The MA/PhD in Ethnomusicology investigates music in cultural and social contexts. In preparing students for careers in studying global music communities, our program assists students in understanding music as social practice from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Students are introduced to the intellectual history of the field and its paradigmatic shifts, and research methodology in preparation for ethnographic fieldwork. Our ethnomusicology program seeks to prepare students for careers in the academy, public sector, the music industry, and/or cultural heritage policy-making. We also offer seminars in select global music cultures as well as topics, which examine music as related to gender, politics, religion, economics, philosophy, aesthetics, and musical practice.
Ethnomusicology
Master of Arts / PhD
Global Music
Cultures
Take a walk with oboe performance major Cayden Bloomer as he hits the practice room, the reed-making studio, and Philharmonia rehearsal.
A Day in the Life of a Student at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
#ThisisUCLAMusic #DayintheLife #studentperspectives
Take a walk with oboe performance major Cayden Bloomer as he hits the practice room, the reed-making studio, and Philharmonia rehearsal.
A Day in the Life of a Student at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
#ThisisUCLAMusic #DayintheLife #studentperspectives
The UCLA Symphonic Band performs for the first time this academic year and the first time with conductor Justin McManus, recently appointed director of athletic bands, associate director of bands, and assistant professor of music. The program includes new and old works for concert band by Katahj Copley, Brooke Pierson, Jodie Blackshaw, Frank Ticheli, and Dmitry Shostakovich. The UCLA Wind Ensemble follows with a program built around a transcription of Carl Orff’s thrilling choral-orchestral masterwork Carmina Burana. Other works include Kimberly Archer’s Fanfare Politeia, composed for the 59th Presidential Inauguration; James M. David’s Urban Light, a musical homage to the iconic artwork in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and a beautiful Meditation by UCLA alumnus and faculty member Dwayne Milburn.
Concert is free and open to the public.
-
đź“… Friday, December 5
đź•’ 8:00 p.m.
đź“Ť Schoenberg Hall
-
For more information, see the event page. Link in bio.
#thisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #music ‌
The UCLA Symphonic Band performs for the first time this academic year and the first time with conductor Justin McManus, recently appointed director of athletic bands, associate director of bands, and assistant professor of music. The program includes new and old works for concert band by Katahj Copley, Brooke Pierson, Jodie Blackshaw, Frank Ticheli, and Dmitry Shostakovich. The UCLA Wind Ensemble follows with a program built around a transcription of Carl Orff’s thrilling choral-orchestral masterwork Carmina Burana. Other works include Kimberly Archer’s Fanfare Politeia, composed for the 59th Presidential Inauguration; James M. David’s Urban Light, a musical homage to the iconic artwork in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and a beautiful Meditation by UCLA alumnus and faculty member Dwayne Milburn.
Concert is free and open to the public.
-
đź“… Friday, December 5
đź•’ 8:00 p.m.
đź“Ť Schoenberg Hall
-
For more information, see the event page. Link in bio.
#thisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #music ‌
Beethoven Times Three! Catch UCLA Symphony’s Fall Concert featuring the dazzling “Triple Concerto” with Gaby Sipen (piano), Adam Millstein (violin), and Jeffrey Ho (cello). Plus Samuel Barber’s overture for “The School for Scandal,” Manuel de Falla’s Three Dances from “El Sombrero de Tres Picos” (“The Three-Cornered Hat”), and more. The orchestra will be conducted by two of our outstanding graduate conducting students, Oliver Chan and Gan Xiong. This is one fall performance you’ll want a front row seat for!‌
-
đź“… Wednesday, December 3
đź•’ 8:00 P.M.
đź“Ť Schoenberg Hall
-
For more information, see the event page. Link in bio.
#thisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #music ‌
Beethoven Times Three! Catch UCLA Symphony’s Fall Concert featuring the dazzling “Triple Concerto” with Gaby Sipen (piano), Adam Millstein (violin), and Jeffrey Ho (cello). Plus Samuel Barber’s overture for “The School for Scandal,” Manuel de Falla’s Three Dances from “El Sombrero de Tres Picos” (“The Three-Cornered Hat”), and more. The orchestra will be conducted by two of our outstanding graduate conducting students, Oliver Chan and Gan Xiong. This is one fall performance you’ll want a front row seat for!‌
-
đź“… Wednesday, December 3
đź•’ 8:00 P.M.
đź“Ť Schoenberg Hall
-
For more information, see the event page. Link in bio.
#thisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #music ‌
Need plans for tonight? The UCLA Chinese Music Ensemble, directed by Professor Chi Li, performs its annual Fall concert featuring traditional and contemporary music, including Chinese opera aria, zheng unison, qin unison, folk dance, and silk-and-bamboo music.
🗓️ Saturday, November 22‌
🕚 5:00 PM‌
📍‌Schoenberg Hall‌‌‌‌
‌‌
Concert is free and open to the public.
-
For more information, see the event page. Link in bio.
#thisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #music
Need plans for tonight? The UCLA Chinese Music Ensemble, directed by Professor Chi Li, performs its annual Fall concert featuring traditional and contemporary music, including Chinese opera aria, zheng unison, qin unison, folk dance, and silk-and-bamboo music.
🗓️ Saturday, November 22‌
🕚 5:00 PM‌
📍‌Schoenberg Hall‌‌‌‌
‌‌
Concert is free and open to the public.
-
For more information, see the event page. Link in bio.
#thisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #music
BACKSTAGE WITH: The Ginger Smock Jazz Ensemble, rehearsing Maceo’s Daydream by Nina Mei Zepnick 🎶
Catch it live during The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s three days of jazz concerts. Performances of everything from swing to contemporary. Featuring Hitomi Obi’s Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, Hitomi Obi’s Charles Mingus Ensemble, Charley Harrison’s Jazz Orchestra, combos led by Duane Benjamin, Clayton Cameron, Roberto Miranda, Duane Benjamin’s Commercial Music Ensemble, and the Herbie Hancock Jazz Ensemble.
🗓️ Sun, Nov 23 · 4 PM
🗓️ Mon, Nov 24 · 7 PM
🗓️ Tue, Nov 25 · 7 PM
đź“Ť Schoenberg Hall
For more information and to RSVP, visit our link in bio.
#Jazz #ucla #thisisuclamusic
BACKSTAGE WITH: The Ginger Smock Jazz Ensemble, rehearsing Maceo’s Daydream by Nina Mei Zepnick 🎶
Catch it live during The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s three days of jazz concerts. Performances of everything from swing to contemporary. Featuring Hitomi Obi’s Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, Hitomi Obi’s Charles Mingus Ensemble, Charley Harrison’s Jazz Orchestra, combos led by Duane Benjamin, Clayton Cameron, Roberto Miranda, Duane Benjamin’s Commercial Music Ensemble, and the Herbie Hancock Jazz Ensemble.
🗓️ Sun, Nov 23 · 4 PM
🗓️ Mon, Nov 24 · 7 PM
🗓️ Tue, Nov 25 · 7 PM
đź“Ť Schoenberg Hall
For more information and to RSVP, visit our link in bio.
#Jazz #ucla #thisisuclamusic
Come along with musicology major Angie Lee as she crosses campus for class, studies the original Henry Mancini Pink Panther score, and fuels up with her favorite matcha at the café.
A Day in the Life of a Student at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
#ThisisUCLAMusic #DayintheLife #studentperspectives
Come along with musicology major Angie Lee as she crosses campus for class, studies the original Henry Mancini Pink Panther score, and fuels up with her favorite matcha at the café.
A Day in the Life of a Student at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
#ThisisUCLAMusic #DayintheLife #studentperspectives
BEHIND THE SCENES—how do you bring Henry James’s terrifying story to life? Step into the costume shop with Jimena Soto Mejia, MFA candidate at UCLA’s School for Theater, Film, and Television, as she creates the looks that will help transform this haunting tale for the stage.
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and Opera UCLA presents Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of The Screw. RSVP today! Link in bio.
Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 23, 2:00 p.m.
Freud Playhouse, UCLA
Free and Open to the Public
Photo 1: Miles
Photo 2: Collage of Jimena at work in the costume shop.
Photos 3-4: Miles.
Photo 5: The governess’s veil.
Photo 6: Peter Quint’s overcoat.
BEHIND THE SCENES—how do you bring Henry James’s terrifying story to life? Step into the costume shop with Jimena Soto Mejia, MFA candidate at UCLA’s School for Theater, Film, and Television, as she creates the looks that will help transform this haunting tale for the stage.
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and Opera UCLA presents Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of The Screw. RSVP today! Link in bio.
Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 23, 2:00 p.m.
Freud Playhouse, UCLA
Free and Open to the Public
Photo 1: Miles
Photo 2: Collage of Jimena at work in the costume shop.
Photos 3-4: Miles.
Photo 5: The governess’s veil.
Photo 6: Peter Quint’s overcoat.
Alumna Dakota Dry (Ethnomusicology, 2024) announces the release of her debut album. Produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer Eva Reistad (Dune, Naked Gun), The Edge of Our Never Ending Universe is an emotionally sweeping debut album set for release November 20, 2025. The album takes listeners into a cinematic yet intimate world centered around Dry’s poetry and emotional vocals. The first three singles are available to stream.
Alumna Dakota Dry (Ethnomusicology, 2024) announces the release of her debut album. Produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer Eva Reistad (Dune, Naked Gun), The Edge of Our Never Ending Universe is an emotionally sweeping debut album set for release November 20, 2025. The album takes listeners into a cinematic yet intimate world centered around Dry’s poetry and emotional vocals. The first three singles are available to stream.
David Castañeda
“I enjoyed the connections that I made with my colleagues who have now become family, seeing my approach as a researcher develop substantially in such a short amount of time, and most of all the opportunity to grow as an instructor and educator.” – David Castañeda Ph.D. ’21 | Ethnomusicology
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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