: This article is about the concept. For the society and academic journal, see Society for Ethnomusicology.Ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore recording [[Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief for the Bureau of American Ethnology (1916)]]Ethnomusicology is a branch of musicology defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts." Pegg, Carole: 'Ethnomusicology', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed February 3, 2008), Coined by Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos (nation) and μουσική mousike (music), it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music. Jeff Todd Titon has called it the study of "people making music."Titon, Jeff Todd: Worlds of Music, 2nd ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1992, p. xxi. Although it is often thought of as a study of non- Western musics, ethnomusicology also includes the study of Western music from an anthropological or sociological perspective. Bruno Nettl (1983) believes it is a product of Western thinking, proclaiming "ethnomusicology as western culture knows it is actually a western phenomenon." Bruno Nettl 1983:25 - The Study of Ethnomusicology. Urbana, Chicago, and London: University of Illinois Press. Nettl believes that there are limits to the extraction of meaning from a culture's music because of a Western observer's perceptual distance from the culture; however, the growing prevalence of scholars who study their own musical traditions, and an increasing range of different theoretical frameworks and research methodologies has done much to address criticisms such as Nettl's.
Ethnomusicologists often apply theories and methods from cultural anthropology, cultural studies and sociology as well as other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. Though some ethnomusicologists primarily conduct historical studies, the majority are involved in long-term participant observation. Therefore, ethnomusicological work can be characterized as featuring a substantial, intensive ethnographic component.Some ethnomusicological works are created not necessarily by 'ethnomusicologists' proper, but instead by anthropologists examining music as an aspect of a culture. A well-known example of such work is Colin Turnbull's study of the Mbutipygmies. Another is Jaime de Angulo, a linguist who intensively studied the music of the natives of Northern California. Jaime de Angulo Additionally, Anthony Seeger, professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied the music and society of the Suya people in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Anthony Seeger, Professor, Ethnomusicology UCLA
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