Critical Review - Subject, Object, and the Ethnomusicology Ensemble by Ricardo Trimillos

In his essay about "The Ethnomusicological "We" and Them"', Ricardo Trimillos writes about his experiences teaching world music ensembles and about the world music ensemble's role in American universities. He tries to dig deeper into issues such as the purpose of the world music ensemble and urges that universities be thoughtful when considering incorporating one into their curriculum. Proposing a variety of thought-provoking ideas, Trimillos writes: "The question "is the ensemble a good thing?" has been asked and answered in the affirmative. In my opinion, this question needs to be replaced by a more pressing query for the twenty-first century: what is the ensemble good for?" (p. 47) Though there are a variety of different reasons/rationales for these ensembles, including "concerns of multiculturalism, alternative modes of knowledge acquisition, cultural and ethnic advocacy, aesthetic and artistic pluralism, and community outreach, to name a few" (p.25), Trimillos admits that he feels that " a principal pedagogical value is the presentation and valorization of alternative systems and approaches to creativity." (p.47). One of the main benefits of this, he argues, is that "the availability of culturally identified alternatives in the institution gives students choice and agency" in a university system that continues to "foreground the hegemonic" (p.48).

There are different ways that world music ensembles can be taught and run, and this can greatly affect the ensemble's outcome, for both student, teacher, and community. World music ensembles, Trimillos writes, originated as "study groups" with the explicit purpose of understanding the music of another culture, or in other words, "accessing the musical other" (Trimillos defends his constant use of "We", "Them", and "the Other" by arguing that "multiple personalities are unavoidable in the cross-cultural work we do.") (p.24, 27). In recent times, however, with more and more universities trying to do community outreach to improve their public image, performance has become an increasingly common function of these "study groups". While the original study groups "emphasized understanding rather than presentation in intent", many study groups today (or world music ensembles, as they are now more commonly called in the U.S.) focus on preparing students for performance, even when they have only been studying the tradition for a semester or two (p. 24). This sort of "Beginner's Concert", as Trimillos calls it, can generate mixed signals for both the student and the general public:

"On the one hand it suggests that the Other is simple. On the other it suggests that the nature of the American student or the Western academy enables a faster learning curve. Both raise uncomfortable images of musical ethnocentrism: notions of superiority, domestication of a foreign Other, or both." (p.44)

Also, performance often pressures teachers of world music ensembles to focus on the aesthetic value of a culture's music rather than its religious, political, or social values. In doing so, Trimillos writes, "We may be subjecting ourselves to (or perhaps be guilty of) an institutional "descriptive chauvinism" (Nussbaum 199: 118) in which we read another culture's music using the paradigm of our own culture, that is, the primary raison d'etre of music in the Western academy is aesthetic rather than religious, political, or economic." (p. 48) On the other hand, given Trimillos's belief that world music ensembles' function largely as alternative modes of knowledge acquisition and approaches to creativity, "Must the student be delivered to a culturally authentic aesthetic experience, or is a spontaneous, unmonitored affective experience equally valid?" (p.48).

Trimillos also notes the important role that the instructor plays in shaping a student's experience in a world music ensemble, not only in the instructor's teaching style but in his/her identity and appearance as well. He defines and describes the three major categories of world music ensemble instructor at American universities: the culture-bearer or indigenous artist, the ethnomusicologist, and the foreign practitioner.

The culture-bearer or indigenous artist as the study group teacher is often attributed with immediate authenticity regardless of his or her actual knowledge--as a cultural insider, he/she is expected to "culturally know". Even if he/she specialized in one particular instrument, "when he comes to the American university to teach, however, he becomes a resource for an entire tradition" (p.38). He is expected to "teach all aspects of the tradition, as well as serve as an icon for the totalized culture." (p.39).

The culture bearer's native appearance also lends credibility to his knowledge, and perceived authenticity to his performances. The non-native who looks native can also gain this sort of credibility, as Trimillos himself did as a Filipino often mistakenly identified as Japanese when he performed the Japanese koto.

The ethnomusicologist as world music ensemble instructor must earn his authority through field work and academic degrees. Trimillos writes:

"Because he cannot embody the cultural credibility of the native teacher, he must establish his credibility in other ways. One strategy is to emphasize older repertory and recognized aspects of "tradition", a problematic notion. Innovation and the performance of newer compositions tend to be secondary. In this strategy, the teacher presents what he has learned rather than extends the repertory through composing or expanding the musical style through innovation, both of which are options for the native teacher." (p. 43)

It is also more difficult for the non-native instructor to "perform" the culture for the students in the way that a native instructor might, as this most often requires conscious code-switching, which is difficult to do without appearing "exploitative, condescending, or colonial." (p. 42). The non-native who attempts to perform another's culture also "confronts issues of entitlement and reception, as well as suspicions of "going native" or "playing ethnic"' (p.41). Because of this, Trimillos argues that "the most effective means for the outsider to bring understanding of these broader cultural aspects to the student is through discussion, taking advantage of the reflexivity of the academy." (p.42).

Trimillos also admits emphasizing tradition and cultural practices that have been replaced in modern times in order to give students a more alternative, different experience:

"In retrospect I realize that my construction of Japanese traditionalism was selective and biased toward Otherness, that is, that which was different from the students' normal experience. For example, the class was conducted in seiza, with the students kneeling on the floor, even though in Japan today koto lessons frequently occur with the students seated in chairs and the instruments raised on stands." (p. 34)

Even though focusing on tradition can aid in forging a more unique, alternative classroom experience, there have been many critiques of doing so. Trimillos cites Brian Singleton, who "critiques this predisposition [towards tradition], claiming that "tradition . . . is a powerful ruling weapon on which colonialism depends, on which the post-colonial world feeds, but which is ultimately a fabrication, and which blocks the formation and emergence of new narratives." (1997: 95). " (p. 43) He also cites the philosopher Martha Nussbaum, who presents five rules that characterize "good teaching of non-Western cultures" (p.49). These include the fact that "real cultures" are plural, not single, that they have "varied domains of thought and activity", and that they have a present as well as a past. As Trimillos admits, however, these rules (which seem pretty reasonable to me) are often ignored. The question remains: is this a "deliberate strategy or an instance of benign neglect?" (p.49).

Despite the conflicting messages that world music ensembles/study groups often send, Trimillos doesn't rescind his belief that ultimately, they are useful cultural learning tools in the academic setting. For one, he concludes, "The study group distills a culture's notion of how to be in the world, through defining representations within a particular "order of things"'. At the same time, "It represents a place in society where assumptions are questioned and critiqued." (p.48).


Trimillos, Ricardo. Subject, Object, and the Enthomusicology Ensemble: The Ethnomusicological "We" and "Them". Performing Ethnomusicology : Teaching and Representation in World Music Ensembles. Ewing, NJ, USA: University of California Press, 2004. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/brown/Doc?id=10068592&ppg=26