曹本冶教授“民族音乐学记谱与分析”课课堂综述之八音乐声音与表演背景:一种作为音乐分析的表演模式
音乐声音与表演背景:一种作为音乐分析的表演模式
时间:2008年5月21日;
地点:E研究院512室
授课教师:曹本冶教授
参与同学:林莉君、黄婉、高贺杰、齐江、廖松清、关怡宁、李松兰、文君、邹婧、谢晶晶、陈超
主讲报告人:林莉君(博士研究生)
(8) Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt. 1987. “Musical Sound and Contextual Input: A Performance Model for Musical Analysis.” Ethnomusicology 31: 56 – 86.
一、作者简介
为加拿大民族音乐学的创始人之一;大提琴家、印度萨伦吉琴的演奏者。研究兴趣:音乐的人类学,表演研究,南亚、伊斯兰、加拿大音乐和社会的实践。出版著作及发表文章:《印度与巴基斯坦的苏菲音乐:卡瓦黎的声音、背景和意义》(Sufi Music in India and Pakistan: Sound, Context and Meaning in Qawwali );<是谁在说印度的音乐?印度音乐学的文献资料与背景>(“Whose Music? Sources and Contexts in Indic Musicology”)等。
二、文章背景
该文发表于Ethnomusicology1987年冬季刊。上世纪90年代左右,民族音乐学处于对学科来源进行反省的时期,即对民族音乐学是音乐学学科来源的反省。 “音乐分析”在民族音乐学中亦无形成一套体系的方法,本文即作者对音乐分析的一种思考和探讨。该文的发表有其时代意义;对于现在而言,亦不乏价值。
三、文章框架
◇ 序言
◇ 论证
◇ 工具
◇ 模式
◇ 音乐分析
◇ 表演背景
◇ 表演过程
◇ 评价结果
◇ 评价模式
四、文章结构
(一)序言
这部分内容,作者提出问题,并交待本文的目的。
作者开篇即提出,在寻找合适的分析范式期间,民族音乐学家们的理论模式和思考推断模式,大多是由人类学家们提出。作者提出急需确立一种方法,即根据人们自身合适的方式来理解他们的音乐,寻求一种解释的工具,这个工具可适于比较和普适性之目的。
该文的目的是为了构建分析模式。文中,作者用其所构建的模式来研究qawwali(笔者注:即印度和巴基斯坦的Sufi合奏乐)。作者认为,她对qawwali做分析时,发现其模式整合了具多层次表演传统的多种因素;这种整合即联系了音乐和表演背景之间的关系。作者指出,检验关于不同qawwali的表演之一致性的解析方法,产生了一种对特殊表演事象要求全面理解的需求;而这种需求也导向了合适的、普适性之目的。这样一种工具,其真正有效是要通过相关表演类型的应用来予以检验。所以作者采用了Sufi音乐这一个案来做分析。
(二)论证
作者在这一部分中提出问题,亦提出解决问题的方法。
作者提出民族音乐学应有的范式是:“音乐是一种与某种社会使用及其文化背景相互交流的声音系统”。作者指出,这样一种系统可以仅根据其声音结构来分析,其结果一方面可以指出音乐的普适特点;另一方面也可以识别特定文化区域、特定时期或风格的音乐特征,甚至可以引出相关的意义(relational meaning)。单纯在抽象的结构中来分析音乐是种对音乐产生之能动的理解,但是不能提供声音系统根据其社会使用和文化背景的意义。如此音乐的体验,提出一个有关音乐本质的根本性问题:即音乐的声音是如何成为其自身之外的意义呈现?(how does musical sound become meaningful outside of itself?)以下,作者对上述所提出的问题做出自己相应的回答。
她指出,音乐的意义系统包含在审美理论当中,这种意义传达的检验基础是表演。表演是背景和音乐的特殊连接点。为了探究这种意义是否能够以及如何在表演手段中操作,作者提出以下假设:即“音乐声音将随其表演背景的改变而发生变化”。该假设需要这样一种分析模式,即一方面能够呈现音乐的声音结构,另一方面则能够呈现表演场合的结构。然后,把背景输入音乐当中,通过表演过程来进行分析。
作者指出,在民族音乐学著作当中,这种方法已享有同样的基础,即在全面的范式中关注音乐的表演(比如,Frisbie, A.Seeger, Feld and Stone等学者)。作者亦指出,她的方法不同于以上学者,她主要关注于音乐的声音特点。作者在可检验的方式中关注,背景维度的融入是如何真正获得一个全面的对音乐声音的理解,以及内在于音乐声音的特殊-音乐的意义又是如何影响音乐;反之,音乐如何影响背景。
(三)工具
作者的“工具”即指音乐声音和表演背景。
作者指出,解决的任务有三方面:A.分析一种在表演中产生的音乐、作为具有独立规则体系的声音风格。B.识别表演的背景,即音乐产生的所有情形,以及理解其社会和文化的动态。C.把音乐和表演背景联系起来。
