Averill criticizes this "meticulously imitative nature of most world music ensembles" and questions whether merely reproducing another musical culture (in most cases, just one aspect of it) is an "adequate rationale for ensemble praxis" (p.100). He dubs this "musical transvetism" and "ethno-drag" to "caricature the "transcendentally homeless" Westerner who finds a spiritual home and belongingness--even a new personality--in a musical tradition not his or her own." (p.100). As an alternative to mimesis (since seeing the world through the eyes of the culture is not enough, he argues), Gage proposes a "dialogical approach to intercultural studies" that "privileges the space of the encounter rather than the mastery of codes." (p.101). This would allow students to gain an understanding of both cultural difference and commonality by engaging in "dialogue and collision with musical and cultural codes other than their "first-language" codes." (p.101).
Gage also criticizes ethnomusicology ensembles for taking themselves too seriously. "Did promoting the notion of aesthetic density and complexity of world music traditions require that they be staged with Vatican-like solemnity" and with "all of the stale conventions of Western European decontextualized, entertainment-oriented, concert music"? he asks (p.102). When Gage started his Trinidadian steelband, he wanted it to be "fun and celebratory, respectful towards its source culture, provocative and productive of intercultural dialogue but not derivative."(p.103). Having fun, both for the performers and the audience (if such distinctions must be made) is a very important component of any world music ensemble--otherwise, "we may be in danger of erecting our own performative museums for the display of quaint, timeless, well-preserved, and exotic sounds for passive and complacent consumption" he writes (p.108).
Since "for audiences largely unschooled in the genres being performed, the student ensemble becomes a principle vehicles for transmission of cultural diversity" (p.100), ethnomusicologists must accept their role as agents of musical globalization and strive for something beyond just representation and imitation with their world music ensembles. Even with all of his criticism, Averill still believes that world music ensembles are an important part of ethnomusicology. He concludes:
"My solution--which is temporary and partial at best--is to replace mimesis with a self-conscious distantiation; to involve student ensembles in the discourse about cultural representation; to use our rehearsals and performances as platforms for raising questions; to reimagine our musical performances as spaces of dialogic encounter; to problematize the very nature and existence of these ensembles; and to use ensembles to provoke, disrupt, and challenge complacency. [. . .] It should not require, I hasten to add, that we make playing music any less fun or less thrilling." (p.109)
Averill, Gage. "Where's 'One'?": Musical Encounters of the Ensemble Kind. Performing Ethnomusicology : Teaching and Representation in World Music Ensembles. Ewing, NJ, USA: University of California Press, 2004.
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