Bi-musicality in Japanese folksong and Italian art song: A study on vocal timbre
Molly Adkins · The Journal of Macrodynamic Analysis (Memorial University of Newfoundland) · 2013
Bi-musicality' is a term that was first used by ethnomusicologist Mantle Hood in 1960 in his paper entitled "The Challenge of 'Bi-musicality"'.Hood spoke of bimusicality in reference to musicians learning a foreign music, namely Western musicians who study Eastern music or Eastern musicians who study Western music.When addressing the problem of the extent to which a Western musician can learn Eastern music, Hood suggested that for musicologists it is necessary only to secure one's basic musicianship in the music of a foreign culture.But for a musician to achieve status as a professional instrumentalist or singer among those in the country of his study, it is necessary to go beyond the basic musicianship, which Hood mentioned has only a remote possibility (Hood, 1960, p.58).This paper is a discussion on whether or not the possibility of achieving "true" bi-musicality is really as remote as Hood had imagined. Defining bi-musicalityMantle Hood described bi-musicality as the learning of a foreign music.But I perceive bi-musicality as the result of technical training and aesthetic understanding of music from a different ethnic group while maintaining one's first learnt music.