John Blacking How Musical is Man Review

8/18/2019 John Blacking How Musical is Man Review

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1 .

The Classic P a im j Tales, p. 204.

2

Ibid., 219.

3.

Ibi4.,

p.

5. They

do not footnote their quotation,

~ h i b h

omes

from

DQghts

Folktales

So c l e t ~ , 4 147

4

Classic F a i n Tales, p. 2 .

7 Kw Stone, "?romantic Ibmin ea n Anglo-~lnerican Folk end

PopuS.xp

Literature.

(Dissertation,

Indiana

University,

1975)~

ppendix ~ i ,

p4 3684

Iusicd

g?By

John Blaclcing.

Pp. xii

& 11

6

photographs, musical

notations, diagrams. Seat$le: University of l i k d ~ g b o nress 1973.

Cloth

x 75; Paper

197k)

'>2.95.

Lccompaqdng 7 nch,

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Ikviev essay by Steve Peld.

John

Blacking

needs no introduction t o Md ca ni st

s,

ethnographers, nor

ethnamusicologists; the pertine nt fa c t s f o r the general fol kl or ist are

the following:

Blaclring was trained a s a musician and then as an

anthropologists He 11s.sdone exteiisixe research on msic and

d t w a J .

symbolim among the :ienda of South Urica,,

and

secondary research on

the music of many other

&st

and South kSrican

groups.

In the last

f i f t n yews he has

published many

detai led

ana1yses,

including Venda

C songg ( ?itw.tersrand University Press, 1967), and m a q y

papers n Ethnomusicolo~,the Inte rna ti onal F07.k i iusic -ci1 Jouxmal,

1fu~i .c~nd Afi.ic= Studies.

-&cently, BZacktngls

triting

has talcen on a new dinension. Papers

lilce

"The Value of iiusic i n uman &yerienceIT 1969)~

To~a r c l

a

Theory of 3Iusical CompeteiiceH

(1971)

nd

5 3xbengions

and

Llmits

of

iiusical

Transformationsv 1772) t;uxvn r mn the specific pi-ohaems of

description

and analysis

of .h dcan music to

the

pan-humm question of

the nature of musicality.

I

these

ar.tic7.e~Blacking dravs largely

from

his

otm

mlture

and musical

background,

z s

~ r e l l

s

f

am his ethnographic

~~ro-rk.

IIis

theoretical perspective

has

broadened, extending beyond con-

textual othnographtc st~dy o considerations of 1 1 ~ 1iology and psych-

ology; In addition

he

has boroo~red nsi gh ts frcan both' theoretical

ling-

u i s t i c s

par t ida3g

the tnStingg of Noam ~homdcy),

and

fran cogni-bive


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158

anthropology (patricu~ar2.;~he st mc tw il -i or" Cle. ude ~ e v i - ~ t ~ ? . u s s )

801 1

h s i ca l I ?

i s "not a scholarly study of human nusicdityli

-

(ix) but

an

art&culate and enjoyable

m a i y

of

a

range i f issues,

concepts, end ideas tlia-t hove been on Blacking's

mind

as he re-thinks

the centma2 tasks Tacing

S

anthropological study of musLc. Or.igindly

presented as the John Danz lectures a t the University of ' ashinp;ton

in 1.971 the boolr i s divided into four chapters ~lhose i t l e s clearly

indicate the nature of Slacking?

s

concerns:

(I j

H m d y

Organized

Sound, (2) IIusic i n Society and Cul.ture, 3) Culture

end

Society i n

Jusic, 4) Sornf y Organized Hmenity.

I liU

summai5ze the major

issuss

broached

by

each chapter,

and

then aclclress

myself

t o t he

relevance of t h i s book fo r

f

l ldor ist

s

The

f i r s t

chapte r introduces t1.o themes th a t a re fami li ar i n IXacl:ingr s

t-~orIt; n

this

context they underlie his contention that ethnomusicology

has the pot enti al t o revolutionize th e st at e o:? music education and the

scope of music study. The f i r s t of these -bhemes i s that the d is t inct ions

between "a r tK , 'Yolkii,

and

izprimitiveflmusic

are

spurious

and

nonsensical;

moreover they merely reflect nd servo the e l i t i s t c l ass s c~wctu~ef the

society that insists upon them.