进行这样一个分析程序,主要围绕两个关键论题(针对第一大点):A.如何根据其特点和结构来分析一种音乐的声音风格。B.如何从一个全面地分析视角,把背景和声音系统联系起来。
1、音乐声音的分析
作者指出有关理论上的争论,即民族音乐学家们一般把他们的音乐分析基于西方音乐学的框架基础之上,采用其符号和术语。文中,作者举例并简要介绍了一些学者对非西方音乐分析方法的探究。如,以Schenker为首,展开了新的方式来分析文化不同之音乐现象。此外,语言学模式亦增加了一个有效的维度,虽然应用有限,但语言学的概念、结构和生成的两部分已经加强了对非西方音乐所采用的分析方法。再如,Blacking, Becker, Vetter提供了语言-口头言语(language-parole)或生成(generative)模式的应用;Powers从建立在语言学-语音学区别到句法过程之基础上的“最小单位”,为raga音乐的分析建立了“语法”规则。
作者指出,元语言(笔者注:指用来分析和描述另一种语言[亦即对象语言]的语言或符号)必须根据有效的准则来实施。两种理论的位置产生了这样的准则:
A.由Nattiez(1975)提出的基于结构主义和全面地阐释,影响了西方音乐传统之外音乐的有说服力地实施。
B.音乐基于文化-特殊的原则,必须根据其文化自身的标准来分析。因此,一个文化其自身有关音乐的概念,最好能作为建立在这一在文化区域中,为特殊音乐的类型或风格分析的框架。
另外,Zamp,Feld以及其他学者指出,在某一文化中,即使没有清晰的音乐理论,还是能发现本土之音乐概念的。他们亦带来了一种音乐研究的人类学方法,该方法来自于语言学模式;从而增加了精确性,也扩宽了音乐民族志之方法。
以下,作者围绕其研究的印度音乐来说明音乐声音的分析。她指出,印度有其音乐理论,即一套建立已久的描述和分析音乐声音的原则。印度音乐学的这种理论框架,构成了分析特殊的南亚表演传统之合适的工具。存在于印度学和西方音乐研究之间的相互影响导致了印度音乐学的发展。
2、如何把背景与声音系统以一种相互兼容的分析视角联系起来
如何把背景与声音系统以一种相互兼容的分析视角联系起来。这起于一个问题:音乐背景无法完善地处理音乐的声音。通过人类学和社会学的理论和方法得知,此研究最初是围绕音乐的使用和功能,但是并没有把音乐本身与其分析程序融合在一起;这些方法既没有分析音乐声音,也没有根据与其背景分析互不相干的西方标准来进行分析(Merriam 1967)。以下,作者引用多位学者的观点来说明:作为文化和社会整体的有关音乐场合的概念,不仅包括音乐,而且联系了行为与概念(Herdon 1971)。特殊表演传统的研究显示了潜在的局内人/主位(emic)分析,即,采用一种本土的概念对行为作解释的框架。此外,这种分析正延伸到音乐场合中参与者的行为,这样有助于对背景动态的理解。作者指出,表演场合之民族志式的模式适合于很多音乐合奏类型,包括Sufi音乐。她引用Singer所提出的“文化的表演”(cultural performance)这一概念,认为此概念有助于民族音乐学之表演的民族志(ethnography-of-performance)方法的形成。
作者进一步指出,学者几乎没有分析在表演中的音乐声音,但是没有这种分析,我们对音乐声音特点的理解并不全面。
作者提出,仅仅基于背景之音乐表演的分析,为音乐声音的分析留下一个缺口,而这个缺口只能用音乐分析来填补。换句话说,需要在音乐学和人类学方法之间、民族音乐学的声音定位和背景定位之间作一合成。
作者归纳总结道:概括地说,这两种工具(音乐声音系统和表演背景的分析)对于作者所建议的分析是很有用的。第一、它们是理解音乐声音系统之规则的体系,使用基于本土音乐学的概念,作为西方音乐学框架的参考;第二、根据概念和行为,结构和过程来分析表演的背景。为了把这两种工具结合在一起使用,需要一个单一的分析模式,以便音乐和背景能以相互兼容方式予以分析。这种分析的框架产生于人类学理论,但还需要拓宽,即要和音乐分析的特殊要求兼容在一起,这才是真正的民族音乐学的方法。
(四)模式
这部分内容,作者分析其所建构的模式,即以四种设想合成分析的框架。
作者首先指出,以下的设想,来源于人类学理论,这构成了作者对民族音乐学之音乐表演分析的基础:
1、从可看到的事象当中,什么是能被检验的。
2、概念不同于行为的分析,它们之间有一个辩证的关系。概念从行为中获得,是分析行为的关键。
3、音乐也有一种概念的和行为的维度;本土的音乐理论提供了直接进入这种分析的因素。
4、过程构成了行为之概念的实现。
作者指出,过程意味着形成结构的操作。它构成了行为之概念的实现。但是,过程源于个人的行动,这基于个体的策略或动机以及有赖于个体在其环境中的地位。从这个视角来看,音乐的表演过程是通过两种参与者,由每个行为之间的相互作用产生的。这两种参与者是:执行音乐的人(“operationalize”music)和执行背景的人(“operationalize”context)——即表演者与观众。因此,理解音乐声音在其表演过程中的关键是分析来自于表演者的背景,因为他的行为形成了音乐声音的产生。
