ABSTRACT

This chapter argues for the importance of an interdisciplinary endeavor, offering some pointers both to the history of "interaction" as a topic in ethnomusicology and to selected themes that have the potential to illuminate future researches. Researches that shed light on the dynamics of interaction in various musical genres demonstrated the importance of the ethnographic dimension. The chapter presents a brief historical overview of the study of interaction within ethnomusicology, highlighting some of the most important approaches and theories that have been developed within this discipline. It addresses three specific issues that might usefully be considered in any research on embodied music interaction. They are the relationship between group bonding and individual expression; the nature of hierarchy and leadership in musical ensembles; and finally the distinction between scripted musical encounters in which relationships may be represented and interaction dramatized, and performances in which relationships and status are genuinely at stake in the course of performance.