What is Ethnomusicology?

Ethnomusicology involves the study of all kinds of music from all over the world, using a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The Department of Ethnomusicology, the largest and first of its kind in a U.S. university, offers courses that cover the music of virtually every region of the world and of many ethnic groups in the U.S., as well as courses on popular music and film music. Most courses combine an interest in music as an art form with questions about how musical art and practice relate to other aspects of culture, society, politics, and economics. Courses are also given on the philosophy and aesthetics of music. In addition to lecture courses, the department offers performance ensemble courses in several world and American music traditions.

The Department of Ethnomusicology is aligned with the departments of Music Performance, Education, and Composition, and Musicology and aspires to promote productive collaboration between performance and scholarship, a cross-cultural global understanding of the art of music, and preparatory training for a broad range of careers in music after students graduate.

Textura Magazine just named "Serenade with a Dandelion" one of the top twenty classical albums (quartet, ensemble or orchestral category). The 4 disc set was the vision of Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian and features UCLA faculty Jan Berry Baker and Che-Yen Chen. Textura praised the compilation as "extremely accessible" and "a stunning act of curation... [that] captures the incredible richness of Armenian music, past and present."
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Available for purchase and streaming on all major platforms.

Textura Magazine just named "Serenade with a Dandelion" one of the top twenty classical albums (quartet, ensemble or orchestral category). The 4 disc set was the vision of Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian and features UCLA faculty Jan Berry Baker and Che-Yen Chen. Textura praised the compilation as "extremely accessible" and "a stunning act of curation... [that] captures the incredible richness of Armenian music, past and present."
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Available for purchase and streaming on all major platforms.
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Fivemind Reeds joins the UCLA Wind Ensemble for an eclectic concert featuring works by Charles Ives, Clara Schumann, David Biedenbender‌, Leonard Bernstein, Gustov Holst, Arnold Schoenberg and more. 
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 8:00 PM
SCHOENBERG HALL
link in bio
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#ThisIsUCLAMusic

Fivemind Reeds joins the UCLA Wind Ensemble for an eclectic concert featuring works by Charles Ives, Clara Schumann, David Biedenbender‌, Leonard Bernstein, Gustov Holst, Arnold Schoenberg and more.
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 8:00 PM
SCHOENBERG HALL
link in bio
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#ThisIsUCLAMusic
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UCLA Philharmonia celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Ives and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner with this concert of visionary musical landscapes.
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 8:00 PM
SCHOENBERG HALL
https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/event/ucla-philharmonia-december-2024/
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#ThisIsUCLAMusic #Schoenberg150

UCLA Philharmonia celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Ives and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner with this concert of visionary musical landscapes.
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 8:00 PM
SCHOENBERG HALL
https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/event/ucla-philharmonia-december-2024/
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#ThisIsUCLAMusic #Schoenberg150
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Join us for Camarades, "the music of friends," our string area's chamber ensembles, for their concert celebrating the holiday season.
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 7:00 PM
ENSEMBLE ROOM, OSTIN MUSIC CENTER
(link in bio)
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#Camarades #ThisIsUCLAMusic #ChamberMusic

Join us for Camarades, "the music of friends," our string area`s chamber ensembles, for their concert celebrating the holiday season.
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 7:00 PM
ENSEMBLE ROOM, OSTIN MUSIC CENTER
(link in bio)
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#Camarades #ThisIsUCLAMusic #ChamberMusic
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Join the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as we welcome violinist Yevgeny Kutik for a special guest lecture about his ongoing recital projects that explore his experience as part of the Eastern-European Jewish diaspora.
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 4:00 PM
LANI HALL
link in bio
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#ThisIsUCLAMusic

Join the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as we welcome violinist Yevgeny Kutik for a special guest lecture about his ongoing recital projects that explore his experience as part of the Eastern-European Jewish diaspora.
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 4:00 PM
LANI HALL
link in bio
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#ThisIsUCLAMusic
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The UCLA Symphony performs works by Berlioz, Charles Tomlinson Griffes and Frank Martin in a concert that concludes with Respighi's rapturous "Fountains of Rome."
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 8:00 PM
SCHOENBERG HALL
link in bio
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#ThisIsUCLAMusic #Symphony

The UCLA Symphony performs works by Berlioz, Charles Tomlinson Griffes and Frank Martin in a concert that concludes with Respighi`s rapturous "Fountains of Rome."
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 8:00 PM
SCHOENBERG HALL
link in bio
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#ThisIsUCLAMusic #Symphony
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Nothing says holidays quite like a woodwind concert--join us for an evening of wonderful music in intimate Lani Hall.
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 6:00 PM
LANI HALL
link in bio
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#Woodwinds #ThisIsUCLAMusic

Nothing says holidays quite like a woodwind concert--join us for an evening of wonderful music in intimate Lani Hall.
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 6:00 PM
LANI HALL
link in bio
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#Woodwinds #ThisIsUCLAMusic
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The UCLA choirs present the annual “Choral Holiday” presentation: the perfect way to begin the holiday season!
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 8:00 PM
St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church
link in bio
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#UCLAChoral #ThisIsUCLAMusic

The UCLA choirs present the annual “Choral Holiday” presentation: the perfect way to begin the holiday season!
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 8:00 PM
St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church
link in bio
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#UCLAChoral #ThisIsUCLAMusic
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“The school of music is a vibrant place filled with people from various musical backgrounds. Learning about different musical traditions changed my understanding of the role of music in different cultures.”

