Ethnomusicology

5/15/2018 Ethnomusicology - Wikipedia
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social
aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical
and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material,
cognitive, biological, and other dimensions or contexts of musical
behavior, instead of only its isolated sound component.
The term ethnomusicology is said to have been first coined by Jaap

Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος (ethnos, "nation") and μουσική
(mousike, "music"), is often defined as the anthropology or ethnography
of music, or as musical anthropology.[1] During its early development
from comparative musicology in the 1950s, ethnomusicology was
primarily oriented toward non-Western music, but for several decades
has included the study of all and any musics of the world (including
Western art music and popular music) from anthropological, sociological
and intercultural perspectives. Bruno Nettl once characterized
ethnomusicology as a product of Western thinking, proclaiming that Frances Densmore recording Blackfoot
"ethnomusicology as western culture knows it is actually a western chief Mountain Chief for the Bureau of
phenomenon";[2] in 1992, Jeff Todd Titon described it as the study of American Ethnology in 1916
"people making music".[3]
Contents
Definition
History
Folklore
Comparative Musicology
Beginnings and early history
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
In Western popular culture
Theories and methods
Anthropological and Musicological Approaches
Analysis
Problems of analysis
Analytical methodologies
Fieldwork
Theoretical issues and debates
Universals
Linguistics and semiotics
Comparison
Insider/outsider epistemology
Ethnomusicology and Western music
Ethics
Gender
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnomusicology 1/40
Mass media
Copyright
Identity
Nationalism
Globalization
Cognition
Decolonizing Ethnomusicology
Medical Ethnomusicology
Academic programs
Ethnochoreology
Definition
Beginnings
Current
Differences with Ethnomusicology
Organizations
See also
References
Further reading
External links
Definition
Stated broadly, ethnomusicology may be described as a holistic investigation of music in its cultural contexts.[4]
Combining aspects of folklore, psychology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, comparative musicology, music theory,
and history,[5] ethnomusicology has adopted perspectives from a multitude of disciplines.[6] This disciplinary variety
has given rise to many definitions of the field, and attitudes and foci of ethnomusicologists have evolved since initial
studies in the area of comparative musicology in the early 1900s. When the field first came into existence, it was largely
limited to the study of non-Western music—in contrast to the study of Western art music, which had been the focus of
conventional musicology. In fact, the field was referred to early in its existence as “comparative musicology,” defining
Western musical traditions as the standard to which all other musics were compared, though this term fell out of use in
the 1950s as critics for the practices associated with it became more vocal about ethnomusicology's distinction from
musicology.[7] Over time, the definition broadened to include study of all the musics of the world according to certain
approaches.[8][9]
While there is not a single, authoritative definition for ethnomusicology, a number of constants appear in the
definitions employed by leading scholars in the field. It is agreed upon that ethnomusicologists look at music from
beyond a purely sonic and historical perspective, and look instead at music within culture, music as culture, and music
as a reflection of culture.[7][9] In addition, many ethnomusicological studies share common methodological approaches
encapsulated in ethnographic fieldwork, often conducting primary fieldwork among those who make the music,
learning languages and the music itself, and taking on the role of a participant observer in learning to perform in a
musical tradition, a practice Hood termed "bi-musicality".[10] Musical fieldworkers often also collect recordings and
contextual information about the music of interest.[7] Thus, ethnomusicological studies do not rely on printed or
manuscript sources as the primary source of epistemic authority.
History
While the traditional subject of musicology has been the history and literature of Western art music, ethnomusicology
was developed as the study of all music as a human social and cultural phenomenon. Oskar Kolberg is regarded as one
of the earliest European ethnomusicologists as he first began collecting Polish folk songs in 1839. Comparative
musicology, the primary precursor to ethnomusicology, emerged in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The
International Musical Society in Berlin in 1899 acted as one of the first centers for ethnomusicology. Comparative
musicology and early ethnomusicology tended to focus on non-Western music, but in more recent years, the field has
expanded to embrace the study of Western music from an ethnographic standpoint.
The International Council for Traditional Music (founded 1947) and the Society for Ethnomusicology (founded 1955)
are the primary international academic organizations for advancing the discipline of ethnomusicology.
Ethnomusicologists have offered varying definitions of the field. More specifically, scholars debate what constitutes
ethnomusicology. Bruno Nettl distinguishes between discipline and field, believing ethnomusicology is the latter.[11]
There are multiple approaches to and challenges of the field. Some approaches reference "musical areas" like "musical
synthesis in Ghana" while others emphasize "a study of culture through the avenue of music, to study music as social
behavior."[12] The multifaceted and dynamic approaches to ethnomusicology allude to how the field has evolved. The
primary element that distinguishes ethnomusicology from musicology is the expectation that ethnomusicologists
engage in sustained, diachronic fieldwork as their primary source of data.
There are many individuals and groups who can be connected to ethnomusicology. According to Merriam, some of
these groups are "players of ethnic music," "music educators," "those who see ethnic music in the context of a global
view of music, vis a vis, particularly, the study of Western "classical" music," "made up of persons with a variety of
interests, all of which are in some sense "applied" like "professional ethnomusicologists," music therapists, the
"musicologists" and the "anthropologist."[13]
Folklore
Folklore and Folklorists were the precursors to the field of Ethnomusicology prior to WWII. They laid a foundation of
interest in the preservation and continuation of the traditional folk musics of nations and an interest in the differences
between the musics of various nations. Folklorists approached folklore through comparative methods; these methods
sought to prove that folk music was simple but reflected the lives of the lower classes.
Folklore is defined as “traditional customs, tales, sayings, dances, or art forms preserved among a people.” [14] Bruno
Nettl, an ethnomusicologist, defines folk music as “…the music in oral tradition found in those areas dominated by
high cultures.”[15] This definition can be simplified as the traditional music of a certain people within a country or
region.
Nationalism and the search for national identities was tied into folkloric studies. Southern and Eastern European
composers incorporated folk music into their compositions to instill sentiments of nationalism in their audiences.
Examples of such composers are Leoš Janáček, Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, Béla Bartók, and Nikolai Rimsy-Korsakov.
As Helen Meyers puts it, “Nationalist composers throughout Europe turned to peasant song to enrich the classical
musical idiom of their country.”[16] In the United States, the preservation of folk music was a search for a sense of
national tradition in the face of striking regional diversity.[16]
“The collecting projects of southern and eastern Europeans of the second half of the 19th century were largely
contributions to folkloric studies. These collectors feared that entire repertories were on the point of extinction,
repertories that were thought a proper base for nationalist styles of art music. Early collectors were motivated by
musical nationalism, theories of self-determination, and by hope for a musical rationale for a pan-Slavic identity…
eastern Europeans explored their own linguistic setting, amassing large collections, thousands of song texts and, later,
tunes, which they sought to classify and compare.”[15] The most well-known eastern European collectors were Béla
Bartók (Hungary), Constantine Brāiloiu (Romania), Klement Kvitka (Ukraine), Adolf Chybinski (Poland), and Vasil
Stoin (Bulgaria)[15]
In 1931, Béla Bartók published an essay detailing his study of what he refers to as “Peasant music” which “…connotes…
all the tunes which endure among the peasant class of any nation, in a more or less wide area and for a more or less
long period, and constitute a spontaneous expression of the musical feeling of that class.”[17] Bartok takes a
comparative approach in his investigation of Hungarian folk music and believes that peasant music is primitive when
compared to the music of the educated class.
In North America, state folklore societies were founded in the early 20th century and were dedicated to the collection
and preservation of Old World folksong, i.e. music that came from Europe, Africa, or places outside of the U.S. during
the settlement of the U.S. by colonizers; Native American music was also included in these societies. “In 1914 the US
Department of Education instigated a rescue mission for ballads and folksongs, stimulating an era of collecting by local
enthusiasts and academics that lasted through the Depression until World War II.”[15] Cecil Sharp, a lawyer turned
musician, greatly contributed to the collection and preservation of British folk songs found in Appalachia. His interest
in folk music began in 1903, when he discovered that a large amount of native folk song survived in England and
published Folk Songs from Somerset (1904-1909). After he studied traditional English folk song in England, he
traveled to the Appalachia region with his collaborator Maud Karpeles of the United States of America 3 times between
the years 1916 and 1918 and discovered around 1,600 English tunes and variants.[16] In 1909 Olive Dame Campbell
traveled to the Appalachia region of the U.S. from Massachusetts and discovered that the ballads sung by the residents
had strong ties to English and Scots-Irish folk songs. She collected ballads by having people sing them to her while she
recorded them on a phonograph and transcribed them. She worked with Cecil Sharp and published the ballads that she
had collected in English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. The Appalachia region of the United States
preserved old English and Scots-Irish folk songs because it was isolated from the city centers of the original thirteen
colonies. The region is mountainous, meaning that not many people traveled in or out of it.
A controversy in the field of musicology arose surrounding Negro Spirituals. A musical spiritual is defined as “a
religious song usually of a deeply emotional character that was developed especially among blacks in the southern
U.S.”[18] The controversy revolved around whether the spirituals originated solely from Africa or if they were
influenced by European music. Richard Wallaschek claimed that Negro Spirituals were merely imitations of European
song, starting the debate on the subject. Erich von Hornbostel concluded that African and European musics were
constructed on different principles and therefore could not be combined. The white origin theory argued that black
music had been influenced by Anglo-American song and constituted an integral part of the British Tradition. Melville
J. Herskovits and his student Richard A. Waterman discovered that “European and African forms had blended to
produce new genres bearing features of both parent musics. European and African music…have many features in
common, among them diatonic scales and polyphony. When these two musics met, during the slave era, it was natural
for them to blend…”[15] Negro Spirituals were the first black musical genre comprehensively studied by scholars.
The interest in folklore did not end with the folklorists before World War II. After World War II, the International Folk
Music Council was founded and was later renamed the International Council for Traditional Music.[15] In 1978, Alan
Lomax sought to classify and compare the music of world cultures through a system he named Cantometrics.[19] This
goal began with his idea that singing is a universal characteristic and therefore all musics of the world should have
some comparable characteristics. Lomax believed that human migration could be tracked through songs; when a
certain culture’s song or style is heard in another geographical region, it signifies that the two cultures interacted at
some point. Lomax believes that song styles vary with productive range, political level, level of stratification of class,
severity of sexual mores, balance of dominance between male and female, and the level of social cohesiveness. Lomax
believed that all musics could be compared through the use these seven categories. He compared vocal performances
through a set of characteristics, some of which are ‘raspiness’, the use of meaningful words, and the use of meaningful
syllables.
Comparative Musicology
Comparative musicology is known as the cross-cultural study of music.[20] Once referred to as “Musikologie”,
comparative musicology emerged in the late 19th century in response to the works of Komitas Keworkian (also known
as Komitas Vardapet or Soghomon Soghomonian.)[21] A precedent to modern ethnomusicological studies, comparative
musicology seeks to look at music throughout world cultures and their respective histories. Similarly to comparative
linguistics, comparative musicology seeks to classify music of global cultures, illustrate their geographic distribution,
explain universal musical trends, and understand the causation concerning the creation and evolution of music.[20]
Developed throughout the early 20th century, the term “comparative musicology” emerged in an 1885 publication by
Guido Adler, who added the term “comparative” to musicology to describe works by scholars such as Alexander J. Ellis,
whose academic process was founded in cross-cultural comparative studies.[22] As one of four subdivisions of
systematic musicology, “comparative musicology” was once described by Adler himself as the task of “comparing tonal
products, in particular the folk songs of various peoples, countries, and territories, with an ethnographic purpose in
mind, grouping and ordering these according to…their characteristics”.[23]
Comparative musicology is typically thought to have been inspired by the work of Komitas Vardapet, an Armenian
priest, musicology and choirmaster, who began his work studying in Berlin. His work primarily focused on the
transcription of nearly 4000 pieces of Armenian, Turkish, and Kurdish folk music.[24] His efforts to categorize and
classify various music inspired others to do the same. This included Guido Adler, a Bohemian-Austrian musicologist
and professor at the German University of Prague, Bohemia, who officially coined the term “vergleichende
Musikwissenschaft” (translated: comparative music science) in 1885 in response to the emergence of new academic
methods of studying music.[25] Around the same time of Adler’s development of the terminology associated with the
study, the work of Alexander J. Ellis, who focused primarily on developing the cents system, was emerging as the
foundation of the comparative elements of musicology. This cents system allowed from precise delineation of
particular measurements denoted from pitch denoted as “hundredths of an equal-tempered semitone”.[26] Ellis also
established a general definition for the pitch of a musical note, which he noted as “the number of…complete
vibrations…made in each second by a particle of air while the note is heard”.[27]
Other contemporaries of Komitas, Ellis, and Adler included Erich von Hornbostel, and Carl Stumpf, who are typically
credited with establishing comparative musicology as an official field separate from musicology itself. Von Hornbostel,
who once stated that Ellis was the “true founder of comparative scientific musicology.”, was an Austrian scholar of
music, while Stumpf was a German philosopher and psychologist.[28] Together with Otto Abraham, they founded the
“Berlin School of Comparative Musicology”.[29] Despite working together, Stumpf and Hornbostel had very different
ideas regarding the foundation of the school. As Stumpf focused primarily from a psychological perspective, his
position was founded in the belief of “unity of the human mind”; his interests were on sensual experiences of tones and
intervals and their respective ordering. In addition, his studies focused on testing his hypothesis of perceived fusion of
tones.[30] On the other hand, Hornbostel adopted Stumpf’s assignment, but rather approached the topic from his
systematic and theoretical perspective, and did not concern himself with others. Through the institution, additional
scholars such as Curt Sachs, Mieczyslaw Kolinski, George Herzog and Jaap Kunst (who first coined the term “ethno-
musicology” in a 1950 article) further expanded the field of comparative musicology. Additionally Hungarian composer
Béla Bartók was conducting his own comparative studies at the time, focusing primarily on Hungarian (and other) folk
music, in addition to the influence of European popular music on musical folk-lore of that particular geographic
region.[31]
Eventually, comparative musicology began experiencing changes. Following the Second World War, issues regarding
the ethical contexts of comparative musicology began to emerge. As comparative musicology was founded primarily in
Europe, most scholars based their comparisons in Western music. In an effort to adjust the Western bias present in
their studies, academics such as Jaap Kunst began adjusting their approaches in analysis and fieldwork to become
more globally focused.[32] In the 1950s, comparative musicology continued to evolve to become ethnomusicology, but
still remains today a field focused primarily on comparative studies in music.
