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
Happy Holidays from Michael Beckerman, Dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! Enjoy this festive performance of “Oh Hanukkah,” composed by Mordkhe Rivesman, and may the season bring you peace, joy and light.
#ThisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #Music #HappyHolidays
Happy Holidays from Michael Beckerman, Dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! Enjoy this festive performance of “Oh Hanukkah,” composed by Mordkhe Rivesman, and may the season bring you peace, joy and light.
#ThisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #Music #HappyHolidays
GOOD NEWS, Go Tell It! The African American Music Ensemble of the Department of Ethnomusicology at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music wishes you the very best this holiday season.
“Go Tell It” by John Wesley Work, Jr., arranged by Diane White-Clayton, director of the ensemble.
soloists - Alexis Richmond, Michael Torres
piano - Diane White-Clayton
bass guitar - Dawson Lau
percussion - Dax Corcoran
#thisisuclamusic #ucla #music #happyholidays
GOOD NEWS, Go Tell It! The African American Music Ensemble of the Department of Ethnomusicology at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music wishes you the very best this holiday season.
“Go Tell It” by John Wesley Work, Jr., arranged by Diane White-Clayton, director of the ensemble.
soloists - Alexis Richmond, Michael Torres
piano - Diane White-Clayton
bass guitar - Dawson Lau
percussion - Dax Corcoran
#thisisuclamusic #ucla #music #happyholidays
Happy Holidays from the Piano Studio at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! Sophia Jin and Helen Yuan bring the magic with a four-hands arrangement of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).
See our Full 2025 Holiday Playlist on YouTube. Link in bio.
#ThisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #Music #Piano #NutcrackerSuite#
Happy Holidays from the Piano Studio at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! Sophia Jin and Helen Yuan bring the magic with a four-hands arrangement of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).
See our Full 2025 Holiday Playlist on YouTube. Link in bio.
#ThisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #Music #Piano #NutcrackerSuite#
Maceo’s Daydream
Maceo’s Daydream, an original work by Nina Zipnick and Jonah Lachs, students at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, was performed by the Ginger Smock String Ensemble under the direction of Regina Carter during the Fall Jazz Concerts on November 23, 2025.
Violin: Miles Quale
Harp: Nina Zipnick
Bass: Jonah Lachs
See the whole song on our YouTube channel, @UCLAalpert
Our jazz ensembles perform live concerts three times a year. Visit our event calendar for more information: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/calendar/
#thisisuclamusic #ucla #jazz #newmusic
Maceo’s Daydream
Maceo’s Daydream, an original work by Nina Zipnick and Jonah Lachs, students at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, was performed by the Ginger Smock String Ensemble under the direction of Regina Carter during the Fall Jazz Concerts on November 23, 2025.
Violin: Miles Quale
Harp: Nina Zipnick
Bass: Jonah Lachs
See the whole song on our YouTube channel, @UCLAalpert
Our jazz ensembles perform live concerts three times a year. Visit our event calendar for more information: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/calendar/
#thisisuclamusic #ucla #jazz #newmusic
Happy Holidays from the Tuba & Euphonium Studio! Enjoy this toot-ally definitive rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by master’s student Bradley Stires with his friend Nicholas Gil on guitar, performed during the studio recital on December 8, 2025.
-
Catch this and more holiday favorites from the Tuba/Euphonium studio, under the direction of Aubrey Foard, on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.
Happy Holidays from the Tuba & Euphonium Studio! Enjoy this toot-ally definitive rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by master’s student Bradley Stires with his friend Nicholas Gil on guitar, performed during the studio recital on December 8, 2025.
-
Catch this and more holiday favorites from the Tuba/Euphonium studio, under the direction of Aubrey Foard, on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.
In Case You Missed It... At our Faculty Artist Series concert “Between the Brandenburgs” on November 17, the Camarades String Orchestra gave a stand up performance of Bernard Herrman’s chilling “Psycho Suite.”
-
You can watch the full performance on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.
-
#ThisisUCLAMusic #UCLA #Music #Hitchcock #Psycho
In Case You Missed It... At our Faculty Artist Series concert “Between the Brandenburgs” on November 17, the Camarades String Orchestra gave a stand up performance of Bernard Herrman’s chilling “Psycho Suite.”
-
You can watch the full performance on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.
-
#ThisisUCLAMusic #UCLA #Music #Hitchcock #Psycho
Happy Holidays from the UCLA Klezmer Ensemble! Enjoy their joyful performance of “Khanike iz Freylekh” by Yehoyshue Kaminsky and follow along as the music spills into the hallways of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
Watch the full performance on YouTube. Link in bio.
#thisisuclamusic #ucla #music #klezmer #happyholidays
Happy Holidays from the UCLA Klezmer Ensemble! Enjoy their joyful performance of “Khanike iz Freylekh” by Yehoyshue Kaminsky and follow along as the music spills into the hallways of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
Watch the full performance on YouTube. Link in bio.
#thisisuclamusic #ucla #music #klezmer #happyholidays
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
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.
Related News
Free