For context—I am a 22 year old opera singer (just graduated with my BM from Juilliard, in performance) now working toward my MM (also in performance, at a different institution). I am currently on track for a performance career, but I’ve always felt a pull toward academia. I love performing, but I love scholarly research/writing/music history just as much, and I suspect a career in musicology might be just as fulfilling for me. Still, I am a very creative person, and (as any of you who are also performers can attest) feel a rush whenever I’m on stage singing. At the same time, finding success as an opera singer is extremely difficult, and it often feels very daunting—like the finish line is not even close to being within reach. I’m wondering if any of you experienced the same (or a similar) dilemma when discerning which career path was right for you. For those of you who were/are performers, how do you keep that creative/artistic part of you alive? Thanks in advance!!

Currently an undergraduate student in musicology and as an aspiring musicologist, my plan is to apply for a PhD eventually. I’m a little bit lost on what the standard is regarding masters degrees before PhD programs in musicology. I’d appreciate any advice!

I can't sleep because of this

Hey y’all, posting from a burner, but basically the title. I’m in my second semester in my PhD at one of the best programs in the US. It was my second choice. I’m feeling absolutely miserable. I hate the location and feel like the people in my cohort are thriving whereas I’m just along for the ride. I don’t feel valued and am having a really hard time imagining staying here for another year, nevermind another five. Every day since getting here I’ve wondered if I should’ve accepted a spot at another program I got into but now we’re past the deadline for almost every well ranking program that’s out there. I just don’t know what to do and could use some encouragement.

I applied 3 schools in the US: Princeton, Harvard and Duke. So far no news on interview. I know my graduate school, Indiana, requires interview for their PhD programs. Does these schools I applied need interview at all?

Hi everyone, So, I just got a C on my exam on the masters programme, and thinking about my future in the field keeps me up tonight. I have a dream of doing a Phd in musicology, but afraid that my grades might not be good enough. Trust me, I have searched, but cant find concrete information about PhD requirements for a masters Student. Also, is getting a less than a very good grade equivalent to a goodbye in academia?

I have a fairly long portfolio in projects about music psychology, and truly feel that I can contribute with something valuable in the field of quantitative musicology.

I would love to hear your experiences in regarding to starting a PhD programme, requirements for getting in, application processes etc

Thank you

Hey all! I'm a composition undergrad and am planning to apply for a masters in musicology. I'm trying to prepare in advance by writing more research essays and gathering a list of reading material. I'm looking for recommendations of musicology books or articles: essential ones that you think every aspiring musicologist should read at some point.

My favourite area of musicology is the history of popular music and its effect on pop culture, especially the history of rock 60s-onwards - but I will read anything!

I was curious if anyone had any recommendations for reading which go into depth about the creation of the “American sound”. Most specifically, what the American Western musical concept comes from.

I’m aware that the musical sound comes from folk tunes and spirituals and I’ve done research on where it originated, but I’m just looking for more in depth.

Any help would be appreciated!!

Does anyone have any favorite academic writings on genre? Ideally on genre in music, but broader could also be useful. TIA!

I like composition. My works have been received quite well so far, and I have felt very welcomed by the opera and theatre industry especially. However, I also have a deep passion for history and culture, musicology included, and I feel like sometimes that’s more consistent than my ability to compose.

I’ve thought multiple times about possibly getting a musicology degree for my masters instead of a music composition one, for a few reasons:

-I could see myself getting into library science, and possibly being a music librarian or head of research someday

-If were to go the academia route, I would rather teach music history than composition

-Musicology jobs usually require musicology master degrees if not higher, music composition doesn’t necessarily

-My current professor of musicology lives a life that I would love to live one day. He travels frequently for conferences and research, and still composes and plays violin exceptionally well.

-Sometimes I feel like I enjoy and am better at studying and researching history and music than composing

-Feels like there are more options and easier paths if I decided to fully go for history related jobs

-I’m a good bit disillusioned with the current zeitgeist of contemporary composition. I don’t have much interest in abstract, atonal, extended technique, experimental works… my goal with music isn’t to arbitrarily push limits, and there are more than enough people doing that.

