The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-One Issues and Concepts

by Bruno Nettl

The first edition of this book, The Study of Ethnomusicology: Twenty-Nine Issues and Concepts, has become a classic in the field. This revised edition, written twenty-two years after the original, continues the tradition of providing engagingly written analysis that offers the most comprehensive discussion of the field available anywhere. 

This book looks at the field of ethnomusicology--defined as the study of the world's musics from a comparative perspective, and the study of all music from an anthropological perspective--as a field of research. Nettl selects thirty-one concepts and issues that have been the subjects of continuing debate by ethnomusicologists, and he adds four entirely new chapters and thoroughly updates the text to reflect new developments and concerns in the field.                
                                   
Each chapter looks at its subject historically and goes on to make its points with case studies, many taken from Nettl's own field experience. Drawing extensively on his field research in the Middle East, Western urban settings, and North American Indian societies, as well as on a critical survey of the available literature, Nettl advances our understanding of both the diversity and universality of the world's music. This revised edition's four new chapters deal with the doing and writing of musical ethnography, the scholarly study of instruments, aspects of women's music and women in music, and the ethnomusicologist's study of his or her own culture.
 

Genres: Music, Anthropology, Nonfiction, Academic, Theory

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Bruno Nettl is professor emeritus of music and anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. An internationally renowned musicologist, he is both a founder and past president of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the author of many books.

Reviews

[Yode]

This is Bruno Nettl's post-hoc discussion of his many years of experience in studying different musics. What is particularly interesting about it, possibly to the dismay of some, is that it each chapter doesn't state his theory of the issues and concepts, but instead works as a history of the field. He offers a lot of different view points, counter arguments for each, and leaves me, the reader, slightly confused but armed with banter for cocktail parties. A good example of what I mean can be found in the chapter about music notation systems. He discusses it starting with the context in which it became an issue in the late 1800s, then what assumptions about notation exist in our culture. He continues to describe attempted solutions and ends with where we are today. (Which is questionable.)

All this and 30 more topics! Hurrah!

[Tyler]

As close to a Bible of the field as we will likely get.

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amadou Hampâté Bâ said, "When an old man dies, it's a library burning." This proverb has been repeated so often in recent years that it's become almost stale and trite. However, when Bruno Nettl dies, we ethnomusicologists will think of this proverb and mourn his passing. I read more, and more widely, than anyone I know personally, but when I read Nettl's writing, such as The Study of Ethnomusicology, I feel like I've found a kindred spirit, someone to look up to and to be more like. As I read this third edition of The Study of Ethnomusicology, I was amazed at Nettl's wide range of reading, and his ability not only to recall details from what he reads, but also to synthesize the details into the big picture. His facility is rare even among academics.

Nettl was one of the original generation of ethnomusicologists, from its founding in 1955. He wrote one of the first major texts trying to chart the path for ethnomusicology (the other major books were by Alan Merriam and Mantle Hood, often referenced here by Nettl; in this present book Nettl seems particularly conscious of the spirit of Merriam looking over his shoulder). Fieldwork has taken him to the Middle East, North America, Europe, and Asia, and conferences and speaking engagements have probably taken him to a large number of countries on all continents. He is one of a kind, and I'm glad he has given so much time in the past decade to writing about the beginnings of ethnomusicology as a field, and its subsequent development.

Though I've never met Nettl (once he was in a conference session in which I was a presenter . . . and he stood up and walked out just before I began my presentation), I feel a closeness to him because the first book I ever read about ethnomusicology was the original edition of The Study of Ethnomusicology. I was at a college that had no ethno program, and for some reason I had an idea that I wanted to go on to grad school in ethnomusicology. Reading Nettl confirmed it. In hindsight, I have no regrets about that decision that has led me through the adventurous, interesting, never-the-same-day-twice life that I dreamed of. So even though he'll never know it, I owe Nettl my gratitude.

