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Timothy Rice

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Timothy Rice is a ethnomusicologist who is interested in understanding “how music is individually created and experienced,” “how it is historically constructed, and how it is “socially maintained.” [1] Most notably, he has proposed his own model for ethnomusicology that further develops a model previously put forth by Alan Merriam.

Biography[edit]

Timothy Rice initially received an undergraduate degree in history from Yale University and went on to get a master’s and doctorate degree in music from the University of Washington. [2] As a high school and college track athlete, he was attracted to the athleticism presented within the traditional dances of Bulgaria, which he which he was first exposed to at Yale. [3] This inspired him to focus his ethnomusicological studies on the traditional and folk music of Bulgaria and Macedonia. These studies resulted in several works, which include Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture in 1994 and later May it Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music in 2004. Additional subjects that Rice has focused on are “musical cognition, politics and music, meaning and music, mass media, music teaching and learning, and theory and method in ethnomusicology.” [4] Within the official field of ethnomusicology, Rice aided in the editing and revisions of the annual journal, Ethnomusicology, from 1981 until 1984. More notably, he served as the President of the Society of Ethnomusicology from 2003 until 2005. Rice has also been a leader in the field as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Ethnomusicology.

Learning the Traditional Bulgarian Gaida

When Rice began his fieldwork in Bulgaria, he found that Bulgarian traditional music was never taught, but rather learned and passed down to males in each generation. This presented an issue because he desired to be taught how to play the gaida, a traditional Bulgarian instrument, in order to better understand Bulgarian music. After continually being denied lessons due to the Bulgarian cultural norms, Dimitur Grivnin, a Bulgarian native and skilled gaida player, offered Rice an opportunity to take lessons. The lessons he received from Grivnin “provided some of the best ethnographic evidence… [for acquiring] the cognitive categories necessary to play the instrumental music” of traditional Bulgarian folk music.[5]

During Rice’s first lesson with Grivnin, Rice attempted to learn through observation, as this was the only method of teaching Grivnin knew. After much practice and watching other young boys learning gaida, Rice concluded that while he himself possessed extensive cognitive categorical knowledge as a result of formal Western musical education, he would never be able to play the gaida as well as the native Bulgarian boys. He felt that the sole use of observational learning by the Bulgarian boys led to a greater proficiency in their knowledge of ornamentation. Rice felt that while he could perhaps learn the melodies faster because of his background in western music, he would never be able to move his fingers as quickly or produce the correct stylistic ornamentation as well as the young boys could. Overall, Rice found his formal Western musical education put him at a disadvantage in regards to becoming a highly skilled gaida player.

Rice’s Model’s

1987 Model

The first model Rice proposed in 1987 extended a model for ethnomusicology that Merriam published in Anthropology of Music in 1964. In Rice’s 1987 model, ethnomusicologists “study the ‘formative processes’ in music,” which are “historically constructed, socially maintained and individually applied.”[6] With this model, Rice hopes to answer the question of “how...people make music or... how...people historically construct, socially maintain and individually create music.”[6] Emphasis in this model is put more on process, rather than on product. In order to approach this question, Rice gives “four hierarchical levels of interpretation.”[6] The first is to relate the levels of Merriam’s model (sound, concept & behavior) to the formative processes mentioned above. The second level is asking how the parts of the model “interrelate to generate interpretation,” where each level of the model is “connected to the other two in a…two-way relationship.”[6] The third is a “general concern for general statements about how people make music.”[6] The fourth level identifies “what is shared and what is unique about music in the repertoire of human behaviors.”[6] Overall, this model attempts to unify the field of ethnomusicology through the “integration of perspectives at one level of interpretation.”[6]

2003 Model

Rice published the proposal of a second model in 2003. He calls it “a three-dimensional model for subject-centered musical ethnography.”[7] The three dimensions are “time of musical experience, places of musical experience, and metaphors about the nature of music.” [8] Time, place, and metaphor are used to explore space. This model claims that an individual’s unique musical experience is a result of the individual’s “positions” and “trajectories” through the space defined by the three dimension. This explains why individuals can experience tension between one another as a result of clashing musical experiences, even when they come from the same culture.

Responses to Rice’s 1987 Model

When Rice published an article in the journal of ethnomusicology that put forth his model, other ethnomusicologists responded with both criticism and support.

Criticism

Among those who critiqued Rice’s model were Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Anthony Seeger, and Ellen Koskoff. Seeger and Koskoff were concerned that Rice oversimplified Merriam’s model and therefore did “not adequately represent all of Merriam’s ideas”[9] as it denied Merriam’s “model’s complexity and structural integrity.” [10] Shelemay was concerned that Rice’s model might cause ethnomusicologists to see change as a phenomenon that occurs in a regular, linear fashion. She holds that music is a nonlinear, dynamic process and should be studied with that in mind. Overall, Shelemay felt that while the approach may have been sound, there needed to be more discussion on delineating the methods that would be utilized in Rice’s model in order to actualize its use. [11] Seegar was not fond of Rice’s attempt to restructure ethnomusicology with the goal of becoming more unified. Seegar worried that a more unified field would lose the “contention,” “debates,” and “exploration” that come about as a result of a non-unified field. A more unified ethnomusicology might lose the “ability to welcome diversity." [12]

