Organs and bodies : the Jew's harp and the anthropology of musical instruments
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Music, School of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Morgan, Deirdre Anne Elizabeth
issued: 2008-08-28T18:31:16Z
issued: 2008
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The Jew’s harp is unique among instruments, and in its apparent simplicity it is deceptive. It has been adapted to a wide array of cultural contexts worldwide and a diverse range of playing techniques, which, upon closer examination, reveal much about the cultures that generate them. Drawing on perspectives from organology, ethnomusicology, comparative musicology, ethnography, material culture, and the anthropology of the body, I situate my approach to the study of musical instruments as one that examines the object on three levels: physically (the interaction between the human body and the body of the instrument), culturally (the contexts in which it is used), and musically (the way it is played and conceptualized as a musical instrument). Integrating written, ethnographic, and musical evidence, this study begins broadly and theoretically, then gradually sharpens focus to a general examination of the Jew’s harp, finally looking at a single Jew’s harp tradition in detail. Using a case study of the Balinese Jew’s harp genggong, I demonstrate how the study of musical instruments is a untapped reservoir of information that can enhance our understanding of the human relationship with sound.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/1559
extent: 12378677 bytes
format: application/pdf
note: ORGANS AND BODIES: THE JEW’S HARP AND THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS by DEIRDRE ANNE ELIZABETH MORGAN B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Music) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2008 © Deirdre Anne Elizabeth Morgan, 2008 ii ABSTRACT The Jew’s harp is unique among instruments, and in its apparent simplicity it is deceptive. It has been adapted to a wide array of cultural contexts worldwide and a diverse range of playing techniques, which, upon closer examination, reveal much about the cultures that generate them. Drawing on perspectives from organology, ethnomusicology, comparative musicology, ethnography, material culture, and the anthropology of the body, I situate my approach to the study of musical instruments as one that examines the object on three levels: physically (the interaction between the human body and the body of the instrument), culturally (the contexts in which it is used), and musically (the way it is played and conceptualized as a musical instrument). Integrating written, ethnographic, and musical evidence, this study begins broadly and theoretically, then gradually sharpens focus to a general examination of the Jew’s harp, finally looking at a single Jew’s harp tradition in detail. Using a case study of the Balinese Jew’s harp genggong, I demonstrate how the study of musical instruments is a untapped reservoir of information that can enhance our understanding of the human relationship with sound. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………ii Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………..……iii List of Figures ……………………………………………………..…………………...iv 1 Introduction ……………………………………………………..…………………1 2 The Study of Musical Instruments ………………………………………………..4 2.1 Organology ……………………………………………………………………...4 2.2 Material Culture and the Social Life of Things …………………………………8 2.3 Orga…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2008-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0066561
language: eng
degree discipline: Music
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/1559