However:

-I’m deeply passionate about telling stories with music, and I love writing when I have inspiration

-More options outside of academia, which I’ve heard very depressing things about

-Being a successful opera composer (e.g. Jake Heggie) is probably the best outcome I could think of for my life

-a Music composition grad degree would give me more time and resources to further that career and write the many projects I have in mind

I’m a sophomore, so I have a while to think about it. This isn’t mainly about money (I already am a music major so obviously I’m prepared to be broke), but I would like to know which option you think would lead me to a better future when given my current talents and interests.

I would love to hear advice and feedback from musicologists, and anyone who is studying musicology!

I'm doing a history paper at uni and I wanna do a thing about the role of classism in classical music, but through the lense of thr French revolution, as it was the most well known, brutal class revolt I'm history imo. The violin is considered a "rich people" instrument now, but was it always seen that way?

Looking for resources on this if anyone has any. TIA!

I'm looking to make nice, publication-quality level Instructional and Educational Materials and Resources, ideally, directly in say Sibelius or Dorico if they can handle it (I haven't worked enough with Sibelius in this capacity to know).

I used to use Finale, which actually wasn't bad at all, but alas, it is no more.

I've used Musescore and it's "OK" but it's really awkward and tedious. Not ideal.

As I'm sure any who've done this are aware, while Word is great for text, there's the old meme about importing an image and it making your text go crazy. And of course having to go outside of the program to create images and keeping them all consistent and so on is a major PITA.

Hi everyone!

I recently got fascinated by traditional Black Gospel music and I wanted to study it through my research topic for my degree.
Studying jazz voice, I got the idea to investigate Gospel music influence on Jazz vocals in history, though I find the idea captivating, I'm worried it's a little weak and narrowed. Maybe nonsense.

What do you think about it?
What jazz vocalists do you think got influences from gospel?
Are those gospel influences, or spirituals?

I'll start off by saying I'm not a musicologist. I'm just an English instructor who likes music enough to try teaching a first-year college writing course with a music theme. I want one of their assignments to be analyzing a recording through a historical lens, specifically focusing on how genres evolve. I'm trying to make a list of recordings that might be good examples of early influences or interesting crossroads in the concept of genre in American music.

I've been making a list from the stuff I'm familiar with, such as:

• Sister Rosetta Tharpe (early example of what would become rock)
• "Hillbilly" acts like Fiddlin' John Carson and Uncle Dave Macon (early examples of what would become country)
• Wendy Carlos (early example of what would become electronic music)
• Jimmie Rodgers's and Louis Armstrong's "Blue Yodel #9" (example of what could've been)

I'm pretty confident that I could put together a list of blues and hillbilly acts from the 1910s to the 1940s to make a workable list (but I'd love to hear more recs, if anyone has any!), but I'm curious if anyone with more knowledge base might be able to offer some interesting recordings that demonstrate other genres in their inchoate stages. I'd be particularly interested if anyone might be able to offer equivalent examples for hip hop or modern "pop" music.

Thanks!

Hi, I am researching thai pop music and I struggle with finding all the important information about songs like publisher and year of release for older songs like the one in the title. does anyone have any tips for things like this?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently a Student hoping to pursue performance after my degree, I also have a deep love for maths that makes me interest in pursuing musicology.

I want to propose an idea for feedback, I hope it's not too long

Music can essentially be subdivided into two parts,

The perceived nature of it i.e. consonance/dissonance The physical nature of it,

The physical nature of it has an important parameter which is time, (while consonance and dissonance needs time to exist, we perceive it as one entity not 440 clicks per second versus 512) Composers take advantage of this parameter to add structure to this consonance and dissonance. These can be simple patterns or extremely intricate mathematical ideas like Rachmaninoffs second sonata. When it comes to physical nature, all of these things can be measured, expressed and formulated. This perceived nature is different however,

The perceived nature is my way of essentially saying the things that we can't yet measure, at least fully. Their are a few key parts to how these structures above can illicit an emotional response that is felt,

The first thing you obviously need is to get your listeners attention, Beethoven was great at that 1515151515.... On a theoretical sense I believe this is a key to emotional responses, this perceived consonance is an instinctually pleasurable experience activating dopaminergic pathways within our brain. These pathways essentially give us a large amount of attention to use, allowing for deep focus.

