The most prominent reed instrument types known today had their origins in Asia and the Middle East. Their gradual migration to the west is a story of adaptation and adjustment to local culture and to the available resources. For some of these instruments it is a story of simple transition with little change in the social function but yet in other cases, surprising changes and modifications have taken place.

On Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 2 PM, the Museum of Making Music welcomes renowned ethnomusicologist Dr. Robert Garfias as he leads this discussion and exploration of, "The Roots and Diffusion of Reed Instruments from East to West." 

Admission to this educational speaking engagement is $5 for the public; FREE for Museum Members.  Reservation are highly recommended for this event.  To purchase admission or RSVP, please call (760) 438-5996 or order tickets online.

Dr. Robert Garfias is an ethnomusicologist. He was appointed by then President Ronald Reagan and served on the National Council on the Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts for ten years. In addition he served for six years as a member of the Council of the Smithsonian Institution under Robert McCormack Adams. He is past president of the Society for Ethnomusicology, the national academic and professional organization for this discipline.

He has traveled widely in connection with his research.  His doctoral research focused on the Music of the Japanese Imperial Household.  Later research has taken him to Burma, Romania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Central America and Mexico, Okinawa and, most recently, to Turkey to study the classical music of the Ottoman Empire.  He has done extensive filming in the Philippines and Korea in order to establish National Folk Music and Dance archives in each of those countries, and completed several documentary films subsequently.  He has filmed a total of 64,000 feet of documentary footage that he is now digitizing and disseminating via the Internet.  Many of his films, photographs and musical instruments can be seen at the Museum of Musical Instruments newly opened in Phoenix, Arizona.  Author of several articles and books on the many music traditions that he has studied, he is also fluent in several of the languages in which he has carried out research.  He has also been a strong and outspoken advocate for cultural diversity and of the many folk and ethnic artistic traditions of the many cultures within the United States.

Past president of the Orange County Arts Alliance, former Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of California Irvine, he is currently a member of the faculty of the department of anthropology at the University of California Irvine.  He also served for two years as Director of the University of California Education Abroad Program in San Jose, Costa Rica.  He also served in 1999 as a senior research fellow for the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology in Senri (Osaka), Japan and returned there again in 2003 and in 2009.  He was recently engaged in field research film documentation in Spain, Portugal and Puerto Rico for the Japanese museum of ethnology.

In May 2005, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan and was granted an audience with the Emperor.  This order, given in recognition of his life's work, is the highest honor that can be bestowed on any non-Japanese citizen.  In October 2011, several of his friends, colleagues and former students published a book of essays in his honor and in recognition of his years of teaching and research entitled, Ethnomusicological Encounters with Music and Musicians, Essays in Honor of Robert Garfias.