Interdisciplinary musicology Bringing together humanities and sciences

1. Interdisciplinary musicology Bringingtogetherhumanitiesandsciences Richard Parncutt Centre for Systematic Musicology University of Graz, Austria National Symposium on Musicology Jyväskylä, Finland, 21-23 March 2012 SysMus Graz

2. Do weneeddisciplinarycategories?Schwarz oder weiß Text & Musik: Oliver Gies (2009?) Schwarz oderweißJaoder neinGrautönesindmirvielzuallgemeinBittekein “Äh”Bittekein “Jein”In einemeinerSchubladen, da kriegichdichschon rein Hörst du Beatles oder die Stones?Guckst Du Tagesschauoder Indiana Jones?Warst du Zivioderbeim Bund?Bist du schüchternoderdrängstdich in den Vordergrund?Bist du trägeoderagil?Depressivoder mental eherstabil?Trinkst du Weinoderlieber Bier?Hast Du’nReihenhaus m. Garten od. lebst du v. Hartz IV? HähnchendöneroderlieberLamm?Trennst Du Mülloderschmeißt du alleszusamm’n?Fährst du Taxi odermitdem Bus?Sagst du Super-Dickmannodersagst du Negerkuss?Guckst du Arte oder Sat1?Nennst du deinenSohn Jean-Luc oder Karl-Heinz?Gibst du nachoderbist du stur?Liest Du regelmäßig “Bild” oder hast du das Abitur?

3. Disciplinary categories are necessary!Experts and specialization are the basis of academic quality Each discipline has its own epistemologies • Ways of thinking • Ways of doing research • Ways of training future scholars • Ways of evaluating quality Epistemology • What is knowledge? • Which knowledge exists? • How is knowledge acquired?

4. Interdisciplinary is necessary!due to expansion and specialisationin 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: Research is increasingly specialized  disciplines are SUBdivided You can no longer be an expert in two different SUBdisciplines Representatives of different SUBdisciplines must work together

5. Interdisciplinarity is temporaryDisciplinary boundaries are fuzzy and fluid Interdisciplinary research areas, e.g.: • music history and computing • music analysis and cultural studies • musicology and psychology …become new disciplines/paradigms, e.g.: • computing in musicology • semiotics • music psychology

6. Interdisciplinarity is relatively unusual 1. Communication Different ways of talking, researching  misunderstandings  Interdisciplinarity costs extra time and energy 2. Academic infrastructures Clear hierarchies are easy to organise • Academic infrastructures impede interdisciplinarity 3. Quality control within disciplines “Own” discipline seems superior to Others • Interdisciplinarity requires academic openness

7. The restofthistalk… HumanitiesandSciences (H&S) (a) in general (b) in musicology Bringing H&S together in musicology (a) in general (b) in myresearchandteaching

8. Epistemological tensionsHow did they start? Can we resolve them? benefit from them?  General conclusionsaboutresearch, truth, knowledge?

9. Sciences: The study of the natural worldThe researcher is separate from the object of research.Results are applied to the natural world. Basic sciences  their applications • Physics  e.g. engineering • Chemistry  e.g. manufacturing • Biology  e.g. medicine All three also contribute to war, climate change…

10. Humanities: The study of human cultureThe researcher is part of the object of research.Insights influence the development of human culture. Ancient • philosophy • arts • institutions Enlightenment • history • languages (linguistics) • cultures (anthropology, ethnology) Modern • diversity, power relations Mostly benign - but can also be evil!

11. Why not talk about “humanists”? Humanismcan be… • secular • religious • Christian • etc. “Humanities scholar” is clearer “Scholar” suggests humanities So what’s the main difference? A humanities scholar is a trained academic A humanist is a morally enlightened person

12. “The two cultures”The separation of humanities and sciences (Charles Percy Snow, 1959) Symptoms different knowledge, skills, thinking no common culture, feeling of belonging intercultural conflict and hostility – a “cold war”? Humanities scholars regard scientists as positivist and naïve Scientists see humanities scholars as romantic and impractical Consequences intellectual specialisation narrow mindedness decline of research breadth/quality  decline of education Less feeling of responsibility  neglect of world problems?

13. Separation of humanities and sciences Relationshipsbetweendisciplines in Austrian researchprojectsfundedby FWF1992-2006 FAS.research (2008). NetzwerkederWissensproduktion. Wien.

14. Who isyourEpistemological Other? Definitions • Are you a Humanities scholar “H” or Scientist “S”? Is your training and publications mainly in humanities or sciences? • Who is your Epistemological Other “EO”? Which academic across the H-S divide is interested in your research? Questions • Can you name a specific local EO? • How often do you work with EO? • How important are EO’s ideas to you ? • How might your work benefit from EO? • Would you like to have lunch with EO?

