Ethnomusicology M.A.

Program type:

Major

Format:

On Campus

Est. time to complete:

2-3 years

Credit Hours:

Become more fluent in the universal language of music and its significance for cultures from all over the world.

Through fieldwork — conducting interviews; attending, participating in, and observing performances; learning about local history, language, and customs; and doing musical analysis — ethnomusicologists study the ways in which individuals learn, create and understand music in different cultural communities, the means by which music is transmitted via both social and media networks, the significance of music revivals, and the impact of new contexts on the style and meaning of music.

Requirements Tuition & Aid How to apply

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Why earn a degree in Ethnomusicology?

Courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level are open to all students regardless of major. Whether in graduate seminars or in one of the many world music ensembles, the program emphasizes doing ethnomusicology. The curriculum challenges students to engage musical experience in all of its dimensions in preparation for careers in both academia and the public sector.

The Ethnomusicology Program is home to a distinguished faculty, whose professional experience and expertise range from extensive work in the public sector to specialization in the music of Latin America, Texas and the American Southwest, Africa, India, and includes internationally recognized master musicians from those traditions.

Marketable Skills

Instruction of musical skills
Music copying and transcribing
Public event management assistance
Book/journal editing
Advanced data collection and analysis

Ethnomusicology Master's Highlights

Our students have published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at international conferences, and have received significant external grant support, including a 2017 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship and two nationally competitive Theodore R. Presser Foundation Graduate Music Awards (2016, 2018).

Ethnomusicology Master's Courses You Could Take

This course considers the history of anthropological concepts, the major historical debates in anthropological theory and historical tensions between applied and theoretical knowledge. Special emphasis is given to critical examination of concept and theory formation and the application of anthropological ideas to the problems of everyday life.

Students will explore the relationship between shifting theoretical research paradigms and how they have affected field methodology with close readings of representative ethnographies, several short field assignments and reports, and a field research project, resulting in a final paper.

This course examines sound from a cross-cultural perspective by opening up a dialogue about alternative sonic practices, which challenge many taken-for-granted notions about contemporary theories of sound.

This course is a study of musical experience in African life. How does music function in everyday life, in ritual and ceremony? When does music happen and for what reasons? Questions are explored in relation to African music, ranging from the complex vocal polyphony of the Mbuti Pygmies of the Itui Forest to the worldwide explosion of Afro Pop.

Students will study the standard narrative of jazz history and jazz repertoire.

This course focuses on selected topics in ethnomusicology including current theoretical and practical issues in the discipline.