Study of music and origin offered through ethnomusicology

The method behind the madness of creating music is what keeps the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology alive at IU. Students in the program travel and learn about diverse forms of music while earning a degree.\nLocated at 504 N. Fess Ave., the ethnomusicology program is one of the oldest in the country. It gives students the chance to dive deeper into the meaning of music with a hands-on approach and endless resources. \n"We're interested in how people create music and how people create meaning in music," said Department Chair Ruth Stone.\nEthnomusicology, the study of music and the role it plays in people's lives and cultures, is a relatively new discipline. In 1948 a course called "Folk and Primitive Music" was offered through the anthropology department. After that, more classes began to surface and the subject area eventually developed into its own program in 2000, when the Ethnomusicology Institute was created under the College of Arts and Sciences.\nThe institute conducts research and offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Ethnomusicology coursework at IU is complimented by a variety of fieldwork experiences that send students around the world.\nStudents travel the world to observe, analyze and document different types of music and also become members of a new community. Doctoral candidate Jessica Anderson-Turner spent last year in Guangxi, a province of southern China. While there she focused her study on how music was involved with new tourist sites. \n"You're getting a whole idea of a place and a community you're studying. You really have to understand the culture and the environment, and the political system is important, (too)," Turner said. \nFieldwork is about more than the music itself -- it's about the community in which the music exists. Sometimes that community can be close to a researcher's own home. Mark Miyake is a doctoral candidate concentrating on the study of bluegrass music, which has a rich culture in Indiana and surrounding states. Miyake's research is an example of how ethnomusicology isn't restricted to studying music from foreign countries.\n"With ethnomusicology, it's not just music from far away places. The stereotype is studying (something like) traditional African drumming," Miyake said. "Gangster rap is just as much a part of the field." \nMiyake and Turner both teach undergraduate courses and plan on working at a college or university after completing their degrees. Ethnomusicology students, however, pursue a variety of different careers. Many find careers with museums or libraries, and some work as consultants in a broad range of fields. \nRonda Sewald is earning her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and library science. She focuses on making music and research available to the public. She works at the Archives of Traditional Music in Morrison Hall, which is the largest university-based ethnographic sound archives in the country. \nIU is also home to the Sound and Video Analysis and Instruction Laboratory, as well as the Archives of African American Music and Culture. \n"A lot of what researchers do, also, is produce recordings, videos and ethnographies, and then make these resources available to the public," Sewald said. "The more you study the music people are making, the more wonderful it all is." \nFor more information, visit the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology's Web site at www.indiana.edu/~folklore/index.htm. \n-- Contact staff writer Leigh Johnson at elljohns@indiana.edu.