The Study of Ethnomusicology continued to be a useful source for many years after its initial publication, and I was excited when a second edition was announced for 2005. The original "29 Issues and Concepts" grew to 31, and the chapters were not simply expanded or revised, but entirely reconfigured. I used the 2nd edition for class reading assignments whenever I had the opportunity to teach in a grad school setting, and it has been a great discussion starter. Then in 2015, I was surprised by a 3rd edition--now "Discussions" rather than "Issues and Trends," and numbering 33 instead of 31. The new edition adds about 40 pages, but Nettl being Nettl, it also rearranges what was there before, so that the chapters do not line up precisely with the previous edition. (I suspect Nettl just enjoys imagining college professors scrambling to adjust their syllabuses to the new edition.)

The 2015 edition is the best yet. I haven't done side-by-side comparisons to determine exactly how much has been changed, but as I read this time I just felt like the tone was better than the previous edition. An example: in the previous edition I felt Nettl was too dismissive of the idea of musical endangerment or the loss of music traditions. In the new edition, he seems to have adjusted his views, allowing that in some cases this really is happening, and that it is not a neutral occurrence. Also, throughout this edition I had the feeling that Nettl was more conscious of giving us his own individual perspective. Over and over he restates that these are just his opinions, the way he sees the world. The final few chapters are a casual, conversational way of showing the read what it was like to be an ethnomusicologist from the time that word was created. I loved it.

In some places, his musings seem to lose the connection to the main point, or to contradict what he's said elsewhere. Three examples: one of his main points throughout the book is that ethnomusicology is by nature a comparative discipline, and this distinction should not be lost in our (somewhat obsessive and excessive) redefining of the field. But then in the chapter on applied ethnomusicology, he is happy to accept almost any form of applied ethno (such as medical ethnomusicology) as "ethnomusicology," without any mention of its contribution toward comparison. Second: in the final chapter, he jokingly mocks academics' tendency to give two-part titles to their works (an attention-getting, sometimes humorous initial title; then a colon; and then a title that says what the paper is really about)--which I completely agree with, even while I chuckle at Nettl, who has done exactly that with every chapter in the book! And third, I was surprised that in his chapter about archiving (chapter 12) he didn't discuss the idea of metadata tagging as the contemporary solution to sorting and categorizing. I assume that Nettl has read authors such as David Weinberger on this topic, but Nettl's chapter seems to end at about the late 1990s, rather than bringing the discussion right up the present.

These are small criticisms of a book that I really like. I am grateful for Nettl's continued offering of his perspective on ethnomusicology. The musings meander through the history of ethnomusicology, from its roots in the 19th century through the present day. Nettl is truly a kind of ethnomusicology library, and while no book can contain the total of his experiences and knowledge, the field is much richer for what he has given us in the venerable "red book," The Study of Ethnomusicology.

[Tomas Serrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very long read but it was all worth it. This book is a groundbreaking masterpiece. It is an overview of the ideas of a man who lived for his passion and inspired roughly every contemporary ethnomusicologist. Nettl died just before the pandemic started. This book gave me rare and valuable insights about the most important concepts in ethnomusicology. The examples of his fieldwork experiences with Blackfeet music, Carnatic music and Iranian music were very fascinating. Thanks for the inspiration 🙏 RIP

[Steve Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many anthropologists, Nettl is sometimes aloof and elitist, but his observations ring true and he's not afraid to turn a critical eye upon "western music", and himself, once in a while. Often humorous and completely interesting, this is definitely a good read for anyone interested in how music affects society, and vice versa.

[Kraig Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was overjoyed when Daid Cotner sent me a copy of this book. i knew this Author from years ago doing pioneering work looking at African music. he is quite concise in getting into the heartof what is happening in the field from someone who has watched in grow.

[rae diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, there are some interesting nuggets of thought, and it's well written, but i am simply not too interested in the inner workings of the the ethnomusicological society.

[Mills College Library]

780.89 N475s 2015