15. H&S are 18th-century inventions! Sciences (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 Humanities (Geisteswissenschaften) • Product of “age of enlightenment” • 17th-18th C.; Spinoza, Voltaire, Rousseau… • Reinforced by (German) romantic movement (18th-19th) • Became a reaction against scientific positivism

16. Four national academic culturesDominant Western academic cultures, 18th-20th Centuries R. E. Lee & I. Wallerstein (Eds., 2004). Overcomingthetwocultures. Science versus thehumanities in the modern world-system. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.

17. Differences between H&S Points 2, 3, 4 followfrom 1  1 isthemaindifference! But 1 is also taboo(generalpublicthinkssubjective=bad)  Lack of open discussionofthesedifferences

18. 1. Aspects of sub- and ob-jectivity 1. The research object itself (mind vs nature) 2. Distance between researcher & research object 3. Methods: rules, logic, procedures, “discipline”? 4. Concepts: mechanistic vs organic 5. Agreement among researchers vs diversity Example: modern psychology subjective wrt 1? objective wrt 2, 3, 4, 5? 1 2 3 4 5 ? researchobject researcher

19. 2. Size of thesis domain Humanities: specific issues • Ethnology: cultures, behaviors • History: events, people, periods Sciences: general issues • Acoustics: How is sound transmitted? • Psychology: What is emotion? • Empirical sociology: How does society work? • Computing; neuroscience: How is information processed?

20. 3. Concepts of “truth” Humanities • Relativist (limited by researcher’s subjectivity?) Sciences • Positivist (enabled by researcher’s objectivity?) Evidence against positivism in sciences • Relativity, quantum mechanics • Kuhn: paradigm shift; Foucault: coupureépistémologique Evidence against relativism in humanities • If questions have no answer, why ask them at all? • If truth is relative to cultural context, what is culture relative to?

21. H&S: Claims for superiority Sciences have completely changed our lives! Enormous impact of technological innovations on everyday life: • communications, transport, media, household appliances… • weapons, pollution, overpopulation, less biodiversity, global warming Humanities address fundamental everyday issues! • Humans without culture would not even be “human” • Identity is a strong force in everyday human affairs: Social interaction, family, economics, politics, war and peace Conclusion: Both are right! Implications:  Equal treatment of H&S by universities, politicians & funding agencies • Epistemological equality! End structural discrimination against humanities (e.g. use the word “science” correctly!)  Balance H&S in musicology

22. Alterity in academia out-group: humanities • literature • history • art and music • in-group: sciences • physical sciences • life sciences • intermediate • social sciences • legal studies • economics

23. Science = Wissenschaft?Covert discrimination against humanitiesStrong evidence for alterity in academia! 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? Epistemologically naïve scientists dominate academia. They think: Even humanities should use ‘scientific method’!

24. TranslatingWissenschaftLike many other words: the best translation depends on context Wissenschaft • academia or academe (=the academic world) • research (or research and teaching) • study (implies H, e.g. Literaturwiss. = literary studies) • scholarship (also implies H; can also mean Stipendium) Wissenschaftler/in • academic (e.g. “I am an academic”) wissenschaftlich • academic (e.g. “academic qualification”, “academic career”) akademisch • academic (e.g. “academic question”, “academic ceremony”)

25. Maintaining power with ambiguityHow scientists try to control all academiaHow historical musicologists try to control all musicology What do you mean by “musicology”? Which “science” are you talking about? green = good red = bad

26. ImplicationsforresearchersCombine & balanceapproachesofhumanitiesandsciences! 1. Balance subjective andobjective S: Expose and take responsibility for your own subjectivity H: Partially objectify the object of research 2. Balance specific and general S: Riskgeneralisationtofacilitateapplication H: Treat specific examplesas “ground truth” 3. Balance narrative and numerical S: Incorporate qualitative methods H: Incorporate quantitative measures 4. Balance relativism and positivism H: What is your main thesis? Evidence for and against? S: Consider context(historical, social, cultural, political…)

27. H&S in musicology • H&S in definitionsofmusic • Epistemologiesof H&S in musicology • Alterity in musicology

28. Any attempt to define music, e.g.: • an acoustic signal that • evokes recognizable patterns of sound, • implies physical movement, • is meaningful, • is intentionalwrt (b), (c) or (d), • is accepted by a cultural group and • is not lexical (i.e. is not “language”) …implies that musicology must mix H&S

29. Epistemologies of humanities musicology inspired by: Jonathan Stock, Current Musicology, 1998

30. Epistemologies of scientific musicology

31. Alterity in musicology • in-group (“musicology”) • history (Western, elitist) • theory/analysis • cultural studies out-group(Others) • acoustics • psychology • physiology • computing • intermediate • ethnomusicology • pop/jazz research • sociology • philosophy • performance research

