Hatch-Watson1974
| Hatch-Watson1974 | |
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| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Hatch-Watson1974 |
| Author(s) | D.J.Hatch, D.R. Watson |
| Title | Hearing the blues: an essay in the sociology of music |
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| Tag(s) | EMCA, Music |
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| Year | 1974 |
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| Journal | Acta Sociologica |
| Volume | 17 |
| Number | 2 |
| Pages | 162–178 |
| URL | Link |
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Abstract
The authors have attempted to produce, in ideal-type form, a description of some of the rules, constructs and procedures used by "blues enthusiasts" in hearing a piece of music as being "the country-blues". In doing this, we have attempted to analytically formalize or explicate some of the socialized competences that must potentially be employed and displayed if a person is to warrantably claim bona fide membership of "the community of blues enthusiasts" to other members of that circle. Demonstrated and occasioned use of these competences is what is involved in "doing being an enthusiast". The aspects of these competences which we have analysed are: a) blues enthusiasts' (hearers') methods of contrastively identifying variants of the blues, and, b) hearers' provision of a "known-in-common" geographical, historical, social and cultural (or ethnographic) "background" to each type of music. We suggest ways of analytically formalizing such competences for sociological study, thereby taking the topic of "the blues" out of the esoteric circle of blues enthusiasts in which it is now confined, together with a theoretical discussion of some possible pitfalls in the sociological analysis of the production and monitoring of music, particularly in "cross-cultural" and "sub-cultural" studies. In sum, we are attempting to turn blues enthusiasts' competences into a topic for analysis in their own right, rather than as an unexplicated resource; we hope to do this in a way that is not ironic or subversive of these competences.
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