Lambda Alpha Journal, v.28, 1998

Browse by

Lambda Alpha Journal , the official student joumal of the National Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society, is published regularly at Wichita State University, Department of Anthropology, 130 McKinley Hall, Wichita, KS 67260-0052. Professional, avocational, and student manuscripts, and book reviews of recent publications are welcome. Lambda Alpha will consider manuscripts for publication in any field of Anthropology. All papers submitted to Lambda Alpha Journal become the property of Lambda Alpha. Editor-in-Chief : Peer H. Moore-Jansen Student Editor-at-Large : Melvin A. Johnson Student Editor : Debra Kreutzer Assistant Student Editor : Rachel Je Meinecke

News

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Chester Arthur Harrison.

Copyright by Lambda Alpha Journal

Letter from the Editor

Moore-Jansen, Peer H. (Wichita State University. Dept. of Anthropology, 1998)

[more]

[less]

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10057/1868

Files in this item: 1

LAJv28_p4-5.pdf (64.90Kb)

Remembering in jazz: collective memory and collective improvisation

Oakland, Daniel T. (Wichita State University. Dept. of Anthropology, 1998)

[more]

Abstract:

Speaking ofjazz performances, the late composer Alec Wilder is reported to have once said " I wish to God that some neurologists would sit down and figure out how the improviser's brain works, how he selects, out of hundreds of thousands of possibilities, the notes he does at the speed he does - how in God's name his mind works so damned fast! And why when the notes come out right, they are right (Wilder as quoted in Suchor 1986: 134)" There are undoubtedly many people who, after listening to an improvised solo, have wondered either the same question or something akin to it. Recently, Paul Berliner published the results of his fifteen-year ethnomusicological study ofjazz improvisation, entitled Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art ofImprovisation (1994). Thinking in Jazz is a wonderful comprehensive "tome" detailing many aspects of the ever elusive art of improvisation. Berliner would probably not wish to consider himself a neurologist, yet despite this he may have found the solution - or at the very least, a good-sized portion of the solution - to Wilder's question. Quite simply stated, the solution is that behind each improvisational performance is an entire lifetime of experience which the performer utilizes to make "the notes come out right." Berliner's study essentially lays to rest the popular but misleading notion that improvisation is a completely spontaneous art form (i.e. something not given much thought). The purpose of this paper, as its title may reflect, is to expand on Berliner's work by drawing upon the concepts of memory and performance as utilized in recent anthropological research and applying these concepts to Berliner's heavily documentary research on the learning process in jazz as well as the metaphor of "storytelling" (see Berlin 1994:20 1-220) used by jazz musicians to describe improvisation. In order to accomplish this, I will first give a brief synopsis ofcommon musical form in Jazz. This will then be followed by a discussion ofsome conceptions ofjazz as proposed by various ethnomusicologists and anthropologists. Secondly, I wish to summarize Berliner's findings regarding the learning process in jazz. This summary will then lead into a discussion of some possible roles of memory in jazz improvisation via cross-cultural comparison. Finally, as this type of comparison becomes problematic if taken to the point of rigid adherence to certain shared characteristics, the insights gleaned from these comparisons will be applied and modified to jazz. Hopefully this exercise will shed light on aspects of collective memory and collective improvisation within the jazz medium.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10057/1866

Files in this item: 1

LAJv28_p16-27.pdf (241.4Kb)

Abstract:	The current volume is dedicated to a dear friend and member of Lambda Alpha, Mr. Chester Arthur Harrison, who passed away in 1997 while serving as an officer in the Society. His efforts and contributions are recognized in a special dedication which opens the volume. The folIowing papers are varied in content and reflects the breadth and diversity of the discipline of anthropology. The introductory article by Plested represents a unique and entertaining piece on socio-linguistics. Her paper is folIowed by an elaborate presentation by Oakland on the collective memory and improvisation in Jazz. He presents a number of complex assessments of interest to the generalist as welI as the Jazz enthusiast. Additional papers include Nail's review of the Miocene fossil primate phenomenon Gigantopithecus, adding an interesting contribution from the field of paleoanthropology, and Gann's brief but rather unique behavioral study of a group of wild Howler monkeys in Costa Rica. Her study is of particular interest because of the relative sparsity of existing observational studies of these primates in the wild. A cultural anthropological contribution by LobenbIiick on the role the party cadre as a social institution in the changing society of China is accompanied by a diverse paper on aspects of the social dynamics of the Hadza and Kaguru of Africa. The concluding article represents a study by Phelps who reports on the effects of a unique field school project on the community that it is aimed at studying. A kind of anthropological study of the effects of anthropological interference. The main articles are folIowed by two book reviews presented by student contributors. As always, the Journal concludes with an updated list of the student award recipients and chapter addresses and advisors.
Description:	Peer H. Moore-Jansen, Editor-in-Chief; Melvin A. Johnson, Student Editor-at-Large; Debra Kreutzer, Student Editor; Rachel Je Meinecke, Assistant Student Editor.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/10057/1869

Lambda Alpha Journal, v.28, 1998

SOAR Home →

Liberal Arts and Sciences →

Anthropology →

Lambda Alpha Journal →

Lambda Alpha Journal, v.28, 1998

Lambda Alpha Journal, v.28, 1998

Browse by

News

Recent Submissions

Search SOAR

Browse

All of SOAR

This Collection

My Account

Information

Lambda Alpha Journal, v.28, 1998

SOAR Home → Liberal Arts and Sciences → Anthropology → Lambda Alpha Journal → Lambda Alpha Journal, v.28, 1998

Lambda Alpha Journal, v.28, 1998

Browse by

News

Recent Submissions

Files in this item: 1

Files in this item: 1

Files in this item: 1

Files in this item: 1

Files in this item: 1

Search SOAR

Share

Browse

All of SOAR

This Collection

My Account

Information

Sitemeter

SOAR Home →

Liberal Arts and Sciences →

Anthropology →

Lambda Alpha Journal →

Lambda Alpha Journal, v.28, 1998