Beginnings and early history

Ethnomusicology has evolved both in terminology and ideology since its formal inception in the late 19th century.
Although practices paralleling ethnomusicological work have been noted throughout colonial history, an Armenian
priest known as Komitas Vardapet is considered one of the pioneers to ethnomusicology’s rise to prominence in 1896.
While studying in Berlin at Frederick William University and attending the International Music Society, Vardapet
transcribed over 3000 pieces of music. In his notes, he emphasized cultural and religious elements as well as social
aspects of music and poetry. Inspired by these thoughts, many Western European nations began to transcribe and
categorize music based on ethnicity and culture. Inspired by these thoughts, many Western European nations began to
put many ethnic and cultural pieces of music onto paper and separate them. It was known very briefly in the 1880s as
"Musikologie” or "Musikgesellschaft," then “comparative musicology” until around 1950, at which point the term
“ethno-musicology” was introduced to provide an alternative term to the traditional practices of comparative
musicology. In 1956 the hyphen was removed with ideological intent to signify the discipline’s validity and
independence from the fields of musicology and anthropology. These changes to the field’s name paralleled its internal
shifts in ideological and intellectual emphasis.[33]
Comparative musicology, an initial term intended to differentiate what would become ethnomusicology and
musicology, was the area of study concerned with utilizing methods of acoustics to measure pitches and intervals,
quantitatively comparing different kinds of music.[34] Because of the high density of Europeans and Euro-Americans
engaged with the area's research, comparative musicology primarily surveyed the music of non-Western oral folk
traditions and then compared them against western conceptions of music.[35] After 1950, scholars sought to define the
field more broadly and to eradicate these notions of ethnocentrism inherent to the study of comparative musicology;
for example, Polish scholar Mieczyslaw Kolinski proposed that scholars in the field focus on describing and
understanding musics within their own contexts.[34] Kolinski also urged the field to move beyond ethnocentrism even
as the term ethnomusicology grew in popularity as a replacement for what was once described by comparative
musicology. He noted in 1959 that the term ethnomusicology limited the field, both by imposing “foreignness” from a
western standpoint and therefore excluding the study of western music with the same attention to cultural context that
is given to otherized traditions, and by containing the field within anthropological problems rather than extending
musical study to limitless disciplines within the humanities and the social sciences.[12] Throughout critical
developmental years in the 50s and 60s, ethnomusicologists shaped and legitimized the fledgling field through
discussions of the responsibilities of ethnomusicologists and the ethical implications of ethnomusicological study,
articulations of ideology, suggestions for practical methods of research and analysis, and definitions of music itself.[33]
It was also at this time that the emphasis of ethnomusicological work shifted from analysis to fieldwork, and the field
began to develop research methods to center fieldwork over the traditional "armchair" work.
In 1960, Mantle Hood, a leading pioneer of American ethnomusicology, established the Institute of Ethnomusicology
at the University of California at Los Angeles, largely legitimizing the field and solidifying its position as an academic
discipline.
1970s
In the 1970s, ethnomusicology was becoming more well known outside of the small circle of scholars who had founded
and fostered the early development of the field.[36] The influence of ethnomusicology spread to composers, music
therapists, music educators, anthropologists, musicologists, and even popular culture.[37] Ethnomusicology and its
academic rigor lent newfound legitimacy, as well as useful theoretical and methodological frameworks, to projects that
attempted to record, document, study, and/or compare musics from around the world. Alan Merriam classified these
ethnomusicological participants in four groups:[35]
1) Performers of ethnic music, including anyone at all who learns to play an instrument from another culture: This
group grew considerably during the 1970s due to increased awareness of and interest in ethnic music, partly
assisted by the dissemination of records. These performers range from self-taught amateurs to experienced
graduates of university world music programs.
2) Teachers, usually primary or secondary, who teach the appreciation and performance of "ethnic" music: This
group, along with the first, proliferated rapidly during the 1970s, aided in part by the October 1972 issue of the
Music Educators Journal, a special issue entitled Music in World Cultures, which included a bibliography,
discography, and filmography to aid teachers of the world's musics. These teachers are not necessarily
ethnomusicologists, but are nonetheless advancing some of the aims of the field.
3) The musicological contingent: ethnomusicologists who study music in terms of the sound object (this can be in
the form of performances, recordings, or transcriptions, and focuses on the pitch, rhythmic, formal, and harmonic
content); cultural context, for these ethnomusicologists, assumes a secondary role.
4) The anthropological contingent: ethnomusicologists who focus on human beings with the stance that “music is
culture” and “what musicians do is society.”
One defining feature of this decade was the advent of anthropological influence within ethnomusicology. During this
time, the discipline of ethnomusicology experienced a shift of focus away from musical data, such as pitch and formal
structure, toward humans and human relationships. The incorporation of theoretical frameworks from the field of
anthropology also led to an increasingly welcoming attitude towards accepting yet more fields of study, such as
linguistics and psychology, into the broader pursuit of understanding music as it functions in (or "as") culture.
Throughout this decade, the tensions regarding comparative approaches continued to come into question in
ethnomusicological circles. The introduction of Alan Lomax's system of cantometrics in the late 60s accounted for
physical traits of vocal production like language/utterance, the distinctness of “singing voice” from speaking voice, use
of intonation, ornamentation, and pitch, consistency of tempo and volume, and the length of melodic phrases, and also
the social elements like the participation of the audience and the way a performance is structured; in this way, it
intended to make the data of ethnomusicological research more quantifiable and grant it scientific legitimacy.[38]
However, the system also legitimized comparative methods, thus extending the debate regarding the ethics of a
comparative approach.
1980s
The 1980s ushered in a heightened awareness of bias and representation in ethnomusicology, meaning that
ethnomusicologists took into consideration the effects of biases they brought to their studies as (usually) outgroup
members, as well as the implications of how they choose to represent the ethnography and music of the cultures they
study. Historically, Western field workers dubbed themselves experts on foreign music traditions once they felt they
had a handle on the music, but these scholars ignored differences in worldview, priority systems, and cognitive
patterns, and thought that their interpretation was truth.[39] This type of research contributed to a larger phenomenon
called Orientalism."
It was also during that time that Clifford Geertz’s concept of thick description spread from anthropology to
ethnomusicology. In particular, ethnomusicologist Timothy Rice called for a more human-focused study of
ethnomusicology,[40] putting emphasis on the processes that bind music and society together in musical creation and
performance. His model follows Alan Merriam’s identification of the field as "the study of music in culture."[41] Rice
puts more focus on historical change as well as the role of the individual in music-making. In particular, Rice's model
asks "how do people historically construct, socially maintain and individually create and experience music?"[42] In
addition to presenting new models of thought, Rice’s ideas were also meant to unify the field of ethnomusicology into a
more organized, cohesive field by providing an organized series of questions to address in the course of research.[43]
Another concern that came to the forefront in the 1980s is known as reflexivity. The ethnomusicologist and his or her
culture of study have a bidirectional, reflexive influence on one another in that it is possible not only for observations
to affect the observer, but also for the presence of the observer to affect what they observe.
The awareness of the nature of oral tradition and the problems it poses for reliability of source came into discussion
during the 1980s. The meaning of a particular song is in the kind of flux associated with any oral tradition, each
successive performer bringing his or her own interpretation. Furthermore, regardless of original intended meaning,
once a song is originally interpreted by the audience, recalled later in memory when recounting the performance to a
researcher, interpreted by the researcher, and then interpreted by the researcher’s audience, it can, and does, take on a
variety of different meanings.[44] The 1980s can be classified by the emergence of awareness of cultural bias, the
reliability of different sources, and a general skepticism as regards the validity of the researcher's point of view and of
the object of research itself.
1990s
By the late 1980s, the field of ethnomusicology had begun examining popular music and the effect of media on musics
around the world. Several definitions of popular music exist but most agree that it is characterized by having
widespread appeal. Peter Manuel adds to this definition by distinguishing popular music by its association with
different groups of people, performances by musicians not necessarily trained or intellectual, and dispersion through
broadcasting and recording.[45] Theodor Adorno defined popular music by contrasting it from serious music, which is
purposeful and generally cooperates within strictly structured rules and conventions. Popular music can operate less
deliberately and focuses on creating a general effect or impression, usually focusing on emotion.[46]
Although the music industry developed over several decades, popular music drew ethnomusicologists’ attention by the
90s because a standardizing effect began to develop. The corporate nature surrounding popular music streamlined it
into a framework that focused on slight deviations from the accepted norm, creating what Adorno calls “pseudo-
individualism”; what the public would perceive as unique or organic would musically comply with standard,
established musical conventions. Thus, a duality emerged from this standardization, an industry-driven manipulation
of the public’s tastes to give people what they want while simultaneously guiding them to it. In the case of rock music,
while the genre may have grown out of politicized forces and another form of meaningful motivation, the corporate
influence over popular music became integral to its identity that directing public taste became increasingly easier.[47]
Technological developments allowed for easy dispersion of western music, causing the dominance of western music
into rural and urbanized areas across the globe. However, because popular music assumes such a corporatized role and
therefore remains subject to a large degree of standardization, ambiguity exists whether the music reflects actual
cultural values or those only of the corporate sector seeking economic profit.[48] Because popular music developed such
a dependent relationship with media and the corporations surrounding it, where record sales and profit indirectly
shaped musical decisions, the superstar person became an important element of popular music. From the fame and
economic success surrounding such superstars, subcultures continued to arise, such as the rock and punk movements,
only perpetuated by the corporate machine that also shaped the musical aspect of popular music.
Musical interaction through globalization played a huge role in ethnomusicology in the 1990s.[49] Musical change was
increasingly discussed. Ethnomusicologists began looking into a 'global village', straying away from a specialized look
at music within a specific culture. There are two sides to this globalization of music: on one hand it would bring more
cultural exchange globally, but on the other hand it could facilitate the appropriation and assimilation of musics.
Ethnomusicologists have approached this new combination of different styles of music within one music by looking at
the musical complexity and the degree of compatibility. This Westernization and modernization of music created a new
focus of study; ethnomusicologists began to look at how different musics interact in the 1990s.
2000s
By the 2000s, musicology (which had previously limited its focus almost exclusively to European art music), began to
look more like ethnomusicology, with greater awareness of and consideration for sociocultural contexts and practices
beyond analysis of art music compositions and biographical studies of major European composers.[50]
Ethnomusicologists continued to deal with and consider the effects of globalization on their work. Bruno Nettl
identifies Westernization and modernization as two concurrent and similar cultural trends that served to help
streamline musical expression all over the world. While creeping globalization had an undeniable effect on cultural
homogeneity, it also helped broaden musical horizons all over the world. Rather than simply lamenting the continuing
assimilation of folk music of non-western cultures, many ethnomusicologists chose to examine exactly how non-
western cultures dealt with the process of incorporating western music into their own practices to facilitate the survival
of their previous traditions.[51]
With the ongoing globalization of music, many genres influenced each other and elements from foreign music became
more prevalent in mainstream popular music. Diaspora populations such as the Punjab population in England were
studied due to the characteristics of their music showing signs of the effects of global media. Their music, like many
other music of displaced cultures, was made up of elements from the folk music of their culture along with the popular
music of their location. Through this process the idea of transnationalism in music occurred.[52]
Additionally, postcolonial thought remained a focus of ethnomusicological literature. One example comes from
Ghanaian ethnomusicologist Kofi Agawu; in Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions, he
details how the concept of “African rhythm” has been misrepresented – “African” music is not a homogenous body as it
is often perceived by Western thought. Its differences from Western music are often considered deficiencies, and the
emphasis on "African rhythm" prevalent throughout music scholarship prevents accurate comparison of other musical
elements such as melody and harmony. Influenced by postcolonial thought theories, Agawu focuses on deconstructing
the Eurocentric intellectual hegemony surrounding understanding African music and the notation of the music
itself.[53] Additionally, the new notational systems that have been developed specifically for African music further
prevent accurate comparison due to the impossibility of applying these notations to Western music. Overall, Agawu
implores scholars to search for similarities rather than differences in their examinations of African music, as a
heightened exploration of similarities would be much more empowering and intellectually satisfying.[54] This means by
reexamining the role of European (through colonialism and imperialism) and other cultural influences have had on the
history of "African" music as individual nations, tribes, and collectively as a continent.[55] The emphasis on difference
within music scholarship has led to the creation of "default grouping mechanisms" that inaccurately convey the music
of Africa, such as claims that polymeter, additive rhythm and cross rhythm are prevalent throughout all African music.
