I decided to conduct a short experiment in light of the 7th point on the Bill of Musical Rights, which says, "The European tradition of music is only one sound. All other cultures and traditions deserve equal attention.
Under Google Images I searched "music." The first 70 pages only included images with European classical notation (like the image in this post - it was the first result on my search), or Western artists/genres. I did not see any Indian sitars or Chinese guqins.
Next I typed in "musical instruments." This was a little more promising by showing some African drums and Indonesian folk instruments within the first few pages. But try it yourself and notice the ratio of European classical instruments to other ethnic cultures. It's a little overwhelming.
.....wow....you're soo right. As far as typing in "music" goes...it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on....Even when you type in "musical instruments," the first good portion of the first page was all European instruments until I saw African drums and flutes, and I DID see a chinese instrument there as well. But I agree with Rachel...it is a bit overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting Rachel. I noticed when I web searched music the top results were about popular music. I think Google is an accurate view of popular opinion and most people in the U.S. think of music solely in the western sense which is exactly what Small was reacting against. Although you would get similar results if you search history and art. We have been conditioned to view the world from a western point of view.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is overwhelming. I don't understand why musical instruments from different cultures aren't better represented and promoted. Every musical instrument can make great music. No one instrument from one culture is more superior to an instrument from another culture, therefore they should be represented equally.
ReplyDeleteI believe Caitlin's supposition that "Google is an accurate view of popular opinion". Why would Google represent all instruments equally Adam if the majority of people were looking for western instruments/music?
ReplyDeleteGoogle shows us what we want to see. Does that make it psychic?
Hah, whoever doubted that Google was psychic?
ReplyDeleteBut more seriously, I agree this is a great illustration of how insular a particular culture (ours) can be, musically and more generally.