Monday, February 13, 2012

Interactivity 2: The Phonograph

The technology I feel that has had the greatest impact on music education is the phonograph. Invented in 1877 by New Jersey’s own Thomas Edison (whom I share a birthday with), the phonograph allowed not only for sound to be recorded, but also allowed playback of recorded sound. Before the introduction of the phonograph, students of music spent hours during their studies traveling to cities and concert halls to hear music being performed live just to take notes and learn a thing or two about music. J. S. Bach once traveled 280 miles through Germany to hear Dietrich Buxtehude play a recital and ended up staying several months to train with the organist. The phonograph and recorded music paved the way for contemporary music education and public school music education.

The invention of the phonograph allowed music to come to the classroom. A new group of recording musicians, who we now call ethnomusicologists, emerged and began traveling the world to record the music they heard in different cultures. One such recorder, Frances Densmore, took a liking to Native Americans. Her work recording the sounds of Native Americans brought a new light to a population largely misunderstood. She recorded songs used for rituals and praise, but more interestingly recorded sounds that the Native Americans used in every day speech. This was not only important for those studying music but also ethnologists, anthropologists and psychologists in understanding the culture of Native American tribes.

Such recordings were not accepted by all, however. There were many, as Vanessa Domine calls them, “protectionists” who felt recording music took away from live musicing process one can only truly engage with in real time. While this is true, recording has an educational benefit that is left out of this argument. Before recordings were available, students relied on their own interpretation for much of what they learned. Music education was something that happened outside the classroom and was seldom taken seriously. It wasn’t until mid-20th century that music education began emerging in the schools, and even then it differs greatly from what we call music education today. Recording has almost become synonymous with music today and the way people access music has almost reversed. When recordings were first made available, they only appealed to devout musicians and music lovers. Today, it is much simpler to download the newest song instantly through the air to a computer or other electronic device, and it is much more difficult (and much more expensive) to see that music performed live by the artist(s).

While I believe the phonograph was a useful tool and recordings enhance learning to this day, it can be argued that it also destroyed music education. Bringing recordings to the students can be listed as a reason for the “entitlement” students feel they have due to the privileges and luxuries in the classroom. Likewise, students no longer have to put any effort into hearing the best musicians perform the best repertoire. While this opens up more time for practice and study, it lessens the value of the music; you’re more likely to appreciate music you walk 280 miles to hear than music you can download with the click of a button.

As I have argued, the phonograph and general recording has had an enormous impact on music education. Since it’s invention, music has become a highly recorded art, for the sake of distribution and profit. Before recording, one could take pride in truly experiencing the musicing process and, while music has never been free of political or economic influence, feel that music is truly free and written for all people. However, recording music has contributed to an interdisciplinary focus on bringing the world to the classroom for students to truly engage and understand people from around the world. Recorded music is the difference between private and public music education; while private music education revolves around the student’s performance, public music education relies on existing performance and understanding music as an academic subject. 

Picture is in my last post

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