Ethnomusicology Matters


Book Description

This book gathers international voices from the field of ethnomusicology discussing the socio-political relevance of the discipline. The articles draw from contemporary discourses that take into account the role of music and dance in shaping social and political realities. An important field connected to political relevance is heritage, either in connection with the UNESCO or with archives. Ontologies of indigenous groups and their relevance in knowledge production is discussed in ethnomusicology nowadays as well as the possibilities of decolonising the discipline. Two articles from ethno-choreology explore dance from the gender perspective and in the post-socialist political structures. Different approaches from applied ethnomusicology deal with social justice, participatory dialogical practice, and the socio-political relevance of performance. Forced migration is seen as comprehensive topic for future ethnomusicology. The contents of the book mirror influential discourses of ethnomusicology today that will definitely shape the future development of the discipline.




Black Lives Matter and Music


Book Description

Music has always been integral to the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, with songs such as Kendrick Lamar's "Alright," J. Cole's "Be Free," D'Angelo and the Vanguard's "The Charade," The Game's "Don't Shoot," Janelle Monae's "Hell You Talmbout," Usher's "Chains," and many others serving as unofficial anthems and soundtracks for members and allies of the movement. In this collection of critical studies, contributors draw from ethnographic research and personal encounters to illustrate how scholarly research of, approaches to, and teaching about the role of music in the Black Lives Matter movement can contribute to public awareness of the social, economic, political, scientific, and other forms of injustices in our society. Each chapter in Black Lives Matter and Music focuses on a particular case study, with the goal to inspire and facilitate productive dialogues among scholars, students, and the communities we study. From nuanced snapshots of how African American musical genres have flourished in different cities and the role of these genres in local activism, to explorations of musical pedagogy on the American college campus, readers will be challenged to think of how activism and social justice work might appear in American higher education and in academic research. Black Lives Matter and Music provokes us to examine how we teach, how we conduct research, and ultimately, how we should think about the ways that black struggle, liberation, and identity have evolved in the United States and around the world.




Performing Ethnomusicology


Book Description

'Performing Ethnomusicology' is the first book to deal exclusively with creating, teaching, & contextualizing academic world music performing ensembles. 16 essays discuss the problems of public performance & the pragmatics of pedagogy & learning processes.




Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction


Book Description

Explaining that musicality is an essential touchstone of the human experience, a concise introduction to the study of the nature of music, its community and its cultural values explains the diverse work of today's ethnomusicologists and how researchers apply anthropological and other social disciplines to studies of human and cultural behaviors. Original.




Experiencing Ethnomusicology


Book Description

Simone Krger provides an innovative account of the transmission of ethnomusicology in European universities, and explores the ways in which students experience and make sense of their musical and extra-musical encounters. By asking questions as to what students learn about and through world musics (musically, personally, culturally), Krger argues that musical transmission, as a reflector of social and cultural meaning, can impact on students' transformations in attitude and perspectives towards self and other. In doing so, the book advances current discourse on the politics of musical representation in university education as well as on ethnomusicology learning and teaching, and proposes a model for ethnomusicology pedagogy that promotes in students a globally, contemporary and democratically informed sense of all musics.




The Study of Ethnomusicology


Book Description

The first edition of this book, The Study of Ethnomusicology: Twenty-Nine Issues and Concepts, has become a classic in the field. This revised edition, written twenty-two years after the original, continues the tradition of providing engagingly written analysis that offers the most comprehensive discussion of the field available anywhere. This book looks at the field of ethnomusicology--defined as the study of the world's musics from a comparative perspective, and the study of all music from an anthropological perspective--as a field of research. Nettl selects thirty-one concepts and issues that have been the subjects of continuing debate by ethnomusicologists, and he adds four entirely new chapters and thoroughly updates the text to reflect new developments and concerns in the field. Each chapter looks at its subject historically and goes on to make its points with case studies, many taken from Nettl's own field experience. Drawing extensively on his field research in the Middle East, Western urban settings, and North American Indian societies, as well as on a critical survey of the available literature, Nettl advances our understanding of both the diversity and universality of the world's music. This revised edition's four new chapters deal with the doing and writing of musical ethnography, the scholarly study of instruments, aspects of women's music and women in music, and the ethnomusicologist's study of his or her own culture.




