What is Ethnomusicology

Testing the Cylinder phonograph with folklorist Svend Nielsen

Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its social and cultural contexts. We – the ethnomusicologists of coruse also examine what music is but also music as a social process in order to understand what it means to its practitioners and audiences.

Ethnomusicology is a very interdisciplinary study. Individuals working in the field may have training in music, cultural anthropology, folklore, performance studies, dance, area studies, cultural studies, gender studies, race or ethnic studies, or other fields in the humanities and social sciences.