The actual complexity and sophistication of African music goes unexplored when scholars simply talk about it within
these categories and move on. Agawu also calls for the direct empowerment of postcolonial African subjects within
music scholarship, in response to attempts to incorporate native discourses into scholarship by Western authors that
he believes have led to inaccurate representation and a distortion of native voices. Agawu worries of the possible
implementation of the same Western ideals but with an "African" face, "in what we have, rather, are the views of a
group of scholars operating within a field of discourse, an intellectual space defined by Euro-American traditions of
ordering knowledge".[56][57]
Currently, scholarship that may have historically been identified as ethnomusicology is now classified as sound studies.
In Western popular culture
Ethnomusicology is not limited to the study of music from non-Western cultures. It is discipline that encompasses
various approaches to the study of the many musics around the world that emphasize their particular dimensions
(cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, etc.) and contexts beyond their isolated sound components. Western
music and its influences are thus also subject to ethnomusicological interest.
The influence of the media on consumerism in Western society is a bi-directional effect, according to Thomas
Turino.[58] A large part of self-discovery and feeling accepted in social groups is related to common musical tastes.
Record companies and producers of music recognize this reality and respond by catering to specific groups. In the
same way that “sounds and imagery piped in over the radio and Internet and in videos shape adolescent sense of
gendered selves as well as generational and more specific cohort identities,“ so do individuals shape the media's
marketing responses to musical tastes in Western popular music culture. The culmination of identity groups (teenagers
in particular) across the country represents a significant force that can shape the music industry based on what is being
consumed.
Theories and methods
Ethnomusicologists often apply theories and methods from cultural anthropology, cultural studies and sociology as
well as other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.[59] Though some ethnomusicologists primarily conduct
historical studies, the majority are involved in long-term participant observation. Therefore, ethnomusicological work
can be characterized as featuring a substantial, intensive ethnographic component.
Anthropological and Musicological Approaches

Two approaches to ethnomusicological studies are common: the anthropological and the musicological.
Ethnomusicologists using the anthropological approach generally study music to learn about people and culture. Those
who practice the musicological approach study people and cultures to learn about music. Charles Seeger differentiated
between the two approaches, describing the anthropology of music as studying the way that music is a “part of culture
and social life”, while musical anthropology “studies social life as a performance,” examining the way “music is part of
the very construction and interpretation of social and conceptual relationships and processes.” [60]
Charles Seeger and Mantle Hood were two ethnomusicologists that adopted the musicological approach. Hood started
one of the first American university programs dedicated to ethnomusicology, often stressing that his students must
learn how to play the music they studied. Further, prompted by a college student's personal letter, he recommended
that potential students of ethnomusicology undertake substantial musical training in the field, a competency that he
described as "bimusicality."[10] This, he explained, is a measure intended to combat ethnocentrism and transcend
problematic Western analytical conventions. Seeger also sought to transcend comparative practices by focusing on the
music and how it impacted those in contact with it. Similar to Hood, Seeger valued the performance component of
ethnomusicology.
Ethnomusicologists following the anthropological approach include scholars such as Steven Feld and Alan Merriam.
The anthropological ethnomusicologists stress the importance of field work and utilizing participant observation. This
can include a variety of distinct fieldwork practices, including personal exposure to a performance tradition or musical
technique, participation in a native ensemble, or inclusion in a myriad of social customs. Similarly, Alan Merriam
defined ethnomusicology as “music as culture,” and stated four goals of ethnomusicology: to help protect and explain
non-Western music, to save “folk” music before it disappears in the modern world, to study music as a means of
communication to further world understanding, and to provide an avenue for wider exploration and reflection for
those who are interested in primitive studies.[61] This approach emphasizes the cultural impact of music and how
music can be utilized to further understand humanity.
The two approaches to ethnomusicology bring unique perspectives to the field, providing knowledge about both the
effects culture as on music and the impact music has on culture.
Analysis
Problems of analysis
The great diversity of musics found across the world has necessitated an interdisciplinary approach to
ethnomusicological study. Analytical and research methods have changed over time, as ethnomusicology has continued
solidifying its disciplinary identity, and as scholars have become increasingly aware of issues involved in cultural study
(see Theoretical Issues and Debates). Among these issues are the treatment of Western music in relation to music from
“other,” non-Western cultures[62] and the cultural implications embedded in analytical methodologies.[63] Kofi Agawu
(see 2000s) noted that scholarship on African music seems to emphasize difference further by continually developing
new systems of analysis; he proposes the use of Western notation to instead highlight similarity and bring African
music into mainstream Western music scholarship.[57]
In seeking to analyze such a wide scope of musical genres, repertories, and styles, some scholars have favored an all-
encompassing “objective” approach, while others argue for “native” or “subjective” methodologies tailored to the
musical subject. Those in favor of “objective” analytical methods hold that certain perceptual or cognitive universals or
laws exist in music, making it possible to construct an analytical framework or set of categories applicable across
cultures. Proponents of “native” analysis argue that all analytical approaches inherently incorporate value judgments
and that, to understand music it is crucial to construct an analysis within cultural context. This debate is well
exemplified by a series of articles between Mieczyslaw Kolinski and Marcia Herndon in the mid-1970s; these authors
differed strongly on the style, nature, implementation, and advantages of analytical and synthetic models including
their own.[63][64][65][66] Herndon, backing “native categories” and inductive thinking, distinguishes between analysis
and synthesis as two different methods for examining music. By her definition, analysis seeks to break down parts of a
known whole according to a definite plan, whereas synthesis starts with small elements and combines them into one
entity by tailoring the process to the musical material. Herndon also debated on the subjectivity and objectivity
necessary for a proper analysis of a musical system.[63] Kolinski, among those scholars critiqued by Herndon’s push for
a synthetic approach, defended the benefits of analysis, arguing in response for the acknowledgment of musical facts
and laws.[66]
Analytical methodologies
As a result of the above debate and ongoing ones like it, ethnomusicology has yet to establish any standard method or
methods of analysis. This is not to say that scholars have not attempted to establish universal or “objective” analytical
systems. Bruno Nettl acknowledges the lack of a singular comparative model for ethnomusicological study, but
describes methods by Mieczyslaw Kolinski, Béla Bartók, and Erich von Hornbostel as notable attempts to provide such
a model.[67]
Perhaps the first of these objective systems was the development of the cent as a definitive unit of pitch by phonetician
and mathematician Alexander J. Ellis (1885). Ellis used his system, which divided the octave into 1200 cents (100
cents in each Western semitone), as a means of analyzing and comparing scale systems of different musics. Ellis
presented his research in "On the Musical Scales of Various Nations," making the influential statement that “musical
scales were not acoustic givens but humanly organized preferences."[68] Ellis's study is also an early example of
comparative musicological fieldwork (see Fieldwork).
Alan Lomax’s method of cantometrics employed analysis of songs to model human behavior in different cultures. He
posited that there is some correlation between musical traits or approaches and the traits of the music’s native
culture.[38] Cantometrics involved qualitative scoring based on several characteristics of a song, comparatively seeking
commonalities between cultures and geographic regions.
Mieczyslaw Kolinski measured the exact distance between the initial and final tones in melodic patterns. Kolinski
refuted the early scholarly opposition of European and non-European musics, choosing instead to focus on much-
neglected similarities between them, what he saw as markers of “basic similarities in the psycho-physical constitution
of mankind.”[62] Kolinski also employed his method to test, and disprove, Erich von Hornbostel’s hypothesis that
European music generally had ascending melodic lines, while non-European music featured descending melodic lines.
Adopting a more anthropological analytical approach, Steven Feld conducted descriptive ethnographic studies
regarding “sound as a cultural system.”[69] Specifically, his studies of Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea use
sociomusical methods to draw conclusions about its culture.
Fieldwork
Bruno Nettl, Emeritus Professor of Musicology at Illinois University,[70] defines fieldwork as “direct inspection [of
music, culture, etc] at the source”, and states that “It is in the importance of fieldwork that anthropology and
ethnomusicology are closest: It is a ‘hallmark’ of both fields, something like a union card”. The experience of an
ethnomusicologist in the field is his/her data; experience, texts (e.g. tales, myths, proverbs), structures (e.g. social
organization), and “impoderabilia of everyday life” all contribute to an ethnomusicologist’s study.[71] The importance
of fieldwork in the field of ethnomusicology has required the development of effective methods to pursue fieldwork.
In the 19th century until the mid-20th century, European scholars (folklorists, ethnographers, and some early
ethnomusicologists) who were motivated to preserve disappearing music cultures (from both in and outside of
Europe), collected transcriptions or audio recordings on wax cylinders.[72] Many such recordings were then stored at
the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv at the Berlin school of comparative musicology, which was founded by Carl Stumpf, his
student Erich M. von Hornbostel, and medical doctor Otto Abraham. Stumpf and Hornbostel studied and preserved
these recordings in the Berlin Archiv, setting the foundation for contemporary ethnomusicology. But, the “armchair
analysis” methods of Stumpf and Horbostel required very little participation in fieldwork themselves, instead using the
fieldwork of other scholars. This differentiates Stumpf and Hornbostel from their present-day contemporaries, who
now use their fieldwork experience as a main component in their research.[73]
Ethnomusicology’s transition from “armchair analysis” to fieldwork reflected ethnomusicologists trying to distance
themselves from the field of comparative musicology in the period following World War II. Fieldwork emphasized face-
to-face interaction to gather the most accurate impression and meaning of music from the creators of the music, in
contrast with “armchair analysis” that disconnected the ethnomusicologist from the individual or group of
performers.[73] David McAllester was paramount in helping the discipline transition from the “armchair analysis” to
culturally specific fieldwork. He worked with the Navajo, living with them so he could study Enemy Way music more
intimately. This work involved an entirely different conceptualization of music than that generally accepted in the
West. (Navajo, like some other languages, has no direct word for music, instead referring to it in the context of its
function).[74] Due to McAllester’s success, fieldwork became one of the most important parts of ethnomusicological
study.
As technology advanced, researchers graduated from depending on wax cylinders and the phonograph to digital
recordings and video cameras, allowing recordings to become more accurate representations of music studied. These
technological advances have helped ethnomusicologists be more mobile in the field, but have also let some
ethnomusicologists shift back to the “armchair analysis” of Stumpf and Hornbostel.[75] Since video recordings are now
considered cultural texts, ethnomusicologists can conduct fieldwork by recording music performances and creating
documentaries of the people behind the music, which can be accurately studied outside of the field.[76] Additionally, the
invention of the internet and forms of online communication could allow ethnomusicologists to develop new methods
of fieldwork within a virtual community.
Heightened awareness of the need to approach fieldwork in an ethical manner arose in the 1970s in response to a
similar movement within the field of anthropology.[77] Mark Slobin writes in detail about the application of ethics to
fieldwork.[78] Several potential ethical problems that arise during fieldwork relate to the rights of the music performers.
To respect the rights of performers, fieldwork often includes attaining complete permission from the group or
individual who is performing the music, as well as being sensitive to the rights and obligations related to the music in
the context of the host society.
Another ethical dilemma of ethnomusicological fieldwork is the inherent ethnocentrism (more commonly,
eurocentrism) of ethnomusicology. Anthony Seeger, Emeritus Professor of Ethnomusicology at UCLA,[79] has done
seminal work on the notion of ethics within fieldwork, emphasizing the need to avoid ethnocentric remarks during or
after the field work process. Emblematic of his ethical theories is a 1983 piece that describes the fundamental
complexities of fieldwork through his relationship with the Suyá Indians of Brazil.[80] To avoid ethnocentrism in his
research, Seeger does not explore how singing has come to exist within Suyá culture, instead explaining how singing
creates culture presently, and how aspects of Suyá social life can be seen through both a musical and performative lens.
Seeger’s analysis exemplifies the inherent complexity of ethical practices in ethnomusicological fieldwork, implicating
the importance for the continual development of effective fieldwork in the study of ethnomusicology.
Theoretical issues and debates
Universals
Ethnomusicologists initially started to question the possibility of universals because they were searching for a new
approach to explain musicology that differed from Guido Adler’s.[81] Charles Seeger, for instance, categorized his
interpretation of musical universals by using inclusion-exclusion styled Venn-diagrams to create five types universals,
or absolute truths, of music.[82] Universals in music are as hard to come by as universals in language since both
potentially have a universal grammar or syntax. Dane Harwood noted that looking for causality relationships and
“deep structure” (as postulated by Chomsky) is a relatively fruitless way to look for universals in music.[83] Yet the
search for musical universalities has remained a topic amongst ethnomusicologists since Wilhelm Wundt who tried to
prove that "all 'primitive' peoples have monophonic singing and use intervals.”[84] Nettl shares the belief with his
colleagues that trying to find a universal in music is unproductive because there will always be at least one instance
proving that there is no musical universals. For example, George List writes, "I once knew a missionary who assured
me that the Indians to whom he had ministered on the west coast of Mexico neither sang nor whistled.” [85] and
ethnomusicologist David P. McAllester writes, "Any student of man must know that somewhere, someone is doing
something that he calls music but nobody else would give it that name. That one exception would be enough to
eliminate the possibility of a real universal.”[86] As a result of this gamesmanship of ethnomusicologists to poke holes
in universals, focus shifted from trying to find a universal to trying to find near-universals, or qualities that may unite
the majority of the world’s musics.
