Musicology is the academic, research-based study of
music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
, as opposed to
musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...
or
performance
A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Performance has evolved glo ...
. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
,
sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
,
acoustics
Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
,
neurology
Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...
,
natural science
Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...
s,
formal science
Formal science is a branch of science studying disciplines concerned with abstract structures described by formal systems, such as logic, mathematics, statistics, theoretical computer science, artificial intelligence, information theory, game t ...
s and
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
.
Musicology is traditionally divided into three branches:
music history
Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...
,
systematic musicology
Systematic musicology is an umbrella term, used mainly in Central Europe, for several subdisciplines and paradigms of musicology. "Systematic musicology has traditionally been conceived of as an interdisciplinary science, whose aim it is to explor ...
, and
ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
. Historical musicologists study the history of musical traditions, the origins of works, and the biographies of composers. Ethnomusicologists draw from anthropology (particularly
field research
Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fi ...
) to understand how and why people make music. Systematic musicology includes
music theory
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...
,
aesthetics
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
,
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
, musical
acoustics
Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
, the science and technology of
musical instruments
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...
, and the musical implications of physiology, psychology, sociology, philosophy and computing.
Cognitive musicology
Cognitive musicology is a branch of cognitive science concerned with computationally modeling musical knowledge with the goal of understanding both music and cognition.
Cognitive musicology can be differentiated from other branches of music psych ...
is the set of phenomena surrounding the
cognitive model
A cognitive model is a representation of one or more cognitive processes in humans or other animals for the purposes of comprehension and prediction. There are many types of cognitive models, and they can range from box-and-arrow diagrams to a se ...
ing of music. When musicologists carry out research using computers, their research often falls under the field of
computational musicology
Computational musicology is an interdisciplinary research area between musicology and computer science. Computational musicology includes any disciplines that use computation in order to study music. It includes sub-disciplines such as mathematic ...
.
Music therapy
Music therapy, an allied health profession, "is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music t ...
is a specialized form of applied musicology which is sometimes considered more closely affiliated with health fields, and other times regarded as part of musicology proper.
Background
The word ''musicology'' comes from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
'music' and , 'domain of study'.
The 19th-century philosophical trends that led to the re-establishment of formal musicology education in German and Austrian universities had combined methods of systematization with evolution. These models were established not only in the field of
physical anthropology
Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a natural science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from ...
, but also
cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...
. This was influenced by
Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...
's ideas on ordering "phenomena" which can be understood & distinguished from ''simple'' to ''complex'' stages of evolution. They are further classified into ''primitive'' & ''developed'' sections; whereas the particular stages of history are understood & distinguished as ''ancient'' to ''modern''. Comparative methods became more widespread in musicology beginning around 1880.
Parent disciplines
The parent disciplines of musicology include:
* General
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
*
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...
*
Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
(particularly
aesthetics
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
and
semiotics
Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter.
Semiosis is a ...
)
*
Ethnology
Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology).
Sci ...
and
cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...
*
Archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
and
prehistory
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...
*
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
and
sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
*
Physiology
Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
and
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...
*
Acoustics
Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
and
psychoacoustics
Psychoacoustics is the branch of psychophysics involving the scientific study of the perception of sound by the human auditory system. It is the branch of science studying the psychological responses associated with sound including noise, speech, ...
*
Information sciences and
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
Musicology also has two central, practically oriented sub-disciplines with no parent discipline:
performance practice
Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in which ...
and research, and the theory,
analysis
Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...
and composition of music. The disciplinary neighbors of musicology address other forms of art, performance, ritual, and communication, including the history and theory of the visual and plastic arts and architecture;
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
,
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
and
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...
; religion and
theology
Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
; and sport. Musical knowledge is applied within medicine, education and music therapy—which, effectively, are parent disciplines of applied musicology.
