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
The best part of the fortepiano recital? The Beethoven. And then the after party.
FALL WELCOME! Great to see our students back and together for a meet-and-greet, academic program breakouts, lunch in Dickson Court and a town hall to kick things off. Basically, a full day of talking about music and thinking about music. Eventually, we will make some music.
Here’s to a great 2026–27, filled with music, creativity, critical scholarship and hopefully a reasonable amount of sleep. Go Bruins!
FALL WELCOME! Great to see our students back and together for a meet-and-greet, academic program breakouts, lunch in Dickson Court and a town hall to kick things off. Basically, a full day of talking about music and thinking about music. Eventually, we will make some music.
Here’s to a great 2026–27, filled with music, creativity, critical scholarship and hopefully a reasonable amount of sleep. Go Bruins!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Yixuan Jiang (Ethnomusicology PhD `30) writes: This summer in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I had the joy of participating in the 2026 ICTMD Study Group Joint Symposium with the Reviving the Sound of Silk project from Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Over the past three years, our project has explored Jiangnan sizhu through both research and historically informed performance (HIP) practice, including the restoration and revival of historical silk-and-bamboo instruments. At the symposium, members of the Yueyue Ensemble and I performed da-dui-zi, an improvised form of Jiangnan sizhu in which two instruments respond to one another through variations on a shared melody. We were also grateful to welcome Asst. Prof. Dr. Nachaya Natchanawakul, Chair of the Thai and Oriental Music Department at the College of Music, Mahidol University, and Assoc. Prof. Tharanat Hin-on from Khon Kaen University, who kindly visited us during our rehearsal. It was a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas and share our work with colleagues and musicians in Thailand. And special thanks to Tingting Tang for capturing these beautiful moments for us! 🧡
SUMMER DISPATCH | Yixuan Jiang (Ethnomusicology PhD `30) writes: This summer in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I had the joy of participating in the 2026 ICTMD Study Group Joint Symposium with the Reviving the Sound of Silk project from Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Over the past three years, our project has explored Jiangnan sizhu through both research and historically informed performance (HIP) practice, including the restoration and revival of historical silk-and-bamboo instruments. At the symposium, members of the Yueyue Ensemble and I performed da-dui-zi, an improvised form of Jiangnan sizhu in which two instruments respond to one another through variations on a shared melody. We were also grateful to welcome Asst. Prof. Dr. Nachaya Natchanawakul, Chair of the Thai and Oriental Music Department at the College of Music, Mahidol University, and Assoc. Prof. Tharanat Hin-on from Khon Kaen University, who kindly visited us during our rehearsal. It was a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas and share our work with colleagues and musicians in Thailand. And special thanks to Tingting Tang for capturing these beautiful moments for us! 🧡
SUMMER DISPATCH | Paloma Majumder (Ethnomusicology PhD ‘30) writes: I spent the summer between Kolkata and Shantiniketan, meeting scholars, performers, friends, watching performances, and sharing conversations that extended beyond the page. It was a summer of listening, learning, reading, and unexpected encounters. All of it held together by the joy of returning to familiar places and finding new ways of seeing them.
SUMMER DISPATCH | Paloma Majumder (Ethnomusicology PhD ‘30) writes: I spent the summer between Kolkata and Shantiniketan, meeting scholars, performers, friends, watching performances, and sharing conversations that extended beyond the page. It was a summer of listening, learning, reading, and unexpected encounters. All of it held together by the joy of returning to familiar places and finding new ways of seeing them.
SUMMER DISPATCH | Kaia Estabrook (Musicology BA ‘28) writes: I spent my summer on an internship abroad in Hamburg, Germany as a crew member at the Weserlieder Open Air Music Festival! I got to work directly with the festival organizers to learn all of the aspects of putting on a large scale music festival and research so many of the local music scenes around Germany. It was incredible exploring the thriving punk, jazz, folk and electronic music communities (among many many more). They also put a picture of me and some of my crewmates in the German newspaper!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Kaia Estabrook (Musicology BA ‘28) writes: I spent my summer on an internship abroad in Hamburg, Germany as a crew member at the Weserlieder Open Air Music Festival! I got to work directly with the festival organizers to learn all of the aspects of putting on a large scale music festival and research so many of the local music scenes around Germany. It was incredible exploring the thriving punk, jazz, folk and electronic music communities (among many many more). They also put a picture of me and some of my crewmates in the German newspaper!
SUMMER FACULTY DISPATCH | Janice Mautner Markham @janiviolin (Director, Klezmer Music Ensemble) writes: I have had great fun playing with my ensemble, The JAC Trio (Jennifer Wu, viola & Circe Diaz Gamero, cello) as we prepare for High Holidays and a concert in November with Orange County Philharmonic Society. I wrapped year 14 with my wonderful faculty and students at Vox Box Arts Collective’s Caja de Arte camp. It was an honor to play on the stage of the Goldrich Center with my band, Mostly Kosher, at the grand reopening of The Holocaust Museum LA. Another highlight: Participating in the annual convention as a member of the Guild of Temple Musicians in Cleveland. It was a true gift to perform at the historic Maltz Performing Arts Center on the campus of Case Western/Cleveland Institute of Music with my colleagues. Our offsite trip was to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which included 3 fab exhibits: 50 years of music on Saturday Night Live, Revolutionary Women in Music and a Paul McCartney retrospective. And, a bunch of us were in the Hall`s “jam room” for hours! OK, all set for UCLA fall 2026!
