Frankenberg, R. 1957. Village on the Border. A Social Study of Religion, Politics and Football in a North Wales Community (London)Google Scholar
Frith, S. 1978. The Sociology of Rock (London)Google Scholar
Frith, S. 1983. Sound Effects. Youth, Leisure, and the Politics of Rock 'n' Roll (London)Google Scholar
Hasbach, W. 1908. A History of the English Agricultural Labourer, trans. Kenyon, R. (London)Google Scholar
Hebdige, D. 1979. Subculture. The Meaning of Style (London)Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, E. J. and Rudé, G. 1969. Captain Swing (London)Google Scholar
Logan, N. and Woffinden, B. 1982. ‘Jimmy Hendrix’, in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, 3rd edn (London)Google Scholar
Lloyd, A. L. 1940. ‘Xmas is coming at the Eel's Foot’, Picture Post, 14 12 1967. Folk Song in England (London)Google Scholar
Merriam, A. P. 1964. The Anthropology of Music (Evanston)Google Scholar
Monk, D. 1978. Social Grading on the National Readership Survey (London)Google Scholar
Newby, H. 1977. The Deferential Worker (Harmondsworth)Google Scholar
Summers, K. 19771978. ‘Sing, say or pay’, Traditional Music, 8/9, pp. 553Google Scholar
Thompson, F. 1939. Lark Rise to Candleford (London)Google Scholar
Turner, M. R. 1972. The Parlour Song Book (London)Google Scholar

Records

Brightwell, J. 1975, Songs from the Eel's Foot, Topic 12TS261Google Scholar
Hart, B. 1973, Songs from Suffolk, Topic 12TS225Google Scholar
Webb, P., Austin, E. and Hart, B. 1974, Flash Company, Topic 12TS243Google Scholar