Oral Interview
Description:​
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A short guide for all level readers
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Includes an introduction on ethnomusicology, its history, development, the ways ethnomusicologists conducting research and some other relevant issues to the subject
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“Interviewing” in Chapter 3 Conducing research, p. 31-34
-briefly introduces its history and provides an example of oral history
-illustrates how this methodology is used to collect data
Rice, Timothy. 2014.
Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Call no.: Music 780.89 R495 e84
I had my oral history questions ready, but I had decided to begin by playing him a tape of a blues recording from the 1920s by his friend Charley Patton, hoping to enlist his help in deciphering Patton’s lyrics. … … I forgot about my questions and listened to what he wanted to say. He told me a long and detailed story about … …
(Barz 2008:26)
Example:
Barz, Gregory F., and Timothy J. Cooley. 2008.
Shadows in the field: new perspectives for fieldwork in ethnomusicology.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Call no.: Music 780.89 S525 B2
On p.7-8, the author explains how he conducted oral interviews and told us his interview questions.
The data used for the identification of rhetorical themes and features come from three sources. The first source is interview data. I interviewed thirty-five people who lived in China during the ten-year period of the Cultural Revolution. … … Most interviews were conducted face to face; some were by telephones and some by E-mail. All interviews were conducted in Chinese and were tape-recorded. I asked the following three interview questions:
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What symbols and symbolic practices of the Cultural Revolution do you remember most?
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During the interview process I offered elaborations of the questions, sought specific examples, probed, and in general tried to elicit relevant responses. I transcribed all the interviews verbatim in Chinese and translated those segments I used in this book.
Lu 2004: 7-8
Example:
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Lu, Xing. 2004.
Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: the impact on Chinese thought, culture, and communication.
Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press.
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