Ethnomusicology (from the Greek ethnos = nation and mousike = music), formerly comparative musicology, is the study of music in its cultural context, cultural musicology. It can be considered the anthropology or ethnography of music. Jeff Todd Titon has called it the study of "people making music". It is often thought of as a study of non-Western musics, but can include the study of Western music from an anthropological perspective. "Ethnomusicology as western culture knows it is actually a western phenomenon." Nettl 1983:25 - The Study of Ethnomusicology. Urbana, Chicago, and London: University of Illinois Press.

While musicology contends to be purely about music itself (almost always Western classical music), ethnomusicologists are often interested in putting the music they study into a wider cultural context. Ethnomusicology as it emerged in the late 19th century and early 20th century, practiced by people such as Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Vinko Zganec, Franjo Ksaver, Carl Stumpf, Erich von Hornbostel, Curt Sachs and Alexander J. Ellis, tended to focus on non-European music of an oral tradition, but in more recent years the field has expanded to embrace all musical styles from all parts of the world.

Ethnomusicologists apply theories and methods from cultural anthropology as well as other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. Many ethnomusicological works are created not necessarily by 'ethnomusicologists' proper, but instead by anthropologists examining music as an aspect of a culture. A well-known example of such work is Colin Turnbull's study of the Mbuti pygmies. Another example is Jaime de Angulo, a linguist who ended up learning much about the music of the Indians of Northern California see www.angelfire.com/sk/syukhtun/Jaime.html. Yet another is Anthony Seeger, professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studied the music and society of the Suya people in Mato Grosso, Brazil see ethnomusic.ucla.edu/people/seeger.htm.

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The Commons and the Wild « another line of flight: My work in ethnomusicology and my developing interest in the health a http://url4.eu/vAMy
CSR_ticker (Freie Mediale S.) Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:31:15 -0000
The Commons and the Wild « another line of flight: My work in ethnomusicology and my developing interest in the health a http://url4.eu/vAMy
Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology-Online http://bit.ly/5n3RJL reference research database dissertation ethnomusicology musicology
delicious50 (Delicious Over 50) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:02:09 -0000
Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology-Online http://bit.ly/5n3RJL reference research database dissertation ethnomusicology musicology
Finally done with all my work for the semester! Juries and my Ethnomusicology final are all I have left!
dumbsoprano (Kaitlin ) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:14:07 -0000
Finally done with all my work for the semester! Juries and my Ethnomusicology final are all I have left!
@galenbrown Ethnomusicology with Ted Levin my freshman spring. Final paper on shape note singing, #natch
amandaameer (Amanda Ameer) Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:17:18 -0000
@galenbrown Ethnomusicology with Ted Levin my freshman spring. Final paper on shape note singing, #natch
Stop it. The Kronos Quartet did a B'wood fusion album?!?! My ethnomusicology prof knows me TOO well! ;)
IDreamofIndia (Erin Georgia W.) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:40:13 -0000
Stop it. The Kronos Quartet did a B'wood fusion album?!?! My ethnomusicology prof knows me TOO well! ;)
Alright ethnomusicology, you don't like me, and I don't like you, so let's just get this thing over with and be done with each other.
reneeyoxon (Renée Yoxon) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:27:48 -0000
Alright ethnomusicology, you don't like me, and I don't like you, so let's just get this thing over with and be done with each other.

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