作者认为,结合以上的设想所构成的分析方法产生了一种模式,这种模式可以作为分析的蓝图[1]。以下,作者把此蓝图放进具体的分析程序当中。如表1所示:
A、背景尺度:包括意识形态、象征体系、社会-经济背景、表演者的身份、表演者的情况(自我兴趣);
B、分析维度:包括表演背景;表演的手段;以上是用于操作的结构。事件/过程、歌词/过程;分析观众和表演者的互动则用于操作的过程。
实质上,该分析程序有两个阶段:首先是分析结构;其次是分析过程。分析按照以下三个步骤进行:
第一步,分析音乐语言,将其作为构成音乐单元的结构以及结合以它们的规法来分析。
第二步,对作为一种结构的表演背景的检查,需要包括特有的表演场合背后之文化和社会结构的思考。
第三步,表演过程的分析。这需要考虑到表演者、音乐制造者的情况。因为这是他们在其自身理解基础之上,把声音的结构转变成声音表演的过程;音乐制造者基于他自己对所有与表演背景有关因素的理解之上。作者认为,这样的分析方法能够解释音乐制造的所有过程,能检验最初的设想,即音乐声音将随着表演背景的改变而产生变化。
以下,作者以Sufi音乐为例进行分析。首先对Sufi音乐/qawwali(笔者注:Sufi,即苏非派[伊斯兰教的神秘主义派别])进行了简单的介绍。
(五)音乐分析
作者以Sufi音乐为例进行音乐分析。作者指出,音乐分析需要满足两个基本的要求:
A.采用核实、重复和比较的方法;
B.在更广的视角背景中操作,包括考虑非音乐的不定因素(non-musical variable)。
作者提出,由于分析是建立在本土音乐概念的解释之上,所以,分析也需要在其原初的形式上呈现,即,分析者要理解所研究对象的本土形式;这种方式提供了民族志的证据,以便让读者更好的接近事实。事实上,音乐结构不是单一的风格,而是被归纳为声音交流的系统;这种系统被贯穿使用于音乐的区域(“musical area”),常常超越语言、地域、宗教信仰或是种族边界。
为了反映音乐之事实,作者建议,对像qawwali这样特殊的音乐风格的分析应该由两个阶段构成:
A.把qawwali置于北印度音乐大框架当中来识别它的音乐结构。
B.区别特殊表演传统中的音乐语言。即分析音乐结构,把qawwali的音乐语言(“dialect”)从北印度歌曲一般音乐语言(“language”)的背景中区分出来。对于qawwali而言,作者发现这样一个程序的关键在于音乐之特有的功能。音乐学的模式必须扩展到适应文化或功能的因素,从而引出qawwali独特的音乐特点。
以下,作者分析qawwali音乐的功能。该音乐功能是根据Sufism的意识形态,作为神秘的诗作呈现,为了在有精神需求的听众中唤起神秘的情绪。有三种因素构成了这个功能特征:A.激发;B.歌词的使用;C.不同的听众。
作者指出,音乐分析的是一种结构,包括音乐选择的曲目以及实行这些曲目的结构;还要清晰地说明结构的动机,即音乐是如何被程序化的,或者是如何把它们输入到实际的音乐次序当中的。在qawwali个案当中,联系音乐的功能适应观众的需求,无疑留下了这种动态的所在地:即表演的背景。
(六)表演背景
作者指出,背景维度的分析构成了音乐分析的补充。这个观点暗示了有两个分析的设想应该予以澄清:
A.任何由社会构成的文化传统,将服从于社会-经济的约束;参与者作为社会的成员,在此之下进行操作。
B.关注场合(“occasion”)和事件(“event”)之间的区别。
场合(“occasion”)指明了表演背景作为认知和社会整体(“cognitive and social entity”)的一个概括;此引发的的问题是:一种qawwali合奏是什么。事件(“event”)表示了普通标准的一种特殊的指向;此所引发的问题为:这个qawwali合奏是什么。这种区别暗示了一个视角,即包含了两种结构的维度:行为维度构成了表演过程的成分,认知维度构成了行为维度之下的概念。
作者的目的,是分析表演场合作为一种民族志的构成,从认知以及行为的视角予以分析。她指出,应该清楚地提供信息人的概念;把提供信息者的概念与分析者的解释区分开来。以作者的观点,有系统的调查表演场合的背景是先决条件,包括时间、地点、人员和根据等维度;要阐明与表演有关的任何事情,包括过程或音乐次序的标准,还有参与者的行为,表演者和观众两者的角色。听的过程,需要分析观众的行为及其相应的结构表达的意义。此外,还要思考其社会和经济的暗示。在qawwali个案中,听赏者的社会地位可以限制他们的反应,以及给表演者提供服务。
(七)表演过程
分析者尝试去调查在表演中音乐和背景二者的相互作用:第一、必须分析音乐与背景之间的相互关系;第二、分析过程(即根据结构来分析过程,可以找到可能的解决方案)。
所有参与者的决定和行为一起补足了表演的相互作用。但是,该调查的目的是分析音乐,因此,这个模式必须建立在音乐制造者了解和使用表演的手段。所有其他的参与者以及他们的行为都是和这个分析相关,因为他们影响了表演者。因此,表演的过程必须分析音乐家们的情况,因为这基于其对多变之背景的理解基础上制造音乐。