32. Musicological alterity: A benign exampleNicholas Cook (1998). Music: A very short introduction Exposes musicological prejudice against: • popular and non-western musics (musical Others) • women and non-westerners (human Others) Low awareness of own prejudice against: • musical sciences (other Others?) • non-Angloamerican musicology

33. Why promote H-S interdisciplinarityin musicology? • H-S interdisciplinarity in all disciplines • Size ofmainsubdisciplines in musicology • Sourcesofevidence in musicology

34. H-S interdisciplinarity in all disciplinesExtreme examples Sciences: Chemistry • Why is the research question important? • What are the implications of the findings? • In both cases consider history, society, culture, politics… • Refer to literature in both H&S (All this in addition to the usual scientific rigour) Humanities: Art history • Clear structure: Introduction, main part, conclusions • Clear statement of question and thesis • Clear statement of evidence for and against thesis • Refer to literature in both H&S (All this in addition to the usual detailed content)

35. Size of musicological subdisciplines Ethnomusicology ≈ Historical ≈ Systematic • IMS (“musicology”): 900 participants, mainly historical • ICMPC (music psychology): 400 – only part of SysMus • many ethnomusicological societies and confs Humanities ≈ Sciences? • amount of research • number of students • social relevance

36. Combining sources of evidence in musicology

37. My own attempts to promote H-S interdisciplinarity in musicology Research • Specific projects • New infrastructures Teaching • Undergraduate • Graduate

38. My relevant research projects Psychology, acoustics and computing (sciences) of music theory (humanities) Perception of musical structure: pitch, consonance, harmony, tonality, rhythm, meter (with Annemarie Seither-Preisler) Psychology, acoustics and computing (sciences) of music expression (practice) Computer modelling of expressive performance based on structural analysis of the score (with Erica Bisesi) Empirical sociology (science) of musical identity (humanities, practice) Music and the social identity of migrants in modern cities (with Martin Winter)

39. CIM promotes interdisciplinary collaboration Each 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 interdisciplinary music research • all musically relevant disciplines

40. PastCIMs

41. Future CIMs Please participate!

42. All contributorshaveat least twoauthors • Iffirstauthoris a humanitiesscholar, secondis a scientist • andvice-versa • All submissionsareindependentlyreviewedby • ahumanitiesscholar • a scientist • Issues • Regular • Special (based on CIM)

43. ESF Exploratory Workshop“Cognition of Early Polyphony”Graz, Austria, 12-14 April 2012 10 humanities scholars and 10 scientists • Present research that addresses the workshop theme • Work across the H-S boundary • Consider future project and grant options

44. Lecture series “Introduction to Systematic Musicology”In 1st semester of Graz Bachelors Program in Musicology Parent disciplines (subdisciplines) • Sciences: acoustics, neurosciences, psychology, computing • Humanities: theoretical sociology, philosophy/aesthetics How to work with them • Hidden truths about contrasting epistemologies • Multi- and interdisciplinary approaches

45. Guideline for advanced undergraduate and graduate studentsThe structure of an argumentBringing together H&S in (musicology) research (training) Problems • Scientistsignorecontext! Andhumanities! • Humanitiesscholars lack standardstructures! Solutions • Scientists: Considercontext! • Historical, social, cultural, political… • Background; implications P. S.: Take humanitiesseriously! • Humanitiesscholars: Test a thesis! • Clear question; listpossibleanswers • Clear formulationofthesisandevidence P. S.: Evaluate & controlquality! (peerreview)

46. Conclusions The cold war between Humanities and Sciences • Still strong both in musicology and generally • Relatively easy to address and reduce • Research benefits from conflict resolution Criteria for “truth” and “knowledge” • consistent with different sources of information • consistent with diff. researchers (epistemologies) • honest and unbiased • useful • Musicology can and should balance H&S! • A theory of “truth” should combine H&S!

47. Strategies Humanities: Negotiate from a strong position! • “I am what I am and what I am needs no excuses” (Gloria Gaynor) - NOT “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” (Insane Clown Posse) • Awareness raising about positive roles of humanities and the necessity of subjectivity-objectivity balance in all disciplines • Lectures, workshops, projects on equal h-s collaboration • Conflict resolution within humanities to enable united action • Development of research evaluation procedures in humanities • Role models: trade unions, feminism, black power • Political action (e.g. teaching strike) if ignored or funding is cut Sciences: Listen and support! • Expose/include subjectivity, specificity, relativity in own research • Explore/apply humanities epistemologies • Promote humanities initiatives/concerns in science infrastructures

48. CentreforSystematicMusicologyUni Graz, Austria Bernd Brabec Ethnomusicology Erica Bisesi Expression in piano music Daniela Prem Timbre in Jazz Lina Dornhofer Applied Interculturality Res. Andreas Gaich Cognition Early Polyphony Martin Winter Music andidentity