McAllester was a believer in near universals, he wrote, "I will be satisfied if nearly everybody does it,”[86] which is why
he postulated that nearly all music has a tonal center, has a tendency to go somewhere, and also has an ending.
However McAllester’s main point is that music transforms the everyday humdrum into something else, bringing about
a heightened experience. He likens music to having an out of body experience, religion, and sex. It is music’s ability to
transport people mentally, that is in his opinion a near universal that almost all musics share.
In response to McAllester’s Universal Perspectives on Music, Klaus P. Wachsmann counters that even a near universal
is hard to come by because there are many variables when considering a very subjective topic like music and music
should not be removed from culture as a singular variable. His approach, instead of finding a universal, was to create
an amalgam of relations for sound and psyche: "(1) the physical properties of the sounds, (2) the physiological
response to the acoustic stimuli, (3) the perception of sounds as selected by the human mind that is programmed by
previous experiences, and (4) the response to the environmental pressures of the moment. In this tetradic schema lies
an exhaustive model of the universals in music.”[87] However, Wachsmann does allow that they all had some influenced
experience and this belief is echoed by another ethnomusicologist who shares the belief that the universal lies in the
specific way music reaches the listener. "Whatever it communicates is communicated to the members of the in-group
only, whoever they may be. This is as true of in-groups in our own society as in any other. Does "classical" music
communicate to every American? Does rock and roll communicate to every parent?”[85]
George List rebuts McAllester’s essay as does Wachsmann and in his rebuttal he posits that, "The only universal aspect
of music seems to be that most people make it,”[88] Once again reinstating how difficult it was for ethnomusicologists to
form a universal (as he uses the words “most people). List even goes as far as to say, "The entire panel discussion, and
everything I have written here, are probably equally and universally unnecessary. Like Seeger, we have probably been
talking and writing to ourselves. As far as ethnomusicologists are concerned, this is likely a universal phenomenon.”[89]
This viewpoint asserts that the beneficiaries of finding a universal in music would not parallel the global objectives of
unifying music. List also wanted to compare musics across cultures to prove that there was no universal because even
between two people from the same culture there is variation. To do this, he would play Western classical music with
descriptive titles for Africans and ask them to identify the title. He found that no one could subsume that a song like
Sinding's Rustles of Spring could possible be about spring.[90]
Dane Harwood suggests that while there can be no cultural universals in music there exist universal modes of
cognitively understanding that we all undergo when we listen to music.[83] Harwood also highlighted several inherent
issues with the notion of universality in music. The first of these is structure vs. function in music. He notes that
human behavior is structurally predicated, and that as such, not all behavioral patterns (which some observe to find
universals) imply functional activity in music. He also drew content versus process in musical behavior. In drawing this
distinction, he highlighted that scholars studying universals should shift from studying what, in terms of content,
various cultural groups play to the process by which individuals learn music. In summary, his view is that universals in
music are not a matter of specific musical structure or function—but of basic human cognitive and social processes
construing and adapting to the real world.[83]
Linguistics and semiotics

It is often the case that interests in ethnomusicology stem from trends in anthropology, and this no different for
symbols. In 1949, anthropologist Leslie White wrote, “the symbol is the basic unit of all human behavior and
civilization,” and that use of symbols is a distinguishing characteristic of humans.[91] Once symbolism was at the core
of anthropology, scholars sought to examine music “as a symbol or system of signs or symbols,” leading to the
establishment of the field of musical semiotics.[91] Bruno Nettl discusses various issues relating ethnomusicology to
musical semiotics, including the wide variety of culturally dependent, listener-derived meanings attributed to music
and the problems of authenticity in assigning meaning to music.[92] Some of the meanings that musical symbols can
reflect can relate to emotion, culture, and behavior, much in the same way that linguistic symbols function.
The interdisciplinarity of symbolism in anthropology, linguistics, and musicology has generated new analytical
outlooks (see Analysis) with different focuses: Anthropologists have traditionally conceived of whole cultures as
systems of symbols, while musicologists have tended to explore symbolism within particular repertories. Structural
approaches seek to uncover interrelationships between symbolic human behaviors.[93]
In the 1970s, a number of scholars, including musicologist Charles Seeger and semiotician Jean-Jacques Nattiez,
proposed using methodology commonly employed in linguistics as a new way for ethnomusicologists to study
music.[81][94] This new approach, widely influenced by the works of linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, philosopher
Charles Sanders Peirce, and anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, among others, focused on finding underlying
symbolic structures in cultures and their music.[92]
In a similar vein, Judith Becker and Alton L. Becker theorized the existence of musical "grammars" in their studies of
the theory of Javanese gamelan music. They proposed that music could be studied as symbolic and that it bears many
resemblances to language, making semiotic study possible.[95] Classifying music as a humanity rather than science,
Nattiez suggested that subjecting music to linguistic models and methods might prove more effective than employing
the scientific method. He proposed that the inclusion of linguistic methods in ethnomusicology would increase the
field's interdependence, reducing the need to borrow resources and research procedures from exclusively other
sciences.[94]
John Blacking was another ethnomusicologist who sought to create an ethnomusicological parallel to linguistic models
of analysis. In his work on Venda music, he writes, “The problem of musical description is not unlike that in linguistic
analysis: a particular grammar should account for the processes by which all existing and all possible sentences in the
language are generated.”[96] Blacking sought more than sonic description. He wanted to create a musical analytical
grammar, which he coined the Cultural Analysis of Music, that could incorporate both sonic description and how
cultural and social factors influence structures within music. Blacking desired a unified method of musical analysis that
“...can not only be applied to all music, but can explain both the form, the social and emotional content, and the effects
of music, as systems of relationships between an infinite number of variables.”[96] Like Nattiez, Blacking saw a
universal grammar as a necessary for giving ethnomusicology a distinct identity. He felt that ethnomusicology was just
a “meeting ground” for anthropology of music and the study of music in different cultures, and lacked a distinguishing
characteristic in scholarship. He urged others in the field to become more aware and inclusive of the non-musical
processes that occur in the making of music, as well as the cultural foundation for certain properties of the music in
any given culture, in the vein of Alan Merriam’s work.
Some musical languages have been identified as more suited to linguistically-focused analysis than others. Indian
music, for example, has been linked more directly to language than music of other traditions.[92] Critics of musical
semiotics and linguistic-based analytical systems, such as Steven Feld, argue that music only bears significant
similarity to language in certain cultures and that linguistic analysis may frequently ignore cultural context.[97]
Comparison
Since ethnomusicology evolved from comparative musicology, some ethnomusicologists' research features analytical
comparison. The problems arising from using these comparisons stem from the fact that there are different kinds of
comparative studies with a varying degree of understanding between them.[98] Beginning in the late 60s,
ethnomusicologists who desired to draw comparisons between various musics and cultures have used Alan Lomax’s
idea of cantometrics.[99] Some cantometric measurements in ethnomusicology studies have been shown be relatively
reliable, such as the wordiness parameter, while other methods are not as reliable, such as precision of
enunciation.[100] Another approach, introduced by Steven Feld, is for ethnomusicologists interested in creating
ethnographically detailed analysis of people’s lives; this comparative study deals with making pairwise comparisons
about competence, form, performance, environment, theory, and value/equality.[101] Bruno Nettl has noted as recently
as 2003 that comparative study seems to have fallen in and out of style, noting that although it can supply conclusions
about the organization of musicological data, reflections on history or the nature of music as a cultural artifact, or
understanding some universal truth about humanity and its relationship to sound, it also generates a great deal of
criticism regarding ethnocentrism and its place in the field.[102]
Insider/outsider epistemology
The relevance and implications of insider and outsider distinctions within ethnomusicological writing and practice has
been a subject of lengthy debate for decades, invoked by Bruno Nettl, Timothy Rice, and others. The question that
causes such debate lies in the qualifications for an ethnomusicologist to research another culture when they represent
an outsider, dissecting a culture that doesn’t belong to them. Historically, ethnomusicological research was tainted
with a strong bias from Westerners in thinking that their music was superior to the musics they researched. From this
bias grew an apprehension of cultures to allow ethnomusicologists to study them, thinking that their music would be
exploited or appropriated. There are benefits to ethnomusicological research, i.e. the promotion of international
understanding, but the fear of this “musical colonialism” [103] represents the opposition to an outsider
ethnomusicologist in conducting his or her research on a community of insiders.
In The Study of Ethnomusicology: ThirtyOne Issues and Concepts, Nettl discusses personal and global issues
pertaining to field researchers, particularly those from a Western academic background. In a chapter that recounts his
field recordings among Native Americans of the northern plains, for instance, he attempts to come to terms with the
problematic history of ethnographic fieldwork, and envision a future trajectory for the practice in the 21st century and
beyond.[104] Considering that ethnomusicology is a field that intersects in a vast array of other fields in the social
sciences and beyond, it focuses on studying people, and it is appropriate to encounter the issue of “making the
unfamiliar, familiar,” a phrase coined by William McDougall that is well known in social psychology.[105] As in social
psychology, the “unfamiliar” is encountered in three different ways during ethnomusicological work: 1) two different
cultures come into contact and elements of both are not immediately explicable to the other; 2) experts within a society
produce new knowledge, which is then communicated to the public; and 3) active minorities communicate their
perspective to the majority.[106]
Nettl has also been vocal about the effect of subjective understanding on research. As he describes, a fieldworker might
attempt immersing themselves into an outsider culture to gain full understanding. This, however, can begin to blind
the researcher and take away the ability to be objective in what is being studied. The researcher begins to feel like an
expert in a culture’s music when, in fact, they remain an outsider no matter the amount of research, because they are
from a different culture. The background knowledge of each individual influences the focus of the study because of the
comfort level with the material. Nettl characterizes the majority of outsiders as "simply members of Western society
who study non-Western music, or members of affluent nations who study the music of the poor, or maybe city folk who
visit the backward villages in their hinterland."[107] This points to possible Eurocentric origins of researching foreign
and exotic music. Within this outsider/insider dynamic and framework unequal power relations come into focus and
question.
In addition to his critiques of the outsider and insider labels, Nettl creates a binary that roughly equates to Western
and Nonwestern. He points out what he feels are flaws in Western thinking through the analyses of multiple societies,
and promotes the notion of collaborating, with a greater focus on acknowledging the contribution of native experts. He
writes, "The idea of joint research by an 'insider' and an 'outsider' has been mentioned as a way of bridging the
chasms."[108] In spite of his optimism, the actualization of this practice has been limited and the degree to which this
can solve the insider/outsider dilemma is questionable. He believes that every concept is studied through a personal
perspective, but “a comparison of viewpoints may give the broadest possible insight.”[109]
The position of ethnomusicologists as outsiders looking in on a music culture, has been discussed using Said's theory of
Orientalism. This manifests itself in the notion that music championed by the field may be, in many ways, a Western
construction based on an imagined or romanticized view of "the Other" situated within a colonial mindset.[110]
According to Nettl, there are three beliefs of insiders and members of the host culture that emerge that lead to adverse
results. The three are as follows: (1) "Ethnomusicologists come to compare non-Western musics or other "other"
traditions to their own... in order to show that the outsider's own music is superior," (2)Ethnomusicologists want to use
their own approaches to non-Western music;" and (3) "They come with the assumption that there is such a thing as
African or Asian or American Indigenous music, disregarding boundaries obvious to the host."[108] As Nettl argues,
some of these concerns are no longer valid, as ethnomusicologists no longer practice certain orientalist approaches that
homogenize and totalize various musics. He explores further intricacies within the insider/outsider dichotomy by
deconstructing the very notion of insider, contemplating what geographic, social, and economic factors distinguish
them from outsiders. He notes that scholars of "more industrialized African and Asian nations" see themselves as
outsiders in regards to rural societies and communities.[108] Even though these individuals are in the minority, and
ethnomusicology and its scholarship is generally written from a western perspective, Nettl disputes the notion of the
native as the perpetual other and the outsider as the westerner by default.
Timothy Rice is another author who discusses the insider/outsider debate in detail but through the lens of his own
fieldwork in Bulgaria and his experience as an outsider trying to learn Bulgarian music. In his experience, told through
his book May it Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music,[111] he had a difficult time learning Bulgarian music
because his musical framework was founded in a Western perspective. He had to “broaden his horizons” [112] and try
instead to learn the music from a Bulgarian framework in order to learn to play it sufficiently. Although he did learn to
play the music, and the Bulgarian people said that he had learned it quite well, he admitted that “there are still areas of
the tradition (...) that elude my understanding and explanation. (...) Some sort of culturally sensitive understanding
(...) will be necessary to close this gap.” [113]
Ultimately, Rice argues that despite the impossibility of being objective one’s work ethnomusicologists may still learn
much from self-reflection. In his book, he questions about whether or not one can be objective in understanding and
discussing art and, in accordance with the philosophies of phenomenology, argues that there can be no such objectivity
since the world is constructed with preexisting symbols that distort any “true” understanding of the world we are born
into. He then suggests that no ethnomusicologist can ever come to an objective understanding of a music nor can an
ethnomusicologist understand foreign music in the same way that a native would understand it. In other words, an
outsider can never become an insider. However, an ethnomusicologist can still come to a subjective understanding of
that music, which then shapes that scholar’s understanding of the outside world. From his own scholarship, Rice
suggests "five principles for the acquisition of cognitive categories in this instrumental tradition" among Bulgarian
musicians.[114] However, as an outsider, Rice notes that his "understanding passed through language and verbal
cognitive categories" whereas the Bulgarian instrumental tradition lacked "verbal markers and descriptors of melodic
form" so "each new student had to generalize and learn on his own the abstract conceptions governing melodies
without verbal or visual aids."[115] With these two different methods for learning music, an outsider searching for
verbal descriptions versus an insider learning from imitating, represent the essential differences between Rice’s culture
and the Bulgarian culture. These inherent musical differences blocked him from reaching the role of an insider.
