Review

Author(s): David Locke

Review by: David Locke
Source: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 25, No. 3, Pacific Issue (Sep., 1981), pp. 527-529
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Society for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/851562
Accessed: 28-08-2015 19:52 UTC

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BOOK REVIEWS
Lomax,

Alan. Cantometrics: An Approach to the Anthropology of Music.

Berkeley: Univ. of CaliforniaExtensionMediaCenter, 1976.276 p., music,

tables, map, appendices, bibliography.Seven cassettes.
In 1953Alan Lomax madea field recordingtripto Spainduringwhichhe was
struck by the differencebetweenthe singingstyles of northernand southernSpain
and the correspondingdifferencesin importantpatternsof culture.The seed of a
simple, yet profoundidea was planted:song style reflectsand reinforcescultural
style. Lomax's nurturanceof this seminal concept grew into Cantometrics,a
system of measuringworld song styles and correlatingthem with culturaldata.
Among the fruits of Cantometricsare two publications,Folk Song Style and
Culture (1968) and Cantometrics: An Approach to the Anthropology of Music

(1976), which should become fundamentalethnomusicologicaltexts. The former

presents the Cantometricexperimentin great detail but by itself is frustratingly
insufficient without musical examples. Happily, the latter work presents the
Cantometric parametersof cross-culturalcomparisonthroughclear musicalexamples so that, at last, we may fully understand,evaluate and, perhaps,incorporate this system in our teaching,researchandappreciationof mankind'smusic.
Cantometrics became possible only with the advent of widely distributed,
reliable field recordings.Accordingly,seven 90-minutecassette tapes designedto
teach the 36 parametersof song style are at the heart of the publicationhere
reviewed. The tapes are arrangedto facilitate either complete trainingin all
parametersor selected exposure to the minimumnecessaryfor comprehensionof
the Cantometricapproach.In fact, Side A of the first tape containstwo measurements, Social Organizationof the Vocal Groupand Repetitionof Text, which by
themselves are sufficientto characterizebroadlya given song style and introduce
the fundamentalconcepts of Cantometrics.The trainingprocedurefor each attribute of song style is as follows. First, its worldwidescope of expressionis displayed, then a scale of measurementis introducedand finallyexamplesby which
listeners may check theirgraspof the attributeare provided.The learningprocess
culminates in the seventh tape containing30 relativelylong musical examples,
which are to be coded on all parameters,thus producingan overallprofileof each
song's style.
The Handbook that accompaniesthe tapes is a condensed version of Folk
Song Style and Culture, supplementedby chaptersthat identifythe musicalexamples, explain the format of the tapes and advise teachers on their use.1 Although the Handbookalone is sufficientintroductionto Cantometrics,one is well
advised to consult Lomax's other writing, especially with regardto its socioeconomic aspect.
The significanceof Cantometricsto ethnomusicologyis manifold.It is a culturally relative system expressly designedto handleimpartiallyall musics of the
world. The tapes are superb teaching materialsthat introducestudents to the
variety of world music and presenta comprehensivesystem for analyzingmusic
and its relationshipto culture. Significantly,Cantometricsrequiresno previous
527

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528

ETHNOMUSICOLOGY,SEPTEMBER1981

musical experience and since it focuses on very broadsocioacousticphenomena,

importantobservationscan result fromjust several hours' analysis.
Cantometricsasks listenersto makeanalyticaljudgementsaboutmusicswith
which they are totally unfamiliar.It could be describedas a great adventurein
"etic" analysis, armchairethnomusicologypar excellence. Certainweaknesses
seem inevitable. With regardto the parameter,Social Organizationof the Vocal
Group, for example, can we confidentallydeterminewhethera chorus is "discoordinated"or just subjectto an orderwe cannotgraspwithoutconsultingeither
written musicologicalevidence or the musiciansthemselves? Furthermore,one
selection of recorded music can be analyzed from several points of view with
significantlydifferentresults. This becomes crucialwhen we must analyze such
parametersas rhythmicorganizationor phrasestructuresolely on the basis of one
short musical excerpt. Finally, the context in which a song is used affects such
aspects of its musical style as volume, tempo, and rubato, yet Cantometrics
operates on the assumptionthatten songs providea sufficientsample.2Nevertheless, having used Cantometricsas a teachingmaterial,I have foundthat its quick,
subjective "analyst's" evaluation is more than adequatefor the socioacoustic
level at which it operates.
Although the Cantometricsystem is laudablyunethnocentric,Lomax lards
his prose with such culturallyspecific, vague adjectivesas sweet, harsh,burry,
reedy, brassy, and overenunciated.The scientificdetachmentto whichthis enterprise aspires freqentlyis droppedand Lomax'sbias towardscohesive as opposed
to individualized societies is unmistakable.Unfortunately,the format of the
package occasionally is careless: type face is changed (p. 19), paragraphsare
repeated (pp. 177-178),the B sides of the cassettes beginonly aftera long silence
and, most serious of all, the B side of tape IV is identicalto the A side: the critical
enunciationscale thus is missing.Also, manyof the musicalexamples,especially
the "trained folk choirs" from the Soviet Union, violate the Cantometricsrequirementthat performancesbe "typicaland representative"with "[n]ormalpersonnel . . . performing in the normal style" (p. 75). As in the rest of ethnomusi-

