Search results
People also ask
Why did ethnomusicology change its name?
What is ethnomusicology in the modern world?
Who invented ethnomusicology?
Is ethnomusicology related to anthropology?
The name change signaled another shift in the field: ethnomusicology moved away from studying the origins, evolution, and comparison of musical practices, and toward thinking of music as one of many human activities, like religion, language, and food. In short, the field became more anthropological.
Comparative musicology, the primary precursor to ethnomusicology, emerged in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Eventually, this term fell out of use in the 1950s as critics for the practices associated with the field became more vocal about ethnomusicology's distinction from musicology. [14]
It was known as comparative musicology until about 1950, when the term ethnomusicology was introduced simultaneously by the Dutch scholar of Indonesian music Jaap Kunst and by several American scholars, including Richard Waterman and Alan Merriam.
In 1956 the hyphen was removed with ideological intent to signify the discipline's validity and independence from the fields of musicology and anthropology. These changes to the field's name paralleled its internal shifts in ideological and intellectual emphasis. [22]
When the word “ethnomusicology” burst on the scene in the 1950s, it completely erased the name “comparative musicology,” and along with it that discipline’s grand theories of musical origins, universal music history, musical evolution, and culture-circle distribution of musical traits.
Someone who studies music from a global perspective, as a social practice, and through ethnographic field work is called an ethnomusicologist. The Society for Ethnomusicology defines ethnomusicology as “the study of music in its social and cultural contexts” (n.d.).
Share. Abstract. ‘Ethnomusicology in the modern world’ describes the ways that the field of ethnomusicology has changed since its inception. In the past, ethnomusicologists tended to stick to researching established musical practices, today this has changed considerably. Ethnomusicologists now study every sort of contemporary musical activity.
