Ethnomusicological Fieldwork Part 2

In 1964, Alan Merriam, an ethnomusicologist, wrote a book titled The Anthropology of Music, where he discusses what he says are the six types of material ethnomusicologists gather from the field. Alan Merriam was heavily influenced by cultural anthropology, having been trained as an anthropologist himself. Thus his approach to ethnomusicology was more anthropological than any of his predecessors’. The first was the gathering of material culture from the field (such as instruments). Merriam stated that ethnomusicologists should understand what people think of this material culture, and how some of these material cultures may have been made. Merriam then talks about the gathering of lyrics and what they may represent to get a better understanding of the culture. When gathering such lyrics, it would be important to keep an eye out for literary techniques such as symbolism, metaphors, and pronunciation of certain words. Thirdly, Merriam says that ethnomusicologists put music from cultures into certain categories to better understand the culture they come from. These categories can include war, love, hate, and nature. This way ethnomusicologists could perhaps get a better understanding of the type of lives and mindset the people of the society have. Fourthly, Alan Merriam talks about how someone in the society becomes a musician. Do they have to go through certain training? If so, how rigorous is it? How do others react to such musicians? This would give ethnomusicologists an idea of how music is treated inside of the society. Fifthly, Merriam discusses how ethnomusicologists seek out how music is used in the community. Is it used casually, or does it play a major role and is only used on special occasions. This fifth type of material also relates to the subject of functionalism in Social Anthropology. Lastly, Merriam talks about whether music is a creative cultural activity. Ethnomusicologists want to know how the culture and environment could help (if at all) the musician create his or her music. Merriam's perception heavily influenced the American school of ethnomusicology and guided it towards fully embracing participant observation method in fieldwork by the 1980s.