Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

As ethnomusicologists and music educators, where do our allegiances lie in teaching venerable traditions fraught with ritual, iconic, and performance conventions? Should our allegiance be to the tradition, and does that tradition delineate our pedagogical goals? Many ethnomusicologists try to compensate, or overcompensate, for the perceived artificiality of the university environment by “hyperfaithfully” reproducing world music traditions. We represent these traditions to our students, obliterating the performance and teaching hierarchies inherent in traditional learning. Since we must thus do it all (create the context, teach all the instruments, singing, dancing) we have to compromise.