Subdisciplines
Historical musicology
Music history
Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...
or historical musicology is concerned with the composition, performance, reception and criticism of music over time. Historical studies of music are for example concerned with a composer's life and works, the developments of styles and genres (such as baroque concertos), the social function of music for a particular group of people, (such as court music), or modes of performance at a particular place and time (such as Johann Sebastian Bach's choir in Leipzig). Like the comparable field of
art history
Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history.
Tradit ...
, different branches and schools of historical musicology emphasize different types of musical works and approaches to music. There are also national differences in various definitions of historical musicology. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of any type or genre of music, such as the
music of India
Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk, rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed over several ...
or
rock music
Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
. In practice, these research topics are more often considered within
ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
and "historical musicology" is typically assumed to imply Western Art music of the European tradition.
The methods of historical musicology include source studies (especially
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
studies),
palaeography
Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...
,
philology
Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
(especially
textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...
), style criticism, historiography (the choice of
historical method
Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be draw ...
), musical analysis (analysis of music to find "inner coherence") and
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
. The application of musical analysis to further these goals is often a part of music history, though pure analysis or the development of new tools of music analysis is more likely to be seen in the field of music theory. Music historians create a number of written products, ranging from journal articles describing their current research, new editions of musical works,
biographies
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...
of composers and other musicians, book-length studies or university textbook chapters or entire textbooks. Music historians may examine issues in a close focus, as in the case of scholars who examine the relationship between words and music for a given composer's
art song
An art song is a Western world, Western vocal music Musical composition, composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical music, classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is ...
s. On the other hand, some scholars take a broader view and assess the place of a given type of music, such as the
symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...
in society using techniques drawn from other fields, such as economics, sociology or philosophy.
New musicology
''
New musicology
New musicology is a wide body of musicology since the 1980s with a focus upon the cultural study, aesthetics, criticism, and hermeneutics of music. It began in part a reaction against the traditional positivist musicology—focused on primar ...
'' is a term applied since the late 1980s to a wide body of work emphasizing cultural study, analysis and criticism of music. Such work may be based on
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
,
gender studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...
,
queer theory
Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies (formerly often known as gay and lesbian studies) and women's studies. The term "queer theory" is broadly associated with the study a ...
or
postcolonial
Postcolonialism (also post-colonial theory) is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic consequences of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and extractivism, exploitation of colonized pe ...
theory, or the work of
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...
. Although New Musicology emerged from within historical musicology, the emphasis on cultural study within the Western art music tradition places New Musicology at the junction between historical, ethnological and sociological research in music.
New musicology was a reaction against traditional historical musicology, which according to
Susan McClary
Susan Kaye McClary (born October 2, 1946) is an American musicologist associated with " new musicology". Noted for her work combining musicology with feminist music criticism, McClary is professor of musicology at Case Western Reserve Universit ...
, "fastidiously declares issues of musical signification off-limits to those engaged in legitimate scholarship."
Charles Rosen
Charles Welles Rosen (May 5, 1927December 9, 2012) was an American pianist and writer on music. He is remembered for his career as a concert pianist, for his recordings, and for his many writings, notable among them the book '' The Classical St ...
, however, retorts that McClary, "sets up, like so many of the 'new musicologists', a straw man to knock down, the dogma that music has no meaning, and no political or social significance."
Today, many musicologists no longer distinguish between musicology and new musicology since it has been recognized that many of the scholarly concerns once associated with new musicology already were mainstream in musicology, so that the term "new" no longer applies.
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
, formerly comparative musicology, is the study of music in its cultural context. It is often considered the anthropology or
ethnography
Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
of music.
