The Bachelor of Arts in Ethnomusicology explores the rich variety of musical expressions throughout the world by combining hands-on musical experiences with academic study. Students have the opportunity to take 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. The 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. Additionally, students take advantage of the department’s one-of-a-kind world musical instrument collection and expert performance faculty to study the performance of musical traditions from around the globe.
Ethnomusicology
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Guest Artists & Scholars Offer Students Unique Insights from the City of Angels
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.
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Ethnomusicology Student Lauded by Kennedy Center
Isabel Folkers was only four when she unwittingly chanced upon her career trajectory. The occasion was a house party at the home of an Irish family. The band had finished for the night and they were breaking down their equipment. The young Isabel Folkers jumped up on the makeshift stage and took hold of the
For 2023 Undergraduate Student Commencement Speaker, Community is Key
When Yeremiya Wright arrived at UCLA in the Fall of 2019 as a first-year student, he was unaware that a global pandemic was literally right around the corner. Nor was anyone aware of what was in store. “I went home to New Jersey in the Spring quarter of 2020 thinking I would be coming back
Time for the Spring Festival of World Music
It's time for the annual Spring Festival of World Music. Travel the globe with us!
Doctoral Student Breana McCullough Connects Baroque Music and Native American Voices
McCullough has been an apprentice with the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado in 2022-23. She collaborated with the orchestra on their winter concert, re-envisioning a French carol to elevate indigenous perspectives.
Musician, activist, and MacArthur Fellow Martha Gonzalez ’99 to deliver commencement address at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
Martha Gonzalez, who received her bachelor’s degree in ethnomusicology from The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, will be the keynote speaker at the school’s commencement celebration in Dixon Court North on Friday, June 16 at 4 p.m. PT. “We are over the moon that Martha will be joining us to congratulate and inspire the dedicated and
Prominent Advocate for Musical Sustainability to Deliver Regents' Lecture
Musician, scholar, and leading arts director Huib Schippers brings his wealth of experience to UCLA when he delivers the UC Regents’ Lecture as part of his Fall 2022 appointment as Regents’ Professor in the ethnomusicology department of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. The lecture, titled “Sound Futures: Why Some Music Practices Thrive, Many
Oct 15 Sun
4:00pm
Free
Free
world-music
The Anirudh Varma Collective in Concert A concert by the Anirudh Varma Collective (AVC), a contemporary Indian classical ensemble from New Delhi, India. It is led by pianist, composer & producer, Anirudh Varma.
Lani Hall
Oct 27 Fri
1:00pm
Free
Free
lectures-symposia, world-music
Nexus: Ethnomusicology and Education Alan P. Merriam once remarked on the presence of a few scattered teachers in SEM working at the cusp of ethnomusicology, and had referred to them as “sandbox ethnomusicologists.” More recently, there appears to be change of heart within the field of ethnomusicology that includes attention to (1) the musical agency of children (and as such, children as important contributors to the study of music in cultures and communities), (2) teachers as collaborators with ethnomusicologists in school and community work, and (3) research by ethnomusicologists and educators together on pedagogical approaches to the development of intercultural understanding in and through music. I offer observations of ethnomusicology’s evolving commitment, often through collaborative efforts with teachers, to understanding and activating on questions of music, education, and culture for learners of every age, experience, and circumstance.
Zoom
Nov 1 Wed
1:30pm
Free
Free
lectures-symposia
Saffron and Blue: Music and Politicization in Carnatic and Gaana Music Scenes in Chennai Carnatic and Gaana music scenes in the southern Indian city of Chennai circulate starkly distinct political ideologies through different meaning-making practices about caste and the role of politics in music.
Room B544
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