Specialized Fields Ethnomusicology

Is a Man's Saxophone a Part of Him?

When you watch a group of musicians playing jazz, you can almost see a thick or a kind of magnetic field in the air between them. Something is tying them together, forcing them to take a solo or accompany someone else. Something draws them out of the notes they have studied and practiced and thoughtful, encouraging them to place their fingers and breath in certain ways.

It's a way to learn about human interaction, said David Borgo, a jazz saxophonist and professor of music at the University of California at San Diego.Borgo studied ethnomusicology, cultures way in the world to hear and play music. He said he felt these connections to play and hear the music - even edgy, noisy stuff that comes in the realm of avant-garde - make him hope that music can teach us how to live better in harmony.

These ideas of improvisation and how we influence each other are what will Borgo alongside the exploration of the social network of experts to James Fowler next week Bronowski Art & Science Forum.After he had played the saxophone for a few minutes in a yard of concrete, one rainy morning this week, Borgo sitting in the jam with us on some of his favorite themes: music, human connectivity and how we see the world.

When you play, you play with your heart or your mind?

In some ways, what you hope is that you have done so much to think through and through opportunities in preparation for the time being in the moment, none of this is that kind of convincing you.My favorite performances are often the ones where I am less aware of what I do, the less aware of how time passes.

An analogy is often made, and I think that's good is that you get 10 000 free throws in the hope that in the championship game, you can kind of be in this state and running Zen Cart.

Does it come differently when you play with your heart?

Absolutely, yes. Improvising is the hardest thing to talk about. But it is this chemistry, this kind of thing that can happen. And I will not be the first to admit that it does not always happen.This is probably a minority of the time it really clicks.

You started playing the saxophone when you were 8, 41 and you are now. Why do you play music?

I do it because I always run after this experience. And I think many people love and want to run after this experience. But perhaps we all live in an era where we're just bombarded by experience easily accessible. You must make an extra effort to say that I will commit to that, I'll play the violin. I mean, the violin takes ten thousand hours to make a good sound.

Spring 2011 Announcements

Members will be updated on the 2011 BFE session (announced below), and discuss planning of an Organized Roundtable on issues in historical methodology for inclusion in the 2012 conference in New Orleans, as well as a proposal for a special issue of an ethnomusicology journal (in 2013) on contemporary issues in music historiography. There will also be plans for a Histo-Ethno SIG dinner, an opportunity for voluntary donations (for website costs), and discussion of voting for a new Chair-Elect, as Ann's current role becomes vacated. We will also discuss transfership and effective future use of the Histo-Ethno SIG email (historicalethnomusicology@gmail.com), SIG public blog (http://historicalethnomusicology.blogspot.com), and SIG online forum (http://histoethno.ning.com) for planning of Histo-Ethno SIG projects and activities.  The Historical Ethnomusicology Special Interest Group sponsored a session at the annual meeting of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology , 7-10 April, 2011, in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Panel speakers included Dr. Ann Lucas (California State University, Fresno, USA), and Dr. Jonathan McCollum (Washington College, USA), and the session was chaired by Dr. David Hebert (Grieg Academy, Bergen University College, Norway). Nearing the end of March, 2011 . . . the SIG now has 50 members in its online forum, and plans are in the works for construction of an open-access online annotated bibliography of historical ethnomusicology, submission of book proposals on the topic of theory and method in this specialized field, and a proposal to upgrade from a Special Interest Group to a full-fledged and permanent Section of the international scholarly organization Society for Ethnomusicology.

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