Music as a social structuring apparatus: The city orchestra of İzmir metropolitan municipality

What makes a municipality be interested in music? What makes it establish an orchestra? What are the criterias while determining the orchestra?s music and performance? What is the motivation? What kind of strategies are generated in order to achieve the goals and how are they applied?This dissertation is based on these questions. In the first section, the concept of `state? and the cultural hegemony behaviour of nation-state is investigated. The aforesaid behaviour is actualized by dominating the expressive cultural practises and in this study; this practise is theorized by the term `social structuring?. In the second section, the music-based social structuring practises are examined. The first focus is on the usage of music by state. The second one is on the local government as a state institution and the context is decentralization. The Turkish nation-state and local governments are the examples provided within this chapter. Finally, in the third section; The City Orchestra of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, the main focus of the study, is analyzed as a social structuring apparatus by the help of the information gained via field research which is the essential investigation method of ethnomusicology.As a result, it has been observed that The City Orchestra is the subject of a social structuring policy operated through the mediums of western classical music. Besides, the mentioned policy has a `unifying? attitude as a part of `urban identity? and it has been `decentralized? from the Turkish nation-state?s dominative social structuring policies based on western classical music. While the `polyphony? canon is mainly conserved, some musical practises of pop, arabesk and Turkish classical music, which have been delegitimized by the Turkish nation-state?s music policies, are internalized and used as a tool in order to reach the public; with the aim of `modernization?.İngilizce Anahtar Kelimeler:1- Music2- Social Structuring3- Local Government4- Decentralization5- Kanon 5- Canon