作者建议使用录像,这不仅仅为了音乐,还为了获得细节的记录;记录所观察到的事象和发生场景之间的相互作用。为了捕捉音乐和观众行为之间相互作用的细节,作者发展了两种方法来解释qawwali表演。录像(“videograph”,图3所示)提供了一种准确的以视觉来记录观众行为的录制。视频图表(“videochart”,图4所示),则追踪了音乐家不间断的表演和观众反映之间的相互作用。这两种记谱方式(“notational system”)相互补充:录像有效的描绘了多种观众反映之复杂性,根据录像所作的图表(videochart)则集中于表演的动态之相互作用。
作者在该个案研究中,用录像(Video-recorded)记录了表演者是怎样用音乐向观众表述,他们是如何表达背景以及如何操作的。作者提出,尚需要减少音乐家的易变因素,以便识别一般的标准,方法如下:
第一步,归纳出表演相互作用的特定实例,通过表演过程,系统地说明背景和音乐的变化。此目的是通过整个表演过程,勾画出表演者的策略,并了解到多变背景之下表演者是如何选择音乐的。
第二步,使表演过程服从于一种分析式的评价。把背景转变成(“translating”)音乐,反过来,音乐的表达背景。
作者对qawwali表演过程的分析,考虑到了表演者和观众,使其识别了语义学所指对象(“semantic referents”):
第一,两种语义学所指对象与表演事件的结构有关。一是关于听者的精神认同,二是地位/身份,一种精神和社会维度的构成。
第二,两种语义学所指对象与表演不间断的过程有关。一是与听者的听觉状态有关,二是与观众相关。
第三,结合全部的背景输入到音乐当中。
(八)评价结果
作者认为,对qawwali所采用的分析模式,充分印证了“音乐声音伴随着表演背景的改变而变化”这一假设,不定的背景通过具意义之音乐的变化而得以证实;这些研究可以解析qawwali的表演过程,并在此基础上,解译了在当下进行的音乐之社会背景的意义,即表演者在表演过程中如何使用他们的音乐语言,做了什么,以及为什么这样做的原因。作者认为,该分析的有效基于民族志的证实。这一个案说明了表演分析从背景视角当中脱离出来的方法是不充分的,背景是大的音乐结构之整体构成部分。作者亦指出,该分析揭示了音乐作为一种可广泛解释的符号,可以通过表演者和观众之间的联系予以解读。
(九)评价模式
作者指出,以上结论是基于印度-巴基斯坦表演传统的分析,尚需在更广泛的音乐背景当中予以检验。比如在同一音乐区域中,尤其要置于印度-巴基斯坦音乐背景中的其他音乐表演中来验证。
该模式可以用来验证有文字书写传统的音乐文化,比如西方音乐传统。作者提出,就西方音乐而言,音乐的制造者是否仍然是表演者?她认为,对西方音乐的研究,要考虑到音乐创作者与观众之间较少互动的因素。据此,用于qawwali的音乐分析模式可以做一定的修改。作者谈到,即使表演背景的概念和表演者需要重新定义,这也并不意味着原有的假设是不可检验的;即音乐随着背景的改变而发生变化,并随之传达出社会-文化的意义。
作者进一步提出,世界上大多数的音乐体系是缺少文字书写的音乐理论,甚至于缺少关乎音乐的概念;那么,这里所呈现的分析模式能否有助于分析这些表演中的音乐?作者对此的回答是肯定的。她认为,音乐作为声音交流的体系,是根据其文化本身的意义系统所引发出来的。比如,可以探究表演过程中的语言,所呈现的意义表达,表演技术,以及音乐的灵敏性,等等。作者谈到,任何一种音乐体系,不论其如何简单,都是一种文化描写的声音系统,并通过背景的意义发生某种程度上的改变。她指出,该分析方法可以提供一种解释的手段,即在背景意义的基础之上,音乐体系是如何在表演中运用的。
五、林莉君的总结
作者通过所提出的假设,即“音乐声音将随其表演背景的改变而发生变化”来建构一种分析模式。该模式一方面能够分析音乐的声音结构,另一方面则能够分析表演场合的结构;通过表演过程的分析把背景和音乐连接起来。作者围绕的问题是:在背景意义的基础之上,音乐体系是如何在表演中运用的。她认为,可以通过概念和行为、结构和过程来分析表演的背景;表演的过程包含了行为的过程,表演的过程亦使概念得以显现。该分析需要通过表演者与参与者之间的互动得以解读。
作者的思考与研究方法给予我们一定的启示,在当时的年代能提出这样的观点是具有创见性的。就作者研究的对象而言,该模式的分析方法有效。
六、林莉君引发的思考
无疑,作者的思考与研究方法给与我们很大的启示,就作者研究的对象来看,该模式的分析方法是有效的。但是,我们是否应该对“音乐分析”归纳出某种单一的分析模式?套用某种单一的模式是否有效?研究对象多种多样,呈现出的事象亦各不相同,这种分析模式是否具有普适性?一种绝对统一的方法是否能适用所有音乐?
笔者想引用作者在序言中所提到的一句话来作为自己所提出问题的答案:即,“寻求合适的范式,即根据人们自身的方式来理解他们的音乐。”所以,笔者以为,不同的对象有其不同之镜像,我们也应该用其自身特点来理解该音乐,从而采用相应的分析方法。
课堂讨论
同学问:你提出的“声音反作用于背景”是否本文中提出的?你如何理解?