Not only is there the question of being on the outside while studying another culture, but also the question of how to go
about studying one's own society. Nettl's approach would be to determine how the culture classifies their own
music.[116] He is interested in the categories they would create to classify their own music. In this way, one would be
able to distinguish themselves from the outsider while still having slight insider insight. Kingsbury believes it is
impossible to study a music outside of one's culture, but what if that culture is your own?[117] One must be aware of the
personal bias they may impose on the study of their own culture.
Kingsbury, an American pianist and ethnomusicologist, decided to reverse the common paradigm of a Westerner
performing fieldwork in a non-western context, and apply fieldwork techniques to a western subject. In 1988 he
published Music, Talent, and Performance: A Conservatory Cultural System, which detailed his time studying an
American northeastern conservatory. He approached the conservatory as if it were a foreign land, doing his best to
disassociate his experiences and prior knowledge of American conservatory culture from his study. In the book,
Kingsbury analyzes conservatory conventions he and his peers may have overlooked, such as the way announcements
are disseminated, to make assertions about the conservatory’s culture. For example, he concludes that the institutional
structure of the conservatory is “strikingly decentralized.”[118] In light of professors’ absences, he questions the
conservatory’s commitment to certain classes. His analysis of the conservatory contains four main elements: a high
premium on teachers’ individuality, teachers’ role as nodal points that reinforce a patron-client-like system of social
organization, this subsequent organization’s enforcement of the aural traditions of musical literacy, and the conflict
between this client/patron structure and the school’s “bureaucratic administrative structure.”[119] Ultimately, it seems,
Kingsbury thinks the conservatory system is inherently flawed. He emphasizes that he doesn’t intend to “chide” the
conservatory, but his critiques are nonetheless far from complementary.[119]
Another example of western ethnomusicologists studying their native environments comes from Craft’s My Music:
Explorations of Music in Daily Life. The book contains interviews from dozens of (mostly) Americans of all ages,
genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds, who answered questions about the role of music in their lives. Each interviewee
had their own unique, necessary, and deeply personal internal organization of their own music. Some cared about
genre, others organized the music important to themselves by artist. Some considered music deeply important to them,
some did not care about music at all.[120]
Ethnomusicology and Western music

Early in the history of the field of ethnomusicology, there was debate as to whether ethnomusicological work could be
done on the music of western society, or whether its focus was exclusively toward non-western music. Some early
scholars, such as Mantle Hood, argued that ethnomusicology had two potential focuses: the study of all non-European
art music, and the study of the music found in a given geographical area.[121]
However, even as early as the 1960s some ethnomusicologists were proposing that ethnomusicological methods should
also be used to examine western music. For instance, Alan Merriam, in a 1960 article, defines ethnomusicology not as
the study of non-European music, but as the study of music in culture.[122] In doing so he discards some of the
'external' focus proposed by the earlier (and contemporary) ethnomusicologists, who regarded non-European music as
more relevant to the attention of scholars. Moreover, he expands the definition from being centered on music to
including the study of culture as well.
Modern ethnomusicologists, for the most part, consider the field to apply to western music as well as non-western.[123]
However, ethnomusicology, especially in the earlier years of the field, was still primarily focused on non-western
cultures; it is only in recent years that ethnomusicological scholarship has begun to allow more diversity with respect
to both the cultures being studied and the methods by which these cultures may be studied.[124]
Despite the increased acceptance of ethnomusicological examinations of western music, modern ethnomusicologists
still focus overwhelmingly on non-western music. One of the few major examinations of western music from an
ethnomusicological focus, as well as one of the earliest, is Henry Kingsbury's book Music, Talent, and
Performance.[117] In his book, Kingsbury studies a conservatory in the north-eastern United States. His examination of
the conservatory uses many of the traditional fieldwork methods of ethnomusicology.[117]
Ethics
Ethics is vital in the Ethnomusicology field because the product that comes out of fieldwork can be the result of the
interaction between two cultures. Applying ethics to this field will confirm that each party is comfortable with the
elements in the product and ensure that each party is compensated fairly for their contribution. To learn more about
the monetary effects after a work is published, please see the copyright section of this page.
Ethics is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group.”[125] In
historical primary documents, there are accounts of interactions between two cultures. An example of this is Hernan
Cortes’ personal journal during his exploration of the world, and his interaction with the Aztecs. He takes note of every
interaction as he is a proxy the Spanish monarchy. This interaction was not beneficial to both parties because Cortes as
a soldier conquered the Aztecs and seized their wealth, goods, and property in an unjust manner.[126] Historically,
interactions between two different cultures have not ended in both parties being uplifted. In fieldwork, the
ethnomusicologist travels to a specific country with the intent to learn more about the culture, and while she is there,
she will use her ethics to guide her in how she interacts with the indigenous people.[96]
In the Society of Ethnomusicology, there is a committee on ethics that publishes the field’s official Position Statement
on Ethics. Because ethnomusicology has some fundamental values that stem from anthropology, some of the ethics in
ethnomusicology parallel some ethics in anthropology as well. The American Anthropology Association have
statements about ethics and anthropological research which can be paralleled to ethnomusicology’s statement.
Mark Slobin, a twentieth century ethnomusicologist, observes that discussion on ethics has been founded on several
assumptions, namely that: 1) “Ethics is largely an issue for ‘Western’ scholars working in ‘non-Western’ societies”; 2)
“Most ethical concerns arise from interpersonal relations between scholar and ‘informant’ as a consequence of
fieldwork”; 3) “Ethics is situated within…the declared purpose of the researcher: the increase of knowledge in the
ultimate service of human welfare.” Which is a reference to Ralph Beals; and 4) “Discussion of ethical issues proceeds
from values of Western culture.” Slobin remarks that a more accurate statement might acknowledge that ethics vary
across nations and cultures, and that the ethics from the cultures of both researcher and informant are in play in
fieldwork settings.[127]
Some case scenarios for ethically ambiguous situations that Slobin discusses include the following:[127]
1. The discovery of a rare musical instrument leads to the debate of whether it should be preserved in a museum or
left in its native culture to be played, but not necessarily preserved.
2. The filming of a documentary video brings up the issues of consent from those who are being filmed. Additionally,
the film should not necessarily be shown if the producer is not present to answer questions or clarify the video’s
content if there are questions from the audience.
3. Deciding how the monetary gains of a musical production should be distributed is a more prominent case of
ethical concern.
4. Attaining partial permission in the field is usually not enough to justify filming or recording; every person in the
group should consent to the presence of a recording device.
5. Whether truthful but possibly condemning information about a group is a situation that should be treated with
extreme caution. Any information that could cause trouble for the musicians may need to be censored.
Slobin’s discussion of ethical issues in ethnomusicology was surprising in that he highlights the ethnomusicology
community’s apathy towards the public discussion of ethical issues, as evidenced by the lackluster response of scholars
at a large 1970 SEM meeting.
Slobin also points out an interesting facet of ethical thinking among ethnomusicologists in that many of the ethical
rules deal with Westerners studying in non-Western, third world countries. Any non-Western ethnomusicologists are
immediately excluded from these rules, as are Westerner’s studying Western music.
He also highlights several prevalent issues in ethnomusicology by using hypothetical cases from an American
Anthropological Association newsletter and framing them in terms of ethnomusicology. For example: “You bring a
local musician, one of your informants, to the West on tour. He wants to perform pieces you feel inappropriately
represent his tradition to Westerns, as the genre reinforces Western stereotypes about the musician’s homeland… do
you have the right to overrule the insider when he is on your territory?” [127]
Ethnomusicologists also tend towards the discussion of ethics in sociological contexts. Timothy Taylor writes on the
byproducts of cultural appropriation through music, arguing that the 20th century commodification of non-western
musics serves to marginalize certain groups of musicians who are not traditionally integrated into the western music
production and distribution industries.[128] Steven Feld argues that Ethnomusicologists also have their place in
analyzing the ethics of popular music collaboration, such as Paul Simon's work with traditional zydeco, Chicano, and
South African beats on Graceland. Feld notes that inherently imbalanced power dynamics within musical collaboration
can contribute to cultural exploitation.[38]
When talking about ethics in ethnomusicology it is imperative that I remain specific about who it applies to. An
ethnomusicologist must consider ethics if he comes from a culture that is different from the culture that he wants to
conduct his research on. However, an ethnomusicologist that conducts research on a culture that is how own does not
have to weigh ethics. For example, music scholar, Kofi Agawu writes about African music and all of its significant
aspects. He mentions the dynamics of music among the generations, the significance of the music, and the effects of
the music on the society. Agawu highlights that some scholars glaze over the spirit of African music and argues that
this is problematic because the spirit is one of the most essential components in the music. Agawu is also a scholar
from Africa, more specifically Ghana, so he knows more about the culture because he is a part of that culture. Being a
native of the culture that one is studying is beneficial because of the instinctive insight that one has been taught since
birth.[129]
Martin Rudoy Scherzinger, another twentieth-century ethnomusicologist, contests the claim that copyright law is
inherently conducive to exploitation of non-Westerners by Western musicologists for a variety of reasons some of
which he quotes from other esteemed ethnomusicologists: some non-Western pieces are uncopyrightable because they
are orally passed down, some “sacred songs are issued forth by ancient spirits or gods” giving them no other to obtain
copyright, and the concept of copyright may only be relevant in “commercially oriented societies”. Furthermore, the
very notion of originality (in the West especially) is a quagmire in and of itself. Scherzinger also brought several issues
to the forefront that also arise with metaphysical interpretations of authorial autonomy because of his idea that
Western aesthetical interpretation is not different than non-Western interpretation. That is, all music is “for the good
of mankind” yet the law treats it differently.[130]
Gender
Gender concerns have more recently risen to prominence in the methodology of ethnomusicology. Modern researchers
often criticize historical works of ethnomusicology as showing gender-biased research and androcentric theoretical
models that do not reflect reality. There are many reasons for this issue. Historically, ethnomusicological fieldwork
often focused on the musical contributions of men, in line with the underlying assumption that male-dominated
musical practices were reflective of musical systems of a society as a whole. Other gender-biased research may have
been attributed to the difficulty in acquiring information on female performers without infringing upon cultural norms
that may not have accepted or allowed women to perform in public (reflective of social dynamics in societies where
men dominate public life and women are mostly confined to the private sphere.[131] ). Finally, men have traditionally
dominated fieldwork and institutional leadership positions and tended to prioritize the experiences of men in the
cultures they studied.[132] With a lack of accessible female informants and alternative forms of collecting and analyzing
musical data, ethnomusicological researchers such as Ellen Koskoff believe that we may not be able to fully understand
the musical culture of a society. Ellen Koskoff quotes Rayna Reiter, saying that bridging this gap would explain the
“seeming contradiction and internal workings of a system for which we have only half the pieces.”[133]
Despite the historical trend of overlooking gender, modern ethnomusicologists believe that studying gender can
provide a useful lens to understand the musical practices of a society. Considering the divisions of gender roles in
society, ethnomusicologist Ellen Koskoff writes: “Many societies similarly divide musical activity into two spheres that
are consistent with other symbolic dualisms”, including such culture-specific, gender based dualisms as private/public,
feelings/actions, and sordid (provocative)/holy.[134] In some cultures, music comes to reflect those divisions in such a
way that women’s music and instrumentation is viewed as “non-music” as opposed to men’s “music”.[135] These and
other dualities of musical behavior can help demonstrate societal views of gender, whether the musical behavior
support or subvert gender roles.
Women contributed extensively to ethnomusicological fieldwork from the 1950s onward, but women’s and gender
studies in ethnomusicology took off in the 1970s.[136] Ellen Koskoff articulates three stages in women’s studies within
ethnomusicology: first, a corrective approach that filled in the basic gaps in our knowledge of women’s contributions to
music and culture; second, a discussion of the relationships between women and men as expressed through music;
third, integrating the study of sexuality, performance studies, semiotics, and other diverse forms of meaning-
making.[136] Since the 1990s, ethnomusicologists have begun to consider the role of the fieldworker’s identity,
including gender and sexuality, in how they interpret the music of other cultures. For example, Susan McClary’s
watershed book Feminine Endings (1991) shows “relationships between musical structure and socio-cultural values”
and has influenced ethnomusicologists, although it is not an ethnomusicological book.[137] There is a general
understanding that Western conceptions of gender, sexuality, and other social constructions do not necessarily apply
to other cultures and that a predominantly Western lens can cause various methodological issues for researchers.[138]
The concept of gender in ethnomusicology is also tied to the idea of reflexive ethnography, in which researchers
critically consider their own identities in relation to the societies and people they are studying. For example, Katherine
Hagedorn uses this technique in Divine Utterances: The Performance of AfroCuban Santeria.[139] Throughout her
description of her fieldwork in Cuba, Hagedorn remarks how her positionality, through her whiteness, femaleness, and
foreignness, afforded her luxuries out of reach of her Cuban counterparts. Her positionality also put her in an
“outsider” perspective on Cuban culture and affected her ability to access the culture as a researcher on Santeria. Her
whiteness and foreignness, she writes, allowed her to circumvent intimate inter-gender relations centered around
performance using the bata drum. Unlike her Cuban female counterparts who faced stigma, she was able to learn to
play the bata and thus formulate her research.[139]
Mass media
In the first chapter of his book Popular Music of the Non-Western World,[140] Peter Manual examines the effect
technology has had on non-western music by discussing its ability to disseminate, change, and influence music around
the world. He begins with a discussion about definitions of genres, highlighting the difficulties in distinguishing
between folk, classical, and popular music, within any one society. By tracing the historical development of the
phonograph, radio, cassette recordings, and television, Manuel shows that, following the practice set in the western
world, music has become a commodity in many societies, that it no longer has the same capacity to unite a community,
to offer a kind of “mass catharsis” as one scholar put it. He stresses that any modern theoretical lens from which to
view music must account for the advent of technology.
