A system of analysis for studying various facets of folksong performance, developed by Alan Lomax and Victor Grauer. Musical factors relating to song style are submitted to statistical analysis and correlated with social and cultural data, with a view to delineating the role of the folksong in its cultural setting. Critics of the system argue that scientific objectivity and rigour suffer because the analyses include evaluative and intuitive assessments of data, and because some conclusions are founded on hypotheses rather than facts or proven data. But supporters see the system as an attempt to establish universally applicable guidelines for the study of folksong; a way of defining song style for major cultural areas (e.g. India, West Africa); and an approach to a broader understanding of the interrelationship between the song and its function, including the social and psychological aspects of musical performance. A similar system, choreometrics, has been developed for dance. The intent of this new approach to dance analysis is to enable a comparison of the various objective data relating to dance. The method combines analysis of the social context with data on motion, rhythm, stress and dynamics as well as physiological data relating to performance.
See also Analysis, §II, 5.
A. Lomax and V. Grauer: Cantometrics Coding Book (n.p., 1967)
A. Lomax: Folk Song Style and Culture (Washington DC, 1968) [reviews: J. de Laban, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, xxviii (196970), 1068; R. Naroll, Science, clxvi (1969), 366]
A. Lomax, I. Bartenieff and F. Paulay: Choreometrics: a Method for the Study of Cross-Cultural Pattern in Film, Research Film, vi (1969), 50517
E. Kφngδs-Maranda: Deep Significance and Surface Significance: is Cantometrics Possible?, Semiotica, ii/2 (1970), 17384
R. Naroll: What have we Learned from Cross-Cultural Surveys?, American Anthropologist, lxxii (1970), 122788 [incl. commentary by A. Lomax]
C.J. Frisbie: Anthropological and Ethnomusicological Implications of a Comparative Analysis of Bushmen and African Pygmy Music, Ethnology, x/3 (1971), 26590
A. Lomax: Brief Progress Report: CantometricsChoreometrics Projects, YIFMC, iv (1972), 1425
W.R. Ferris: Folk Song and Culture: Charles Seeger and Alan Lomax, New York Folklore Quarterly, xxix (1973), 20618
J.W. Kealiinohomoku and D. Williams: Choreometrics Discussion in Lomax, Alan: Folk-Song Style and Culture, CORD News, vi/2 (1974), 2031
C. Crist, J. Dunn and R. Rinzler: Song as a Measure of People: a Report Concerning Cantometrics, the Research of Alan Lomax into Music of People Throughout the World, with Implications for Anthropology and Education (Harrisburg, PA, 1976)
E.O. Henry: The Variety of Music in a North Indian Village: Reassessing Cantometrics, EthM, xx (1976), 4966
A. Lomax and others: Cantometrics: a Handbook and Training Method (Berkeley, 1976)
J. Bragg: A Cantometric Analysis of Folk Music in a Sea Island Community, North Carolina Folklore Journal, xxvi/3 (1978)
G.B. Kolata: Singing Styles and Human Cultures: how are they Related?, Science, cc (1978), 2778
J. Berrett: Alan Lomax: some Reconsiderations, JJS, vi/1 (1979), 5463
L.S. Seaton and K.A. Watson: Continuity and Discontinuity in Song Styles: an Ordinal Cross-Cultural Classification, The Performing Arts: Music and Dance, ed. J. Blacking and J.W. Kealiinohomoku (The Hague, 1979), 93107
A. Lomax: Appeal for Cultural Equity, AfM, vi/1 (1980), 2231 [repr. from Journal of Communication, xxvii/2 (1977), 12538]
D. Locke: Cantometrics: an Approach to the Anthropology of Music, EthM, xxv (1981), 5279 [review]
A. Allpere: Cantometrics: Applied on Estonian Runo Songs (Tallinn, 1988)
R.W. Glenn: Form as Political Action in Social Action Songs, Studies in Popular Culture, xii/1 (1988), 3044
A. Allpere: Estonian Cantometric Attempt II: the Sacred and the Profane, Can it be Heard? (Tallinn, 1989)
DARIUS L. THIEME