Why do we Music?
Jonathan Isaacs
Greetings, friends. I want to take some time to introduce a concept with which anthropologists and musicologists concern themselves. In the sixties, an American anthropologist named Alan P. Merriam wrote a book that established “Merriam’s 10 functions of music” as a tool for analyzing musical behaviors in Humans. Put simply, the 10 functions could be used to describe why people use or participate in music. More specifically, these functions can analyze the relationship between music and society, and the purpose a particular musicking serves within the culture with which it is associated?
While music is not a “universal language”–which could be taken to mean that it is not necessary that one culture’s music be recognizable as music to other cultures–musicking is a universal human phenomenon. Here is a list of Merriam’s Ten Functions of Music:
The function of emotional expression (pg. 219).
The function of aesthetic enjoyment (pg. 223).
The function of entertainment (pg. 223).
The function of communication (pg. 223).
The function of symbolic representation (pg. 223).
The function of physical response (pg. 223).
The function of enforcing conformity to social norms (pg. 224)
The function of validation of social institutions and religious rituals (pg. 224).
The function of contribution to the continuity and stability of culture (pg. 225).
The function of contribution to the integration of society (pg. 226).
For more detailed discussion of these functions, see the chapter Merriam wrote to describe these things here. The page numbers listed above coordinate with the link destination.
Choose 2 functions and you will write or make a video of you discussing these functions. Please Explain and Define these functions in your own words. Use specific examples of music or musicking that makes it clear how you participated in music that fulfilled one of these functions. Submit your 250 word essay, or video with 250 word transcriipt to this discussion board feed. You must also comment 100 words total on one other post. You will be required to post once first before you can read any other posts. Then, you may start commenting on other student’s posts.
If you choose the video option instead of writing the 250 words, you may make the video on YouTube and embed it in your thread, or you may copy and paste a link to your video. Please make sure to include a transcriipt of your video when you post. I will count words and carefully consider the rubric. The students receiving perfect scores on this assignment will carefully fulfill all the requirements in the rubric while they demonstrate an honest attempt to consider the concept and make appropriate applications to their work.
