Eth Noise! Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology and Arts
Ethnomusicology within SIL is concerned with research and documentation of musics around the world, and with promoting the use of indigenous music to meet contemporary needs within the society.

Promoting indigenous music by

researching music within the culture.
encouraging musical creativity.
assisting development of applications.
Ethnomusicology: "Studying music from the outside in and from the inside out."

Ethnomusicology's definition and proper concerns have been debated over the years. Essentially ethnomusicology is looking at music as a part of a culture and social life and looking at the music system itself. Once these basic parameters are made then musics can be compared and studied across cultures and across time and in other ways, such as, how music affects cultures and the people involved and how culture affects music.

The British ethnomusicologist John Blacking has written of "humanly organized sound" and "soundly organized humanity." The first emphasis is studying how and why people make musical choices within their cultural system; just what IS music, anyway? A surprising variety of answers is found throughout the earth, but one common thread is that music is made of sounds that are organized in some manner by people. The organization principles may not be obvious to all people, even within the culture under study, but most cultures would say that certain sounds organized by certain people will qualify as "music." The study of musical organization and related topics is what we call "studying music from the inside out."

It is also possible to study "soundly organized humanity," that is, how music and music-making opportunities shape and impact and guide peoples’ behavior and attitudes. Throughout the world, music plays an important part in marking important events in peoples' lives: festivals, funerals, weddings, religious occasions. An ethnic group can mark its agrarian calendar by music. For example, during the planting and growing season, the Mofu-Gudur of Cameroon only sing certain songs and have prohibitions against playing certain instruments. During the harvest season, however, other song types will be heard and additional instruments are permitted by local custom to be played. The study of musical behavior and related topics is what we call "studying music from the outside in."

Ethnomusicology within SIL is concerned not only with research and documentation of musics around the world, but also with promoting and encouraging the use of indigenous music to meet contemporary needs within the given society.

Selected articles
Other resources on the Web
Arts Consultant Video
Additional information on Ethnomusicology and Arts
Please contact:

International Ethnomusicology and Arts Coordinator
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road
Dallas, TX 75236-5629
Telephone: (972) 708-7517
E-mail: International Ethnomusicology and Arts Coordinator