John Blacking and the “Human/Musical Instrument Interface”: Two Plucked Lutes from Afghanistan

Abstract

Blacking’s theories about music structures and the physical movements in their performance –– Baily’s experimental work on motor control in pointing at visual targets –– ethnomusicological research on playing two Afghan lutes (dutar and rubab) with radically differing linear and tiered arrays of note positions –– learning to perform as an ethnomusicological research technique –– how the typical repertoires of the two lute types are related to the spatial distribution of note positions.