Reddit Reddit reviews Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology)

We found 2 Reddit comments about Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology)
University of Chicago Press
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2 Reddit comments about Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology):

u/Xenoceratops · 42 pointsr/musictheory

>Just because it doesn't fit in with the classical paradigm of being virtuoso or 'gifted' doesn't make it any less valuable.

Hold on now, this is not just a classical music thing. Thomas Turino links what he calls "presentational performance" with cosmopolitanism and capitalism. When music is treated as a product and listeners as consumers, music-making becomes the preserve of specialists.

At my last job, I was the only person who could be considered a professional musician. My boss organized some of the music at his church, but few people in the building knew how to play an instrument. 200 years ago, things were different: more of my coworkers would have had musical experience, simply because most people did not hear music unless they performed it. We might all have been involved in my boss' church music group. Music would have been consumed for enjoyment (among other things), but most listeners were also performers. "Participatory performance," which presupposes lack of specialization and centers around the social act of music-making, was the norm. Recording technology and the changing socioeconomic landscape of the western world in the 20th century completely changed that paradigm.

Look at shows like American Idol or The Voice: these are programs that winnow a huge number of contestants down to a select few. Value is placed on the 'gifts,' abilities, personalities, and marketability of contestants. They are specialists producing a product or being featured as a product themselves. Rockstardom is a condition of the presentational model, not the participatory. These shows sell the narrative of magical voluntarism and the romantic notion of the individual as hero, which promotes the illusion that class is not a barrier to fame and success. Classical music is often demonized due to its past associations with class, but I don't know man. Not a single composer or performer who I know comes from old money. Orchestras and large music organizations may be funded by wealthy individuals. Is that so different from a media mogul funding a television show?

u/RogueWolf64 · 2 pointsr/rutgers

This is the textbook. You doing absolutely need it, but if you want to do well just read the chapters that the professor stresses you to read. You also need it to write the papers.