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Foundations of Ethnomusicology

This libguide is intended to provide diverse resources to Haskell students and professors seeking to expand their understanding of world musics in general, and the aims and vision of ethnomusicology more specifically

Overview

Ethnomusicology merges musicology and anthropology hoping to enhance our understanding of musical practices and practitioners as they relate to aesthetic and social forms. Ethnomusicologists study music and culture, music in culture, or music as culture. Instead of analyzing the compositions of Beethoven, Bach or other Western art music composer, ethnomusicologists tend to focus on traditional and popular music from the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. Emerging in the 60s and gaining greater momentum ever since, ethnomusicology is increasingly seen as a fruitful crossroads between the humanities and social sciences present in higher education and research institutions of many countries around the world

Scope

Ethnomusicologists’ attunement to other disciplines has proven fruitful for interdisciplinary dialogue, but has also complicated the establishment of clear objectives and methodologies for the discipline. Some of the literature included in this guide exemplifies this impulse to set boundaries.

Additionally, the other resources outlined here are seldom case studies on a particular group, place or cultural expression (such scholarship is widely available), but are overviews or initial approaches to a great number musical traditions./p> These two bodies of scholarship, the foundational-ontological and the thematic-introductory, are presented to give Haskell Indian Nations University students the most comprehensive introduction to ethnomusicology as possible.

Search Advice

General search terms

  • Ethnomusicology
  • World Music
  • Traditional music
  • Popular music
  • Indigenous music

More specific search terms depending on topic of interest

  • Country or smaller regions. (​music + Caribbean, music + Iran, music + New Orleans)
  • Tribe/Community names. (music + Cherokee, music + Sioux, music + chicano)
  • Musical instruments. (music + zeze, music + frame drum, music + gamelan)
  • Artists' names. (music + Fela Kuti, music + Ravi Shankar, music + Celia Cruz)