Music and culture

There are many different ways of knowing about music . Some of them require music-specific capabilities, such as a well-trained ear or ability to read music. Understanding the cultural aspects of music, on the other hand, requires no specific musical training. This can be a rewarding approach to understanding music, whether you are a musical novice or an expert. You can use this approach to learn about the music of other cultures, to learn about unfamiliar music that is part of your own culture or heritage, or to become more aware of the historical and cultural aspects of familiar music.

A cultural approach can also provide an entryway into beginning to understand and appreciate some of the more technical aspects of music. For example, if you know that jazz audiences applaud enthusiastically following a particularly good improvised solo, hearing that applause at jazz events helps you begin to hear, identify, and appreciate the musical qualities of good improvisation. The inquiry in this module takes you through a process of deliberately learning more about the cultural aspects of music that most intrigue you.

Ask

To begin your inquiry, you must first come up with a question that genuinely puzzles and intrigues you about the way music is done. This should be a question about the cultural meaning of music, a "why" question. It can be a question about your own culture, a " Why do we... " question. For example, you may thoroughly enjoy Christmas caroling, but still wonder why people go caroling specifically at Christmas time. Or it may be a question about a culture, a time, or a group of people that does not include you, a " Why do they... " or Why did they..." question. For example, you might wonder why orchestras began including a certain instrument in the nineteenth century; why the audience sang along with one piece at a concert, but sat quietly for the rest of it; or why your grandparents know how to do a dance that nobody else among your family and friends can do.

Investigate

Although the question driving your inquiry is a "why" question, in order to answer it clearly, you should also look for the answers to the other questions about the musical practice that you are trying to understand:

• Who does it? People of a particular age, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, culture, historical era, social or economic class, station in life?
• What role do they have in the music? Are they composers, singers, dancers, players of a certain instrument, conductors or directors, stage hands? Are they a live audience or fans who often listen to recordings? The teachers of the performers, the family of the composer, judges, professional critics?
• Where does the practice in question happen? In certain countries or regions, cities or towns? In particular venues (for example, churches, stadiums, concert halls, school rooms, living rooms, front porches, street corners)?
• When does it happen? At particular times of the year or the week? Certain times of day? Does it happen often, rarely, regularly, unpredictably?
• How is it done? Are particular instruments required to do it properly? Certain procedures or ways of dressing?
• How important is each aspect of the practice? Would the music be considered "authentic" or "correct" only if it is performed by certain people, or in a certain place, or in a certain way?
• How has it changed? Have the answers to these questions changed over time? For example, some kinds of music have a very different audience now than they did 20 years ago. Other types of music used to be performed in one type of place (such as a church), but are now typically performed in another place (such as a concert hall).