On concepts and classifications of musical instruments

What is music to different cultures, and how do musical instruments reflect the musical thoughts of a society? Why and how do various cultures classify their instruments? Are the answers to these questions indicative only of the specific cultures from which they come, or do universal threads of thought exist which unite these concepts and practices? These are questions that Margaret Kartomi raises in her historical and cross-cultural approach toward a broader understanding of the concepts and classifications of musical instruments.

CONTENIDO:

List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue

I. On the nature of classifications of musical instruments
1. Any classification is superior to chaos
2. On the methodology of classification: Taxonomics, keys, paradigms and typologies
3. Cognitive directions: Downward and upward grouping

II. Classification in societies oriented toward literary transmission
4. Continuities and change in chinese classifications
5. Indian and Srilankan classifications from ancient to modern times
6. The priority of musical over religious characters in grouping tibetan monastic instruments
7. The case of Java - Classifications in oral tradition and the recent development of literary schemes
8. Greek taxonomical thought from archaic to Hellenistic times
9. Nacional identity and other themes of classification in the Arab world
10. European classifications from Medieval times to the Eighteen century
11. The expanding concept of instruments in the west during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries
12. Upward classifications of instruments: the method of the future?

III. Classification in societies oriented toward oral transmission
13. Parallels between social structure and ensemble classification in Mandailing
14. Taxonomical models of the instrumentarium and regional ensembles in Minangkabau
15. Groupings governed by key cultural concepts of the T'boli
16. The personification of instruments in some west african classifications
17. Cognitive categories, paradigms, and taxonomies among the 'Are'are
18. A finnish-Karelian taxonomy as a historiographical tool

Epilogue: The seamless web
Notes
Bibliography
Glossary of terms used in classification theory
Index