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

Autor/innen

  • John Baily Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5450/EJM.23.1.2025.137

Schlagwörter:

Human-instrument interface, John Blacking, Afghan music, Plucked lutes, Rubab, Dutar

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.

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Autor/innen-Biografie

  • John Baily, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK

    John Baily came into ethnomusicology from experimental psychology, with a doctorate on human spatial coordination and motor control from the University of Sussex. In 1973 he became a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology, Queen’s University of Belfast, and in collaboration with John Blacking conducted two years of ethnomusicological fieldwork in Afghanistan. In 1978, he was appointed Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at Queen’s. From 1984 to 1986, he trained in anthropological film making at the National Film and Television School and directed the award-winning film Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician’s Life in Peshawar, Pakistan. From 1988 to 1990, he was Associate Professor in the Centre for Ethnomusicology, Columbia University, New York. He joined Goldsmiths in 1990 and is now Emeritus Professor of Ethnomusicology and Head of the Afghanistan Music Unit. 

Veröffentlicht

2025-03-17

Zitationsvorschlag

Baily, J. (2025). John Blacking and the “Human/Musical Instrument Interface”: Two Plucked Lutes from Afghanistan. European Journal of Musicology, 23(1), 137-152. https://doi.org/10.5450/EJM.23.1.2025.137