Support

Two that gave praise for the model were Ellen Koskoff and Richard Crawford. Koskoff found a lot of value in Rice’s model because unlike Merriam’s model that confined individuals to two groups: either performer or listener, individuals were not precisely defined. This allowed “the individual actor’s role to be defined in many different ways, thus providing a multi-faceted perspective that is missing from Merriam’s model.”[13] Crawford was very enthusiastic in his support for Rice’s model because of its increased accessibility to all who might wish to use it. In addition, Crawford was fully behind Rice’s goal of attempting to unify the different veins of ethnomusicology. He felt that the accessibility of Rice’s model would allow different subsections to come together and learn from one another. This would allow the skills of specialized groups to be applied to questions and problems of differing groups within the field, which would increase the diversity of learning. [14]

Larger Works:

Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction

This introductory text explores the “roots, history, tenets and methodologies of ethnomusicology.”[15] Some ideas that are explored include definitions of ethnomusicology (past and current), fieldwork, connections between ethnomusicology and related fields, and potential for the field in all spheres of life. [16]

Modeling Ethnomusicology

Modeling Ethnomusicology provides a collection of eight of Rice’s essays. The essays examine such themes as field methods and experience, identity and the individual. Rice gives the proposal for both of his models here.[17]

Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

Music in Bulgaria is a case study on Bulgaria that is part of the Global Music Series. The book examines “the country’s musical landscape” historically and at present.[18] Rice illustrates “how musical traditions have been preserved and have flourished despite the social changes brought about by the post-WWII era of industrialization, modernization, and urbanization.” [19] In addition, he “demonstrates how Bulgarian music…is deeply embedded in the cultural, social, economic, and political life of the country.” [20] A CD is included that helps incorporate “listening examples and other activities that help readers learn to listen, sing, and dance to Bulgarian music.” [21]

May it Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music

May it Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music is Timothy Rice’s scientific study and documentation of traditional Bulgarian Music. Within a period of seventy years, Bulgaria went from an underdeveloped country to a country thriving with development, including high levels of industrial and economic advancement. Rice studies, interprets, and documents this country’s traditional folk music, especially during the period of heavy change development.[22]

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garland_Encyclopedia_of_World_Music

Moving Forward in Ethnomusicology

Rice finds that the field of ethnomusicology lacks continual growth, which he attributes to the absence of “general ideas to be advanced” and “general questions to be asked.”[6] He has found that ethnomusicologists tend to focus on their specific areas of study rather than on the field as a whole, resulting in large amounts of monotonous debate. Moving forward, Rice desires ethnomusicologists to write in such a way that their work is pertinent to those outside of their particular area of study, as well as those within it, in an attempt to prompt discussion that may form general ideas and questions within the field of ethnomusicology. As a result, he believes this will promote “a more fruitful climate for debate and a wider recognition of the common questions [the field] may be asking and the kinds of answers [the field] may be creating.”[6]

References[edit]

  1. Rice, Timothy. 1994. May it Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music. Chicago:University of Chicago Press.
  2. “Timothy Rice Bio.” UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology.
  3. “10 Questions for Timothy Rice: The Beauty of Balkan Song is a Prime focus for School of Music Director | Music @UCLA.” Music UCLA RSS.
  4. “Timothy Rice Bio.” UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology.
  5. Rice, Timothy. 1994. May it Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music. Chicago:University of Chicago Press.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Rice, Timothy (1987). "Toward the Remodelling of Ethnomusicology". 31 (3).
  7. Rice, Timothy. 2017. Modeling Ethnomusicology. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
  8. Rice, Timothy. 2017. Modeling Ethnomusicology. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
  9. Seeger, Anthony. 1987. “Do We Need To Remodel Ethnomusicology?” Ethnomusicology 31(3): 491-495.
  10. Koskoff, Ellen. 1987. “Response to Rice.” Ethnomusicology 31(3).
  11. Shelemay, Kay Kaufman. 1987. “Response to Rice.” Ethnomusicology 31(3): 489-490.
  12. Seeger, Anthony. 1987. “Do We Need To Remodel Ethnomusicology?” Ethnomusicology 31(3): 491-495.
  13. Koskoff, Ellen. 1987. “Response to Rice.” Ethnomusicology 31(3).
  14. Crawford, Richard. 1987. “Response to Tim Rice.” Ethnomusicology 31(3).
  15. Hoesing, Peter. 2015. “Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction by Timothy Rice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. xvi + 151 pp.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 232–233.
  16. Hoesing, Peter. 2015. “Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction by Timothy Rice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. xvi + 151 pp.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 232–233.
  17. Rice, Timothy. 2017. Modeling Ethnomusicology. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
  18. Rice, Timothy. 2011. Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
  19. Rice, Timothy. 2011. Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
  20. Rice, Timothy. 2011. Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
  21. Rice, Timothy. 2011. Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
  22. Rice, Timothy. 1994. May it Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music. Chicago:University of Chicago Press.


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