For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been so occupied with our first map test, thesis work, and other assignments that I allowed myself to put blogging and research, with their indefinite deadlines and relatively low pressure, on the back burner for a while. As I mentioned in my initial blog post, time management isn’t a major strength of mine, and I have some work to do before I’ll be able to develop a consistent blogging schedule. That said, I regret going for so long without so much as a single post, so I’ll use this one to explain a bit of what I’ve been doing since my first.
Team Heart has been meeting fairly regularly, and while we all have busy schedules and a multitude of intellectual endeavors demanding our time, we still manage to get together once or twice a week to discuss research and classwork. We’ve all been wonderfully supportive of each other as we embark on this part-journey, part-experiment of a course. Our research topic has changed a few times as we’ve uncovered new information or come up with new ideas for our narrative. At the moment, each of us is pursuing a different aspect of our central focus, music and religion in the Mongolian steppe (or roundabouts). At our last meeting, we decided it might be best to shift our focus from a study of the past up to the present, and seek instead to examine some practices of music and ritual in the present and trace their origins back to the past. Our exact geographic region, and the path taken by our story map, will become more clear as our research progresses.
My own research topic has also changed somewhat. Previously, I was looking into the use of music in shamanic ritual. While I have found some information on that topic, it’s still relatively scarce. There are two different (but by no means mutually exclusive) directions I’m considering taking my research in. Not too long ago, I recalled that I had heard of throat singing, an interesting vocal technique practiced in multiple regions of Central Asia including Mongolia and Tibet. I plan to do some research on throat singing in the Mongolian steppe and see if it’s involved, or has been involved, in any religious rituals or healing practices.
The second avenue of research I’m considering involves choosing a modern music group and examining different aspects of their performance and instrumentation with the hope of uncovering the roots of each. Although I haven’t begun any scholarly inquiry about the subject just yet, I have heard of at least one Mongolian metal band that employs throat singing and traditional instruments to produce their music. I may be able to examine a few of their songs and determine the cultural influences contributing to their style. For now though, I’m mostly just hoping to survive midterm week. With luck, I’ll have some time over Fall break to catch up on the research I’ve missed over the last couple of weeks.