SUMMER FACULTY DISPATCH | Janice Mautner Markham @janiviolin (Director, Klezmer Music Ensemble) writes: I have had great fun playing with my ensemble, The JAC Trio (Jennifer Wu, viola & Circe Diaz Gamero, cello) as we prepare for High Holidays and a concert in November with Orange County Philharmonic Society. I wrapped year 14 with my wonderful faculty and students at Vox Box Arts Collective’s Caja de Arte camp. It was an honor to play on the stage of the Goldrich Center with my band, Mostly Kosher, at the grand reopening of The Holocaust Museum LA. Another highlight: Participating in the annual convention as a member of the Guild of Temple Musicians in Cleveland. It was a true gift to perform at the historic Maltz Performing Arts Center on the campus of Case Western/Cleveland Institute of Music with my colleagues. Our offsite trip was to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which included 3 fab exhibits: 50 years of music on Saturday Night Live, Revolutionary Women in Music and a Paul McCartney retrospective. And, a bunch of us were in the Hall`s “jam room” for hours! OK, all set for UCLA fall 2026!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Hannah Cole (Voice Performance MM `28) writes: This shaped up to be a busy and exciting summer! I traveled to British Columbia, Canada, to serve as Alto Section Lead for the National Youth Choir of Canada. Choristers from across Canada met for a week long residency followed by a tour throughout BC. Then, I headed back to my home province, Ontario, to participate in the Scholars program at the Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School. Five Canadian scholars and five UK scholars met for intensive study and performance of one-per-part Renaissance music, followed by acting as mentors to the participants of the main course. Next up, I performed two roles, Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell, in the Canadian opera, “Earnest, The Importance of Being” in Toronto. These two very different roles each presented exciting challenges, and switching between the roles within rehearsals expanded my skills in endurance and adaptability. To wrap up the summer, I performed a concert of arias, art songs, and musical theatre selections at a restaurant/gallery/arts hub in my hometown, Windsor ON. I could not be more excited to join the music community at UCLA!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Hannah Cole (Voice Performance MM `28) writes: This shaped up to be a busy and exciting summer! I traveled to British Columbia, Canada, to serve as Alto Section Lead for the National Youth Choir of Canada. Choristers from across Canada met for a week long residency followed by a tour throughout BC. Then, I headed back to my home province, Ontario, to participate in the Scholars program at the Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School. Five Canadian scholars and five UK scholars met for intensive study and performance of one-per-part Renaissance music, followed by acting as mentors to the participants of the main course. Next up, I performed two roles, Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell, in the Canadian opera, “Earnest, The Importance of Being” in Toronto. These two very different roles each presented exciting challenges, and switching between the roles within rehearsals expanded my skills in endurance and adaptability. To wrap up the summer, I performed a concert of arias, art songs, and musical theatre selections at a restaurant/gallery/arts hub in my hometown, Windsor ON. I could not be more excited to join the music community at UCLA!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Faith Smith (Global Jazz Studies BA ‘30) writes: This summer, I went to the Teagarden Jazz Camp for 2 weeks, where I played violin the 1st week and sang the 2nd week. It was an opportunity to play traditional jazz in the woods with many other amazing musicians from across California. I also got to learn from professionals about the roots and fundamentals of jazz from the 1920s and about how to book regular gigs. I even had the chance to borrow a banjo for the first time and learned/performed Bye Bye Blues on banjo for fun! I’m also a part of The New Traditionalists, which is a youth jazz combo put together by the same foundation that puts together the Teagarden Jazz Camp. We have been playing local gigs this summer, and my last performance with them is during Labor Day Weekend at the Hot Jazz Jubilee Festival. It’s been a fun summer, and I’m looking forward to starting at UCLA soon!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Faith Smith (Global Jazz Studies BA ‘30) writes: This summer, I went to the Teagarden Jazz Camp for 2 weeks, where I played violin the 1st week and sang the 2nd week. It was an opportunity to play traditional jazz in the woods with many other amazing musicians from across California. I also got to learn from professionals about the roots and fundamentals of jazz from the 1920s and about how to book regular gigs. I even had the chance to borrow a banjo for the first time and learned/performed Bye Bye Blues on banjo for fun! I’m also a part of The New Traditionalists, which is a youth jazz combo put together by the same foundation that puts together the Teagarden Jazz Camp. We have been playing local gigs this summer, and my last performance with them is during Labor Day Weekend at the Hot Jazz Jubilee Festival. It’s been a fun summer, and I’m looking forward to starting at UCLA soon!
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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