Jeff Todd Titon
Jeff Todd Titon (born 1943) is a professor emeritus of music at Brown University. He holds a B.A. (1965) from Amherst College, an M.A. (in English, 1970) and a Ph.D. (in American Studies, 1971) from the University of Minnesota. He taught American l ...
has called it the study of "people making music". Although it is most often concerned with the study of non-Western music, it also includes the study of Western music from an anthropological or sociological perspective, cultural studies and sociology as well as other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. Some ethnomusicologists primarily conduct historical studies, but the majority are involved in long-term participant observation or combine ethnographic, musicological, and historical approaches in their fieldwork. Therefore, ethnomusicological scholarship can be characterized as featuring a substantial, intensive fieldwork component, often involving long-term residence within the community studied. Closely related to ethnomusicology is the emerging branch of
sociomusicology
Sociomusicology (from Latin: ''socius'', "companion"; from Old French ''musique''; and the suffix ''-ology'', "the study of", from Old Greek λόγος, ''lógos'' : "discourse"), also called music sociology or the sociology of music, refers to bo ...
. For instance, Ko (2011) proposed the hypothesis of "Biliterate and Trimusical" in Hong Kong sociomusicology.
Popular music studies
Popular music studies, known, "misleadingly", as ''popular musicology'', emerged in the 1980s as an increasing number of musicologists, ethnomusicologists and other varieties of historians of American and European culture began to write about popular music past and present. The first journal focusing on popular music studies was ''Popular Music'' which began publication in 1981. The same year an academic society solely devoted to the topic was formed, the
International Association for the Study of Popular Music
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music (abbreviated IASPM) is an international learned society dedicated to the scholarly study of popular music. It was established in September 1981, with Charles Hamm and Simon Frith as two ...
. The association's founding was partly motivated by the interdisciplinary agenda of popular musicology though the group has been characterized by a polarized 'musicological' and 'sociological' approach also typical of popular musicology.
Music theory, analysis and composition
Music theory is a field of study that describes the elements of music and includes the development and application of methods for composing and for analyzing music through both
notation
In linguistics and semiotics, a notation system is a system of graphics or symbols, Character_(symbol), characters and abbreviated Expression (language), expressions, used (for example) in Artistic disciplines, artistic and scientific disciplines ...
and, on occasion, musical sound itself. Broadly, theory may include any statement, belief or conception of or about music (
Boretz, 1995). A person who studies or practices music theory is a music theorist.
Some music theorists attempt to explain the techniques composers use by establishing rules and patterns. Others model the experience of listening to or performing music. Though extremely diverse in their interests and commitments, many Western music theorists are united in their belief that the acts of composing, performing and listening to music may be explicated to a high degree of detail (this, as opposed to a conception of musical expression as fundamentally ineffable except in musical sounds). Generally, works of music theory are both descriptive and prescriptive, attempting both to define practice and to influence later practice.
Musicians study music theory to understand the structural relationships in the (nearly always notated) music. Composers study music theory to understand how to produce effects and structure their own works. Composers may study music theory to guide their
precompositional and compositional decisions. Broadly speaking, music theory in the Western tradition focuses on
harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
and
counterpoint
In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...
, and then uses these to explain large scale structure and the creation of
melody
A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...
.
Music psychology
Music psychology
The psychology of music, or music psychology, is a branch of psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and/or musicology. It aims to explain and understand musical behaviour and experience, including the processes through which music is pe ...
applies the content and methods of psychology to understand how music is created, perceived, responded to, and incorporated into individuals' and societies' daily lives.
Its primary branches include
cognitive musicology
Cognitive musicology is a branch of cognitive science concerned with computationally modeling musical knowledge with the goal of understanding both music and cognition.
Cognitive musicology can be differentiated from other branches of music psych ...
, which emphasizes the use of computational models for human musical abilities and cognition, and the cognitive
neuroscience of music, which studies the way that music perception and production manifests in the brain using the methodologies of
cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the Biology, biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental ...
. While aspects of the field can be highly theoretical, much of modern music psychology seeks to optimize the practices and professions of music performance, composition, education and therapy.
