Music Sociology | Examining the Role of Music in Social Life | Sara To

Book

Music Sociology

ABSTRACT

Music Sociology explores 16 different genres to demonstrate that music everywhere reflects social values, organisational processes, meanings and individual identity. Presenting original ethnographic research, the contributors use descriptions of subcultures to explain the concepts of music sociology, including the rituals that link people to music, the past and each other. Music Sociology introduces the sociology of music to those who may not be familiar with it and provides a basic historical perspective on popular music in America and beyond.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

part I|2 pages

Journey into American Music

chapter 1|3 pages

A Universal Body of Folk Music—A Technical Argument, Robeson explains the impoRtance of the pentatonic scale, which is found in native tRaditions aRound the woRld, to afRican ameRican music, including jazz and Rock. despite its seeming univeRsality, few classical composeRs (mussoRgsky, dvoRak, kodaly, and baRtok) have used it, and it RaRely is a paRt of westeRn classical music tRaining

chapter 2|13 pages

Five Important Moments in America’s Musical History— The Rest of the Story, by Sara Towe Horsfall cultuRal moments often change what music means to a society. ouR past includes (1) eighteenth-centuRy development of hymns as chuRch music; (2) the wild populaRity of nineteenth-centuRy blackface minstRels (including stephen fosteR songs); (3) the gentRification of music enteRtainment on vaudeville, which set the stage foR ouR modeRn music industRy; (4) the continued populaRity of the LittLe Red Songbook and folksingeRs such as pete seegeR; and (5) alan lomax’s extensive nonpRofessional RecoRdings, which give us a glimpse of music among the RuRal afRican ameRicans and otheRs aRound the countRy in the eaRly twentieth centuRy

chapter 3|10 pages

American Popular Song, by Howard S. Becker ouR common, populaR song foRm developed at the end of the vaudeville eRa. these distinctly ameRican songs came fRom the collective contRibutions of song wRiteRs, musicians, singeRs, and audiences. they have simple melodies in a limited voice Range, suitable foR untRained musicians

chapter 4|7 pages

The Industrialization of Popular Music—Part I, pRoduction of music has changed oveR the yeaRs; sound pRoduction went fRom RecoRds, to Radios, to tape, to cds. with each change, majoR

chapter 5|13 pages

What Is Sociological about Music? by William G. Roy and music is sociological in at least five ways. it is a commodity, oR a cultuRal object; it is an activity that oRganizes social inteRaction; it contains and tRansmits cultuRal meanings; it expResses the identity of the listeneRs; and lastly, the venues, genRes, and instRumentation of music Reveal foRms of social stRatification, such as gendeR and Race

part II|2 pages

Experience of Music: Ritual and Authenticity

chapter 6|9 pages

Music as Ritual: A Hotline to the Collective Conscious, Randall collins’s theoRy of inteRaction Ritual chains is used to analyze the emotional eneRgy and connection to the collective that comes with music Rituals. afRican ameRican spiRituals exemplify the impoRtance of music to the collective and to the individual. they connected slaves to each otheR and allowed them to Reconstitute a cultuRal identity using chRistian imageRy as a common language. musical venues such as the “Ring shout” ReaffiRmed theiR value as individuals

chapter 7|10 pages

Moving Past Violence and Vulgarity: Structural Ritualization and Constructed Meaning in the Heavy Metal Subculture, by heavy metal fans aRe often seen as mindless, caRousing dRunks who identify with the daRk side of satanism, addiction, depRession, angeR, and alienation. this impRession oveRlooks the moRe positive side of this diveRse community. an online questionnaiRe Reveals some of the diveRsity within the heavy metal subcultuRe. knottneRus’s stRuctuRal Ritualization theoRy is used to analyze the way in which meaning is stRuctuRed and modified by fans in the conceRt venue, one of the subcultuRe’s moRe conspicuous collective events

chapter 8|11 pages

Authenticity in Latino Music: Scenes of Place, by music helps membeRs of latino communities make sense of theiR selves and theiR eveRyday life. fouR inteRactionist concepts—the scene, idiocultuRe, place, and authenticity—aRe used to examine tRaditional latino music scenes (conjunto, maRiachi, salsa, and latin jazz) in houston, texas. naRRatives of authenticity validate paRticipation as scene membeRs. it is pRoblematic in scenes invoking potentially conflicting cRiteRia of quality—populated by anglos as well as latinos

chapter 9|10 pages

The Jazz Solo as Ritual: Conforming to the Conventions of Innovation, by Roscoe C. Scarborough

part III|2 pages

Experience of Music: Stratification and Identity

chapter 10|11 pages

Race

chapter 11|11 pages

(Re)Presentin' the Tragic Mulatto: An Analysis of Multiracial Identity in Rap Music

chapter 12|9 pages

Skinhead Identity Contested: Ska Music, Racism, and Youth Culture

chapter 13|11 pages

Lowbrow Entertainment to Highbrow Art Form: The Case of Jazz and Heavy Metal

part IV|2 pages

Experience of Music: Subcultures and Musical Enclaves

chapter 14|11 pages

Sect and Prophets

chapter 15|10 pages

Hardcore: An Ethnographic Study of an Evolving Music Subculture

chapter 16|8 pages

Not Fade Away: Ritual Solidarity and Persistence in the Jamband Community

chapter 17|9 pages

Taqwacore: An Introduction to Muslim American Punk Rock

part V|2 pages

Music as Social Change and Commentary

chapter 18|11 pages

Hitler, the Holocaust, and Heavy Metal Music: Holocaust Memory and Representation in the Heavy Metal Subculture, 1980–Present

chapter 19|14 pages

Painful Listening: The Musical Noise and Cultural Transcendence of Southern Italian Tarantism

chapter 20|9 pages

An International Comparison of the Politics of Straight-Edge

chapter 21|10 pages

Sing Out! Collective Singing Rituals of Folk Protest Music in US Social Movements

part VI|2 pages

Commodification of Music

chapter 22|9 pages

The Industrialization of Popular Music—Part II

chapter 23|9 pages

Authenticity and Independence in Rap Music and Other Genre Communities

chapter 24|11 pages

"A Piece of Art Is Not a Loaf of Bread": Indie Rock's Challenge to Commodification

chapter 25|11 pages

Operating Outside of the Music Industry: Strategies of Production in a Scene-Based Music Genre

chapter 26|6 pages

Why Pay for Music? How College Students Rationalize Illegal Downloading