interdisciplinary interactions between humanities and sciences in music research richard parncutt...
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Interdisciplinary interactions between humanities and sciences
in music research
Richard ParncuttCentre for Systematic Musicology
University of Graz, Austria
Audio Communication Day27 June 2014, TU Berlin
SysMus Graz
Centre for Systematic MusicologyUniversity of Graz, Austria
Professor and Head
SecretaryLecturer(current)
Lecturer(previous)
Student assistant
Student assistant
RichardParncutt
HandeSağlam
MarliesBodinger
FlorianEckl
Erica Bisesi
MichaelaSchwarz
AnnemarieSeither-Preisler
BerndBrabecde Mori
SabrinaSattmann
AndreasFuchs
Student assistant
FWF Postdoc
MartinWinter
StefanReichmann
Student assistant
Projectassistant
Sessional
lecturer
Projectassistant
Do we need disciplinary categories?Schwarz oder weiß Text & Musik: Oliver Gies (2009?)
Hörst du Beatles oder die Stones?Guckst Du Tagesschau oder Indiana Jones?Warst du Zivi oder beim Bund?Bist du schüchtern oder drängst dich in den Vordergrund?Bist du träge oder agil?Depressiv oder mental eher stabil?Trinkst du Wein oder lieber Bier?Hast Du’n Reihenhaus m. Garten od. lebst du v. Hartz IV?
Hähnchendöner oder lieber Lamm?Trennst Du Müll oder schmeißt du alles zusamm’n?Fährst du Taxi oder mit dem Bus?Sagst du Super-Dickmann oder sagst du Negerkuss?Guckst du Arte oder Sat1?Nennst du deinen Sohn Jean-Luc oder Karl-Heinz?Gibst du nach oder bist du stur?Liest Du regelmäßig “Bild” oder hast du das Abitur?
Schwarz oder weißJa oder neinGrautöne sind mir viel zu allgemein Bitte kein “Äh”Bitte kein “Jein”In eine meiner Schubladen, da krieg ich dich schon rein
Disciplinary categories are necessary!Experts and specialization are the basis of academic quality
Epistemology•What is knowledge?•Which knowledge exists?•How is knowledge acquired?
Each discipline has its own epistemologies•Ways of thinking•Ways of doing research•Ways of training future scholars•Ways of evaluating quality
Interdisciplinary (ID) is necessary!due to expansion and specialisation in all disciplines
• The research literature is expanding– total amount doubles every 20 years!
• The time/effort to become an expert is about constant– about 10 years or 10 000 hours total (Ericsson, “expertise
research”)
Consequences of expansion:Specialization: subdisciplines sub-sub-disciplinesVenia: Researchers can no longer represent “whole disciplines”Collaboration: Subdisciplines must work together
ID is temporaryDisciplinary boundaries are fuzzy and fluid
ID research areas become new disciplines/paradigms, e.g.:
music history + computing computing in musicologymusic analysis + cultural studies semioticsmusicology + psychology music psychology
ID is unusualIt costs extra time and energy
1. Communication problemsDifferent ways of talking, researching misunderstandings
2. Structural problems Clear hierarchies: easy to organise, but impede ID
3. Quality control problemsDifferent quality mechanisms “Own” discipline superior?
The rest of this talk…
Humanities and Sciences (H&S)(a) in general(b) in musicology
Combining H&S in music research(a) in general(b) in my research and teaching
Separation of H & S
Relationships between disciplines in Austrian research projects funded by FWF1992-2006
FAS.research (2008). Netzwerke der Wissensproduktion. Wien.
S: The study of the natural world
Objectivity: Researcher is separate from research object.
Basic S applications• Physics e.g. engineering• Chemistry e.g. manufacturing• Biology e.g. medicine
All three also contribute to war, climate change…
H: The study of human cultureSubjectivity: Scholar is part of research object.
Ancient• philosophy• arts• institutionsEnlightenment• history• languages (linguistics)• cultures (anthropology, ethnology)
Modern • diversity, power relations
Mostly benign - but can also be evil!
Science ≠ Wissenschaft!
The facts:• Latin scientia = (all) knowledge (pre-H-S concept!)• German Wissenschaft = (all) research/teaching• English science = objective, positivistic research
Evidence for skeptics:Look up any faculty or school of science!• generally includes physics, chemistry, biology…• never includes history, arts, language, literature…
How could academics make this mistake?Thesis: Epistemologically naïve scientists dominate academia. They think: Even H should use ‘scientific method’!
Translating WissenschaftWissenschaftacademia or academe (=the academic world)S: research (or “research and teaching”)H: study (e.g. Literaturwissenschaft = literary studies)H: scholarship (but can also mean Stipendium)
Wissenschaftler/inacademic (e.g. “I am an academic”)
wissenschaftlichacademic (e.g. “academic qualification”, “academic career”)
akademischacademic (e.g. “academic question”, “academic ceremony”)
Geisteswissenschaftler/in ≠ humanist!
