Helen Rees, the editor of Instrumental Lives: Musical Instruments, Material Culture, and Social Networks in East and Southeast Asia, answers questions on her new book.
Q: Why did you decide to write this book?
Inspiration for this edited volume struck as I was chairing a panel in 2018 at a conference in Seoul. My Japanese colleague Terauchi Naoko was giving a splendid paper on the physical and aesthetic differences between koto (zither) strings made from silk and those made from artificial fiber. She was tying the topic beautifully into the larger social, economic, and environmental issues affecting the Japanese traditional musical instrument-making industry. I had recently finished a four-year stint as director of the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology’s renowned World Musical Instrument Collection, which had caused me to plunge into not only the practical aspects of instrument care, but also the extraordinary individual stories of some of our prized charges. It had also caused me to ponder their connections with both their originating communities and their new communities in Los Angeles; this was particularly the case for the Asian instruments that constitute the bulk of the collection. You could say that the groundwork had already been laid for a book project of this nature, but Naoko’s talk was the catalyst. Fifteen minutes into her presentation, I had the entire volume roughed out on the back of an envelope, ready to go. And I’m pleased to say that Naoko’s paper became the first chapter in the book! It did take another six years to get to publication . . .
Q: What is the most interesting discovery you made while researching and writing your book?
The seven chapters quite naturally fell into three distinct categories: there were two essays about instrument types (e.g., koto in general, rather than individual koto), two essays about individual instruments and their relationships with their human makers and/or players, and three about collections of instruments. A search of the organological literature on non-Western instruments suggested that while publications on the first category are legion, those that address the second and third categories are few and far between. This division into three different ways at looking at the relationships between musical instruments and their material and social environment became the most interesting “big-picture” take-away from the project.
Q: What myths do you hope your book will dispel or what do you hope your book will help readers unlearn?
Although things are beginning to change, world music textbooks have long had a tendency to canonize certain “representative” cultures and genres—with Indonesian gamelan traditions often standing in for Southeast Asia, for example. This volume moves away from the beaten path. It offers exciting new insights into some of the best-known instrumental traditions from Indonesia, China, and Japan, but also shines a spotlight on musical cultures that are much less familiar to Western readers. You’ll expand your musical horizons via stories about Kazakh flutes from western Mongolia and instrument collections from Thailand and northern Laos. And we provide lots of links on the book’s dedicated website so that you can experience these wonderful lesser-known traditions.
Q: Which part of the publishing process did you find the most interesting?
What was really intriguing was working with a group of contributors most of whom combine scholarly erudition with years of relevant practical experience. Two, Supeena Insee Adler and Tyler Yamin, are skilled in instrument construction and repair; three, Supeena, Tyler, and Bell Yung, are long-time performers of the instruments they write about; and five of us, Supeena, Maire-Pierre Lissoir, Jennifer Post, Xiao Mei, and I, have curated or managed instrument collections. The intersection of scholarly analysis and practical know-how resulted in uniquely multi-faceted, deeply informed thinking on a wide range of issues raised in each essay.
Q: What is your advice to scholars/authors who want to take on a similar project?
Be sure an edited volume is the right genre of project, and know your contributors! Edited volumes are notoriously complex to bring to fruition, and you don’t want to undertake one unless you are certain the whole will definitely be more than the sum of the parts. If you decide to go ahead, invite first-rate scholars who have a reputation for meeting deadlines, and keep in touch with everyone so that each author knows how the timeline is developing. Look for a press that has a history of publishing edited volumes in the same general subject area, has a first-rate acquisitions editor in your subject area, and enjoys a reputation for good copyediting. I’ve worked on three edited volumes with University of Illinois Press over the last three decades and it’s always been a pleasure.
Q: What do you like to read/watch/or listen to for fun?
Read? Books that explain science for non-scientists.
Watch? Documentaries on science, music, history, and anthropology. Also anything in the Jaws or Jurassic Park series.
Listen to? Just about any type of Asian music, folk and neo-traditional music from Europe and the Caucasus, and Western classical music from before 1750.
Other? Photography, hiking, and playing recorders and Chinese flutes.
Helen Rees is a professor of ethnomusicology and the director of the World Music Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Echoes of History: Naxi Music in Modern China.