Shaping Sound and Society : The Cultural Study of Musical Instruments

This volume brings together leading voices from the new wave of research on musical instruments to consider how we can connect the material aspects of instruments with their social function, approaches that have been otherwise too frequently separated in musical scholarship. Shaping Sound and Society: The Cultural Study of Musical Instruments locates the instruments at the centre of cultural interactions. With contributions from ten scholars spanning a variety of methodologies and a wide range of both contemporary and historic music cultures, the volume is divided into three sections. Contributors discuss the relationships between makers, performers, and their local communities; the different meanings that instruments accrue as they travel over time and place; and the manner in which instruments throw new light on historic music cultures. Alongside the scholarly chapters, the volume also includes a selection of shorter interludes based on interviews with makers of comparatively new instruments, offering further insights into the process of musical instrument innovation. An essential read for students and academics in the fields of music and ethnomusicology, this volume will also interest anyone looking to understand how the cultural interaction of musical instruments is deeply informed and influenced by social, technological, and cultural change. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Figures List of Tables Notes on Contributors Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: The Cultural Study of Musical Instruments—An Overview Instrumental Interlude #1: The Skoog PART I: Ecology, Production, and Communities of Practice 1. The Social Production of a Mallorcan Bagpipe: Collaboration, Technology, Ecology, and Internationalization 2. Feeling Analogue: Using Modular Synthesizers, Designing Synthesis Communities 3. Re-inventing the Herati Dutâr: Some Cultural and Social Repercussions 4. Musical Instruments as Material Culture: A Case Study of the Cretan Lyra Instrumental Interlude #2: The Yaybahar Instrumental Interlude #3: Recycled Instruments PART II: The Circulation of Instruments 5. Charlie Parker, Massey Hall, and Grafton 10265: Musical Instruments and the Telling of Tales 6. What’s in a Name? Carving an Indian Identity into the Slide-Guitar 7. Playing for God: Brass Instruments of the Moravian Brethren in the Atlantic World Instrumental Interlude #4: The Fluid Piano Instrumental Interlude #5: The Pikasso Guitar PART III: Reframing History through Instruments 8. Arcadian Tones: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the Austrian Maultrommel 9. Musical Instruments as Traded Commodities: The Makers’ Perspective 10. Military Musical Instruments and the Culture of Perfection in the Long 19th Century Index "This volume brings together leading voices from the new wave of research on musical instruments to consider how we can connect the material aspects of instruments with their social function, approaches that have been otherwise too frequently separated in musical scholarship. Shaping Sound and Society: The Cultural Study of Musical Instruments locates the instruments at the center of cultural interactions. With contributions from ten scholars spanning a variety of methodologies and a wide range of both contemporary and historic music cultures, the volume is divided into three sections. Contributors discuss the relationships between makers, performers and their local communities, the different meanings that instruments accrue as they travel over time and place, and the manner in which instruments throw new light on historic music cultures. Alongside the scholarly chapters, the volume also includes a selection of shorter interludes based on interviews with makers of comparatively new instruments, offering further insights into the process of musical instrument innovation. An essential read for students and academics in the fields of music and ethnomusicology, this volume will also interest anyone looking to understand how the cultural interaction of musical instruments is deeply informed and influenced by social, technological, and cultural change"-- Provided by publisher