The

second theme

i s

that musical snalysis

i s c'.oomed t o e r t i f i c i s l i t y when i t

limits

its domedint o Ksound.s"

In

and or"

themselves--as i f musical. soupds tmre someho~~utononous of the c u l t w d

assumptions and contexts i.shich make t h e i r messages comprehensible.

h i s l a s t theme i s developed i n

this

chapte r wit11 reference t o the

s ov eY d vays i n W c h

a

single musicd,. passage may be analyzed

snd

hte-wre ted--if tile onalysis i s confined t o sound.

Yet uhen music i i :

analyzed in context, the interpretive choices about the relation of

a n analysis t o the meaning of the passage ar e reduced considerably.

Hence Blaclting cLear3-y tekes

the

position

that

t~l iat

s

"in the notesu

i s

not intrinsically meaning"u3. or autonomous from the social circumstances

s ~ ~ ~ o u n d t i n gusic-&ing

and

music-li stening.

Zeturnbg to the ear l ie r thene, Blaclctng t a l c e ~ n our popula2 social

notions about being iimusicaln o r uunmusical.n

liere he points out

th at music psycholow t e s t s equate being object ive with being context-

free;

he a i p e s %hat

minimizing

the importhnce of altural experience

i s

hardly a f o r cross-cultural t e s t s t o be objective. Drawing

z^u~the r pon the logical t~eealmes of the fimusicaL1~ersus 1~unmusica2-n

dis-Linclion,

Lacking

mekes h i s major poin t of th e chapter:

what

mdces musicaX comnunication poss ib le i s basic biological process

of a ur al perception--the

capacity

fo r stmctured l is tening.

The

hp li ca ti on s of Blacking'

s

posi t ion are that

el7.

members of cult ur e

shere a

similar

ab i l i t y uhen it comes t o t he "sonic perception of

order1:--hence musicality must be addressed as a universal human

competence further developed

and

etr at t f ie d i n part icular ways

by

the

methods of parbicular cultures.

Discussing music qvstems as an expression of dognitive processes

n

t h i s tmy Blacking bo rr o~ ~she notion of deep

and

surface structure s

from formal linguistics.

Although he emphatically says (page 21)


3/7

th at he

;;is

ot ~uggestiilg ha t ethnormusicolo~~se the methods of

l i nbds t i c s i l and tha t .tl1eT0 '5s mo reason t o a s m e that music i s a kind

of

langu~ge page 21 ,

he

a l l u e s f o

musical deep

s t ructwe i n

a%

l ea s t t11o d if fe ren t mys--onc

being

an abstmct level of cul%ural

representation (specifiic constraints on %hem c d g of a musice3. phrase ,

the other being

an

abstract strmclure

frmn

~ ~ h l c helodles conddered

"the sameH nay emerge. O f course these idea s are quite plwoca-bive,

8lld

one can eeslly generate numerous problematic questions concanling

Blac ringts in tent here.

Suffice it to say that

in

the context of

these

lectures 3laclcLng does nu t fo~zndLy efine

his

oIm terns, xior does he

~ e d i l ~ rke i t clear

what;

no-bivates I x h to borrotr them.

s i n

the

book as a vhole, readers loolcing f o r exp li ci t

ratio-nales

and jud-

i f ica t ions tS1 not find them, but must look to ea r l i e r lrorke and

afffr?.rtt future ones.

I n the second chapter

Zlacking

turn s t o th e social dinenslons of music,

not t o dichotomAze society and music, but t o show tha t they are mirror

inages of one another. "St

i s

the content of

hman2.y

organized

sound 431a.t senilsl people. liken

i f

t h i s

emerges

as

an

exquisite tmm

of melody o r hamony, as a

1

sonic object i f

you

l ike, i t s t i l l began

as

the

thought of a sensitive human

being

and it i s th i s s ensi t iv i ty

'that

may

arouse (or not) the feelings or" anotl~er

mm

being . . .

