How Musical Is Man? (Paperback)

John Blacking

ISBN 10: 0295953381 / ISBN 13: 9780295953380

Published by University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1974

About this Item

Paperback. This important study in ethnomusicology is an attempt by the author -- a musician who has become a social anthropologist -- to compare his experiences of music-making in different cultures. He is here presenting new information resulting from his research into African music, especially among the Venda. Venda music, he discovered is in its way no less complex in structure than European music. Literacy and the invention of nation may generate extended musical structures, but they express differences of degree, and not the difference in kind that is implied by the distinction between `art' and `folk' music. Many, if not all, of music's essential processes may be found in the constitution of the human body and in patterns of interaction of human bodies in society. Thus all music is structurally, as well as functionally, `folk' music in the sense that music cannot be transmitted of have meaning without associations between people.If John Blacking's guess about the biological and social origins of music is correct, or even only partly correct, it would generate new ideas about the nature of musicality, the role of music in education and its general role in societies which (like the Venda in the context of their traditional economy) will have more leisure time as automation increases. 'How Musical Is Man?' explores the role of music in society and culture, and of society and culture in music. The author, and anthropologist and ethnomusicologist, draws examples from Western music and from the music of the Transvaal Venda people. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780295953380

Bibliographic Details

• Title: How Musical Is Man? (Paperback)
• Publisher: University of Washington Press, Seattle
• Publication Date: 1974
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0295953381
• ISBN 13: 9780295953380
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This important study in ethnomusicology is an attempt by the author ― a musician who has become a social anthropologist ― to compare his experiences of music-making in different cultures. He is here presenting new information resulting from his research into African music, especially among the Venda. Venda music, he discovered is in its way no less complex in structure than European music. Literacy and the invention of nation may generate extended musical structures, but they express differences of degree, and not the difference in kind that is implied by the distinction between 'art' and 'folk' music. Many, if not all, of music's essential processes may be found in the constitution of the human body and in patterns of interaction of human bodies in society. Thus all music is structurally, as well as functionally, 'folk' music in the sense that music cannot be transmitted of have meaning without associations between people.

If John Blacking's guess about the biological and social origins of music is correct, or even only partly correct, it would generate new ideas about the nature of musicality, the role of music in education and its general role in societies which (like the Venda in the context of their traditional economy) will have more leisure time as automation increases.

From the Back Cover

'How Musical Is Man?' explores the role of music in society and culture, and of society and culture in music. The author, and anthropologist and ethnomusicologist, draws examples from Western music and from the music of the Transvaal Venda people.