主讲答:是文中所提出的,我对于该答案是认同的。因为参与者感受到声音之后,该声音背后的概念会深入到参与者的思想当中,从而对其行为产生影响。背景与声音两者是互动的关系,二者是双向的联系。
曹老师的点评:
l 从赖斯(Timothy Rice)对梅里亚姆(Merriam)的概念-行为-音乐的声音之理论架构的修正[2],我们可以看到北美民族音乐学学者就学科偏执人类学的发展持有不同意见。梅氏的架构中虽然有“音乐的声音”(musical sound)[有国内学者把此随意翻译为“声音”;这是错译!因为Merriam的所谓“musical sound”(音乐的声音),从头到尾指的只是“music”。他之所以用“音乐的声音”,只不过是在他的“理论”框架之中,“音乐”有音乐的概念、音乐的行为和音乐的声音三个方面而已]。但是实际上,对如何在研究中结合这三者,学界(甚至梅氏本人)一直没能做好。所以会有Rice、Qureshi、Ringer 等学者提出调整民族音乐学的学科定位以及理论方法学的意见。Qureshi撰文的出发点,即是究竟有什么方法可以使得把音乐本身的研究与音乐文化环境的研究此二者作为一个整体来研究。虽然这篇文章在20世纪80年代发表,但是至今,北美学者对此问题的思考(特别是从音乐本身切入来理解其文化)是避而不谈的。这篇文章并没有因为时间的推移而减少其价值所在。
l Qureshi的仪式的“performance”用词,在中译时可能应该翻作仪式的“展现”更为合适。展现一方面含有“performance”的意思,同时也有仪式作为信仰(核心)外显的表示这一含义,也即是仪式学学者用的“ritual enactment”。
l 仪式的展现是否与参与者直接有关?曹老师举例说明:比如超度仪式、丧葬仪式,会根据主家的要求和情况有相应细节上的改变。
l 文章结构
Introduction
l The importance of ethnography in ethnomusicology does not diminish the need of tools serving goals of comparison and generalization
l Aim of the article: to propose a toolkit for “comparison and generalization” within the framework of qawwali, the music of the Sufi assembly of India and Pakistan
Methodological Argument
l Music should be analyzed as a system itself, as well as for its semantic meaning
l Performance as an interface of music and meaning
l Hypothesis of “Musical sound will vary with variation in the context of its performance”
l Criteria for the model
n Should be able to combine both the musical sound and the performance occasion
n Should be within the framework of musicology (in terms of Adler’s Musikwissenschaft)
n Should be within a holistic paradigm with a primary focus on musical sound
n Should concern the inter-relationship between musical sound and its context
Tools (status quo in the field)
l Task at hand, its innate problems and existing solutions in the field
n Schenkarian analysis
n Linguistic models
n Structuralism and culture’s own
n Indic musicology as solution to the 1st key issue – analyze music sound
n Solution to the 2nd key issue (relate the context with the sound) is to be found in an extension of anthropological or sociological theory
The Model
l 4 assumptions
n 1. Observable sound and performance situation
n 2. Concept and behavior are distinct and yet inter-related
n 3. Relationship of “concept ~ behavior” are applicable to music
n 4. Process of behavioral realization of concepts begins with (and is through) the individual (performer)
l Analytical Model
n The “model for”
n 3 procedural steps in using the model
Application of the Model
l Background of Sufi music
l Music sound analyzed in 2 stages
l Performance context
n 2 assumptions
1. Any cultural institution or tradition operates within socio-economic constraints; musical occasion thus serves a purpose directly related to social or economic factors.
2. There exists a distinction between “occasion” and “event.”
n Occasion and event
n Setting and procedure
l Performance process: videograph, videochart, variables, semantic referents
l Fusing
Evaluation of the Model
Universality
l 按上列的文章结构,以下是曹老师希望同学在各节中注意的段落(段中的粗黑体字是老师特别着重的要点):
Introduction
l The importance of ethnography in ethnomusicology does not diminish the need of tools serving goals of comparison and generalization
p. 56
During the struggle for an appropriate paradigm, ethnomusicologists experienced a brief phase of fascination with theoretical models and deductive modes of thinking, mostly proffered by the few trained anthropologists in the field. [“民族音乐学在寻找合适范例的过程之中曾经历了对由少数人类学出身的学者所提出的理论模式的短暂性的迷恋”——指的是Merriam和他的追随者] The immediate need for establishing the discipline, however… was ethnographic: to discover and refine the very special skills required for understanding peoples’ music in terms appropriate to them. The resulting commitment to experiential, humanistic, inductive modes of explanation and expression is… hardly weakened by a continuing search [“继续”,应该是指延续比较音乐学已划出的宏观比较方向] for explanatory tools that may serve the equally legitimate goals of comparison and generalization.
音乐民族志(ethnography)曾是学科建立期间的急需,但这不意味着可以忽视宏观性音乐比较研究对学科的重要性。
l Aim of the article: to propose a toolkit for “comparison and generalization” within the framework of qawwali, the music of the Sufi assembly of India and Pakistan
pp. 56 – 57
This paper is an attempt to isolate such a toolkit, or model…. I developed this model for the study of qawwali, the music of the Sufi assembly of India and Pakistan (Qureshi 1981b, 1982, 1986.) In my analysis of qawwali I found the model capable of integrating the very diverse facets of this multi-layered performance tradition, comprising a rich performance idiom – music and text – , and its performance context – a complex interplay between religious ideology and socio-economic factors. This integration made possible the discovery of “common denominators” between…music and context, which in turn led to the isolation of “operating principles” that govern their relationship. I found that testing a consistent explanatory tool on diverse qawwali performances yielded…understanding of a particular performance event while also leading toward the goal of appropriate generalisation. The real validity of such a tool, however, can only be ascertained by testing it in application to other, related performance genres, if not to other kinds of music, including music of the Western tradition. It is with this broader goal in view that I wish to put my approach to scrutiny, by presenting it here in outline form.