(pwe

34

.

rom h e m

Bhclcing

takes us into the ethnography 0 2

Vends

musicdcing,

dzaawing argely on preuiousl-y published vork but spicing the e e n t a r y

pwaa els

and

divergences f m his otm d w a experiences. FOP

those

f a m i l i a r

with Elackingrs meaty ethnographic ~~oor l rheye i s not v e r y

much tha t

i s

no17 here, although it consti'~u-tsse very nLce summaly of

.--

Vends concepts abowt music,

'musicality,

ausicianship, and music-making.

s dl~ay.s,Dlackingts data co~Sims

is

general posltion that the

functions of music center around

eng~ossing

eople

i n shared experiences

rdth3.r t he i r

cultural

fi.amevorlr.

He thus point s out how the Venda

calendar of comunal ac t iv i t i e s auri;icruJ-cbes with oecadons f o r uu&c-

n

arguing

throughout

that

the experiencea involved i n ciwating

anr

responding t o music hold t he

k y

t o understanding

t s

value. He

mmarizes: .. if the value of music In soc5ety asld culture i s

t o be assessed, it must

be

described

i n

tems of the att itu des and

cognii.eve processes involved In iit weation, anc -bhe functions

and el"fects of the

r;zusical

p~oduc-tin society.

It foUovs

f om tl s

th2.t there hhou3cI be close stnuctural relat5onsMps amoilg the function,

content,

and

forn of musicr:( p g e

53).

Chapter

three begins 111th

the

no%Aon thz t mslic must

be

heard 1~2th

prepared e ar s i n

order

f o r

i t

t o

%eanij,

as its sbructure confirns

hat

s already present i n society and cul ture. Blacking goes on

t o illustrate this pzlnciple based on

his

experiences vith the musi

or" Erl t ten 1Iahler, nong othe r : estern camposers. I n do- so

he

rdses several

ar ti cu la te end infonnec crit icism s of

Deryck

Cookers

provocative s u& Lmmaae o I (Oxford University Press,

1959).

Cookel s argument $ha,% music i s an exp3,icit iengm.ge sgstan of emotional

symbols i s shown by Dlackhg

to

be

Fnsuff

icieiitly context-sensitive,


4/7

and hence not sb le t o accoun f o r the range of phenomena t ha t

i t

se t s

ou% t o emla in (~lhropean onal music be-h~een LDO nd 1953 .

Blacking then brings

up

the question of extramusical factors t ~ h k h

condition musical st ru ct we s, and c i t e s th e impol-tance of speech tone.

He

sh ot~s ow

the

storg of

a

song effects

i t s

t~orcls, and how th e t ~ o ~ d s

are

i n

turn composed o speech tones which cblidition melodic shapes

nd verse v ar ia tion , ITith th i s example we ar e again i n t o Venda music

spec ifica lly, and from here Blacking tur ns t o

an

exposition of the

Domba, th e Venda g i r l s premarital i n i t i a t i o n dance, disc ussi ng a s he

oes so % ell the sgmbolic relations between music structure

and

social

structure.

s before, th e mater ials ar e extracted from lengthy

previously published analyses.

The basic point

i s

t o s h o ~ow

Domba symbolizes sexual intercourse , conception, the growth of

the fetus , and childbirth.

Blacking cl oses th e chapter by showing hot1 th e musical s ty le o

lrhulo (music of the ~omba s structurally related t o tha t of

he Venda na tional dance. Again he uses li ngu i s t i c

terminology rat her f ree ly i n stati ng tha t

i s a transformation

(of

Tshikona)

t h a t i s generate6

b. r

the different function of the

music." (p. 87 . Again the implications of this statement for the

general anal ysi s of sub-sty les and th e s peci fi c ana lys is of something

t h z t might be call ed trans formational process a re not explored.

Chapter four begins

an

anal ys is of fo ur Venda songs i n order

t o

demonstrate the point that consideration of sounds

by

them-

se lves leads to very t~eak xplanations.

Blacking shows how the

contexts and functions of t he songs reveal t he meanings of t h e i r

organizing principl es, a s evidenced i n melodic patterns.