Performance practice and research
Performance practice draws on many of the tools of historical musicology to answer the specific question of how music was performed in various places at various times in the past. Although previously confined to early music, recent research in
performance practice
Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in which ...
has embraced questions such as how the early history of recording affected the use of
vibrato
Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...
in classical music or instruments in
Klezmer
Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...
.
Within the rubric of musicology, performance practice tends to emphasize the collection and synthesis of evidence about how music should be performed. The important other side, learning how to sing authentically or perform a historical instrument is usually part of
conservatory or other performance training. However, many top researchers in performance practice are also excellent musicians.
Music performance research (or music performance science) is strongly associated with music psychology. It aims to document and explain the psychological, physiological, sociological and cultural details of how music is actually performed (rather than how it should be performed). The approach to research tends to be systematic and empirical and to involve the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings of music performance research can often be applied in music education.
Education and careers

Musicologists in tenure track professor positions typically hold a
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in musicology. In the 1960s and 1970s, some musicologists obtained professor positions with an
MA as their highest degree, but in the 2010s, the PhD is the standard minimum credential for tenure track professor positions. As part of their initial training, musicologists typically complete a
BMus or a
BA in music (or a related field such as history) and in many cases an MA in musicology. Some individuals apply directly from a bachelor's degree to a PhD, and in these cases, they may not receive an MA. In the 2010s, given the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of university graduate programs, some applicants for musicology PhD programs may have academic training both in music and outside of music (e.g., a student may apply with a BMus and an MA in psychology). In music education, individuals may hold an
M.Ed and an
Ed.D.
Most musicologists work as instructors, lecturers or professors in colleges, [universities or conservatories. The job market for tenure track professor positions is very competitive. Entry-level applicants must hold a completed PhD or the equivalent degree and applicants to more senior professor positions must have a strong record of publishing in peer-reviewed journals. Some PhD-holding musicologists are only able to find insecure positions as sessional lecturers. The job tasks of a musicologist are the same as those of a professor in any other humanities discipline: teaching undergraduate and/or graduate classes in their area of specialization and, in many cases some general courses (such as
Music Appreciation
Music appreciation is a division of musicology that is designed to teach students how to understand and describe the contexts and creative processes involved in music composition.
The concept of music appreciation is often taught as a subset of ...
or Introduction to Music History); conducting research in their area of expertise, publishing articles about their research in peer-reviewed journals, authors book chapters, books or textbooks; traveling to conferences to give talks on their research and learn about research in their field; and, if their program includes a
graduate school
Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...
, supervising MA and PhD students, giving them guidance on the preparation of their theses and dissertations. Some musicology professors may take on senior administrative positions in their institution, such as
Dean or
Chair
A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
of the School of Music.
Notable journals
* ''
19th-Century Music
''19th-Century Music'' is a triennial academic journal that "covers all aspects of Western art music composed in, leading to, or pointing beyond the "long century" extending roughly from the 1780s to the 1930s." It is published by the University of ...
'' (1977–present)
* ''
Acta Musicologica'' (1928–2014) (
International Musicological Society
The International Musicological Society (IMS) is a membership-based organisation for musicology at the international level, with headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. It seeks the advancement of musicological research through international coopera ...
)
* ''
Asian Music
Asian music encompass numerous musical styles, traditions, and forms originating in Asian countries.
Asian music traditions include:
*
** Music of China
** Music of Hong Kong
** Music of Japan
** Traditional music of Korea
*** Music of Nor ...
'' (1968–2002)
* ''
BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute'' (1970–present)
* ''
Black Music Research Journal'' (1980–2004)
* ''
Early Music History
''Early Music History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published annually by Cambridge University Press, which specialises in the study of music from the early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes cont ...
'' (1981–2002)
* ''
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
'' (1953–2003) (
Society for Ethnomusicology
The Society for Ethnomusicology is, with the International Council for Traditional Music and thBritish Forum for Ethnomusicology one of three major international associations for ethnomusicology. Its mission is "to promote the research, study, an ...