【In other words, the purpose of establishing the model is to integrate “music” and “context”, with an ultimate universal comparative usage.】
Methodological Argument
l Music should be analyzed as a system itself, as well as for its semantic meaning
p. 57
“Music is a system of sound communication with a social use and a cultural context.” Such a system can be analysed in terms of its sound structure only, and the results may either point to universal features of music or they may identify musical characteristics particular to cultural regions, periods, or styles. They may even lead to inferences about semantic meaning at the level of structure, i.e., relational meaning. But what analysing music in purely abstract structural terms does not provide, is an understanding of the dynamic that motivates the production of music, i.e., the meaning or significance of the sound system in terms of the social use and cultural context – referential meaning…. Yet much musical experience does raise this fundamental question about the nature of music: how does musical sound become meaningful outside of itself?
l Performance as an interface of music and meaning
p. 57
While meaning systems for music can be found embodied in aesthetic theories, the testing ground for the communication of such meaning is performance, the area of specific interfacing of context with music.
l Hypothesis
…hypothesis: “Musical sound will vary with variation in the context of its performance.”
l Criteria for the model
n Should be able to combine both the musical sound and the performance occasion
Such an undertaking requires an analytical model capable of representing on one side the musical sound structure and on the other, the structure of the performance occasion.
n Should be within the framework of musicology (in terms of Adler’s Musikwissenschaft)
p. 58
In substance, this intention conforms to one of the major aims pursued by anthropologists… however, that anthropological aim is directed at music, a system of sound communication with very special properties which requires equally special analytical procedures. Such procedures have been developed and applied to music by musicologists. [请同学们注意作者在注解3中有关她思维中的民族音乐学学科定位:3. The term musicologist and musicology are used in the sense of Musikwissenschaft (Adler 1919) throughout this paper, notwithstanding the separation of music theory from (historical) musicology perpetuated in North American academia which I deplore. 即是说,作者认为,民族音乐学的学科定位是Adler所指的“Musikwissenschaft”。]
n Should be within a holistic paradigm with a primary focus on musical sound
Within the purview of ethnomusicological writings, such an approach shares common ground with studies which situate music within a holistic paradigm focusing on musical performance (Frisbie, A. Seeger, Feld and Stone). My approach differs from them insofar as my primary focus is on the musical sound idiom….
n Should concern the inter-relationship between musical sound and its context
In incorporating a musicological focus into an anthropological paradigm, I am addressing a major theoretical concern of ethnomusicological inquiry (Etzkorn 1974, Asch 1982). That concern is to show…how the inclusion of the contextual dimension is indeed indispensable to gaining a full understanding of musical sound, and how the extra-musical meanings inherent in musical sound give music the power to affect its context in turn.
Tools (status quo in the field)
l Task at hand, its innate problems and existing solutions in the field
p. 58
The task at hand is threefold: 1) to analyse the sound idiom as a self-contained rule system…; 2) to identify the context of performance…, and to understand its social and cultural dynamics; 3) …to relate the performance context to the music… that will identify the contextual input into the musical sound.
.
n Schenkarian analysis
p. 59
Beginning with Schenker, recent expansions of this framework in response to new analytical needs and to new music (Schenker 1954, 1956, Yeston 1977, Narmour 1977, Beach 1983, Cogan and Escott 1976) have opened new opportunities for dealing with culturally diverse musical phenomena.
n Linguistic models
has found only limited application, concepts of linguistics, both structural and generative, have enhanced the analytical arsenal for non-Westerns music.
n Structuralism and culture’s own
p. 59
…the universalist stance, based on structuralism and elucidated extensively by Nattiez (1975), has yet to lead to convincing applications to music outside the Western musical tradition. The second position… namely that music is based on culture-specific principles and must be analysed according to the culture’s own criteria. Hence, a culture’s own conceptualizations about music can best serve to build a framework for the analysis of specific musical genres or idioms within that culture area.
…this premise has been applied to some art music traditions where musical parameters have been conceptualized and verbalized, and are thus accessible to the analyst in terms of an indigenous music theory. Applying this premise beyond art music, however… show that indigenous musical conceptions can be discovered even in cultures without an explicit music theory…. What is yet required is to build from such culture-specific musical concepts and categories a coherent analytical framework for dealing with the musical sound idiom as a whole.
所以,我们仍缺少能具世界性运用价值的分析框架。
n Indic musicology as solution to the 1st key issue – analyze music sound
pp. 59 - 60
Students of Indic music, fortuitously, already have such a framework available, since Indian musical theory has its own, long-established set of principles for describing and analysing musical sound….
确实,印度的本土学者以他们本土故有的音乐研究传统为本,有选择性的从国际音乐学领域中接纳合用的思想和概念,已成功建构了适合研究他们自己音乐学科和理论方法、且得到国际学界认同的“印度音乐学”。同样,中国学界也需要建构适合自身音乐研究的理论方法和学科,而不是一味盲目追随西方学者的那些为解决他们自身需要而设的理论方法。
n Solution to the 2nd key issue (relate the context with the sound) is to be found in an extension of anthropological or sociological theory
p. 61
The second key issue, how to relate the context with the sound system from a mutually compatible analytical perspective, arises from a “problematic” which has always been inherent in studies of musical context: their [“problematic”(麻烦),指的是学科中对文化上下文的研究] inability to deal satisfactorily with musical sound…. such studies initially centered on the uses and function of music, but did not incorporate the music itself into their analytical scheme. [Merriam和那些人类学偏向的学者,并没有成功的把音乐体系归纳到他们的研究之中] Either they did not deal with musical sound analytically (McAllester 1954), or analysed it according to strictly Western criteria unrelated to the contextual analysis (Merriam 1967)….
