Undergraduate Bulletin

Fall 2024

Ethomusicology (ETH)

The minor in Ethnomusicology is designed to provide undergraduates with knowledge about a range of ethnomusicology topics, methods, and theoretical perspectives, in conjunction with a related area of specialization in the social sciences. In addition to ethnomusicology classes, including survey courses and courses on specialized topics, students will take a combination of performance and social science classes on relevant subjects in other departments. The capstone course is MUS451, “Ethnographic Methods in Music,” in which students conduct ethnographic research projects related to music. The minor in ethnomusicology is distinct from other existing music minors in that it offers training in fieldwork methods, an anthropological approach that does not rely heavily on the skills of analysis and performance that may be used in musicology, jazz studies, and the like. Moreover, it often emphasizes repertoire and practice from outside of Europe and the United States (our minor is especially strong in the musics of Asia). Ethnomusicology is the study of musical cultures, and entails a disciplinarily unique set of questions and methodologies, as well as objects.