What Are the Great Discoveries of Your Field? Informal Comments on the Contributions of Ethnomusicology

Abstract

This is an attempt to sketch some of the principal discoveries or contributions of the field of ethnomusicology since 1885. These include consideration of the world of music as comprised of musics, the origin of music, universals, the study of music in culture, the relationship of composition and improvisation, the issue of authenticity, and the practical contributions of ethnomusicology to education and social life.

Keywords

• ethnomusicology
• origins of music
• music in culture
• improvisation
• authenticity