Copyright
Copyright is defined as “the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic
work, whether printed, audio, video, etc."[141] It is imperative because copyright is what dictates where credit and
monetary awards should be allocated. While ethnomusicologists conduct fieldwork, they sometimes must interact with
the indigenous people. Additionally, since the purpose of the ethnomusicologists being in a particular country is so that
she can collect information to make conclusions. The researchers leave their countries of interest with interviews,
videos, text, along with multiple other sources of valuable. Rights surrounding music ownership are thus often left to
ethics.
The specific issue with copyright and ethnomusicology is that copyright is an American right; however, some
ethnomusicologists conduct research in countries that are outside of the United States. For example, Anthony Seeger
details his experience while working with the Suyá people of Brazil and the release of their song recordings. The Suyá
people have practices and beliefs about inspiration and authorship, where the ownership roots from the animals,
spirits, and “owned” by entire communities. In the American copyright laws, they ask for a single original author, not
groups of people, animals, or spirits. Situations like Seeger’s then result in the indigenous people not being given credit
or sometime into being able to have access to the monetary wealth that may come along with the published goods.
Seeger also mentions that in some cases, copyright will be granted, but the informant-performer, the researcher, the
producer, and the organization funding the research –earns the credit that the indigenous people deserve.” ”[142]
Martin Scherzinger mentions how copyright is dealt with in the Senegal region of Africa. The copyright benefits, such
as royalties, from music are allocated to the Senegalese government, and then the government in turn hosts a talent
competition, where the winner receives the royalties. Scherzinger offers a differing opinion on copyright, and argues
that the law is not inherently ethnocentric.[143] He cites the early ideology behind copyright in the 19th century, stating
that spiritual inspiration did not prohibit composers from being granted authorship of their works. Furthermore, he
suggests that group ownership of a song is not significantly different from the collective influence in Western classical
music of several composers on any individual work.
A solution to some of the copyright issue that the ethnomusicology is having is to push for the broadening of the
copyright laws in the United States. To broaden is equivalent to changing who can be cited as the original author of a
piece of work to include the values that specific societies have. In order for this to be done, ethnomusicologists have to
find a common ground amongst the copyright issues that they have encountered collectively.
Identity
The origins of music and its connections to identity have been debated throughout the history of ethnomusicology.
Thomas Turino defines “self,” “identity,” and “culture” as patterns of habits, such that tendencies to respond to stimuli
in particular ways repeat and reinscribe themselves.[144] Musical habits and our responses to them lead to cultural
formations of identity and identity groups. For Martin Stokes, the function of music is to exercise collective power,
creating barriers among groups. Thus, identity categories such as ethnicity and nationality are used to indicate
oppositional content.[145]
Just as music reinforces categories of self-identification, identity can shape musical innovation. George Lipsitz’s 1986
case study of Mexican-American music in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1980s posits that Chicano musicians were
motivated to integrate multiple styles and genres in their music to represent their multifaceted cultural identity.[146] By
incorporating Mexican folk music and modern-day barrio influences, Mexican rock-and-roll musicians in LA made
commercially successful postmodern records that included content about their community, history, and identity.[147]
Lipsitz suggests that the Mexican community in Los Angeles reoriented their traditions to fit the postmodern present.
Seeking a “unity of disunity”, minority groups can attempt to find solidarity by presenting themselves as sharing
experience with other oppressed groups. According to Lipsitz, this disunity creates a disunity that furthermore
engenders a "historical bloc," made up of numerous, multifaceted, marginalized cultures.
Lipsitz noted the bifocal nature of the rock group Los Lobos is particularly exemplary of this paradox. They straddled
the line by mixing traditional Mexican folk elements with white rockabilly and African American rhythm and blues,
while simultaneously conforming to none of the aforementioned genres. That they were commercially successful was
unsurprising to Lipsitz- their goal in incorporating many cultural elements equally was to play to everyone. In this
manner, in Lipsitz's view, the music served to break down barriers in its up front presentation of “multiple
realities”.[146]
Lipsitz describes the weakening effect that the dominant (Los Angeles) culture imposes on marginalized identities. He
suggests that the mass media dilutes minority culture by representing the dominant culture as the most natural and
normal.[147] Lipsitz also proposes that capitalism turns historical traditions of minority groups into superficial icons
and images in order to profit on their perception as “exotic” or different. Therefore, the commodification of these icons
and images results in the loss of their original meaning.
Minorities, according to Lipsitz, cannot fully assimilate nor can they completely separate themselves from dominant
groups. Their cultural marginality and misrepresentation in the media makes them aware of society’s skewed
perception of them.[147] Antonio Gramsci suggests that there are “experts in legitimization”, who attempt to legitimize
dominant culture by making it look like it is consented by the people who live under it. He also proposes that the
oppressed groups have their own “organic intellectuals” who provide counter-oppressive imagery to resist this
legitimization.[148] For example, Low riders used irony to poke fun at popular culture’s perception of desirable vehicles,
and bands like Los Illegals provided their listening communities with a useful vocabulary to talk about oppression and
injustice.[147]
Michael M.J. Fisher breaks down the following main components of postmodern sensibility: “bifocality or reciprocity
of perspectives, juxtaposition of multiple realities-intertextuality, inter-referentiality, and comparisons through
families of resemblance.”[149] A reciprocity of perspectives makes music accessible inside and outside of a specific
community. Chicano musicians exemplified this and juxtaposed multiple realities by combining different genres,
styles, and languages in their music.[147] This can widen the music’s reception by allowing it to mesh within its cultural
setting, while incorporating Mexican history and tradition. Inter-referentiality, or referencing relatable experiences,
can further widen the music’s demographic and help to shape its creators’ cultural identities. In doing so, Chicano
artists were able to connect their music to “community subcultures and institutions oriented around speech, dress, car
customizing, art, theater, and politics.”[147] Finally, drawing comparisons through families of resemblance can
highlight similarities between cultural styles. Chicano musicians were able to incorporate elements of R&B, Soul, and
Rock n’ Roll in their music.[147]
Music is not only used to create group identities, but to develop personal identity as well. Frith describes music’s ability
to manipulate moods and organize daily life.[150] Susan Crafts studied the role of music in individual life by
interviewing a wide variety of people, from a young adult who integrated music in every aspect of her life to a veteran
who used music as a way to escape his memories of war and share joy with others.[151] Many scholars have commented
on the associations that individuals develop of “my music” versus “your music”: one’s personal taste contributes to a
sense of unique self-identity reinforced through the practices of listening to and performing certain music.[152]
As part of a broader inclusion of identity politics (see Gender), ethnomusicologists have become increasingly interested
in how identity shapes ethnomusicological work. Fieldworkers have begun to consider their positions within race,
economic class, gender, and other identity categories and how they relate to or differ from cultural norms in the areas
they study. Katherine Hagedorn’s 2001 Book Divine Utterances: The Performance of AfroCuban Santería is an
example of experiential ethnomusicology, which “...incorporates the author’s voice, interpretations, and reactions into
the ethnography, musical and cultural analysis, and historical context.”[153] The book received the Society for
Ethnomusicology’s prestigious Alan P. Merriam prize in 2002, marking a broad acceptance of this new method in the
institutions of ethnomusicology.[154]
Nationalism
Music forms a large part of national sentiment, or patriotism. National musical styles may include songs and genres
used for reification of traditional culture, or more explicitly political purposes.[155] One example of this phenomenon
can be observed in Frederic Chopin, a composer with Polish ancestry who became internationally recognized within
the Western classical music sphere. By invoking traditional Polish forms in his compositions, Chopin became known as
a symbol for Polish national identity on an international scale.[156] Martin Stokes pointed out that this work of
associating Chopin’s music with Polish national identity fell more upon political ideologues than upon the actual
content of the music itself.[157]
According to Turino, the most important factor that the successful infusion of nationalism within a nation requires is
emotion. While the Rhodesian government failed to capture the emotions of the people of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe
did not. He formed the Youth League, which ended up leading most party activities.[158] These activities took the form
of nationalist rallies complete with singing, thudding drums, and tribal dances that were “designed to create an
inclusive image of the nation-to-be.” These rallies advocated for a return to the old traditional African rule.[159] By
performing certain songs or dances at rallies, that music becomes closely associated with the rallies. A country’s
national anthem, for example, has a strong association with national pride, and therefore nationalism. The
performance of tribal dances that originated in a specific nation display the artistry and unique nature of its people.
Folk songs are the same way, as they are unique to the country in which they originated. For a spectator, watching or
listening to this music from your country stirs a great sense of national pride inside them, and that leads to the emotion
that is required in nationalism.[160]
Other examples also demonstrate how national musical styles are constructed in the service of unifying a nation-state,
particularly in line with modernizing developments.[161] Thomas Turino examined musical nationalism and its
implications within and across national boundaries, defining musical nationalism as the incorporation of local ‘folk’
elements elite or cosmopolitan musical styles.[162] Colonial Western powers had a hand in introducing cosmopolitan
styles, and Zimbabweans were also influential in shaping their sense of nation.[163] This process of nation-building
required a constant negotiation the need for local emblems (such as national music) and the need to define one’s own
nation in relation to others throughout the world. Such a balancing act necessitated the creation of a new national
culture through modernizing reforms.[164] National music in Zimbabwe, then, can be described as any music, foreign
or domestic, used in the process of forwarding nationalist movements.[165] Turino describes how his study necessitated
working with a wide range of people involved with music, including “white music teachers, farmer’s wives, and
suburbanites; music-business executives, producers, and managers; professionals of the black middle class; Shona
peasants of different age groups in the rural northeast; members of regional, working-class, dance-drumming clubs in
the townships around Harare...; a number of mbira players dedicated to indigenous Shona practices and knowledge...;
members of professional “folkloric” dance groups; state cultural officials and workers; my black, middle-class
neighbors in Mabelreign suburb where I lived with my family; and a broad spectrum of popular guitar-band
musicians."[166] This diverse group of people all help to define the national music of Zimbabwe, bringing in both local
and cosmopolitan perspectives. Turino emphasizes that these perspectives are not blended into a single vision. For
example, practices rooted in times that predate colonial influences can still differ from those associated with modern
cosmopolitanism.[167]
In Afghanistan in the early twentieth century, radio technology was used to broadcast nationalist ideals to rural areas.
Music played on Afghan radio blended Hindustani, Persian, Pashtun, and Tadjik traditions into a single national style,
blurring ethnic lines at the behest of nationalist "ideologues."[168] Early twentieth-century reformers in Turkey also
made use of the radio. The nationalist state broadcast European classical music to try and unify Turkey into a modern
“Western” nation, but rural populations had little interest in this music.[169] Instead, they could tune in to Egyptian
radio.[170] In Brazil, the scholar Mário de Andrade theorized an integration of European, African, and Amerindian
styles to create a Brazilian national music. This constructed hybrid identity persisted in academic studies of Brazilian
folklore and anthropology.[157] Turino mentions how nationalists in Zimbabwe used music as a means for unification
both before and after their independence in 1980. During the war for independence through the 1970s, ZANU
nationalists and their ZANLA guerillas used political songs as a means for engaging lower classes in the nationalist
fight. Traditional Shona cultural practices, including music, were cited as areas of common ground through which
ZANU tried to bridge divides between economic classes, attempting to create a more unified Zimbabwe amidst the
fight for independence.[171] After Robert Mugabe gained power over newly-independent Zimbabwe in 1980, the
government established nationalist arts programs such as a National Dance Company and various other institutions to
preserve and define Zimbabwe’s artistic culture.[172]
The construction of national musical styles can also originate from outside a given nation. In colonial west Africa,
British rulers tended to endorse the music of rural "tribal" peoples—but not the music of more economically elite
indigenous groups—as representative of national identity. Well-to-do populations were seen as a threat to British
sovereignty, whereas lower-class peoples were not.[173] In a related vein, the French scholar Radolphe d’Erlanger
undertook a project of reviving older musical forms in Tunisia in order to reconstruct "Oriental music" played on
instruments such as the ud and ghazal. Performing ensembles using such instruments were featured at the 1932
Congress of Arab Music in Cairo.[174]
These ideas are transferable to any musical culture around the world. In his book, Music, Race, and Nation, Peter
Wade discusses the “community of anonymity,” or the “identification of the citizen with other unknown compatriots in
a common allegiance to the nation itself”.[175] Music allows for people within a nation to connect when they would not
be able to otherwise. Two people from villages or cities hundreds or thousands of miles away may have different
traditions or customs, but they also might know the same folk music from their nation, and can connect that way.