From here

we go

t

what was the thes i s of Blacking

s

major book, tha t the

children's songs

are

transformationally derived from the melodic

strr.cture of Tshikona,

as

they are 13condensedby a process of

ellipsis

not unl ike that which o urs in

the

early speech of childrenfi

(page

9 7 .

Again, th e im plica tions of

this

statenent are numerous,

and one tlishes that

Blacking

would

give

u s some more c lues a s t o

ho1.1 he sees the relat ion between biology, creativity, and imitation

songs among children in th e process of

learning

th e i r cu l ture ' s

music.

The remainder of t h i s chapter concerns cr ea ti vi ty i n i t s most general

sense.

Here we fi nd s pe ci fic condensations of some of Blacking's

major axioms

and

in tu it io ns about musicality; these can be seen

a s four paints :

(I ) innateness creativitv: Ih si c i s not learned li k e other

cul tural sk i l l s ,

it i s

there i n the

body,

waiting to be brought

out and developed, l i k e the bas ic pr in cipl es of language formationi7

(page 100)

Blacking later

supp rts

this with reference t o th e

wa s that the Venda learn end adapt &ropean musical concepts.

27 lilanmaeey uculture": Kl hsic

s

not a

language that describes the way soc iet y seems t o be, but a

metaphorical expression of feelings associated with the way society


5/7

rea l ly is.

It

i s

a

refleotion of

and

a response to social forces, and

part icul arly t o th e consequences of the division

of

l a b r i n socfetyJf

(page 104 .

3 )

musi?

i n context, w through

w

The thrust of the argumentation throughout the book has been t ha t

music nneans'f i n contex ts % hero l i s t e ne r s share symbolic codes t h a t

make sowds int erp ret abl e.

I s comparison end appreciation across cultures

and

through t h e thus an impossible task? h i s i s deal t t d t h v ry

br ie fl y. Mrrst we must note thai; Blacking has argued that " insidersn

do not receive music i n a

unLf

o m and equally meaningful lay

On

top of t h i s he poin ts out th at lioutsiders'j too do not re ceive music

i n a uniform "outsidefi way, and t h a t th e a b i l i t y of music t o trans-

cend culture and time i s not a matter of surface rela tion ship but

must have something t o do

lfLth

a universal deep etmcture--elements

of

music osganlzation comnon t o the human psyche end most directly

accessible through bodily experiences.

his i s a th ir d sense i n %lie

book i n which Blacking use s the not ion deep s-Lructure" and i t i s

also the most abstract

and

leas t expl ic i t .

Uni.ver~a3.g~

g

oo_rmition

fiEthlomusicology

i s

i n sone respects a branch of cognitive anthro2ology.

There

se m t o

be universal

s t ructural pr inciples i n music, such

as

the

use of d r y o r foims, theme and variation, repeti t ion, and binary

f om.

I t i s always possible that these may arise from experience

of soci al rela tio ns or of the natur al world: an unconscious concern

for mirror f m s

may spring

f

ram

the ~egular xperience of mirror

forms

in nature such as observation of the t11o f(halvesl of the

bodyu (page

11

2j. And: he following r ela tio nship s may

be

transfornations of a single structure: ca ll /re sponse, tone/

companion tone, tonic/count er ton~c , ndividual/communityO chief/

subjects, tficme/variatlon,

male/female

and so f rthf; (page 112).

Here, i n closing, we have Blacking hi nti ng t h a t surface cul tu ra l

repre sentatio ns i n music and soc ial organtzat5on generally are

transformations of bas ic b io logi ca l st ructures , h a t e i n the

species.

:Us binary pairs

are

of course reminiscent of Lbvi

Strauss, but he does not go on t o a f f i m o r deny L'evi-Straussl

contention that

the r ea l

study

object

i s

no

less than

the unconscious

structwes of the m2nd

i t

self

Let m now

round

out the preceding i-~ithome further critical remarks

about this exposition.

The basic problm, a s I see i t , i s not

vhat BJ.ack3ng i saying--all of which i s extremely provocative--

bu t % hat he doesnt t say.

