Sociomusicology Essays

Steven Feld responds to two questions in his article, “Sound Structure as Social Structure”: what are the representations or features of small-scale and egalitarian societies through organized sound? And, what are the major ways that these same features reveal themselves in social organization and ideology if soundmakers and soundmaking?” Within these questions there are aspects to consider, such as ethnomusicological and sociomusical questions. Ethnomusicological questions tend to be more about

The Kaluli metaphorically try to recreate the harmony and balance of the forest environment through their sounds. Also, the sounds of the rainforest serve as a physical and cultural guide to the Kaluli. Following performance is “theory.” Myth and stories explain where sounds came from. For example, “myths about human-bird transformations explain the origins of categories of sounds that humans share with each other and with the natural world, namely, weeping, song, poetics, whistling, talking, noise