The construction of ancient greek musical knowledge today

• Grant number: 20/08685-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2020
• End date: July 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Music
• Principal Investigator: Suzel Ana Reily
• Grantee: Ana Maria Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Instituto de Artes (IA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/05318-7 - Local musicking: new pathways for ethnomusicology, AP.TEM

Abstract

In the past, some scholars who studied the ancient Greek world claimed that it was not possible to know the sound of ancient Greek music. However, currently there is a movement that try to rescue how would have sounded this music through the surviving musical documents. Due to the questionings and studies of several scholars, today there is a transcription to our score of all ancient Greek musical documents extant as well as performances of these pieces. Besides, new questions regarding this music are being aroused, such as the case of Stefan Hagel (2010), who argued that the transcriptions made until then were higher in relation to what would have souded, proposing new ways of thinking these sounds. This research project aims to study how the construction of knowledge about ancient Greek music is taking place today. It is particularly interested in looking at how this music is being researched, disseminated, practiced, and perceived. Drawing from the field of Ethnomusicology, the project proposes that the contemporary practice and study of ancient Greek music is a form of musicking (SMALL, 1998), that occurs together with a musician-academic "community of practice" (WENGER, 1998). Furthermore, by combining methods from the fields of Archaeomusicology and Ethnomusicology, the project aims to generate understandings about the musicological aspects of ancient Greek music, and about the people involved in the study and performance of this music today.