Encounters in Ethnomusicology


Book Description

Philip V. Bohlman's impact on the scope and meaning of ethnomusicology is difficult to overstate. His influence is manifest not only in his numerous publications, his service to the discipline, and his presence at institutions and gatherings across the globe, but also in the work of his students. This volume, featuring essays written by his students and peers, honors his enormous contributions to the discipline by focusing on three analytic lenses through which Bohlman's work has excavated the complexities of encounter - ethics, memory, and performance. The essays engaging ethics treat topics including scholarship as activism, the power/politics of knowledge, and the ethics of musical practice and performance. Memory is explored through essays exploring issues related to modernity, commemoration, the nation, and historiography. The essays concerned with performance interrogate historical, symbolic, and experiential aspects of musical performance and wrestle with the enduring questions of belonging that often accompany such performances. Throughout, it is clear that each contribution draws inspiration and methodological strength from the authors' formative encounters with Bohlman's body of work. Michael A. Figueroa is Associate Professor of Music at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jaime Jones is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at University College Dublin. Timothy Rommen is Professor of Music and Africana Studies at University of Pennsylvania. Philip V. Bohlman's impact on the scope and meaning of ethnomusicology is profound. This volume, featuring essays written by his students and peers, honors his enormous contributions to the discipline by focusing on the complexities of encounter. Part I: Ethics addresses scholarship as activism, the power/politics of knowledge, and the ethics of musical practice and performance. Part II: Memory examines commemoration, the nation, and historiography. Part III: Performance interrogates historical, symbolic, and experiential aspects of musical performance, wrestling with enduring questions of belonging. Michael A. Figueroa is Associate Professor of Music at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jaime Jones is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at University College Dublin. Timothy Rommen is Professor of Music and Africana Studies at University of Pennsylvania.




At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice


Book Description

Music is powerful and transformational, but can it spur actual social change? A strong collection of essays, At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice studies the meaning of music within a community to investigate the intersections of sound and race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and differing abilities. Ethnographic work from a range of theoretical frameworks uncovers and analyzes the successes and limitations of music's efficacies in resolving conflicts, easing tensions, reconciling groups, promoting unity, and healing communities. This volume is rooted in the Crossroads Section for Difference and Representation of the Society for Ethnomusicology, whose mandate is to address issues of diversity, difference, and underrepresentation in the society and its members' professional spheres. Activist scholars who contribute to this volume illuminate possible pathways and directions to support musical diversity and representation. At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice is an excellent resource for readers interested in real-world examples of how folklore, ethnomusicology, and activism can, together, create a more just and inclusive world.




Applied Ethnomusicology


Book Description

Over the past three decades, applied ethnomusicology has emerged as a major force in working with music, culture and communities worldwide, generating a wealth of new approaches and practices. Explicitly or implicitly, these often question the traditional role of the music researcher as merely an objective observer; they invite taking greater responsibility and deeper engagement with the people we work with. Highlighting an exciting diversity of local practices with global implications, this volume illustrates how to work of contemporary ethnomusicologists intersects with major issues such as social justice, education, representation, and intangible cultural heritage. With contributions from six different continents, the fourteen chapters in this volume constitute an important step in the international dialogue in scope, methods and goals of ethnomusicology in the 21st century.




The Music of the Other


Book Description

The great flood of world musics into our immediate cultural environment is not a simple matter of expanding global musical exchange, but rather many complex processes such as the growth of intercontinental tourism and the development of technologies in communication. Elegantly tracing the dimensions of these new musical encounters, Laurent Aubert considers the impact of world musics on our values, our habits and our cultural practices. His discussions of key questions about our contemporary music culture widen conventional ethnomusicological perspectives to consider the nature of Western society as a 'global village' and the impact of current Western demands on the future of world musics and their practitioners.