Music is largely responsible for national identity. In addition, it can differentiate between different social classes,
giving it social identity.[176] On the idea of identity in music, Wade says, “A focus on the constitutive nature of music
helps to grasp changing relations between musical style and identity since, instead of seeing a given style as essentially
linked to a given identity, one can see how the same or similar musical styles can help constitute various identities in
different contexts”.[177] And while some music is linked to a specific identity, music oftentimes crosses boundaries and
changes associations over the course of many years.[177] This identity gives music a certain amount of authenticity for
people, and that is another contributing factor to nationalism. According to Wade, part of Colombia’s specific
nationalist music identity originated from its position on the Caribbean Sea. As a major center for commercialization in
the region, Colombian culture (including its music) became standardized as it was influenced by outside cultures. And
soon, Colombians began to consume different types of music than before, as “tastes and ideas were all being formed
within the whole changing ideological fields of nation, race, gender, sexuality, modernity, and tradition”.[178] He points
specifically to the success of Carlos Vives’s 1993 album featuring modernized versions of vallenato songs from the
1930s from the Caribbean coastal region.[179] Updating those songs gave them new life and identity for a modern
audience. Also, music began to be imported from other nations, further changing the musical styles as musicians found
new inspiration in other cultures.[180]
The example of the Colombian coastal region demonstrates how globalization has effected some nationalism. As music
becomes more and more globalized, the concept of what a nation’s music identity is can fade. Performers often face a
choice, to stick to their traditional musical roots or conform to popular trends and present modernized fusion of
cultures in their music.[181] This dilemma will only continue to grow in the years to come.
World beat can be considered contrary to nationalism, designed to appeal to a more global audience by mixing styles of
disparate cultures. This may compromise cultural authenticity while commodifying cultural tradition.[182](see
Globalization)
Globalization
Through technological advances of the late twentieth century, recordings of music from around the world began to
enter the Euro-American music industry. Timothy Taylor discusses the arrival and development of new terminology in
the face of globalization. The term “World Music” was developed and popularized as a way to categorize and sell “non-
Western” music. The term “world music” began in the 1990s as a marketing term to classify and sell records from other
parts of the world under a unified label, and world music was introduced as a category in the Grammys shortly
thereafter.[183] The term “world beat” was also employed in the 90s to refer specifically to pop music, but it has fallen
out of use.[184] The issue that these terms present is that they perpetuate an “us” vs. “them” dichotomy, effectively
“othering” and combining musical categories outside of the Western tradition for the sake of marketing.[185]
Turino proposes the use of the term "cosmopolitanism" rather than "globalization" to refer to contact between world
musical cultures, since this term suggests a more equitable sharing of music traditions and acknowledges that multiple
cultures can productively share influence and ownership of particular musical styles.[186] Another relevant concept is
glocalization, and a typology for how this phenomenon impacts music (called “Glocal BAG model”) is proposed in the
book Music Glocalization.[187]
The issue of appropriation has come to the forefront in discussions of music’s globalization, since many Western
European and North American artists have participated in “revitalization through appropriation,” claiming sounds and
techniques from other cultures as their own and adding them to their work without properly crediting the origins of
this music.[188] Steven Feld explores this issue further, putting it in the context of colonialism: admiration alone of
another culture’s music does not constitute appropriation, but in combination with power and domination (economic
or otherwise), insufficient value is placed on the music’s origin and appropriation has taken place. If the originators of
a piece of music are given due credit and recognition, this problem can be avoided.[189]
Feld criticizes the claim to ownership of appropriated music through his examination of Paul Simon's collaboration
with South African musicians during the recording of his Graceland album. Simon paid the South African musicians
for their work, but he was given all of the legal rights to the music. Although it was characterized by what seems to be
fair compensation and mutual respect, Feld suggests that Simon shouldn’t be able to claim complete ownership of the
music.[190] Feld holds the music industry accountable for this phenomenon, because the system gives legal and artistic
credit to major contract artists, who hire musicians like “wage laborers” due to how little they were paid or credit they
were given. This system rewards the creativity of bringing the musical components of a song together, rather than
rewarding the actual creators of the music. As globalization continues, this system allows capitalist cultures to absorb
and appropriate other musical cultures while receiving full credit for its musical arrangement.[190]
Feld also discusses the subjective nature of appropriation, and how society’s evaluation of each case determines the
severity of the offense. When American singer James Brown borrowed African rhythms, and when the African
musician Fela Kuti borrowed elements of style from James Brown, their common roots of culture made the connection
more acceptable to society. However, when the Talking Heads borrow style from James Brown, the distancing between
the artist and the appropriated music is more overt to the public eye, and the instance becomes more controversial
from an ethical standpoint.[190] Thus, the issue of cycling Afro-Americanization and Africanization in Afro-
American/African musical material and ideas is embedded in "power and control because of the nature of record
companies and their cultivation of an international pop music elite with the power to sell enormous numbers of
recordings." [191]
Dr. Gibb Schreffler[192] also examines globalization and diaspora through the lens of Punjabi pop music.[52] Schreffler’s
writing on bhangra music is a commentary on the dissemination of music and its physical movement. As he suggests,
the function and reception of Punjabi music changed drastically as increasing migration and globalization catalyzed the
need for a cohesive Punjabi identity, emerging "as a stopgap during a period that was marked by the combination of
large-scale experiences of separation from the homeland with as yet poor communication channels."[193] In the 1930s,
before liberation from British colonial rule, music that carried the explicit "Punjabi" label primarily had the function of
regional entertainment. In contrast, Punjabi music of the 1940s and 50s coincided with a wave of Punjabi nationalism
that replaced regionalist ideals of earlier times. The music began to form a particular genteel identity in the 1960s that
was accessible even to Punjabi expatriates.
During the 1970s and 80s, Punjabi pop music began to adhere aesthetically to more cosmopolitan tastes, often
overshadowing music that reflected a truly authentic Punjabi identity. Soon after, the geographic and cultural locality
of Punjabi pop became a prevalent theme, reflecting a strong relationship to the globalization of widespread
preferences. Schreffler explains this shift in the role of Punjabi pop in terms of different worlds of performance:
amateur, professional, sacred, art, and mediated. These worlds are primarily defined by the act and function of the
musical act, and each is a type of marked activity that influences how the musical act is perceived and the social norms
and restrictions to which it is subject.[194] Punjabi popular music falls into the mediated world due to globalization and
the dissemination of commercial music separating performance from its immediate context. Thus, Punjabi popular
music eventually "evolved to neatly represent certain dualities that are considered to characterize Punjabi identity:
East/West, guardians of tradition/embracers of new technology, local/diaspora."[195]
Another example of globalization in music concerns cases of traditions that are officially recognized by UNESCO, or
promoted by national governments, as cases of notable global heritage. In this way, local traditions are introduced to a
global audience as something that is so important as to both represent a nation and be of relevance to all people
everywhere.[196]
Cognition
Cognitive psychology, neuroscience, anatomy, and similar fields have endeavored to understand how music relates to
an individual’s perception, cognition, and behavior. Research topics include pitch perception, representation and
expectation, timbre perception, rhythmic processing, event hierarchies and reductions, musical performance and
ability, musical universals, musical origins, music development, cross-cultural cognition, evolution, and more.
From the cognitive perspective, the brain perceives auditory stimuli as music according to gestalt principles, or
“principles of grouping.” Gestalt principles include proximity, similarity, closure, and continuation. Each of the gestalt
principles illustrates a different element of auditory stimuli that cause them to be perceived as a group, or as one unit
of music. Proximity dictates that auditory stimuli that are near to each other are seen as a group. Similarity dictates
that when multiple auditory stimuli are present, the similar stimuli are perceived as a group. Closure is the tendency to
perceive an incomplete auditory pattern as a whole—the brain “fills in” the gap. And continuation dictates that auditory
stimuli are more likely to be perceived as a group when they follow a continuous, detectable pattern.[197]
The perception of music has a quickly growing body of literature. Structurally, the auditory system is able to
distinguish different pitches (sound waves of varying frequency) via the complementary vibrating of the eardrum. It
can also parse incoming sound signals via pattern recognition mechanisms.[198] Cognitively, the brain is often
constructionist when it comes to pitch. If one removes the fundamental pitch from a harmonic spectrum, the brain can
still “hear” that missing fundamental and identify it through an attempt to reconstruct a coherent harmonic
spectrum.[199]
Research suggests that much more is learned perception, however. Contrary to popular belief, absolute pitch is learned
at a critical age, or for a familiar timbre only.[200][201] Debate still occurs over whether Western chords are naturally
consonant or dissonant, or whether that ascription is learned.[202][203] Relation of pitch to frequency is a universal
phenomenon, but scale construction is culturally specific.[204] Training in a cultural scale results in melodic and
harmonic expectations.[205]
Cornelia Fales has explored the ways that expectations of timbre are learned based on past correlations. She has
offered three main characteristics of timbre: timbre constitutes a link to the external world, it functions as
perceptualization's primary instrument and it is a musical element that we experience without informational
consciousness. Fales has gone into in-depth exploration of humankind's perceptual relation to timbre, noting that out
of all of the musical elements, our perception of timbre is the most divergent from the physical acoustic signal of the
sound itself. Growing from this concept, she also discusses the "paradox of timbre", the idea that perceived timbre
exists only in the mind of the listener and not in the objective world. In Fales' exploration of timbre, she discusses three
broad categories of timbre manipulation in musical performance throughout the world. The first of these, timbral
anomaly by extraction, involves the breaking of acoustic elements from the perceptual fusion of timbre of which they
were part, leading to a splintering of the perceived acoustic signal (demonstrated in overtone singing and didjeridoo
music). The second, timbral anomaly by redistribution, is a redistribution of gestalt components to new groups,
creating a "chimeric" sound composed of precepts made up of components from several sources (as seen in Ghanaian
balafon music or the bell tone in barbershop singing). Finally, timbral juxtaposition consists of juxtaposing sounds that
fall on opposing ends of a continuum of timbral structure that extends from harmonically-based to formant-structured
timbres (as demonstrated again in overtone singing or the use of the "minde" ornament in Indian sitar music). Overall,
these three techniques form a scale of progressively more effective control of perceptualization as reliance on the
acoustic world increases. In Fales' examinations of these types of timbre manipulation within Inanga and Kubandwa
songs, she synthesizes her scientific research on the subjective/objective dichotomy of timbre with culture-specific
phenomena, such as the interactions between music (the known world) and spiritual communication (the unknown
world).[206]
Cognitive research has also been applied to ethnomusicological studies of rhythm. Some ethnomusicologists believe
that African and Western rhythms are organized differently. Western rhythms may be based on ratio relationships,
while African rhythms may be organized additively. In this view, that means that Western rhythms are hierarchical in
nature, while African rhythms are serial.[207] One study that provides empirical support for this view was published by
Magill and Pressing in 1997. The researchers recruited a highly experienced drummer who produced prototypical
rhythmic patterns. Magill and Pressing then used Wing & Kristofferson’s (1973)[208] mathematical modeling to test
different hypotheses on the timing of the drummer. One version of the model used a metrical structure; however, the
authors found that this structure was not necessary. All drumming patterns could be interpreted within an additive
structure, supporting the idea of a universal ametrical organization scheme for rhythm.[209]
Researchers have also attempted to use psychological and biological principles to understand more complex musical
phenomena such as performance behavior or the evolution of music, but have reached few consensuses in these areas.
It is generally accepted that errors in performance give insight into perception of a music’s structure, but these studies
are restricted to Western score-reading tradition thus far.[210] Currently there are several theories to explain the
evolution of music. One of theories, expanded on by Ian Cross, is the idea that music piggy-backed on the ability to
produce language and evolved to enable and promote social interaction.[211] Cross bases his account on the fact that
music is a humanly ancient art seen throughout nearly every example of human culture. Since opinions vary on what
precisely can be defined as "music", Cross defines it as "complexly structured, affectively significant, attentionally
entraining, and immediately—yet indeterminately—meaningful," noting that all known cultures have some art form
that can be defined in this way.[212] In the same article, Cross examines the communicative power of music, exploring
its role in minimizing within-group conflict and bringing social groups together and claiming that music could have
served the function of managing intra and inter-group interactions throughout the course of human evolution.
