Expert: David Froom - 2/9/2011

Question
Hi,

I am doing an Musical Investigation for my IB Music program and I am supposed to compare and contrast a musical feature on two very different world music cultures. It has to be a specific topic and I don't know what to write about. Can you please help me decide? I was thinking of comparing Russia and and probably Africa (North, West, or South). Or maybe Japan or China vs. a European country...if you get what I mean. Can you help me find a question worth researching and writing a report on? Thank you very much.

In addition, I have been thinking of doing "death rituals" as my topic. I don't know if it will work because I haven't found a lot of information about it. My research is about "Describe the musical features used in death rituals of (Africa) and (Mexico/Japan/China)." I don't know which countries to choose either. Musical features worth mentioning may include scales, instruments, mood, etc. I don't know where I can find more information on this. Please help.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!!!

Sincerely,
Max

Answer
This is a question really in the realm of Ethnomusicology.  I would suggest you first start by reading a definition and description of ethnomusicology (wikipedia is as good a place as any other).  That will give you a sense (particularly the bibliography resources you find in the wikipedia article) of the field and what you might find as some of the most basic available materials.  With those beginning resources, you should be able to find things in libraries (or maybe online).  What you are able to find might help you refine or even change your specific topic.  

The field is vast and there is a lot of material out there.  There are books, journal articles, ethnomusicological societies for each of the subspecialties.  It is, however, not my field.  Ethnomusicology has become defined, in the crudest sense, as everything that classical music and classical music research isn't.  And I'm a classical music guy.

But I hope I've pointed you in the right direction, and as an IB student, you should be able to take it from there.

David Froom