UCLA

This dissertation examines the current dynamic between traditional Scottish and traditional Norwegian folk music practices, considering how these very lively concurrent musical traditions are embodied and enacted differently in each location. Although they are regionally proximate, traditional folk music as an expression of geographically oriented identity is remarkably dissimilar between Scotland and Norway. This comparative study observes how these different approaches to presenting traditional music in contemporary settings have been actualized; how different strategies were informed by a particular set of historical and cultural phenomena; how the approaches inform and contribute to geographically situated identity, civic engagement, and inclusive national identity; how music educators in particular play a critical role in developing and facilitating these extended socio-musical ideologies; and what might be gained in terms of arts practice and policy for future situations.

This work is oriented by the model developed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger of “communities of practice” (CoP), and the subsequent writings, building on these concepts, of Ailbhe Kenny and her work addressing “Communities of Musical Practice” (CoMP). Fieldwork and discussions were organized around musicking communities with attention to both intra-CoMP behaviors as well as inter-CoMP dynamics. Additionally, theoretical models not commonly employed in ethnomusicological research, such as memetics, have been utilized to demonstrate ethnomusicology’s multidisciplinary capacity for engaging creative approaches as well as the advantages to supplementing traditionally used anthropological models with newer, creative methods.

Research for this dissertation took place from July 2014 until December 2018 with intensive fieldwork and interviews from July 2017 until November 2018 at multiple research sites in Scotland, Norway, Finland, and Northern California.