B8685 - Methods of Musicological and Ethnomusicological Research (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: - achieves a clear understanding of the different branches of musicology and ethnomusicology and of their mutual differences; - gets to know the main methodological tools of historical and ethnographic research. In terms of skills, this knowledge provides the student with the analytical tools that will allow him/her/them to select the proper methodology for their research subjects and with the linguistic and conceptual tools that will enable him/her/them to discuss them properly.

Course contents

Students enrolled in the year 2024/25 or previous years and who must sit the exam "Musicologia, Filosofia, Estetica" (12 CFU) are requested to send an email to the professor in order to define the programme.

 

 

Methodology of musicological and ethnomusicologial research: histories, debates, current state.

The aim of the course is to make students aware of the contingency and historicity of research methodologies. A first part of the course will retrace the birth of musicology as an academic discipline and the birth of comparative musicology, following their transformation between the Nineteenth and the Twentieth century. We will mention the birth of particularly significant institutions (such as the International Musicological Society, the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music) and the creation of relevant research tools such as major encyclopaedias, and RISM and RILM. 

Some time will be devoted to relevant debates that took place between the Eighties and the Nineties around the notions of the 'work' and the 'canon' and the irruption of the idea of a global musicology.

The last part of the course will be devoted to current debates in both the musicological and ethnomusicological domain, such as: music and race, archives, decolonization. Linked to this part of the course these is a section of the exam bibliography that can be chosen by the students on the basis of their interests.

 

EVERY student will therefore study all of the compulsory bibliography, and in addition will choose one of the suggested themes with its relative reading.

 

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site [https://site/] .unibo.it/tudent-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Readings/Bibliography

Compulsory readings

 

• 1. James Clifford, I frutti puri impazziscono. Etnografia, letteratura e arte nel secolo XX, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 1999 [1988], parte terza, cap. 10 "Sul collezionare arte e natura", pp. 249-288 [the PDF will be uploaded on Virtuale].
  
  
• 2. Miguel Gotor, L'isola di Wikipedia. Una fonte elettronica, in Sergio Luzzatto (a cura di), Prima lezione di metodo storico, Bari, Laterza, 2015 [free online for UniBo students, use AlmaStart to find it]

• 3. Roberto Leydi, L’altra musica, Milano, LIM, 2008, Cap. II “Il musicologo raddoppiato”, pp. 107-182 [1991]. [the PDF will be uploaded on Virtuale]

• 4. Francesco Giannattasio, Il concetto di musica, Roma, Bulzoni, 1998, Cap. I-III [the PDF will be uploaded on Virtuale].

• 5. Giovanni Giuriati, Alcune questioni centrali nel dibattito etnomusicologico contemporaneo: una prospettiva dall’Italia «Il Saggiatore musicale», 23/1, 2016, pp. 103-123. [free online for UniBo students, use AlmaStart to find it]

 

• Choose only ONE of the following main themes:

• What is music?:                                                                 
  

1. Andrew Bowie, What is music, anyway?, in Oxford Handbook of Critical Concepts in Music Theory, a cura di A. Rehding e S. Rings, New York, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp.743-758. [free online for UniBo students, use AlmaStart to find it]                                                 

• Music and musical notation:

1. Nicola Scaldaferri, Perché scrivere le musiche non scritte?, in Enciclopedia della musica, diretta da Jean-Jacques Nattiez, vol. V, Torino, Einaudi, 2005, pp. 499-536. [the PDF will be uploaded on Virtuale]

• Popular music:

1. Richard Middleton, Studiare la popular music, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1994, cap. 4 "Change gonna come? Popular music e musicologia", pp. 151-181. [the PDF will be uploaded on Virtuale. International students can also use the original English version]

• Music and colonialism:

  1. Kofi Agawu, Effetti del colonialismo sulla musica africana, in Enciclopedia della musica, diretta da Jean-Jacques Nattiez, vol. V, Torino, Einaudi, 2005, pp. 5-31. [the PDF will be uploaded on Virtuale]

• Music teory and race:

1. Philipp Ewell, Music Theory and the White Racial Frame, «Music Theory Online», 26/2, 2020, pp. 1-29. [free online]

• Race and vocality:
  

1. Nina Sun Eidsheim, Race and the Aesthetics of Vocal Timbre, in Rethinking Difference in Music Scholarship, a cura di O. Bloechl, M. Lowe, J. Kallberg, Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 338-365. [free online for UniBo students, use AlmaStart to find it]

• Archives and colonialism:

1. Alejandro Madrid, Listening through the Colonial Noise: Things, Sound Objects, and Legacy at the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv’s Konrad T. Preuss Collection, «Journal of the American Musicological Society», 78/1, 2025, pp. 195-239. [free online for UniBo students, use AlmaStart to find it]

• Listener positionality and indigenous studies:

1. Dylan Robinson, Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2020, pp. 1-25 (introduzione). [you can find it in the library]

Teaching methods

Lecturing, discussion

Assessment methods

Written exam. Students will have to answer three open questions relating to the books and the materials of the bibliography in 2 hours time.

The use of AI in any form in preparation to the exam or during the test is strictly prohibited.

 

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Assessment:

EXCELLENT: students achieving an organic vision of the course contents, the use of a proper specific language, a structural and historical-contextual understanding of the studied works, the originality of the reflection

AVERAGE: mechanical or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, not articulated synthesis and analysis capabilities, a correct but not always appropriate language,

BARELY SUFFICIENT: students with minor learning gaps, use of inappropriate language

INSUFFICIENT: major learning gaps, inappropriate language, incomplete reading of the compulsory books.

 

12 cfu Exam recording

This is one of the two modules of the "metodi della ricerca" exam. The student will have to sit two different exams, a written one with me, and an oral one with prof. Elena Randi. You have to enroll in the exam for each module. The exam will be recorded once the student has passed both exams.

 

Teaching tools

Files shared on Virtuale.

Among these files you can find all the chapters from the Enciclopedia della musica Einaudi that have been included in the bibliography.

Office hours

See the website of Maria Semi