In oth er words, f o r a

book

t ha t

dea ls with no l e s s than th e gut theore tical. i ss ue s of ethnomusic-

ology,

i t

i s ra th er hard t o pin Blacking dolm t o ex pl ic it

the ore tic al statements. For instance: Blacking argues both for

a

ra di ca ll y contextual approach t o music as

socially specific

and

for a universal species-specific,

innate

baseline. But

it

i s

hardly clear hov he

t o unify the twa i n

terms

of some

particular metathoory.

I;Ioreover, ;hutdoes this do t o our

grasp of th e rela tion ship betveen culture , biology, and learning.


6/7

One l o g i c d consequence hare i s t ha t

some

empirical discipline of

p sychomusicology

o r

even f'neuro~&usicoloe3r') should 'se developed

i f Tae are t o answer that Blacking fee ls. to be the

oost

basic of ethno

musicological questions.

Yet on the other lland, much of h i s argu-

mentatLon

i s

strongly outside of the ti.adStion of mpii ical

paradigms

Indeed,

much i n

t h i s book tekes on phenomenological

( the

function

of music i s t o lienhance

human

cons~iousness~~)nd sad mystical

( the purpose of nusic i s t o prepere people t o

love

one another)

Lone,

rooted i n in te rp re ti ve symbolic anthropology.

Besides

the tmendous sense one has that the book does not present

much resolution t o t h i s ctilemma, there are specif ic

things

t ha t

need t o be d e a l t

vith.

The

principle problem concerns Dladri~g~s,

use of li ng ui st ic analogies.

Does Blaclriilg believe that the notion

of

deep and surface structure

has

sonething t o of fe r ethnomusicol~gi

theoq besides a powerfd rnetephor? IPnilo of I~ts t,m applications

of this dist inct ion

i s motimbed

by

tl19 need

t o explain some

musical

f a c t s t ha t a re not besb explainable same othe r way?

I

donTt want t o

disniss

these

verg

cr uc ia l problems, but

I

think

that vhen posing such cri t iques we must take into account ihe

me'i~oric n t ~ l i c hhis book tlas m i t t e n . The essays a r e now

fo ur years old, they tJere presented as lectures, tney poll or^

f i f t een years of exceptionally ric h empirical work, they were

m i t t e n

a-b

a time I- hen

Blacking

~ a 3etween jobs (he

tias

in the

United

States

d t e r teaching 9 Soukh nL"1.lca and on

i s

t~sayt o

a.

new posi tion i n

rel land),

they came a t n t i ne t~hen mass of

nerr th eo re ti ca l id ea s tm-e on Blacking's mind. In

a

sense the

bools

marks the end

of one phase of Blacliingt

s

work,

m

sets the

stage fo r anotheq

i t

sumnadzes the importsnca of

hls

intensive

L$z5-c~ eqeri.ence, wh ae

bringing i n

the

equal

importance of

personal

intuitioils

and

experiences,

and,

of course, the need

for

sufficiently general metatheoretioal

constructs.

In conclusion

I went to n e

a fetal obs ervations about

this

bookrs relevance f o r foll:lorists dealing

T ~ i t h

usic.

s

ire

Icaol~ from the

general

academic plcture, var ious academic

discipl ines set

up

various boundaries

and

coilstrxints upon

the study

of

the sane

universally human

e c t i v i t p mu s i c .

I%lsicologists

who

deal with "world

m ~ s i c n

end to study

the so-call-ed "fine-artii music of th e so-called "high" culturres;

their concern i s principal ly to t ranscribe this music and

n&e s ty l i s t ic descr ip t ions from such t~anscrciplions,f o r

his tor ice l

o r

comparative

purpo

se

s

.

