TY - CHAP

T1 - Instrumentality

T2 - On the Construction of Instrumental Identity

AU - Hardjowirogo, Sarah-Indriyati

N1 - This contribution is based upon work supported by the Einstein Foundation Berlin.

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - The musical instruments of the 21st century and those of earlier times differ in many respects, be it their appearance, their technical functionality, their playing technique, or their sounds. And as they have changed, so too have our understandings of what a musical instrument is. The lacking precision of the current notion of the instrument and its incompatibility with contemporary instrumental forms are consequences of a technocultural process that raises fundamental questions about the identity of the musical instrument: When (and why) is something a musical instrument—and when (and why) is it not? In order to grasp the slight differences between the yet-to-be-defined instrumental and the assumed other, it seems reasonable to speak of instrumentality when denoting this particular specificity that instruments are supposed to feature. The present contribution seeks to prepare the ground for a reflective discussion on the concept of instrumentality and the underlying theoretical problem by considering not only the differences, but also the similarities between traditional and electronic musical instruments. Using a couple of different approaches to and views on the concept and defining a number of criteria of instrumentality, it eventually yields a picture of musical instruments that connects the contemporary ones with those known for centuries.

AB - The musical instruments of the 21st century and those of earlier times differ in many respects, be it their appearance, their technical functionality, their playing technique, or their sounds. And as they have changed, so too have our understandings of what a musical instrument is. The lacking precision of the current notion of the instrument and its incompatibility with contemporary instrumental forms are consequences of a technocultural process that raises fundamental questions about the identity of the musical instrument: When (and why) is something a musical instrument—and when (and why) is it not? In order to grasp the slight differences between the yet-to-be-defined instrumental and the assumed other, it seems reasonable to speak of instrumentality when denoting this particular specificity that instruments are supposed to feature. The present contribution seeks to prepare the ground for a reflective discussion on the concept of instrumentality and the underlying theoretical problem by considering not only the differences, but also the similarities between traditional and electronic musical instruments. Using a couple of different approaches to and views on the concept and defining a number of criteria of instrumentality, it eventually yields a picture of musical instruments that connects the contemporary ones with those known for centuries.

KW - Science of art

KW - Media and communication studies

KW - Musical Instrument

KW - Instrumental Performance

KW - Digital media

KW - Material Object

KW - Electronic Instrument

KW - Playability Evaluation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029104081&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-981-10-2951-6_2

DO - 10.1007/978-981-10-2951-6_2

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-981-10-2950-9

SP - 9

EP - 24

BT - Musical Instruments in the 21st Century

A2 - Bovermann, Till

A2 - de Campo, Alberto

A2 - Egermann, Hauke

A2 - Hardjowirogo, Sarah-Indriyati

A2 - Weinzierl, Stefan

PB - Springer Science+Business Media

CY - Singapore

ER -