The musical sound system, however, finds no more than partial inclusion in most anthropologically oriented studies. [只有音乐上下文而没有了音乐]
p. 62
Clearly, an analysis of musical performance based on context alone, leaves a gap in the analysis of musical sound, a gap which can only be filled by means of a compatible framework for music analysis…what is needed is a synthesis between…musicology and anthropology, between sound-oriented and context-oriented ethnomusicology. Such a synthesis presupposes a single conceptual framework so that both music and context can be analysed in a way compatible with one another…ethnomusicology appears as yet to lack such a framework….
In summary, two kinds of tools… which I propose. First, … tools for understanding the rule system of the musical sound system, using systematic eliciting from musicians on the basis of indigenous musicological concepts as adapted to a Western musicological frame of reference. Second, … tools for analysing the context of performance, in terms of both concepts and behavior, structure and process, using anthropological theory and methods of eliciting and observation. In order to use these tools together, a single analytical scheme is required…. Such an analytic framework can be generated from anthropological theory, but it needs to be … compatible with the special needs of music analysis. In short, the approach has to be truly ethnomusicological. [“truly ethnomusicological” 指的是“musicological”, 而不是全盘“人类学化”! 认同! ]
The Model
l 4 assumptions
n 1. Observable sound and performance situation
p. 62 – 63
…The following assumptions, derived from anthropological theory, constitute… a starting base for an ethnomusicological analysis of musical performance:
Assumption I. The analysis should focus on what can be tested: the observable… the complex of sound… and… the performance situation…dealing with behavior…, musical as well as non musical.
n 2. Concept and behavior are distinct and yet inter-related
p. 63
Assumption 2. The conceptual domain is analytically distinct from the domain of behavior, with a dialectical relationship obtaining between them… concepts inform behavior and can therefore serve as a key to analysing behavior. 【思想~行为】
n 3. Relationship of “concept ~ behavior” are applicable to music
Assumption 3. Music, too, has a conceptual and a behavioral dimension; access to the conceptions underlying a musical idiom can be used to analyse its behavioral unfolding in performance.
n 4. Process of behavioral realization of concepts begins with (and is through) the individual (performer)
Assumption 4. Process…constitutes the behavioral realization of concepts. But process, no matter how culturally and socially complex, originates in individual human action which is based upon individual strategy or motivation and dependent on the individual’s vantage point...the process of a musical performance results from the interplay of such action…by two kinds of participants: those who “operationalize” music, and those who “operationalize” context (i.e., performer and audience). Thus the key to understanding musical sound…is to analyse it from the vantage point of the performer, since it is his action that takes the form of musical sound production, and it is through his perceptions that the actions of the audience affect the music.
l Analytical Model
n The “model for”
p. 63 Schematic figure of the model
n 3 procedural steps in using the model
Step I is the analysis of the musical idiom as a structure consisting of musical units and rules for their combination, in the sense of a formal grammar.
Step 2, logically parallel to Step 1, is an examination of the performance context as a structure, consisting of units and rules of behavior… include a consideration of the larger cultural and social structure…which gives sense to it.
Step 3 is the actual analysis of the performance process…the vantage point of the performer, the music maker, who converts the musical structure into a process of sound performance on the basis of his apprehension of all the factors relevant to the performance context…. this context-music interaction is then reduced to its underlying principles so as to identify the contextual constraints operating on the music during the performance. The ultimate goal is…a …grammar of….the total process of music production and make possible the testing of the initial hypothesis (i.e., musical sound will vary with variation in the context of performance).
Application of the Model
l Background of Sufi music
l Music sound analyzed in 2 stages
pp. 65 – 66
…the basic musical concepts and terminology to be used in this analysis are Western, as is the system of notation. Indigenous musical concepts…are noted and identified…in terms of a Western framework…: pitch, duration, formal structure and acoustic articulation. The last parameter approximates what is more conventionally termed “performance style” ….
Since the analysis is based on the interpretation of indigenous musical concepts, it is also necessary to present these in their… indigenous form as apprehended…; this provides ethnographic evidence…. I chose to summarize this evidence in a set of appendices, to be read in conjunction with the tables which contain my own analysis….
n Stage 1
p. 66
…In the first stage the musical structure is identified in terms of the larger frame of reference – for qawwali this in North Indian music…elements of pitch, duration, and formal structure are analysed separately, along with the organizing principles which govern those sound elements.
n Stage 2
p. 67
The second stage in the analysis of the musical structure consists of identifying those musical features that distinguish... qawwali…from the common musical “language” background of North Indian song. This means that a procedure for isolating distinctive or characteristic features…. For qawwali, …the key…lies in the specific function of the music…. Thus the musicological model had to be expanded to accommodate contextual or functional “clues” that lead to the derivation of distinctive musical features for qawwali.
这是一般操作程序:(1)解构/解码(identify components); (2) investigates how do they operate within the system.
l Performance context
n 2 assumptions
p. 69
The analysis of the context…is on the performance occasion in its totality…. Implied in this perspective are two analytical assumptions that should be clarified.
1. Any cultural institution or tradition operates within socio-economic constraints; musical occasion thus serves a purpose directly related to social or economic factors.