)
* ''
Journal of Music Theory
The ''Journal of Music Theory'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It was established by David Kraehenbuehl (Yale University) in 1957.
According to its website, " e ''Journal of Music Theory'' fosters co ...
'' (1957–2002)
* ''
The Journal of Musicology
''The Journal of Musicology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of musicology published by University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the Un ...
'' (1982–2004)
* ''
Journal of the American Musicological Society
The ''Journal of the American Musicological Society'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal and an official journal of the American Musicological Society. It is published by University of California Press and covers all aspects of musicol ...
'' (1948–present) (
American Musicological Society
The American Musicological Society (AMS) is a musicological organization which researches, promotes and produces publications on music. Founded in 1934, the AMS was begun by leading American musicologists of the time, and was crucial in legiti ...
)
* ''
Journal of the Royal Musical Association
''Journal of the Royal Musical Association'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering fields ranging from historical and critical musicology to theory and analysis, ethnomusicology, and popular music studies. The journal is published by Cambrid ...
''
* ''
Journal of the Society for American Music
The ''Journal of the Society for American Music'', published quarterly, is a Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal and the official journal of the Society for American Music. It is published by Cambridge University Press and edited by Loren ...
''
* ''
Musica Disciplina'' (1946–present)
* ''
Music Educators Journal
The ''Music Educators Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers in the field of education. The editor-in-chief is Ella Wilcox, and the Academic Editor is Corin Overland (University of Miami). It was established in 1914 and ...
'' (1934–2007)
* ''
Music Theory Spectrum
''Music Theory Spectrum'' () is a peer-reviewed, academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It is the official journal of the Society for Music Theory, and is published by Oxford University Press. The journal was first published ...
'' (1979–present) (
Society for Music Theory)
* ''
The Musical Quarterly
''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including C ...
'' (1915–present)
* ''
Perspectives of New Music
''Perspectives of New Music'' (PNM) is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Musi ...
'' (1962–present)
* ''
The World of Music'' (1957−present)
* ''
Yearbook for Traditional Music
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...
'' (1981–2003)
Women in music

The vast majority of major musicologists and music historians from past generations have been men, as in the 19th century and early 20th century; women's involvement in teaching music was mainly in
elementary and secondary music teaching. Nevertheless, some women musicologists have reached the top ranks of the profession.
Carolyn Abbate
Carolyn Abbate (born November 20, 1956) is an American musicologist, described by the '' Harvard Gazette'' as "one of the world’s most accomplished and admired music historians".
She is currently Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Profe ...
(born 1956) is an American musicologist who did her PhD at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. She has been described by the ''
Harvard Gazette
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learn ...
'' as "one of the world's most accomplished and admired music historians".
Susan McClary
Susan Kaye McClary (born October 2, 1946) is an American musicologist associated with " new musicology". Noted for her work combining musicology with feminist music criticism, McClary is professor of musicology at Case Western Reserve Universit ...
(born 1946) is a musicologist associated with
new musicology
New musicology is a wide body of musicology since the 1980s with a focus upon the cultural study, aesthetics, criticism, and hermeneutics of music. It began in part a reaction against the traditional positivist musicology—focused on primar ...
who incorporates feminist music criticism in her work. McClary holds a PhD from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. One of her best known works is ''Feminine Endings'' (1991), which covers musical constructions of gender and sexuality, gendered aspects of traditional music theory, gendered sexuality in musical narrative, music as a gendered discourse and issues affecting women musicians.
Other notable women scholars include:
*
Eva Badura-Skoda
*
Margaret Bent
Margaret Bent CBE , (born Margaret Hilda Bassington; 23 December 1940) is an English musicologist who specialises in music of the late medieval and Renaissance eras. In particular, she has written extensively on the Old Hall Manuscript, Engli ...