Ethnomusicology Faculty

Supeena Adler
Adjunct Associate Professor - Ethnomusicology, World Music Instrument Curator and Conservator, Director of Music of Thailand Ensemble;
Francis Kofi Akotuah
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music and Dance of Ghana Ensemble
Sumeet Anand
Visiting Associate Professor
Münir Beken
Associate Professor - Ethnomusicology (World Music Theory and Composition), Director of Music of Turkey Ensemble
Marc T. Gaspard Bolin
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology (History of Jazz)
David Bragger
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Old-Time String Band Ensemble
Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy
Adjunct Professor - Ethnomusicology (Folk and Classical Music of South Asia; Bollywood)
Jesús Guzmán
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of Mexico Ensemble
Pejman Hadadi
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Co-Director of Music of Persia Ensemble
Gamin Kang
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of Korea Ensemble
Abhiman Kaushal
Adjunct Professor - Ethnomusicology, Co-Director of Music of India Ensemble
Cheryl L. Keyes
Professor - Global Jazz Studies and Ethnomusicology (Contemporary Jazz, Hip Hop)
Mark Kligman
Mickey Katz Chair of Jewish Music and Professor - Musicology, Ethnomusicology, and Humanities, Director of Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience
Chi Li
Adjunct Professor - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of China Ensemble
Guangming Li
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Chinese Instrumental Music
Steven Loza
Professor - Global Jazz Studies, Ethnomusicology, Director of the UCLA Center for Latino Arts
Janice Mautner Markham
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Klezmer Music Ensemble
Mohsen Mohammadi
Director of Indo-Persian Music
Anna Morcom
Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music, Professor - Ethnomusicology
Soheil Nadimi
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Co-Director of Music of Persia Ensemble
Behzad Nadimi
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Co-Director of Music of Persia Ensemble
Rahul Neuman
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Co-Director of Music of India Ensemble
Helen Rees
Professor - Ethnomusicology, Director of World Music Center (Music of China, Intangible Cultural Heritage in East Asia)
Robert F. Reigle
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology (Musical Cultures of the World: Europe and the Americas)
Maureen Russell
Adjunct Professor - Ethnomusicology (Audiovisual Archiving), Archivist of the Ethnomusicology Archive
Roger Savage
Professor and Chair of Ethnomusicology
Miles Shrewsbery
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Music of India Ensemble
Joko Sutrisno
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of Java Ensemble
Timothy D. Taylor
Professor - Ethnomusicology (Popular Musics, World Music, Cultural Theory)
I Nyoman Wenten
Adjunct Associate Professor - Ethnomusicology, Director of Music of Bali Ensemble
Diane White-Clayton
Lecturer - Ethnomusicology, Director of African American Music Ensemble
Guest Artists & Scholars Offer Students Unique Insights

A stream of high-profile artists and scholars from around the world have energized and inspired our students, helping to transform their educational experience. Among them are J.H. Kwabena Nketia, considered Africa’s premier musicologist/ethnomusicologist; Akin Euba, a Nigerian composer, musicologist, and pianist; MacArthur Fellow Steven Feld, an American ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, and linguist, who worked for many years with the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea; Judith Becker, professor emerita of ethnomusicology, University of Michigan; Mark Slobin, the author or editor of books on Afghanistan and Central Asia, eastern European Jewish music, film music, and ethnomusicology theory; Chano Dominguez, award-winning Spanish-born pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and Hossein Omoumi, a scholar and teacher of Persian traditional music, among others.

Hossein Omoumi Hossein Omoumi Hossein Omoumi

Ethnomusicology News

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Cheryl L. Keyes's "Sundiata Keita Overture" Wins Global Music Award
Cheryl L. Keyes, professor of ethnomusicology and global jazz studies and chair of the African American studies department, was recently awarded the silver medal in the Global Music Awards for her “Sundiata Keita Overture.” The overture received its world premiere in Royce Hall on June 5 during a multimedia event, “Prelude to Juneteenth.”
Sumeet Anand Pandey Brings Dhrupad Music, Indian Traditions to UCLA
The Daily Bruin interviewed Sumeet Anand Pandley, in residence at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as a Fulbright Working Fellow in the Fall of 2024.
Ethnomusicology Archive Adds African American History Photographs to Online Collection
The Ethnomusicology Archive holds the Bette Cox collection and is thrilled to announce that the still images relating to African American music and culture in Los Angeles are now available online on the Ethnomusicology Archive channel on California Revealed.
Mariachi de Uclatlán on Spectrum One News
LOS ANGELES — With the largest Latino population in the country, it’s no surprise that California would host the first mariachi with academic and professional training outside of Mexico.  That’s why
Summer Dispatches from Students, Faculty & Alumni, 2024
Our students, faculty and alums have had a busy summer. We’ve been collecting their dispatches from Italy to Mongolia, from the Hollywood Bowl to Mannheim, Germany, from South Korea to
Ethnomusicology Graduate Student Wins American Institute of Indian Studies Fellowship
Mukesh Kulriya was named one of the American Institute of Indian Studies Fellows for 2024-25. The American Institute of Indian Studies provides fellowships for advanced graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and junior faculty, and named 31 fellows for 2024-25, 16 of whom were graduate students. Kulriya is the recipient of the Thomas W. Simons Fellowship

Explore Our Degrees

Conducting
Graduate study and training in choral, orchestral, or wind conducting
Ethnomusicology
The study of global musical traditions through performance training, research, and field work
Global Jazz Studies
Jazz performance and musicianship courses are paired with African American Studies
Music Composition
Mentorship in the creation and realization of music for concerts, opera, and visual media
Music Education
Preparation for music educators leading to a BA and teaching credential in just four years
Music Industry
A leadership-focused professional degree which prepares students to transform the creative, entrepreneurial, and executive structures of the music industry
Musicology
The scholarly study of the histories, cultures, and critical interpretations of music and music-making
Music Performance
Study and training towards professional performance careers in Western classical music