Ethnomusicology

The Ethnomusicology Society
The Society for Ethnomusicology is an association devoted to the support of ethnomusicology and to the study of music-making all over the world. You can find more information about the Society and about ethnomusicology by exploring the links below.

What is Ethnomusicology?

The field of ethnomusicology explores human music-making activities all over the world, in all styles, from the immediate present to the distant past. We study music, the people who make it, the instruments they use, and the complex of ideas, behaviors, and processes that are involved in the production of music.

Classical musics of Europe and China, Cajun dance, Cuban son, Hip-Hop, Nigerian Juju, Javanese gamelan, Navajo ritual healing, and Hawaiian chant are just a few of the areas in which ethnomusicologists work. Ethnomusicology is interdisciplinary by nature and so ethnomusicologists may also be trained as anthropologists, musicologists, folklorists, educators, performers, composers, dancers, archivists, librarians, historians, linguists, cultural analysts, cognitive psychologists, and in other disciplines.

Many ethnomusicologists utilize the tools of ethnography in their research. They spend extended periods of time with people making music, observing what happens, asking people questions, helping individuals and communities document and promote their musical practices, and sometimes learning to perform in the style they are studying. Ethnomusicologists may also rely on archives, libraries, and museums for documentation from the past on musical sounds, practices, instruments, and the people who created them.

Most ethnomusicologists work as college professors in academic institutions, but a significant number also work with museums, festivals, record labels, archives, libraries, schools, and other institutions in roles that have a greater focus on educating and presenting to the general public.

A large number of colleges and university have programs in ethnomusicology. To see a list, visit our Guide to Programs in Ethnomusicology.