Yearbook for Traditional Music, 28, 1996
Dieter Christensen
Steven Feld
Hugo Zemp
Sherylle Mills
Anthony Seeger
Barry McDonald
Roland Bannister
Abstract: Summary. How then, to return to my questions, do gender, music making, and the culture of the military band intersect in the lived experience of the soldier-musicians? What can we understand from my study of the lived experience of soldier-musicians in a time of change? The nature of military experience stems from the central purpose of the military. And this purpose is clear: 'The business of armies, at the end, is killing...,' writes Dyer (in Giddens 1993:367). In peacetime this purpose is 'to prepare for war', whatever 'alternative social functions' the military may serve (Barry 1993:6). In warfare, combat is the central activity. Soldiers construct their identity as warriors. Yet, the primary task of the soldier-musicians is to make music, not war. They find pride in their ability to perform music from a range of cultures, yet here too, they sense the military music culture to be peripheral to the music of the cultures they play. The soldier-musicians occupy a social niche peripheral to mainstream music cultures. They know that traditional feminine characteristics are not contrary to music making; while images of women musicians in Australia are not as prominent as those of men, musicians know that women perform as competently as men. While military bands must represent the essence of the soldier, they are far removed from the combat role. This is especially true in peace time. Men in the bands are soldiers who will never see combat. While they chose to join the army because they wanted to work as musicians, they may now feel as though they are men at the edge of the most masculine of men's work, but forever denied the opportunity to participate in it. To them the presence of women may threaten to erode their already marginal military role, as feminine characteristics (Pugliese 1995) are thought to be contrary to the practice of warfare. As the soldier-musicians feel the effects of change, as their workplace securities are strained, it is not strange that they will attribute problems to readily perceived differences. Following Solie's (1993) study of difference and musicology, it is clear that the tensions the soldier-musicians attribute to gender differences are grounded in a multiplicity of factors, but that the new variable, the presence of women, offered an opportunity for blame to be apportioned to a new and identifiable difference. While gender was perceived as the difference which most challenged long held assumptions and practices, for this impact to be properly understood, it needs to be considered in the multi-dimensional contexts of tradition, army formality, the physical setting, music making and the elusive dynamics of everyday human interaction. So, the admission of women to the Australian Army bands may threaten men as a double-edged sword; on the one edge their femininity may erode the men's soldierly identity, and on the other their musical prowess may threaten the male soldier-musician's professional music expertise. It is understandable then that men will feel apprehension as several facets of their identity are threatened. And it is not strange that women have felt this apprehension as it translates to hostility. What is strange though is to watch the working out of Blum's (Blum 1994) 'arguments and negotiations,' and the formation of a new cultural identity shaped by both men and women. An understanding of a process of change, its manifestations and its tensions, and the experience it brought to its members has been the purpose of this study. My account of the entry of women to the Kapooka Band shows something of the process by which people in a particular, small scale setting experience change. The story, Nola resists authority, and the accounts of the men and women of the Kapooka Band demonstrates the tensions at work among a group of soldier-musicians of essentially good will, committed to their work but uncertain of the central ethos of their culture, a culture of the military and of music, but central to neither. Soldier-musicians of the Australian Army are peripheral to the army and to the music profession, and it is peripheral cultures which may feel the threat of change most strongly.
John Baily
Linda Barwick, Allan Marett
----------------, 189-192
Jehoash Hirshberg
Review Author[s]:
Barbara Von Der Luhe, Barbara Von Der Lühe
----------------, 192-193
Veit Erlmann
Review Author[s]:
Angela Impey
----------------, 194-195
August Schmidhofer, Dietrich Schuller, Dietrich Schüller
Review Author[s]:
Daniel Avorgbedor
----------------, 195-200
Gilbert Rouget
Review Author[s]:
Gerard Behague, Gerard Béhague
----------------, 200-202
Kofi Agawu
Review Author[s]:
Daniel Avorgbedor
----------------, 202-203
Hugo Zemp
Review Author[s]:
Raymond Ammann
----------------, 203-204
Mervyn E. McLean
Review Author[s]:
Peter Russell Crowe
----------------, 204-205
Sumarsam
Review Author[s]:
Roger Vetter
----------------, 206-207
Heinz-Eberhard Schmitz
Review Author[s]:
Sylvain Guignard
----------------, 207-208
Stephen Jones
Review Author[s]:
Frederick Lau
----------------, 208-209
J. Lawrence Witzleben
Review Author[s]:
Helen Rees
----------------, 209-211
Mireille Helffer
Review Author[s]:
Dag Tidemalm
----------------, 211-214
Bruno R. Reuer, Lujza Tari
Review Author[s]:
Stephen Erdely
----------------, 214-215
Amnon Shiloah
Review Author[s]:
Stephen Blum
----------------, 215
Israel Adler
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 215-216
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 216
Linda Barwick, Allan Marett, Guy Tunstill
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 216-217
Beverly Bush Patterson
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 217
Alberto Hemsi, Edwin Seroussi, Paloma Diaz-Mas, Paloma Díaz-Mas, Jose Manuel Pedrosa, José Manuel Pedrosa, Elena Romero
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 217-218
Stephen Erdely
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 218
Ulrich Morgenstern
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 218-219
Sylvain Guignard
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 219
Marcello Sorce Keller
Review Author[s]:
S. B.
----------------, 219
Stephen Turner
Review Author[s]:
S. B
----------------, 222-223
Ursula Reinhard, Volker Reinhard, International Institute for Traditional Music
Review Author[s]:
Ralf Martin Jager, Ralf Martin Jäger
----------------, 223-224
Margarita Mazo
Review Author[s]:
Carl Rahkonen
----------------, 224-226
Simon Jargy, Poul Rovsing Olsen
Review Author[s]:
Habib Hassan Touma
----------------, 226-227
Vincent Dehoux
Review Author[s]:
Jos Gansemans
----------------, 227-228
Jocelyn Guilbault, Embert Charles, Manfred Kremser
Review Author[s]:
Krister Malm
----------------, 229-231
Scheherazade Qassim Hassan, Schéhérazade Qassim Hassan
Review Author[s]:
Ulrich Wegner
----------------, 231-232
Max Peter Baumann, International Institute for Traditional Music
Review Author[s]:
Rafael Jose De Menezes Bastos, Rafael José De Menezes Bastos
----------------, 233
Radio Polonaise
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 233
Rayne Green, Howard Bass
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 233
Allan Marett, International Institute for Traditional Music
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 233
Michel de Lannoy
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 233
Peter Crowe
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 234
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 234
Shayhk Hamza Shakkur, Shayhk Hamza Shakkûr, l'Ensemble Al-Kindi, l'Ensemble Al-Kindî
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 234
Elsa Guggino, Girolamo Garofalo
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 234
Coop "RLS." Research, E. Castagua, S. DiGiorgio, C. Idone, S. Megna, G. Plastino, E. Rinaldo, L. Scalamadre, L. Scalamadré
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 234
Ora Sittner, Youval Micenmacher
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 234
Rustavi Choir, Ansor Erkomaishvili
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 234
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 235
Virginia Kathlene Gorlinski
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 235
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 235
Tsuruta Kinshi
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 235
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 235
Laurent Aubert
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 235
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
----------------, 235
Larry Blumfeld
Review Author[s]:
Linda Fujie
Linda Fujie
----------------, 236
Review Author[s]:
D. C., Linda Fujie
----------------, 237-239
Gerhard Kubik
Review Author[s]:
Leslie C. Gay, Jr.
----------------, 239-240
Anthony Seeger, Amy Horowitz, Jon Kertzer, Microsoft Corporation
Review Author[s]:
John Murphy