Alan P. Merriam's Books

The Anthropology of Music

By: Alan P. Merriam,Valerie Merriam

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In this highly praised and seminal work, Alan Merriam demonstrates that music is a social behavior—one worthy and available to study through the methods of anthropology. In it, he convincingly argues that ethnomusicology, by definition, cannot separate the sound-analysis of music from its cultural context of people thinking, acting, and creating. The study begins with a review of the various approaches in ethnomusicology. He then suggests a useful and simple research model: ideas about music lead to behavior related to music and this behavior results in musical sound. He explains many aspects and outcomes of this model, and the methods and techniques he suggests are useful to anyone doing field work. Further chapters provide a cross-cultural round-up of concepts about music, physical and verbal behavior related to music, the role of the musician, and the learning and composing of music. The Anthropology of Music illuminates much of interest to musicologists but to social scientists in general as well.

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Page Count

380

Publisher

Northwestern University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0810106078

ISBN 13

9780810106079

The Anthropology of Music

By: Alan P. Merriam,Valerie Merriam

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Anthropology of Music

By: Alan P. Merriam,Valerie Merriam

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N/A

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Page Count

380

Publisher

Northwestern University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0810106078

ISBN 13

9780810106079

Ethnomusicology of the Flathead Indians

By: Alan Merriam

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Ethnomusicology of the Flathead Indians

By: Alan Merriam

All people, in no matter what culture, must be able to place their music firmly in the context of the totality of their beliefs, experiences, and activities, for without such ties, music cannot exist. This means that there must be a body of theory connected with any music system - not necessarily a theory of the structure of music sound, although that may be present as well, but rather a theory of what music is, what it does, and how it is coordinated with the total environment, both natural and cultural, in which human beings move.The Flathead Indians of Western Montana (just over 26,000 in number as of the 2000 census) inhabit a reservation consisting of 632,516 acres of land in the Jocko and Flathead Valleys and the Camas Prairie country, which lie roughly between Evaro and Kalispell, Montana. The reservation is bounded on the east by the Mission Range, on the west by the Cabinet National Forest, on the south by the Lolo National Forest, and on the north by an arbitrary line, approximately bisecting Flathead Lake about twenty-four miles south of Kalispell. The area is one of the richest agricultural regions in Montana, and fish and game are abundant. The Flathead are engaged in stocking, timbering, and various agricultural enterprises.For the Flathead, the most important single fact about music and its relationship to the total world is its origin in the supernatural sphere. All true and proper songs, particularly in the past, owe their origin to a variety of contacts experienced by humans with beings which, though a part of this world, are superhuman and the source of both individual and tribal powers and skills. Thus a sharp distinction is drawn by the Flathead between what they call "make-up" and all other songs. Merriam's pioneering work in the relationship of ethnography and musicology remains a primary source in this field in anthropology.

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Page Count

436

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351311239

ISBN 13

9781351311236

African Music on LP

An Annotated Discography

By: Alan P. Merriam

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African Music on LP

An Annotated Discography

By: Alan P. Merriam

Containing details of 390 L.P. and E.P. recordings, African Music on LP: An Annotated Discography contributed to the scholarship of African music at a time when very little had been written. Organized by record label and arranged in alphabetical order, Allen P. Merriam assesses the stylistic characteristics of each recording, providing new insights on the subject and the recording industry at the time of publication. African Music on LP also contains 18 indexes cross-referencing each of the records.

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216

Published Date

ISBN 10

0810138581

ISBN 13

9780810138582

Book's by Alan P. Merriam

The Anthropology of Music

The Anthropology of Music

The Anthropology of Music

The Anthropology of Music

Ethnomusicology of the Flathead Indians

Ethnomusicology of the Flathead Indians

African Music on LP

African Music on LP

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