Modeling Ethnomusicology by Timothy Rice (review)

Throughout its historical development, ethnomusicology has had an ambivalent relationship with theory. Viewed from the outside, the discipline might at a glance appear to rest on ‘imported’ theories from anthropology and related fields, and to have been somewhat sluggish in developing its own corpus of theoretical work. From within, ethnomusicologists have questioned the necessity of theory, anxious that the tendency towards comparison that theory entails runs contrary to what ethnomusicologists are trying to achieve: the study of music from a culture’s own terms of reference. Some leading scholars, however, have sought to overcome misconceptions and anxieties about theory, arguing that the field needs more robust theoretical conversations to enable scholars to reflect effectively on the nature of music and its place within human culture. Timothy Rice’s Modeling Ethnomusicology is the latest contribution to this endeavour.

Throughout his career, Rice has made it his mission to establish a corpus of theory for ethnomusicology that draws on, adapts, and extends broader social/anthropological frameworks. Modeling Ethnomusicology coincides with Rice’s retirement and is, in many respects, the culmination of his oeuvre. The book comprises eight of his most influential essays, prefaced by a new introductory chapter that situates the essays within the historical and theoretical trajectory of the discipline. Taken as a whole, these essays trace not only Rice’s career, but also the defining theoretical and epistemological moments that have shaped how ethnomusicology is practised today. Throughout the book, Rice makes the assertion that theory is essential to the field and not simply ‘window dressing’ (p. 168). As such, his essays construct a number of thematic approaches and heuristic models that can direct theoretical and methodological work. He believes that ‘ethnomusicological theorizing must get better and better if our discipline is to enjoy a bright future’ (p. 36), and this book aims to provide what he earlier termed the ‘theoretical moisture’ necessary to advance conversations both within and beyond the field.

For those readers already familiar with the essays, the new introductory chapter will be of most interest. During his time as a student and later the editor of the journal Ethnomusicology (1981–4), the most influential model was Alan Merriam’s music-culture triangle that comprised three analytical levels: conceptualization about music, behaviours related to music, and the music itself. Following Rice’s editorship, he felt that ethnomusicological engagement with theory was still lacking and that Merriam’s model had not sufficiently brought together theoretical foci within the discipline. As such, he sought to remodel the field and to offer frameworks that would enable better theorizing. In the chapter, Rice gives short summaries of his eight essays and how they have advanced different theoretical positions since Merriam’s model. By reframing the essays, Rice establishes three forms of theorizing in ethnomusicology that provide potential frameworks for teaching and research.

The first is his propensity for heuristic models, which he believes help ‘researchers think about and discover patterns in their data and explanations for the things they are studying’ (p. 5). Such models, Rice argues, account for how ethnomusicologists do the work they do and what they focus on, and provide the basis for wider theoretical discussions. Most notable here is Rice’s formulation: ‘music is historically constructed, socially maintained and individually created and experienced’ (p. 6), inspired by the work of Clifford Geertz. This simple three-part formulation, he maintains, provides a model for the ‘formative processes’ at work in musical cultures’ (p. 6), and thus constitutes a focal point for the development of more pointed conversations and theorizations around particular themes.

In continuation, his second form of theoretical modelling is the organization of research according to thematic units (e.g. the relationship between music and identity) from which subthemes, issues, questions, and theoretical principles can be derived. Following the publication of his article ‘Reflections on Music and Identity in Ethnomusicology’, Muzikolog jia, 7 (2007), 17–38, Rice compiled a list of forty-three themes that he felt represented the work of...