Ethnomusicology Glossary

An instrument that produces sound primarily through vibrating air, such as flutes, trumpets, and didgeridoos.

The use of ethnomusicological knowledge and methods to address practical social issues such as cultural preservation and community development.

The practice of ethnomusicologists achieving performance competence in the music they study, advocated by Mantle Hood.

An instrument that produces sound through vibrating strings, such as guitars, violins, sitars, and kotos.

The late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century predecessor of ethnomusicology, focused on comparing non-Western with Western music systems.

The principle of understanding a culture's practices and beliefs on their own terms rather than judging them by the standards of another culture.

The dispersal of a people from their homeland; in ethnomusicology, the study of how displaced communities transform and preserve musical traditions.

A qualitative research method and its written product, describing the culture of a group based on immersive fieldwork and participant observation.

Extended on-site research involving immersion in a community to observe, participate in, and document its musical practices.

A traditional Indonesian ensemble of metallophones, gongs, drums, and other instruments central to Javanese and Balinese ceremonial and artistic life.

A West African hereditary musician and oral historian who preserves and transmits genealogies, histories, and cultural knowledge through performance.

A musical texture in which multiple performers simultaneously play or sing variations of the same melody, common in many Asian and Middle Eastern traditions.

An instrument that produces sound through the vibration of the entire body, without strings or membranes, such as bells, xylophones, and cymbals.

A UNESCO designation for living cultural expressions including music, dance, and oral traditions deemed worthy of safeguarding.

An instrument that produces sound through the vibration of a stretched membrane, such as drums and timpani.

An interval smaller than a Western semitone, found in many musical traditions including Arabic maqam, Indian raga, and Turkish makam systems.

The transmission of music, stories, and cultural knowledge through performance and memory rather than written notation.

The systematic study and classification of musical instruments based on their construction, acoustics, and cultural roles.

A research method combining active participation in a community's musical life with systematic observation and documentation.

A five-note scale found in many musical traditions worldwide, including East Asian, Celtic, West African, and Native American music.

The simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythmic patterns, a prominent feature in sub-Saharan African and Afro-diasporic music.

A melodic framework in Indian classical music specifying a set of pitches, characteristic phrases, and associated moods or times of performance.

Measures aimed at ensuring the viability of intangible cultural heritage, including documentation, transmission, revitalization, and promotion.

The total acoustic environment of a given place, encompassing all audible sounds whether musical, natural, or human-made.

The process of rendering performed music into written or visual notation for purposes of analysis and preservation.