Friday, August 29, 2008

Lost in translation

At the moment I'm reading a thesis by Cecilia Hultberg, The Printed Score as a Mediator of Musical Meaning - Approaches to Music Notation in Western Tonal Tradition.

It is very interesting to read because it deals with problems I am likely to run into when answering my previously posed question regarding musical notation in Vietnam.

Among many other things it states that notation, like writing in general, is a socio-cultural phenomenon, and that musical meaning is always experienced in the specific cultural context , in which people participate i.e. in order to fully understand the socio-cultural phenomenon, you would have to understand the specific cultural context, in which it applies.

With this in mind I wonder if the music notation of the western tonal tradition is limited to western music, or can it successfully be applied to other musical cultures as well?

My response would be that some things will be lost in translation... which things?

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Expectations are high

Vietnam, here we come... and what a trip it will be. I will probably meet with a Dan Nhi player from the Chéo theater. According to our Vietnamese teachers, the conservatory mainly teach the different techniques of the instruments. For deeper knowledge in, for example, the Chéo genre you have to study with the Chéo performers at the Chéo theater, and the same goes for all the different genres.

One of my main objects in the paper is to investigate the use of notation in the different educational establishments of Vietnam. Esbjörn and I have talked about focusing on three different educational establishments: the conservatory of music, the Chéo theater and a private study group focusing on the Ca Tru music. My question is:

How do the different establishments view written music and notation as a pedagogical means and how do they use notation in their teaching?

Thursday, August 21, 2008

On the 6 of september we will leave for Hanoi. It's a bit earlier than we expected so we will have a lot to read the following weeks. We will be five on the tree week trip, almost the whole vietnam ensemble at the academy. In addition to me(Sao/Sona) and Olof(Dan Nhi), Sara(dan bau), Helena(Dan tranh) and Pia(song/percussion) will be on the trip. For me and Helena its the third trip to the conservatory in Hanoi and for the rest their second trip. Hopefully we will get alot of material to our paper.