Humanism = Humanismus• secular• religious• Christian• etc.
Geisteswissenschaftler/in = humanities scholar “Scholar” suggests humanities
The differenceA humanities scholar is a trained academicA humanist is a morally enlightened person
Berlin Audio Communication Groupexamples of mixing Humanities, Sciences, Practice
New music instruments (Egermann)S (instrument technology), H (reception), P (performance)
Music media use (Lepa)S (empirical sociology, statistical analysis), H (social context)
Acoustic environments (Weinzierl)S (acoustics, signal processing, psychology), P (performance)
H&S are 18th-century inventions!
S (Naturwissenschaften)– Product of “scientific revolution”
• 16th-18th C.; Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton…
– Term “scientist” was invented c. 1831= member of British Association for the Advancement of Science
H (Geisteswissenschaften)– Product of “Age of Enlightenment”
• 17th-18th C.; Spinoza, Voltaire, Rousseau…
– Reinforced by (German) romantic movement (18th-19th)– 20th C.: increasing opposition to positivism
Academia = WissenschaftS H
Musicology = Musikwissenschaft
S H
Epistemological tensions20th - 21st C.
Imbalances due to history and politics -- not content!
“The two cultures”The separation of H and S
(Charles Percy Snow, 1959)
Symptoms• different knowledge, skills, thinking• intellectual specialisation narrow mindedness• no common culture, feeling of belonging
Consequences• hostility, conflict – a kind of cold war• affects quality of research and teaching• less responsibility for global world problems
Differences between H&SKind of difference Humanities Sciences
1. Relationship between researcher and object
close (subjective) distant (objective)
2. Size of thesis domain small (specific) large (general)
3. Kind of discourse narrative (qualitative)
numerical (quantitative)
4. Concept of truth depends on context(relativist)
independent of context (positivist)
Points 2, 3, 4 follow from 1 1 is the main difference!But 1 is also taboo (general public thinks subjective=bad)
Lack of open discussion of these differences
H&S: Claims for superiorityS changed our lives!
Enormous impact of technological innovations on everyday life:– communications, transport, media, household appliances…– weapons, pollution, overpopulation, biodiversity, climate
H address fundamental issues!– Culture defines “human-ness”– Social identity is a strong force in everyday human affairs:
family, economics, politics, conflict…
Implications: Equal treatment of H&S by universities, politics & funding Balance H&S in music research
Alterity (Otherness) in academia (Wissenschaft)
out-group: H• literature• history• art and music
intermediate• social sciences• legal studies• economics
in-group: S• physical sciences• life sciences
H-S-ID: Examples
S: Chemistry •Why is the research question important?•What are the implications of the finding?•Consider history, society, culture, politics…•Refer to H-literature
H: Art history•Clear structure: Introduction, main part, conclusions•Clear statement of question and thesis•Clear statement of evidence for and against thesis•Refer to S-literature
Implications for all researchersCombine & balance H & S!
1. Balance subjective and objectiveS: Expose and take responsibility for own subjectivity H: Partially objectify the object of research
2. Balance specific and generalS: Treat specific examples as “ground truth” H: Risk generalisation to facilitate application
3. Balance narrative and numericalS: Incorporate qualitative methods H. Incorporate quantitative measures
4. Balance relativism and positivismS: Consider contexts (historical, social, cultural, political…)H: What is your main thesis? Evidence for and against?
H&S in music research
• Definitions of music• Epistemologies• Sources of evidence• Alterity• Size of subdisciplines
Any attempt to define music, e.g.: • an acoustic signal that• evokes recognizable patterns of sound,• implies physical movement, • is meaningful,• is intentional wrt (b), (c) or (d), • is accepted by a cultural group and• is not lexical (i.e. is not “language”)
…implies that musicology mixes H&S
Epistemologies of H-musicology
Historical musicol. Ethnomusicology
“music” score part of culture
research topics
composers, works– dead, lost– formal unity of works– musical autonomy– idiosyncracies
history; development
performances– threatened, disappearing– cultural uniqueness– social function– typicalitiestradition; change
target readers “musicologists” ID
authority scholar informants
inspired by: Jonathan Stock, Current Musicology, 1998
Epistemologies of “scientific musicology”
physics physiology psychology computing
“Music” concept
instruments, rooms, air
bodies, brains
experience, behavior
instructions, codes, samples
Topics (examples) modeling processes emotion analysis
Combining sources of evidence in musicology
(Sub-) Disciplines Sources of evidencePhilosophy Logical argument
Cultural studies Personal experience and (inter-) subjectivity
Ethnomusicology, sociology InformantsHistory Historical documentsMusic theory and analysis Score analysisPsychology, sociology, acoustics, physiology
Empirical data
Information sciences Computational simulation
out-group (Others)• acoustics• psychology• physiology • computing
intermediate• ethnomusicology• pop/jazz research• sociology• philosophy• performance research
in-group (“musicology”)• history (Western, elitist)• theory/analysis• cultural studies
Alterity in musicology
Maintaining power with ambiguityHow scientists try to control all academia
How music historians try to control all musicology
sciences= natural,
social, formal
humanities= lettres,
Geisteswiss. science = all academic research and scholarship
Which “science” are you talking
about?