At a general level… it is assumed that any cultural institution or tradition with a social component will be subject to the socio-economic constraints.... Hence, the musical occasion may serve a purpose directly related to social or economic factors…. To accommodate this dimension it is useful to make the analytical distinction between manifest and latent function…especially where ideology plays a major role….
2. There exists a distinction between “occasion” and “event.”
n Occasion and event
The second analytical assumption…concerns the distinction between “occasion” and “event.” Occasion … represents the abstracted norm…. 【如:“三月三”】 Event designates any one particular manifestation of that general norm…. 【2008年的三月三】Implied in this distinction is a perspective that encompasses two dimensions of structure. The practical or behavioral dimension comprises the ingredients of the performance process, while the theoretical or cognitive dimension comprises the conceptions or norms that underlie these ingredients.
n Setting and procedure
p. 70
…analysing the structure of the performance occasion means ascertaining the norms of both setting and procedure….
…the setting of the performance occasion governs the range of factors that remain constant throughout the occasion, or are prerequisite to it; they include…time, place, personnel, and rationale. Procedure comprises everything that is relevant to the way the performance is to unfold.
Complementing these manifest norms of procedure is a consideration of their social and economic implications….
…the entire discussion of the performance context needs to be prefaced with an outline of the relevant ideological-cultural and socio-economic background dimensions that underlie the particular performance tradition.
l Performance process: videograph, videochart, variables, semantic referents
pp. 71 – 72
The method to be employed for charting the performance process… the use of video-recording …to obtain a detailed record not only of the music, but of the visually observable interaction taking place…. this makes possible… analysis of the music-audience interaction….
… interplay between music and audience behavior, I developed two methods of transcribing and interpreting video-recorded performances of qawwali. The “videograph”… record of audience behavior…. The more interpretive “videochart”…traces the interaction between the musician’s ongoing performance decisions and the audience responses as he perceives them, along with the resulting song sequence…. The two “notaional systems” are complementary in emphasis: the videograph effectively portraying the complexity of multiple audience responses, the videochart focusing on the interactional dynamic of the performance. 见文中图示:Videograph (Figure 3); videochart (Figure 4); variables (Figure 5); semantic referents (Figure 6)
p. 76
My analysis…, in consultation with performers and listeners, led me to identify four “semantic referents.” The first two semantic referents relate to the structure of the performance event: one refers to the listener's spiritual identity, the other to status, a composite of spiritual and social dimensions. The other two semantic referents relate to the ongoing process of the performance: one refers to the listener's state of arousal, the other to the performer’s selective audience focus….
l Fusing
The final step is to integrate the totality of contextual input into the music, thus providing a summary of context-constrained musical features. Figures 7 & 8
Evaluation of the Model
p.76
The…model…adequately tested the hypothesis that musical sound varies with variation in the context of performance….
My claim to validity for the analysis is ultimately based on ethnographic evidence. Indeed, the application of any model can only be as valid as the analyst's understanding of the musical tradition he is applying it to – good theory is no substitute for good ethnography.
pp. 78 – 80
…there are musical features which contain contextually derived meaning. However, these features account for only a limited number of musical elements in the performance idiom. Indeed, this example illustrates why approaching performance analysis from a contextual perspective alone will not suffice, since that would leave much of the musical structure unaccounted for. Indeed, the contextually meaningful elements function semantically as an integral part of that larger musical structure. These elements, however, do carry referential meaning, and it is these elements which the performer uses in order to “speak” to his audience. The nature of his communication is directly linked to the nature of these meaning-carrying musical features themselves. [(1) 音乐的“含意”(“meaning”)不是不可以在音乐的体系结构中寻获;(2)音乐演奏中的所指的文化上下文含义是有限的,而且只可用于协助解译 “音乐”中的“音乐含义”。] 这段似乎可用于告诫那些死钻人类学牛角尖的民族音乐学学者。过于迷恋文化上下文(contexts)而忽略、甚至忘了自己学科的音乐学属性,这是本末倒置的迷茫。
p. 80
In examining the semanticity of these musical features, two characteristics stand out. One is the limited range of meaning options assigned to each individual feature…. the second characteristic, namely… more than one meaning variable operates simultaneously in performance. What this implies is that the music is capable of, and does carry meaningful communication at several levels at once, each level being to an extent capable of independent articulation. By thus making available a number of simultaneous meaning channels, the musical code makes it possible to convey a range of intensity by uttering a single meaning through any number of channels….
Universal Applicability
pp. 81 – 82
…the world’s musical systems which lack a verbalized musical theory or even conceptualizations about music. Can the approach outlined here contribute to the analysis of such music in performance? There is no reason why music, like any communication system, cannot be subject to elicitation and systematization in terms appropriate to a culture’s own meaning system. To identify such features without reference to a preexisting musical theory or grammar is theoretically possible…. On the other hand, context derived features alone can never account for, let alone program, a piece of music, simply because such features only represent a small part of the total musical system. Every musical system, no matter how simple, consists of a culturally prescribed sound structure – units and rules – with only certain variables governed by contextual meaning. Thus to actually program music in performance, the entire system has to be accounted for analytically. 任何音乐自身必然有它的结构,由“结构”便是具有某些内在的“语法”;“上下文”含义的结构因素只是其中的某些部分。
p. 82
…It remains for further applications to show whether this might bring us closer to the larger goal of creating a general theory of musical performance.
A “larger goal” is what any discipline in humanities should strive for (and was the vision of comparative musicologists in the early history of ethnomusicology).