Degrees of enculturation and proficiency

Choosing one form of measurement for comparing cultures is not an easy task. The object of comparison can elicit totally different ideas in two distinct cultures, even if it looks to be similar and is sometimes named the same way (e.g. the word utau in Japanese has a broader meaning; sing, descant, recite, chant, intone, warble, express, state, extol, compared to the word “sing” in English).

Understanding of the music term fermata is also different for Japanese and Westerners (Ishii, 2007). Fermata has been defined as “a pause of unspecified length on a note or rest” in The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press

lengthening a music note or a rest]. Ishii pointed out that when a singer is singing a music note with fermata, a Western audience may perhaps be anticipating the music to stop, while a Japanese audience may be feeling that the singer is uplifting the emotion and enjoying the music (Ishii, 2007, p17). He believes that this is because of the nature of Japanese traditional music. The length of music notes can be very flexible in relation to the singer’s feeling, and/or physical condition.

Western style music in Japanese society today could be a slightly different style of music than the Western style music played in Western countries. J-pop is another example. It is played on Western instruments (guitar, bass-guitar, piano and drums) within a Western music style (a music scale in the Western tonal system, metric accent, and chord), but it has been transformed to some degree into a Japanese style, and has some Japanese-ness. In other words, the Japanese performance of Western style music is quite similar, but still different to the Western version. With the same instruments (Western ones) in the same music system (Western), the only difference that can be heard is in the musical expression. Therefore, by analyzing the different musical expression by culture, it is possible to compare the differences between cultures, such as in terms of their “sense of musical rhythm”.

Two points that we have to think carefully about, and make clarifications for in our comparative study between cultures, are the definitions of the Degree of

Enculturation [文化度], and Degree of Proficiency [熟達度]. A definition of these

terms is below:

- the degree of enculturation: how much a person’s cultural aspect is formed in a certain style. Every child has an unlimited possibility to gain any cultural

cultural identity that the child will acquire. In a way, this process of enculturation ties or restricts a child’s behaviours into one specific culture.

This degree of enculturation can be demonstrated by a simple line with each end indicating a different culture. Moving along the line, one can see how a person’s behaviour shifts from one culture to the other (e.g. Figure 1. 1). One end of the line represents the mother culture and the other the learning culture. For example, mother tongue could be at one end, and an acquired second language at the other.

- the degree of proficiency: proficiency in a certain style of music and a certain language, for example, language acquisition and musical ability in each style/genre of music. Different styles and genres of music must be scaled differently (i.e. the proficiency within Western classical music style of performance, not crossing styles).

Figure 1.1 An example of the degrees of enculturation and proficiency in Western style music

enculturation

proficiency +

− +

・

・

Degrees of proficiency and of enculturation are often mixed up in studies in Japan, especially in the field of music development. It is because “music education” usually means learning Western (foreign) music for Japanese people. This is because the learning process is an acquisition of another culture, akin to Japanese musicians’ process of Westernization. Personal experience suggests that a “more Western-like performance” is regarded as a higher level of proficiency. Maybe this is because music education in Japan has been centred on Western classical music for such a long time. Therefore, being Western, or having a higher degree of Western-ness or Westernization, could be seen as something equal to greater proficiency in terms of music ability. In this case, the degree of enculturation can be visualised as axis with two ends: one Japanese and the other Western. The ‘Degree of Proficiency’ axis indicates how much Japanese- ness has vanished and Western-ness has grown.

However, the Western way of musical expression is not the only goal for every musician. Even in music education in schools, this Western-centered idea is now

disappearing. Western classical music is no longer the only music in education in Japan, (as mentioned earlier), though it still dominates. Teachers have been encouraged by the government to expose students to a broader range of music in schools (Ministry of Education, 1998). Above all, the Japanese way of musical expression (though the music is performed in whatever style) has been a certain style which has been adopted widely in Japanese society. Therefore, the degree of Westernization cannot be the only measure for proficiency in music education, especially for a comparison between Japan and other Western cultures.

When considering children’s enculturation in their native culture, both axes for the Degree of Enculturation and the Degree of Proficiency start at close to zero, as

babies are neutral in their learning of any culture. The degree increases towards one goal as they begin gaining their mother culture in the learning process. This acquisition process is different from learning a foreign genre of music (as I mentioned above), as for example in learning their first language. Therefore, it may be easier to see how young children in two different cultural groups acquire their cultural style of music, and if it is happening in developmental stages (Figure 1. 1).

1.4. Plan of the study