Ethnomusicology

Eastman’s Ethnomusicology Program offers students rigorous training in the history and methodology of the discipline, and engages cutting-edge approaches to studying music across diverse cultural and geographical settings. Situated at a world-class conservatory connected to one of the nation’s leading private research universities, our approach brings hands-on performance together with critical intellectual engagement. Housed within the Musicology Department, our program enables students to work closely with leading musical scholars. Located within the historically diverse city of Rochester, students benefit from opportunities for fieldwork with local communities. Fieldwork projects also take many students further afield, in locales ranging from Detroit to Bali, and from Chennai to China.

Our faculty contribute regional specializations in African, Asian, North American, and Latin American music, as well as theoretical orientations in gender and embodiment, sound studies and digital media, postcolonial and decolonial methodologies. Given ethnomusicology’s fundamentally interdisciplinary nature, we encourage students to develop meaningful relationships with faculty from various departments at the University of Rochester, including Anthropology, Visual and Cultural Studies, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In addition to our degree programs, Eastman’s vibrant Ethnomusicology program includes specialized performance ensembles, certificate programs in World Music and Ethnomusicology, and a World Music concert series.

Teaching Opportunities:

All graduate students have the opportunity to act as a teaching assistant, for which they receive a teaching stipend. Potential assistantship placements include the gamelan ensemble, “World Music in Context” (MUR 121) or a Music History survey course. For further information, see https://www.esm.rochester.edu/musicology/about/