Essentially, Cross proposes that music and language evolved together, serving contrasting functions that have been
equally essential to the evolution of humankind. Additionally, Bruno Nettl has proposed that music evolved to increase
efficiency of vocal communication over long distances, or enabled communication with the supernatural.[213]
Decolonizing Ethnomusicology
The idea of decolonization is not new to the field of ethnomusicology. As early as 2006, the idea became a central topic
of discussion for the Society for Ethnomusicology.[214] In humanities and education studies, the term decolonization is
used to describe “an array of processes involving social justice, resistance, sustainability, and preservation.[215]
However, in ethnomusicology, decolonization is considered to be a metaphor by some scholars.[216] Linda Tuhiwai
Smith, a professor of indigenous studies in New Zealand, offered a look into the shift decolonization has taken:
“decolonization, once viewed as the formal process of handing over the instruments of government, is now recognized
as a long-term process involving the bureaucratic, cultural, linguistic and psychological divesting of colonial
power.”[217] For ethnomusicology, this shift means that fundamental changes in power structures, worldviews,
academia, and the university system need to be analyzed as a confrontation of colonialism.[218] A proposed decolonized
approach to ethnomusicology involves reflecting on the philosophies and methodologies that constitute the
discipline.[219]
The decolonization of ethnomusicology takes multiple paths. These proposed approaches are: i) ethnomusicologists
addressing their roles as scholars, ii) the university system being analyzed and revised, iii) the philosophies, and thus
practices, as a discipline being changed.[220] The Fall/Winter 2016 issue of the Society of Ethnomusicology’s Student
News contains a survey about decolonizing ethnomusicology to see their readers’ views on what decolonizing
ethnomusicology entailed. The different themes were: i) decentering ethnomusicology from the United States and
Europe, ii) expanding/transforming the discipline, iii) recognizing privilege and power, and iv) constructing spaces to
actually talk about decolonizing ethnomusicology among peers and colleagues.[221]
One of the issues proposed by Brendan Kibbee for “decolonizing” ethnomusicology is how scholars might reorganize
the disciplinary practices to broaden the base of ideas and thinkers. One idea posed is that the preference and privilege
of the written word more than other forms of media scholarship hinders a great deal of potential contributors from
finding a space in the disciplinary sphere.[222] The possible influence of the Western bias against listening as an
intellectual practice could be a reason for a lack of diversity of opinion and background within the field.[223] The
colonial aspect comes from the European prejudices regarding subjects’ intellectual abilities derived from the Kantian
belief that the act of listening being seen as a “danger to the autonomy of the enlightened liberal subject.”[224] As
colonists reorganized the economic global order, they also created a system that tied social mobility to the ability to
assimilate European schooling, forming a meritocracy of sorts.[225] Many barriers keep “postcolonial” voices out of the
academic sphere such as the inability to recognize intellectual depth in local practices of knowledge production and
transmission. If ethnomusicologists start to rethink the ways in which they communicate with one another, the sphere
of academia could be opened to include more than just the written word, allowing new voices to participate.[226]
Another topic of discussion for decolonizing ethnomusicology is the existence of archives as a legacy of colonial
ethnomusicology or a model for digital democracy.[227] Comparative musicologists used archives such as the Berlin
Phonogramm-Archiv to compare the musics of the world. The current functions of such public archives within
institutions and on the internet has been analyzed by ethnomusicologists.[228] Activists and ethnomusicologists
working with archives of recorded sound, like Aaron Fox, associate professor of music and director of the Center for
Ethnomusicology at Columbia University, have undertaken recovery and repatriation projects as an attempt at
decolonizing the field. Another ethnomusicologist who has developed major music repatriation projects is Diane
Thram, who works with the International Library of African Music.[229] Similar work has been dedicated towards film
and field video.[228]
Medical Ethnomusicology
Benjamin Koen, Gregory Barz, and Kenneth Brunnel-Smith characterize medical ethnomusicology as “a new field of
integrative research and applied practice that explores holistically the roles of music and sound phenomena and
related praxes in any cultural and clinical context of health and healing”. Medical ethnomusicology often focuses
specifically on music and its effect on the biological, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual realms of health. In
this regard, medical ethnomusicologists have found applications of music to combat a broad range of health issues;
music has found usage in the treatment of autism, dementia, AIDS and HIV, while also finding use in social and
spiritual contexts through the restoration of community and the role of music in prayer and meditation.[230]
Theresa Allison served at a nursing home in 2006-2007, studying the effects of music on the residents of the home.
The Home, as she refers to it in her publications, was rather unusual in that music was of utmost priority: the Home
has over 60 hours of music and performing arts activities scheduled weekly, and dozens of residents actively
participate in songwriting groups. The Home has produced a professional CD, Island on a Hill, and an award-winning
documentary, A ‘Specially Wonderful Affair, both in 2002. With such emphasis placed in the arts, Allison concludes
that the creation and performance of music has increased the residents’ quality of life by allowing them to remain
active in their society through songwriting. Songwriting in the Home has fostered a sense of community among the
residents and a means of transcending the institution by bringing in memories and experiences from outside their
physical space.[231]
Music has been found to be particularly effective in combatting dementia. In 2008, Kenneth Brummel-Smith studied
the state of care for those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and found care to be largely unsatisfactory. Rather, Brummel-
Smith looks toward music as the cure to Alzheimer’s disease; he observes that nursing home residents with AD are
capable of participating in structured music activities late into the disease, and that music can be used to enhance
social, emotional, and cognitive skills in those with AD. Brummel-Smith calls for a more interdisciplinary approach to
combatting AD, which may include music therapy if it may be suitable for a given AD patient.[232]
Kathleen Van Buren conducted fieldwork in Nairobi and Sheffield with the purpose of enacting positive change in the
context of HIV and AIDS in each environment. Van Buren speaks about utilizing music as an agent of social change; in
Nairobi, she witnessed individuals and organizing drawing upon music and the arts to promote social change within
their respective communities. In Sheffield, Van Buren offered a new class on “Music and Health” at the University of
Sheffield as well as World AIDS Day event with the theme “Hope through the Arts”. After the conclusion of these
events, Van Buren published her findings and offered a to-do list for the ethnomusicology of HIV and AIDS. Namely,
she urged ethnomusicologists to research and engage with the music community in order to facilitate the development
of educational and therapy programs to further the fight against AIDS.[233]
An example of music used in the treatment of autism is the Music-Play Project (MPP). The MPP was inspired by an
interaction in which Benjamin Koen and Michael Bakan invited their families to eat dinner together. After dinner,
Koen and Bakan took out some drums and started playing music together. Mark, a 3-year-old member of the Bakan
family who suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, began engaging with the music in a way that Koen describes as
“miraculous”. Bakan describes Mark’s experience as a “remarkable and positive behavioral/emotional transformation
in him”.[234] After that moment, Koen and Bakan began hosting a six week program in which three children,
accompanied by their parents, engage in freeform improvisational music creation alongside Koen and Bakan.
Participants play on gamelan gongs, metallophones, and drums, which are chosen for providing rewarding sounds with
minimal technique and effort from the participants. Koen and Bakan recount that the Music-Play Project has proven
successful in providing children with key experiences that are particularly important in development, including
forming new friendships among participants and facilitating fresh interactions between children and their parents.[235]
Koen’s research has also extended into the realm of the spiritual; he analyzed the role of music in maddâh, a form of
prayer. Koen believed in musicprayer dynamics, which modeled the dynamic relationship between music, prayer, and
healing. Maddâh is unique in that it encompasses all three elements of music-prayer dynamics over the course of a
ceremony. Koen describes a maddâh ceremony as such: “during a maddâh ceremony, one experiences music alone,
prayer alone, music and prayer combined, and unified music-prayer”. In particular, Koen focused on the restorative
properties of maddâh as it was utilized in Badakhshan, Tajikistan. Being the economically poorest region of Tajikistan,
Badakhshan’s culture of health care is precarious at best; there is no running water or plumbing in homes, satisfactory
nutrition is hard to come by, and the psychological distress that comes with these factors leads to an abundance of
health issues. As a result, maddâh is utilized to maintain health and prevent illness. Koen conducted an experiment of
40 participants from Badakhshan, in which Koen assessed the stress levels of those who participated in a maddâh
ceremony using physical indicators of stress such as blood pressure and heart rate. In conclusion, Koen observed an
overarching destressing effect in those who participated in maddâh, regardless of the role they assumed in the
ceremony. Koen attributes this to familiarity: “there was enough familiarity to engage a cultural aesthetic and dynamic
that allowed a person’s consciousness to approach a flexible state, which here facilitated a state of lower stress”. Koen
also noted that participants had positive feelings regarding maddâh; many of the participants commented that
maddâh relieves them of their emotional burdens.[236]
Academic programs
Many universities around the world offer ethnomusicology classes and act as centers for ethnomusicological research.
The linked list includes graduate and undergraduate degree-granting programs.[237]
Ethnochoreology
Definition
The definition of ethnochoreology stands to have many similarities with the current way of studying of
ethnomusicology. With ethnochoreology’s roots in anthropology taken into account, and by the way that it is studied in
the field, dance is most accurately defined and studied within this academic circle as two parts: as “an integral part of a
network of social events” and “as a part of a system of knowledge and belief, social behavior and aesthetic norms and
values”.[238] That is, the study of dance in its performance aspects—the physical movements, costumes, stages,
performers, and accompanied sound- along with the social context and uses within the society where it takes place.
Beginnings
Because of its growth alongside ethnomusicology, the beginning of ethnochoreology also had a focus on the
comparative side of things, where the focus was on classifying different styles based on the movements used and the
geographical location in a way not dissimilar to Lomax. This is best shown in "Benesh Notation and Ethnochoreology"
in 1967 which, interestingly, was published in the ethnomusicology journal, where Hall advocates using the Benesh
notation as a way of documenting dance styles so that it is “possible to compare styles and techniques in detail — even
‘schools’ within one style — and individual variations in execution from dancer to dancer.” [239] In the seventies and
eighties, like with ethnomusicology, ethnochoreolology had a focus on a very specific communicative type of “folklore
music” performed by small groups and the context and performance aspects of dance were studied and emphasized to
be a part of a whole “folkloric dance” that needed to be preserved. This was influenced by the same human centered
“thick description” way of study that had moved into ethnomusicology. However, at this time, the sound and dance
aspects of the performances studied were still studied and analyzed a bit separately from the context and social aspects
of the culture around the dance.[240]
Current
Beginning in the mid eighties, there has been a reflexively interpretive way of writing about dance in culture that is
more conscious of the impact of the scholar within the field and how it affects the culture and its relationship with the
dance that the scholar is looking into.[240] For example, because most scholars until this point were searching for the
most “authentic” folk, there was a lack of study on individual performers, popular dances, and dances of subgroups
groups within a culture such as women, youth, and members of the LGBT community. In contrast, this newer wave of
study wanted a more open study of dance within a culture. Additionally, there was a shift for a more mutual give and
take between the scholar and the subjects, who in field work, also assist the scholars as teachers and informants.[241]
Differences with Ethnomusicology

Although there are many similarities between ethnochoreology and ethnomusicology, there is a large difference
between the current geographical scope of released studies. For example, from the beginning of ethnomusicology,
there was a large focus on African and Asian musics, due to them seeming to have the most deviation from their norm
while ethnochoreology, also beginning in Europe, has long had extensive studies of the Eastern European “folk dances”
with relatively little of African and Asian dances, however American studies have delved into Native American and
Southeast Asian dance.[242]� However, the very basis of this being a difference could be challenged on the basis that
many European ethnomusicological and ethnochoreological studies have been done on the "home" folk music and
dance in the name of nationalism.
Organizations
"ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology" (https://ictmusic.org/group/ethnochoreology). International Council for
Traditional Music., beginning in 1962 as a Folk Dance Commission before giving itself its current name in the early
seventies. With the objectives of promoting research, documentation, and interdisciplinary study of dance; providing a
forum for cooperation among scholars and students of ethnochoreology by means of international meetings,
publications, and correspondence; and contributing to cultural and societal understandings of humanity through the
lens of dance, the Study Group meets biennially for a conference.
The "Congress on Research in Dance" (http://www.cordance.org/)., CORD for short, currently known as the Dance
Studies Association (DSA) after merging with the Society of Dance History Scholars began 1964. CORD’s purposes are
stated to be to encourage research in all aspects of dance and related fields;to foster the exchange of ideas, resources,
and methodologies through publications, international and regional conferences and workshops; and to promote the
accessibility of research materials. CORD publishes a peer-reviewed scholarly journal called The Dance Research
Journal, twice annually.
See also
For articles on significant individuals in this discipline, see the List of ethnomusicologists.
Choreomusicology
Ethnochoreology
Society for Ethnomusicology
Fumio Koizumi Prize for Ethnomusicology
List of musicologists
List of musicology topics
Musicology
Prehistoric music
Smithsonian Folkways
Sociomusicology
World music
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Further reading
Merriam, Alan (1964). The Anthropology of Music. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern Univ Press.
Hood, Mantle (1971). The Ethnomusicologist. Mc-Graw Hill.
Blacking, John (1973). How Musical Is Man? (https://books.google.com/books?id=yqR6uASK2C0C&lpg=PP1&pg
=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false). Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0295952180.
Myers, Helen, ed. (1992). Ethnomusicology: An Introduction. New Grove Handbooks in Music. London: Macmillan.
ISBN 0333576314.
Nettl, Bruno (2005). The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-One Issues and Concepts (rev. ed.). Urbana and
Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Stone, Ruth (2008). Theory for Ethnomusicology. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
ISBN 9780132408400.
External links
Society for Ethnomusicology (http://www.ethnomusicology.org/)
International Council for Traditional Music (http://www.ictmusic.org)
British Forum for Ethnomusicology (http://www.bfe.org.uk/)
International Library of African Music (ILAM) (https://web.archive.org/web/20060307052723/http://ilam.ru.ac.za/)

The World and Traditional Music Section at the British Library (http://www.bl.uk/wtm)
The Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University (http://www.indiana.edu/~libarchm/)
Ethnomusicology, Folk Music, and World Music (University of Washington) (http://guides.lib.washington.edu/ethno
musicology)
Outreach Ethnomusicology (http://www.o-em.org/) An Online Ethnomusicology Community and Fieldwork
Resource
SIL publications on Ethnomusicology listed by country (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_subject.asp?code=ETM)
Yale Music Library Research Guide for Ethnomusicology (http://guides.musiclib.yale.edu/content.php?pid=23177)
Sanford and Son's 1973 take on Ethnomusicology (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghY5oMEBaEc)
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