Lathropolcgl

s t

s

i~ho

tudy

ilmusic

in

cul tw c" tend t o floclc t the so-called

upl id.tive91

cultures of ifrica, North Ame~ica, and Oceania to study the

pyoce

ssual-

cultural

na ture of music-makirg musical behavior,

xid music sound. Fo1lclo~.isto search f o r "fol-k musicT

i n a

variety or" places, incorporating some spects of the

concerns

of

the t ~ ~ o

inds

of e t k l ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ i . C ~ l ~ g i ~ t ~ust noted,

but

especially focusing on

a m?ally

r a n d t t e d music i n the

reper tow of regional groups (fol10'1.d.n~ eorge J ~ i s t t s efinition


7/7

iJo1,~if the reader v i l l think about the 2qj~l-ictxtionsof thfs

l a s t paragraph coupled t~StI 2QT txxmmry of ELacking,

Lhc

n p o ~

tance

Ifql

cclaimlng f o r %h is book should

be

mucl~clearer.

iqamely, t he divergence of framerrorlcs and conceptualizations

just

ci ted have ~ o t M n g o do 11iiLh %lephenomel~ological

charecter

of

ony study object;

rather,

they are

a

ref lec t ion of several

dogmas preserved a n d

maintained

by bureaucratic structures and

definitional qylbblings.

?~ethehcr nstit~tionally

eTived

blinders can

be removed

i s

a question

I

can % go

into

here,

but

i n t hi s context I

1~0uld l k e

t o hea rt i ly j o i l ~ n 115th

BLaclcing

and

insist

that

alL nusic is follr music, d 1music

i s ethnic music,

all

musical competence is cultural competence.

If nusicologists

ignore

people, ant hop olo gis ts igi~or osound9

an l f o l k l o r i s t s resist bo-Lh

types

of propagand~ ncl

remain

ou,t

i n

search

o f

what is

ilfollctiabout "folk musici7 %her,Ire are

bomd t o remain

t ru y

ignorant about Iyhumanly rganized s o ~ ~ ~ d ~ "

The

loser i n the long

run t ~ i l l

e nothing bu-b the

understanding

of human musicality Yc e?-f .

%veral of

my etha~musicologist

riends

training i s prhc- i -

pal*

in folklore have

ewressed t o ne t h e i r d i s l i k e

of

an-thro-

pologicdl models ~ ~ h i c honteln

n

e s ~ e n t i d ~ 1 . ger jora tive a t t i tud e

t ~ ~ ~ a r d she

1~0i.l:

dane

in

the f ie ld of fo lk nus ic researcl~.

?%ether

or not such

a

claim

i s just if ied ( I

generally think

i t

i s )

I

think i t crucial

t o

point out

that

Blacking' s

book

is no-b

a propagandistic pm grm of ilhoc~o do it.

Gather

it i s quite

a

plea f o r thoso of us i n s t h n o m s i c o l o ~ r

o

unite,

based on

a realization

about vhat

v

are

studying

t ha t

transcends

bomdarie s ,dravn

d t h i n

uxxiversity

s-t;~.lzctmes

Blacking

s

certelL y

an

~ ' t h r o p a l o g i s t

nd

he

i s

ce r ta i n l y

out

t o

proaote

t~lia-L

e f i n d s t o be good

chMchg

i n anthropology.

But

he

i s

also a musician t ~ h o ares

deeply

about music, and a humanist

and philosopher 1~~110 elieves that

our

I J O ~ s c~orthless f i.%

CP-mot

on tr ibute Lo

a

soundly

orgganieed humantby. Dlaclci~g

w a ~ t s s

t o

deal with music

nd he I - J ~ I ~ S

o

deal

l a t h

culture.

LZ his

major

merit is t o realize that

these

are not

clich~tonous nt iti es, and

tliat

the s-i;uddy f ethnomusicology

i s

jusc

tipivia if it in si st s upon a

lamination

agproach vlhich

dissolves

'GFIO separeble

itens

cal led

l1rnusic

and l i c u l t ~ e i ;

icto

co lw f~s f

t r a i t

l i s t s

tAth a myriad of a.rrolds dya~n2

o

connect the columns.

iiusic i s

c u l t u r d

kao~rledge~ ~ h i c heveals i t s e l f i11 the competence

t o

act ive ly creat e music, perfom music, lFsten

Lo

music, under-

stand nusic, and learn music.

In the exquisite vords of Big

Bi3.1 Droonzy, vhen

questioned as

Lo %~hether

e sang

"fo lk mrtdcU--

.-

e le3.1, 1 gu s

i c

s d l f

011: ruusic--I

aid t heard

no horse sjng i - b

John Blacking How Musical is Man Review

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