*
Adrienne Fried Block
*
Marcia Citron
*
Suzanne Cusick
*
Sandra Jean Graham
*
Ursula Günther
Ursula Günther (15 June 1927 – 20 or 21 November 2006) was a German musicologist specializing in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries and the music of Giuseppe Verdi. She coined the term , to categorize the rhythmically complex music tha ...
*
Maud Cuney Hare
Maud Cuney Hare (''née'' Cuney, February 16, 1874 – February 13 or 14, 1936) was an American pianist, musicologist, writer, and African-American activist in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. She was born in Galveston, the daughter o ...
*
Amelia Ishmael
*
Tammy L. Kernodle
*
Liudmila Kovnatskaya
*
Gundula Kreuzer
*
Elizabeth Eva Leach
*
Ottalie Mark
*
Carol J. Oja
*
Rosetta Reitz
*
Elaine Sisman
*
Hedi Stadlen
*
Rose Rosengard Subotnik
*
Judith Tick
*
Anahit Tsitsikian
*
Sherrie Tucker
Sherrie Jean Tucker (born March 18, 1957 in Modesto, California) is a musicologist, music historian, book author, professor, and journal editor. Tucker is co-editor-in-chief of ''American Studies'', a peer-reviewed academic journal.
Educatio ...
*
Helen Walker-Hill
See also
*
Aesthetics of music
Aesthetics of music is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty and taste in music, and with the creation or appreciation of beauty in music. In the pre-modern tradition, the aesthetics of music or musical aesthetics explo ...
*
Choreomusicology
*
Computational musicology
Computational musicology is an interdisciplinary research area between musicology and computer science. Computational musicology includes any disciplines that use computation in order to study music. It includes sub-disciplines such as mathematic ...
*
List of musicologists
A musicologist is someone who studies music (see musicology). A historical musicologist studies music from a historical perspective. An ethnomusicologist studies music in its cultural and social contexts (see ethnomusicology). A systematic musicolo ...
*
List of musicology topics
This is a list of musicology topics. Musicology is the scholarly study of music. A person who studies music is a musicologist. The word is used in narrow, intermediate and broad senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music histo ...
*
Music and emotion
Research into music and emotion seeks to understand the psychological relationship between human affect and music. The field, a branch of music psychology, covers numerous areas of study, including the nature of emotional reactions to music, h ...
*
Music and mathematics
Music theory analyzes the pitch, timing, and structure of music. It uses mathematics to study elements of music such as tempo, chord progression, form, and meter. The attempt to structure and communicate new ways of composing and hearing music ...
*
Musical analysis
Musical analysis is the study of musical structure in either compositions or performances. According to music theorist Ian Bent, music analysis "is the means of answering directly the question 'How does it work?'". The method employed to ans ...
*
Musical escapism
*
Musical temperament
In musical tuning, a temperament is a tuning system that slightly compromises the pure intervals of just intonation to meet other requirements. Most modern Western musical instruments are tuned in the equal temperament system. Tempering is the p ...
*
Musical tuning
In music, there are two common meanings for tuning:
* #Tuning practice, Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.
* #Tuning systems, Tuning systems, the various systems of Pitch (music), pitches used to tune an instrument, and ...
*
Prehistoric music
Prehistoric music (previously called primitive music) is a term in the history of music for all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history. Prehistoric music is followed by ancient mu ...
*
Psychoanalysis and music
*
Scale (music)
In music theory, a scale is "any consecutive series of notes that form a progression between one note and its octave", typically by order of pitch or fundamental frequency.
The word "scale" originates from the Latin ''scala'', which literal ...
*
Set theory (music)
Musical set theory provides concepts for categorizing musical objects and describing their relationships. Howard Hanson first elaborated many of the concepts for analyzing tonal music. Other theorists, such as Allen Forte, further developed th ...
*
Sociomusicology
Sociomusicology (from Latin: ''socius'', "companion"; from Old French ''musique''; and the suffix ''-ology'', "the study of", from Old Greek λόγος, ''lógos'' : "discourse"), also called music sociology or the sociology of music, refers to bo ...
