Listening for a Change: Environment, Music, Action

The British Forum for Ethnomusicology held their annual One-Day Conference in London on the 5th of November 2011 at the Institute for Musical Research (IMR). Presenters from Europe and North America addressed international themes on ways musicians and their audiences, instrument makers and other members of the music industry, engage with critical issues related to ecology and environmental change. Paper topics ranged from the management of resources used for musical instrument making to ways we engage with changes in the natural world through recordings and live performance, from participation in environmental politics, especially among indigenous peoples, to reports on ways individuals and organizations have been working for change in order to enhance musical production.

Especially well attended, the meeting revealed that there is broad interest in the study of music and the environment. This relatively new branch of ethnomusicology and musicology emerged first in the 1960s with the soundscape studies of R. Murray Schafer. In recent years, with increasing concern about environmental changes occurring around the world, and the impact on opportunities for human populations to continue their cultural practices, ethnomusicologists have been drawn to new methods for their contemporary studies about music and ecology. Their current work is expanding discourses on the subject with the integration of scientific and additional social scientific material, and provides more effective ways to analyze and communicate about, and advocate for, current local and global issues and actions. The meeting, therefore, also offered opportunities for participants to begin a dialogue about making a difference to benefit populations whose musical expressions are today so heavily impacted by ecological change.

In the evening, American clarinetist, naturalist, and philosopher, David Rothenberg, performed an intriguing selection of pieces for conference participants at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His duets with recordings of bird and whale songs demonstrated how he maintains ongoing dialogues with non-human creatures through music.

Jennifer Post