Musicology

Lore & Background

The word musicology comes from Greek μουσική mousikē 'music' and -λογια -logia, '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, but also cultural anthropology. This was influenced by Hegel's ideas on ordering 'phenomena' which can be understood and distinguished from simple to complex stages of evolution. They are further classified into primitive and developed sections; whereas the particular stages of history are understood and distinguished as ancient to modern. Comparative methods became more widespread in musicology beginning around 1880.

In Their Own Story

The studio lights at Paisley Park hummed a low amber glow past two in the morning. Prince sat at the mixing console with his sleeves rolled up, a half-eaten sandwich on the monitor, headphones around his neck. The tape was rolling on take eleven of the title track, and he kept stopping it, muttering, 'Not yet. It's not saying the thing it needs to say.' The engineer, a young kid from Minneapolis who'd been shadowing sessions for three weeks, didn't dare breathe. Outside, the Minnesota dark pressed against the windows. Inside, a Rhodes piano was still warm from the last take, and the smell of coffee and rosin filled the air. Prince finally nodded, hit record again, and played a chord progression that made the kid's chest ache in a way he couldn't name. 'That,' Prince said quietly, pulling the headphones off. 'That's the musicology. That's the study of why we do this.' The tape kept rolling. Nobody moved for a long time.

Reader's Guide

Musicology is traditionally divided into three branches: music history, systematic musicology, and ethnomusicology. Historical musicologists study the history of musical traditions, the origins of works, and the biographies of composers. Ethnomusicologists draw from anthropology (particularly field research) to understand how and why people make music. Systematic musicology includes music theory, aesthetics, pedagogy, musical acoustics, the science and technology of musical instruments (organology), and the musical implications of physiology, psychology, sociology, philosophy and computing. Cognitive musicology is the set of phenomena surrounding the cognitive modeling of music. When musicologists carry out research using computers, their research often falls under the field of computational musicology. Music therapy 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.

Did You Know?

• Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, formal sciences and computer science.
• The parent disciplines of musicology include general history, cultural studies, philosophy, ethnology, archaeology, psychology, physiology, acoustics, and information sciences.
• New musicology is a term applied since the late 1980s to a wide body of work emphasizing cultural study, analysis and criticism of music.