The next need is experience, our brains learn via association and as we grow more and more of these 'experiences' get rooted into our psyche. An experience in this context is; essentially a feeling before, experience and the feeling during, the feeling after. We of course have our start middle and end already rooted in how we store memories, many more structures are also present as we remember in many ways via each sense. The experience itself will also of course be structured and so on... The whole takeaway is our brain loves correlation as it's easier to do.

The final thing is for the composer to understand these correlations via their own understanding of the culture they live in and how people interpret various ideas. You can't speak French to a Russian kinda thing, however in my opinion this is merely a translation issue. Strong emotional responses are subject to how the composer can create structured musical ideas that can be easily associated to a common event among the audience. Use of interpretation and artistic liberties allow the composer to cast a wider net with these ideas so that the bones of this ''event' can be both significant and generalized as it allows the audience themselves to then extrapolate essentially filling in the gaps and 'choose' specific experiences.

The final little bit is just on that choose as the individual themselves isn't really, the chain reaction of the neural pathways that encourage different responses will encourage the mind to different places. The most essential part I believe is that the intense focus from the rewarding consonance

allows for deep understanding of these structures in an abstract way that people then associate with an event, allowing deep focus on the event itself and the individuals feelings towards it. The fact that their focus is entirely on the feelings behind this is what makes it hard to describe in words what it was that created this reaction.

TLDR: Monkey brain like consonance, Activates pathways increasing focus Person goes, oo that sounds like... Intense focus on ... Composers can control the narrative following Subliminal reaction to previous abstractly related event

Does this sound wildly off? Or has this kind of thing already been said before?

I hope I didn't say anything too stupid! Would love some critique

Hi there!

I have just completed my undergraduate education and would like to at some point soon apply to graduate ethnomusicology programs.

Ideally, I would be attending an integrated PhD (combined master’s and doctorate) program on a part-time basis.

I am in NYC, so schools would need to be local. I am also open to online programs if anyone knows any.

I have outstanding undergraduate grades as well as some research experience, so I don’t think acceptance will be an issue. However would love any other tips.

Any recommendations/info would be awesome!!

Is there someplace I can download some transcriptions of African Mbira and Hindewhu songs by any chance?

Unsure if this is a really “scholarly” music study question, but the holiday season has me curious. There are a few renditions of classic Christmas tunes that have a style I have only ever heard in two places: the old classic R&H musicals, and the similarly old Disney animated movies that have the Buena Vista label proudly on display. That sort of light and airy, “wondrous”, sweeping style, the long opening credit overtures, the “playful” woodwinds and “punchy” brass, for better or worse it feels very evocative of a certain era of… I dunno, Hollywood at the very least. Is there a name for this? “Golden Age” orchestra or something? Google searches and the like were inconclusive at best, and I want to know if there’s any official study of this particular phenomenon, within OR without the world of film and theater. What do y’all know about this?

Hello! I am writing a screenplay and looking for lyrics of songs from the 1500s in Ireland. Just looking for lyrics at this stage. Any recommendations or places to look would be greatly appreciated!

Hey! I could really appreciate your help if you can suggest me some not super well known contemporary composers or pieces for inspiration! All composers and pieces I genuinely want to speak about have already been excessively researched I also appreciate piano pieces alot

Hi all,

I am seeking recommendations for texts on ornamentation within the French clavecin tradition. If possible, I would particularly appreciate resources that address the stylistic expectations surrounding François Couperin’s Pièces de Clavecin. Any suggestions would be most welcome, and additional insights into Couperin’s ornamentation practices would be especially valuable.

