This book examines the community-based learning and teaching of 'traditional' music in contemporary Scotland, with implications for transnational theoretical issues. The book draws on a broad range of scholarship and a local case study of a large organisation.
This book will be of interest to scholars, students and practitioners in the fields of ethnomusicology, music education, social learning and community music. It applies concepts and approaches from these disciplines with ethnographic data to identify a pedagogy for the learning and teaching of traditional music in community-based organisations.
Josephine L. Miller is an ethnomusicologist and community musician based in Scotland. Her main research interest is the transmission of traditional music. She holds an MLitt from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from the University of Sheffield. In 2017, she received the Hamish Henderson Award for Services to Traditional Music at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards.
List of Figures
List of Music Examples
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Transmission and enculturation
'Traditional' music
Community-based settings
A 'non-formal' setting?
Communities of practice
Masters and apprentices
Family
Oral tradition and music literacy
Socialisation
Researching the case study
Methods and ethics
Notes
Learning and teaching: the revival and post-revival contexts
Learning and teaching: formal education
'Take off': community-based organisations
Introducing Glasgow Fiddle Workshop
Locality: a sense of place
Introducing the tutors
GFW in a stylistic community of practice
Notes
Joining a class
Learning the shared skills
Learning and teaching a tune
The role of listening
Playing it through
Varying, ornamenting and arranging tunes
Dealing with notation
Choosing repertoire
Notes
Participation or presentation?
GFW sessions
Slow session and pre-class warm-up
Prepare for the pub
Very slow session
Islay Inn session
Concerts
Ceilidh dances
Member-led groups
Notes
Encouraging agency at GFW
Self-directed learning
Making progress: reflecting on learning
'Expressing' the tune
'Learners' and 'musicians'
Music as leisure and levels of involvement
Non-participation and dissent
Musical trajectories beyond GFW
Notes
A GFW identity
A community-based identity
A traditional music identity
Tensions and boundaries: 'who we are' vs. 'who we are not'
Notes
Learning and teaching traditional music in a post-revival landscape
The ethos of the 'community-based' organisation
Repertoire
Tutors
Learning and teaching practices: between participatory ethos and individual musical trajectory
Conclusion: A pedagogy of participation