Audialność w terenie – przyczynek do przeformułowania badań. Przykład folkloru ryczowskiego

The essential goal of ethnomusicological field trips has been to document immaterial musical mementoes whose source is the cultural memory of local inhabitants, and collect all that still remains tangible. New technological possibilities make collecting musical materials much easier today. This constitutes perhaps the most groundbreaking and visible change. Apart from the obvious differences resulting from technological progress and the passage of time, one cannot ignore also the less noticeable changes, i.a. the increasingly frequent redefinition of research on musical materials in the field into analyses which supplement the sight-centric field records and recordings of folk informants with audial aspects focused on the performance qualities in vocal and instrumental practice, where the performers are asked about how they sing, about the qualities and styles of their performance. This inconspicuous methodological shift may bring about a change in the perception of the field as an ethnographic area, resulting in a need for re-defining borders established a long time ago. It may contribute to the creation of musical micro-regions which have not been given attention in literature before. The shift towards aurality in field studies, as presented in this text, is a methodological option which – in the author’s opinion – allows to explore a still vibrant area from an audial perspective.