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The Department of Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology was founded in 1989 and renamed the Department of Ethnomusicology in 1995.
The department grew out of the former Institute of Ethnomusicology, established by Mantle Hood at UCLA in 1960. In its early years many distinguished scholars, including Charles Seeger and J. H. Kwabena Nketia, collaborated in advancing the vision of the Institute. From the 1960s to 1989 Ethnomusicology was a program within the Department of Music. Since 1989 it has been an independent department. For a history of the Institute, focusing on the study of African music at UCLA, see "Grooving at the Nexus: The Intersection of African Music and Euro-American Ethnomusicology at UCLA," by Brian Schrag. See also a brochure, published in 1967, called "Institute of Ethnomusicology."
UCLA has granted more Ph.D and M.A. degrees in ethnomusicology than any other university in the world. Graduates in ethnomusicology from UCLA have founded many of the most important ethnomusicology graduate programs in the United States, including those at the University of Michigan, University of Washington, Brown University, Wesleyan University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Florida State University, and UC Berkeley.
The specialization in systematic musicology is currently the only one of its kind in the United States. Since its inception under the leadership of Charles Seeger, systematic musicology has created a distinguished record of scholarship, noted for its scholastic depth and innovation.
In 1991 the department established a full undergraduate curriculum in ethnomusicology. In 1996 Jazz Studies was instituted as a concentration within the undergraduate major. The renowned guitarist Kenny Burrell is the director of the jazz studies concentration.
In 2007 UCLA announced the formation and naming of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and a $30 million endowment gift made possible through the generosity of the renowned, performer, producer and philanthropist Herb Alpert and his wife Lani Hall Alpert.
Aligning the university’s Departments of Ethnomusicology, Music and Musicology, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music is devoted to the performance and study of music in all of its global diversity, including world music, popular music, jazz and classical music. UCLA students will have the opportunity to augment their academic studies in music with such courses as the music business, music in the public sector, and music and health.
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music is located within the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, which also includes the departments of Art, Architecture, Design | Media Arts, and World Arts and Cultures.
Description of the Undergraduate and Graduate Programs
(For further information go to Academics)
Instruction in ethnomusicology tries to achieve a balance between understanding the important intellectual issues in ethnomusicology and depth of specialization in one or more of the world's music-culture areas including Africa, Europe, the Americas, west, east, south, and southeast Asia. The sounds and structure of music and musical performance are central features of faculty research and teaching, along with interpretations of the complexities of musical sound in social and cultural terms. Underlying the curriculum is a commitment to the theoretical and analytical study of music as well as to the performance of the music and involvement in its cultural context. In-residence performance faculty support this goal by providing the opportunity for students to participate in ensembles from some ten different cultures.
Students in the world music undergraduate concentration may, through elective courses, prepare for a variety of career goals, including the study of ethnomusicology in graduate school, composing and performing music, working in the music industry, serving society in the nonprofit sector, or becoming a K-12 music teacher.
In systematic musicology, laboratory research in acoustics, psychoacoustics, and psychology of music has focused on musical communication and expression; music, film, and animation; natural and synthetic instrument timbres; gamelan acoustics and tuning; music perception and cognition, and computer applications in music research. Philosophical work in the program is applying the insights of continental philosophers such as Hans-Georg Gadamer, Martin Heidegger, and Paul Ricoeur to music and to concepts of musical culture and tradition.
In jazz studies, students develop skills in performing and interpreting a wide variety of music. They learn the art of improvisation and are helped to discover their own musical styles. Students also study the styles of other performers and composers and how they developed them. Classes include jazz theory, history, composition and arranging, keyboard harmony, and a variety of combos.
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