Experiencing ethnomusicology : student experiences of the transmission of ethnomusicology at universities in the UK and Germany

Using ethnographic research-and attendant methods of participant-observation and informal interviewing-at twelve universities in the UK and Germany, Experiencing Ethnomusicology studies the transmission of ethnomusicology, while exploring the ways in which students experience and make sense of their...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kruger, Simone
Published: University of Sheffield 2007
Subjects:
780
Online Access:http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.489283
Description
Summary:Using ethnographic research-and attendant methods of participant-observation and informal interviewing-at twelve universities in the UK and Germany, Experiencing Ethnomusicology studies the transmission of ethnomusicology, while exploring the ways in which students experience and make sense of their (world) musical encounters. Discussions begin with the contexts and broader organisational structure of higher education in which ethnomusicology is transmitted. Drawing on the voices of ethnomusicologists, the first chapter illustrates the ideological and social practices that inform the disciplining of ethnomusicology and its transmission to students at universities. Subsequent chapters focus on student experiences of the transmission of ethnomusicology and world musics. Specific emphasis is placed on how students make music meaningful and useful in their academic and personal lives, and what and how they learn when ethnomusicology is transmitted in the university classroom. This starts with discussions about students' listening to world musics and ethnomusicologists in order to shed light into their constructing and articulating of sociocultural identity, ideas of authenticity and a heightened sense of democracy. Ile following part explains student experiences of performing ethnomusicology, and assesses students' change of attitude and perspective, while drawing conclusions on the politics of representation and appropriation of world musics in the performing of ethnomusicology. Focusing subsequently on activities involving the composing of ethnomusicology, the final part discusses students' recreation of world musics in the form of transcriptions and creation of ethnography, whilst reflecting on the ways in which composing ethnomusicology transforms students' senses of self and others. The conclusion presents a pedagogy for ethnomusicology that resonates with a music education of the 21st century, drawing on previous discussions to illustrate some of the possibilities of a globally, contemporary and democratically informed sense of music.