*
Tonality
Tonality is the arrangement of pitch (music), pitches and / or chord (music), chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived ''relations'', ''stabilities'', ''attractions'', and ''directionality''.
In this hierarchy, the single pitch or ...
*
World music
"World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...
*
Virtual Library of Musicology
References
Further reading
*Allen, Warren Dwight (1962). ''Philosophies of Music History: a Study of General Histories of Music, 1600–1960''. New ... ed. New York: Dover Publications. ''N.B''.: First published in 1939; expanded and updated for republication in 1962.
* Babich, Babette (2003)
Postmodern Musicology in Victor E. Taylor and Charles Winquist, eds., ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Postmodernism'', London: Routledge, 2003. pp. 153–159. .
*Brackett, David (1995). ''Interpreting Popular Music''. .
*
Cook, Nicholas, "What is Musicology?", ''
BBC Music Magazine
''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music.
The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, was the original owner and publisher together with ...
'' 7 (May 1999), 31–33
*Everett, Walter, ed. (2000). ''Expression in Pop-Rock Music''. .
*McCollum, Jonathan and David Hebert, eds. (2014). ''Theory and Method in Historical Ethnomusicology''. Lanham, MD: Lexington. .
* Honing, Henkjan (2006).
On the growing role of observation, formalization and experimental method in musicology. ''
Empirical Musicology Review
The Ohio State University Libraries are the collective libraries of Ohio State University and its satellite campuses. This system welcomes Ohio State faculty, students, visiting scholars and the general public to study and research. It includes ten ...
''.
*
Kerman, Joseph (1985). ''Musicology''. London: Fontana. .
*
McClary, Susan, and
Robert Walser (1988). "Start Making Sense! Musicology Wrestles with Rock" in ''On Record'' ed. by Frith and Goodwin (1990), pp. 277–292..
* McClary, Susan (2000). "Women and Music on the Verge of the New Millennium (Special Issue: Feminists at a Millennium)", ''Signs'' 25/4 (Summer): 1283–1286.
*
Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). ''Studying Popular Music''. Philadelphia: Open University Press. .
*Moore, A. F. (2001). ''Rock: The Primary Text'', 2nd edition, .
*
Parncutt, Richard. (2007).
Systematic musicology and the history and future of Western musical scholarship, ''Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies'', 1, 1–32.
* Pruett, James W., and Thomas P. Slavens (1985). ''Research Guide to Musicology.'' Chicago: American Library Association. .
*
Randel, Don Michael, ed. (4th edition, 2003). ''Harvard Dictionary of Music'', pp. 452–454. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. .
* Sorce Keller, Marcello. "The Emperor's New Clothes: Why Musicologies Do Not Always Wish to Know All They Could Know", in Victoria Lindsay Levine and Philip V. Bohlman. ''This Thing Called Music''. Essays in Honor of Bruno Nettl. Lanham, MD / Boulder, CO / New York City / London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, pp. 366–377.
* Tagg, Philip (1979, ed. 2000). ''Kojak – 50 Seconds of Television Music: Toward the Analysis of Affect in Popular Music'', pp. 38–45. The Mass Media Music Scholar's Press. .
*Tagg, Philip (1982). "Analysing Popular Music: Theory, Method and Practice", ''Popular Music'', vol. 2, Theory and Method, pp. 37–67.
*
van der Merwe, Peter (1989). ''Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth Century Popular Music''. (1992).
*
Winkler, Peter (1978). "Toward a theory of pop harmony", ''
In Theory Only
''In Theory Only'' () was a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It began publication in 1975, under the auspices of graduate students in music theory at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & ...
'', 4, pp. 3–26., cited in .
External links
International Musicological Society (IMS)The American Musicological Society
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Music history
Philosophy of music
Humanities occupations
Occupations in music