Critical Review #7

Miller, Kiri. 2008. Traveling Home: Sacred Harp Singing and American Pluralism. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Questions for Kiri:

You talk about how Sacred Harp is “particularly accommodating of participant observation because it welcomes new singers of every age, background, or level of musical training” (27). You also mention that some singers are known to bring recording equipment to conventions along with their lunches. I thought this was interesting and different from others’ experiences with working in the field, and I would like you to speak more about your experiences as an ethnomusicologist. Did you feel your presence had an effect on the performances? Did singers greet you with interest, disapproval, or did they even notice you?

You also begin to describe the complex relationship singers have to the music. For examples, some northerners feel guilty for “diluting” what they see as a southern singing tradition (30), while some singers from the south “recognize and embrace the diversity of the national singing community” (43). How do you self-identify and does that identification have any bearing on how you personally feel about the music? Do your feelings parallel how other singers with the same identification view Sacred Harp singing? Have/How have your feelings changed because of your research?

Discussion Question:

When I think of an ethnography, I usually imagine papers and books written for an audience that does not practice the described musical tradition, and where the primary criticism of the ethnography will come from scholars in the field rather than practitioners of the music. When an ethnography is readily available to the culture it describes, should this have any bearing on how it’s writing? (This leads to more questions for Kiri; did she consider her audience when she wrote the book, and how did singers receive her book?)