Reel 2 Real - What is ethnomusicology?

What is ethnomusicology?

Ethnomusicology is an interdisciplinary approach that brings together a variety of musical insights from musicology, anthropology, psychology, history, performance and sound studies. Variously defined as the study of music as or in culture, its distinctive core is the blending of anthropological and musicological methods through participant observation fieldwork. Originally known as Comparative Musicology, in 1959 the term 'ethnomusicology' was coined academically by the pioneering scholar Jaap Kunst. Early ethnomusicologists debated what they should, and should not, study. However, today ethnomusicology is not defined by its object of study, but rather by its endeavour to understand all of the human – and in some cases animal - processes involved in the creation, performance, reception and circulation of music: the social and cultural study of music.

Ethnomusicologists study a wonderful array of musical types, locations and processes.: from Angolan kuduro techno to Guinean praise poetry, and from Chinese Qin music to South African kwaito, the field is very rich, colourful and diverse.

In 2013 The Royal Anthropological Committee collaborated with the British Forum for Ethnomusicology and re-established its ethnomusicology committee. The anthropology of music and sound will continue to resonate in the academies and further afield.

Louis Sarno can be heard giving a seminar at the Pitt Rivers Musuem, hosted by ethnomusicologist Dr Noel Lobley.

David Toop and Max Eastley, composers, sound curators, and instrument designers, can be heard in conversation as keynote speakers for 'Making Sound Objects', a British Forum for Ethnomusicology one day conference convened by Dr Noel Lobley and hosted at the Pitt Rivers Museum on 24th November 2012.

Links:

British Forum for Ethnomusicology
http://www.bfe.org.uk/

CRISAP (Creative Research into Sound Arts Practice)
http://www.crisap.org/

Society for Ethnomusicology
http://www.ethnomusicology.org/

International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
http://www.iasa-web.org/

International Council for Traditional Music
http://www.ictmusic.org/

Royal Anthropological Institute
http://www.therai.org.uk/

Sonic Arts Research Unit (Oxford Brookes University)
http://www.sonicartresearch.co.uk/

Below is a playlist of ethnomusicology seminars convened by Dr Noel Lobley and hosted by St John’s College in collaboration with the Faculty of Music at the University of Oxford.

Sound at the Museum

Sound Galleries

Musical torchlit trails at the Pitt Rivers Museum

On Friday November 23rd 2012, the galleries of the Pitt Rivers Museum were plunged into evening darkness and bathed in Bayaka music and sound from the Central African Republic. Visitors were given torches to explore the galleries that were transformed into a rich forest soundscape with sung fables, snatches of laughter, beautiful variations on harps and flutes, and the stunning polyphonic singing of Bayaka women. Hidden surprises included mini projections from the rainforests and a visualiser designed by Nathaniel Mann, the PRM's Embedded Composer in Residence. The evening was filmed By Mike Day of Intrepid Cinema as part of the Reel to Real project, and complemented the Oxford City-wide Christmas Light Night organised by Oxford Inspires. A four hour playlist of Bayaka music from the PRM's sound collections, originally recorded by Louis Sarno, was curated on the evening by Nathaniel Mann and Dr Noel Lobley. The event was streamed online, and was watched live in the Central African Republic by Louis Sarno and some of the Bayaka community.