I'm considering applying to study there next year, and so far the 2eme cycle superieur seems amazing, but I'm searching for some imput that doesnt't come from the conservatoire's team. Anyone?

Hey!
So this might be a little confusing to describe as I am a little stressed because I have to prepare a lecture for my musicology class on thuirsday and want to talk about this topic but unfortunately dont have good examples yet.
I was tasked to talk about opera recordings (that are broadcasted) in comparison to operatic movies and live at the venue opera experiences (I chose verdis "rigoletto", the movie "rigoletto a mantova" (2010) and the recording form the opera Zürich on youtube).
One aspect I definietly want to talk about is the perception and the states of the audiences. MEaning:

-"how do people at the venue experience certain moments as they (ideally) dont have limited view because they choose what to focus on, they are probably familiar with certain operatic or at least some musical principles of that time, can be interacted with and experience the reaction of the other audience members which influences their own"

-how do people at home experience certain moments of the broadcast while being maybe a little less invested in this kind of music, being a bit less invested (usual TV-watching attitude) and attentive.

-how does the movie experience differ from the other two (as its way more detailed in terms of choreography, theres no stage and audience to be seen, the camera shots are closer etc.)

Im analyzing videos (counting püerspective changes, looking at interactions between actors and audience, who is the camera focus on in what moment and who isnt seen in some perspectives even tho seeing their reaction would matter more than seeing the other singer perform the aria (for example).
To include my fellow students I want them to create possible ways to challenge the audiences expectations and beliefs about a specific opera. For that I thought about letting them figure out certain situations where boundaries between diegetic and non diegetic music are destroyed. This could very well go in a brechtian direction for example:
A choir commentates and thus explaing the happenings and consequences of a certain scene that was very hectic. Normally that choir in its function would be not part of the operas happening but takes an exterior role (non diegetic). This time to one of the operas figures walks up to the choir and mockingly repeats and changes parts of it. Now the audience is confornted with the fact that their assumptions about the choir taking an exterior role might be wrong. This could turn them into more attentive viewers.

Example two:

Two people on stage, who havent been alone in the scene before discuss for example the next step of their plan. One seems very unattentive and repeats the melody of the last scene´s non diegetic orchestra music then brings his attention back to the discussion apologizing about it.

These are probably very poor examples but i wonder if youve seen or know about any scenes (you can find on the internet) where such tricks are used in order to activate the viewers more (showing examples is always a better idea than just talking possibilities and theory)

Sorry if this was a painful read; as mentioned im very stressed because I rlly didnt know what to talk about until ive got feedback from my professor today.
However I would highly appreciate any help and hope y´all have a wonderful day!

Hi all, I'm conducting a survey on audience participation in the concert space as part of my dissertation research. Please take it and share it if you're interested! Here is the link: https://lsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b8G2YnsGGkBDlt4

Hey everyone,

I am a sociologist of music and my research interest now lies in exploring the genre of noise music (and adjacent genres like power electronics, harsh noise, death industrial, noisecore etc.). The famous exemplars of this are works by Merzbow, Masonna, Whitehouse, Prurient and many others.

I’m not a musicologist myself, but I’ve been wondering whether there any musicological works analysing noise music? Has anyone tried to explore the varieties of timbres used, structure of composition (however weird that might sound in context of noise), any specific techniques? Are there any research trying to provide analytical classification of Noise?

From my experience as a researcher, musician and listener, I’ve come to a conclusion that noise genre is very diverse in terms of its sonic content (it usually does without melody or rhythm but sometimes has it, it is usually free-improv, but sometimes structured, etc.). So it is difficult to construct a comprehensive definition of what noise is and what isn’t.

I came across this paper (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twentieth-century-music/article/laptop-composition-at-the-turn-of-the-millennium-repetition-and-noise-in-the-music-of-oval-merzbow-and-kid606/5D26A3AE0CD360C9E9DFB752F5BF9F36) analysing several electronic tracks, one of which is by Merzbow. However, the study doesn’t go deep into noise as a genre since it’s not its primary goal.

Could anyone suggest good analytical texts to read if there are any? Thank you!