# Can i get some advise please



## ENA (Apr 25, 2009)

I would like to go into Musicology and Ethnomusicology but I do not have any idea what careers I can go into if I study that.


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## Scott Good (Jun 8, 2009)

ENA said:


> I would like to go into Musicology and Ethnomusicology but I do not have any idea what careers I can go into if I study that.


Hello,

I can't be an authority on this, but like any historian, a major part of the path of this career would be researching, publishing articles, and teaching.

One could also delve into writing reviews, and general journalism as well.

It's a long and competitive path! Most of the successful musicologists I know really love their subject, and were prepared to put in many years at University. But as I said, they really love their subject, so, it is a labour of love = good thing!


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Ethnomusicology? What musical traditions are you interested in?


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## danae (Jan 7, 2009)

Scott Good is quite right. 

I studied both Musicology and Ethnomusicology and what I can tell you is that if you're interested in music itself (performing or creating it), then these types of career have nothing to do with this.

Musicologists spend their time studying composers and works and writing about them. It's purely theoretical. As a musicologist, you can be creative using words, not notes. 

Ethnomusicology seems to be more interesting, in the sense that it includes field research, extensive field research. But then again, isn't it more interesting to be the object of observation rather than the subject? -the musician rather than the reasercher? -the observed rather than the observer?

Furthermore, there are recent (post-1970) trends in Ethnomusicology: 1) there's an effort for a more explicit philosophical backround, meaning that Ethnomusicology as a science is delving more and more into itself, questioning the polarity of the roles of the observer and the observed, and 
2) Ethnomusicology -or Anthropology of Music- is now more concerned with the anthropo- and less with the ethno- aspect, which means that ethnomusicologists no longer have to travel to far away lands for field research into a different ethnic enviroment and culture, since they can achieve the goals of this science even when they 're researching their own neighbourhood. All this means: the exotic element is no longer a factor in Music Anthropology.


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## ENA (Apr 25, 2009)

*Thank You All Who Responded*

I first want to say sorry for the lack of information when i posted and thank everyone who responded from the bottom of my heart. I am a senior in high school trying to find a career. Furthermore, i would like to study all music traditions. I love history and i do love playing viola but i do not like being in the spotlight. I want a great career so i can support myself when i join an orchestra after schooling. The careers for playing a musical instrument are not what i am looking for so i figured i could find something that included my history hobby and my love for studying cultures while involving my true passion for music. Is Eastman University in Rochester, New York a decent school to study musicology and ethnomusicology, if not what is a great college to go to?


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