musicology
ethnomusicology
systematic musicology
musicology systematic musicology
musicology = all research about all music
What do you mean by
“musicology”?
green = good ☺red = bad
Size of musicological subdisciplines
H ≈ S?– amount of research– number of students– social relevance
Ethnomusicology ≈ Historical ≈ Systematic– IMS (“musicology”): 900 participants, mainly historical– ICMPC (music psychology): 400 – only part of SysMus– many ethnomusicological societies and confs
Projects to promote IDin musicology
Research• Specific projects• New infrastructures
Teaching• Undergraduate• Graduate
Current research projectsPerception of musical structurewith Annemarie Seither-Preisler, Sabrina Sattmann, Andreas FuchsS: Psychology, acoustics, computingH: music theory, music history
Computer modelling of expressive performance (with Erica Bisesi, Anders Friberg)S: Psychology, acoustics and computingH: music theory, music historyP: music expression
Music and migrationwith Gerd Grupe, Martin Winter, Hande SağlamS: Empirical sociology H: Ethnomusicology, theoretical sociology, cultural studies
CIM promotes ID collaborationEach abstract has two authors representing H&S
CIM focuses on quality rather than quantity• anonymous peer review of abstracts by H&S
CIM promotes musicology's unity in diversity• all ID music research• all musically relevant disciplines
Year Theme City Host Director
2004 - Graz University of Graz Parncutt
2005 timbre MontréalObservatoire
internationale de la création musicale
Traube
2007 singing TallinnEstonian Academy of
Music and Theatre Ross
2008 structureThessa-
lonikiAristotle University of
ThessalonikiCambou-ropoulos
2009 instruments FranceUniversité Pierre et Marie
Curie Castellengo
2010nature / culture Sheffield University of Sheffield Dibben
2011 performance GlasgowCentre for Music and
Technology Hair
2012
historyGöttinge
n, Germany
Musikwissenschaftliches Seminar, U Göttingen
Grant
Past CIMs
Future CIMs
2014 Technology Berlin, GermanyNational Institute for
Music Research
2015 Imagination Shanghai, China Shanghai Conservatoire
2017Emotion and expression Belgrade, Serbia
Faculty of Music, University of Arts
Integrated H-S cooperation
1. All contributors have at least two authorsIf 1st author is H, 2nd must be S (and vice-versa)
2. All submissions are reviewed by H & S
ESF EXPLORATORY WORKSHOP“Cognition of Early Polyphony”
Graz, Austria, 12-14 April 2012
9 humanities scholars meet 9 scientists
• Research projects• Discussion across H-S boundary• Future projects/grants
LECTURE SERIES “Introduction to Systematic Musicology”
In 1st semester of Graz Bachelors Program in Musicology
Parent disciplines (subdisciplines) • S: acoustics, neurosciences, psychology, computing• H: theoretical sociology, philosophy/aesthetics
How to work with them• Contrasting epistemologies• Multidisciplinary and ID approaches
GUIDELINE FOR ADVANCED UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS
Structuring the argument of a theoretical paper in the social sciences
S: Consider context!– Historical, social, cultural, political…– Background; implications
H: Test theses!– Clear question; list of possible answers– Clear formulation; evidence
Political strategiesto promote H-S-ID
H: Negotiate from a strong position• Lectures, workshops, projects on H-S collaboration• Conflict resolution techniques • More H reviewers in S journals• More research evaluation in H
S: Listen and support• More consideration of context• More subjectivity, specificity, relativity • More H epistemologies
Who is your Epistemological Other?Definitions• Are you H or S?Is your training and publications mainly in H or S?
• Who is your Epistemological Other “EO”?Which Other academic is interested in your research?
Questions• How often do you work with an EO?• How important are EO’s ideas to you ?• How might your work benefit from EO?• Would you like to have lunch with EO?
Conclusions
Criteria for “truth” and “knowledge” should be• consistent with info sources • consistent with researcher’s epistemologies
“Truth” is often a combination of H&S!
The conflict between H and S • Still strong in musicology & generally• A solution would be mutually beneficial
Universities should bring together H&S!