Etnomuzikologie

All humans, not just musicians, are musical, and that musicality is one of the essential touchstones of the human experience. In order to fully understand human musicality, we must study music in all its geographical and historical diversity. You are holding the very first introduction to ethnomusicology in Czech. Its leading proponent, Timothy Rice, offers a compact and illuminating account of how ethnomusicology studies the phenomenon of music and human musicality in different cultural, social and historical contexts. The focus is not only on „traditional forms,” as Rice examines all current forms of music, including popular music. Rice demonstrates how ethnomusicologists in the environments under study take part in musical events, recording them and making observations, interviewing the participants and learning how music is „made,” playing, singing and dancing. He shows how to establish rapport with the members of the musical community and how to analyze the data as bearers of complex individual, social and cultural meanings and how to interpret them using theories from the social sciences and the humanities. This is conveyed through Rice’s sophisticated reflection of the most interesting contemporary and historical ethnomusicological research, truly covering the entire world.
This book is a must for students of musicology, anthropology and ethnology. In addition, it will broaden the horizons of prospective music teachers at elementary, secondary, and art schools and in general of all musicians. It is recommended for anyone longing to see and understand beyond their current music horizons.