Zur Terminologie afro-amerikanischer Musik
As conceptualized by W. Gurlitt and H. H. Eggebrecht, terminology of music appeared only recently as a new branch in musicology. Since every process of denomination implies also a process of comprehension, terminology is capable of serving as a tool for the examination of facts and circumstances in musical history and value. If applied to Afro-American music and Jazz, terminology has to take into account their particular qualities like their lack of theory and script, ambiguity of functional meaning, rapid change and development, global appeal. Any systematic attempt to design a terminology of Afro-American music has to comprise, among other things, musicians' nicknames, bandnames, namings of pieces of music and titles of compositions, terms for musical instruments, trade language including jive talk. This project is fundamentally outlined, and the terminological aspects of the word 'Jazz' are considered as an example. For the construction of new 'scientific' terms of technical adequacy, precision and intelligibility are postulated, and tested on two terms by A. M. Dauer and E. Jost.