cology, Westernart music and all popularmusicaregiven shortshrift.Finally,too

little informationis providedabout the mannerin which the "right"answerson
the trainingtapes were selected.3
In closing, the reviewerasks the readershipof Ethnomusicologywhy Cantometrics has had such minimalimpacton our discipline?Previousreviewershave
both invited us-"Try it, you'll like it!" (Herndon1978:207)-andadvised us"Ethnomusicologistswill ignorethis book at theirown peril"(Merriam1969:386).
A vast amountof comparativeresearchhas been done, an invaluableteachingtool
is available, a stimulatingset of hypothesesand conclusionsare beforeus. Let us
heed Merriam'sadvice and respond.
Tufts University and New EnglandConservatoryof Music

David Locke

Ed. Note: The followingNOTES were providedby Alan Lomaxwith the consent
of the reviewer.
NOTES

I summarizes
1. TheHandbookis not merelya condensedversionof FSSC.Chapter
severalmajorresearchadvancesforCantometrics
intheyearsbetween1968and1975:(a)a
from14
hadbeendiscovered
doublingof the numberof scalesforwhichsocialcorrelations

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BOOK REVIEWS

529

to 28 out of the 36 measures, so that the whole system becomes a predictivegrid; (b) a
factoring down of the 36 measures to a more workablesystem of 9 coherentfactors of
"universals" of singing style and the discovery of correlates for these factors; (c) the
creation of a computertaxonomyof song style, consistingof 13geographicallydistinctand
culturallyviable regionaltraditions,andthe arrangementof these in an orderthattracesthe
disgeneral "evolution" of musicalsystems; (d) the publicationof the computer-produced
tinctive profiles for these evolutionarytaxa, in which the main changes may be traced,
together with an interpretationof this series; (e) the publicationof the Cantometricsystem
for coding ensembles which has been appliedto the whole worldsample,thus roundingout
the method;and (f) a reporton the inter-raterconsensusscoresfromthe classroomtestingof
the coding system, which testifies to the reliabilityof the system at a level of 80+%.
2. We did not "assume"that 10songs providea sufficientsample,butdiscoveredthat,
in practice, ten songs (or a smallernumber)weregenerallysufficientto locatea stablecoreof
traits (8 to 15) out of the profileof 36 scales, sufficientto characterizea culture'smainapproach to song performance.
3. The "right" answers representthe consensus of the three senior coders (Grauer,
Rudd, Lomax) as modifiedby the judgmentof test groupsin several classrooms.
REFERENCESCITED
Herndon, Marcia
1978 Review of Cantometrics:An Approachto the Anthropologyof Music, American
Anthropologist80(1):207.
Alan
Lomax,
1968 Folk Song Style and Culture.Washington,D.C.: AmericanAssociationfor the
Advancementof Science.
Merriam, Alan
1969 Review of Folk Song Style and Culture,Journalof AmericanFolklore82:385-7.

Davies, John Booth. The Psychology of Music. Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Press, 1978. 240 p., figures, music, bibliography, indexes.
Madeja, Stanley S., ed. The Arts, Cognition, and Basic Skills. St. Louis:
CEMREL, Inc., 1978. 263 p., figures, music.
These two volumes were written from differing perspectives and were not
intended for the same audience. However, both works speak to issues of ethnomusicological concern and cut across those disciplines that inform our understanding of the process of "musicking." Some of the questions in these contributions
have been voiced before by Whorf (1956), Piaget (1960), Arnheim (1974), Neisser
(1967), and others. In those studies, as well as in the ones at hand, descriptions of
the problems faced are more convincing than the diagnoses and remedies offered.
The argumentation of the Davies and Madeja volumes makes great strides towards
a refined formulation of directions for future research in music as behavior and
cultural knowledge.
Davies, a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Strathclyde and a
competent performer, addresses the nature of music from a framework that sacrifices neither music nor psychology. His thought-provoking discourse analyzes
cognition, the transmission of information, and the fluidity of musical knowledge.

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