ABSTRACT
In this chapter I consider the issues discussed in this book from a sociological perspective. I address three questions in particular. First, what does it mean to call Scottish music ‘Scottish’? I focus here on Scottish pop music (in contrast to Scottish traditional music) and consider the importance of travel – in and out of Scotland, in virtual and mediated space, and across musical boundaries – for both the reality and the idea of Scottish music. Second, what are the methodological implications of treating traditional music in terms of process rather than text? To focus on music making rather than the resulting styles or sounds means studying the conditions in which music is made. Sociologically speaking, all music making is ideological; it necessarily takes place in a particular socio-musical world. Third, what are the implications of describing the traditional music world in terms of its concern for historical resources? I argue that all music worlds are shaped by implicit arguments about their own history. We have to understand Scottish traditional music, then, as a particular kind of historical ideology.
