Need Help: Musicology?

[obliviate]

Hello everyone...
i know this might sound silly for some of you but i need to write an essay about musicology. 1500 words... and from the resources that i have i only manage to write ... 500words maybe?

my conservatory don't have access to grovemusic... and i already search online... like everywhere but i still can't find it. what a pity! i already try wikipedia too... but.. still can not make it

anyone please help meeee

thank you!

[prometheus]

Surely you can get 1500 words on this topic. But what are you actually writing about? Musicology in general? Maybe you can write a bit about a few famous musicologists. Or about the 'battle' of composers vs musicologists/music critics.

What do you have up to now?

[pianistimo]

look in music journals for articles.  read a few.  then look at the sources listed.  find them in the library and read some.  write your own views.  secondary sources are not so good for a grade, i've found.  (in other words, don't quote stuff off the internet)  as you mentioned, groves dictionary is good for definition.

also, at west chester, in the library reference section there are computers and you can log into the music index.  here you simply type in what you are studying (musicology) and a lot of stuff will pop up for you.  

also, interviews with musicologists would be interesting imo.  get some e-mail addresses and talk to a few.  very intersting stuff you will come up with.  at west chester i can think of two people that you would be facinated by.  dr. sterling murray has done a lot of researching and authenticating originals (vs. fakes) knowing much about music history.  dr. burton travels the world (every summer he goes somewhere interesting) and is probably into 'instruments' more than anyone - and sounds - and probably anything you asked would get a great answer, too.  their e-mail - i think, is possible to access through just typing in the first letter of their name along with the last name and @wcupa.edu
jburton3@wcupa.edu  and smurray@wcupa.edu     hope this helps!

[pianistimo]

say, i also remember there's a musicologists society (american musicology society) at www.ams-net.org/  you can look at the calendar and possibly even attend an event?

you could find out how crazy some people can get over music by attending the 'jacob obrecht quincentenary conference in antwerp, belgium' or something like that.  you will not return the same.  it is probably like a charismatic revival to people who are not used to so much enthusiasm over details of music. 

ethnomusicology is what i would characterize dr. burton as specializing in.

did you knwo there is forensic musicology?  don't ask me about that.  i don't even know what it is.

[pianistimo]

there's articles you can click on (down at the right) and possible look up for interesting details (for yourself)

www.newyorker.com/printables/critics/050606crat_atlarge

since people were discussing on the forum the ability we now have to listen to old recordings and recordings in general.   musicologists have fun with so many topics.

[obliviate]

thank you so much guys

but i think mine is really really the basic one. such as what is musicology.
well i found a few interesting definition about it.
but i'm still not so sure...
is theory of music, history also categorized as musicology
and what's the difference between musicology and ethnomusicology?

[pianistimo]

well, for $20. and a joint membership with me, you'll get 3 issues (spring summer fall) of the journal (american musicology society) and find out the latest stuff on any subject that happens to be studied. 

how does it apply to real life?  it doesn't.  you become a boring statistic (unless you're really into the stuff) and live your life in a fantasy world based upon musical history, facts, artifacts, and the like.  you stop your normal friendships and hook up with really strange but facinating people.  they have assortments of pictures of instruments you never saw before, a hankering to travel and speak or listen at conferences (like the one mentioned above), and general geekness.  it's ok.  just don't expect the normal person to be as interested as you are.  maybe 1% of the history class gets into the fine details.

but, it impresses people who don't know as much as you do, and you can get discounts on music, travel, and instrument purchases for being a musicologist, i believe.  you might even find yourself in a different country for a few years and learning languages that you didn't know were so musical.  did you know that hebrew letters each have a sort of note assigned so that when the text is read, it's sort of sung in quarter tones and half tones.  cantors not only sing music but 'liturgy.'  if i were to study something in music, it would be liturgical practices.  i am facinated by it.  also, in the russian orthodox church you have extremely musical people doing cantoring and sort of sing-song reading liturgy.   church practices have to be some of the oldest extant traditions (giving us an idea of what certain music may have sounded like way back when) - as well as people who pass on folk music (though much of that has died out).

ps  i'm not a musicologist, but i like the idea of travelling based upon performing and musicological research.  i would be very happy to be an assistant of some sort.  (maybe even archeological musicology - digging up old instruments - or pics on some vase).  catologuing, coming up with translations for some song written in latin...whatever. 

[Tash]

if you want to read a book that might have some info in it, we used a book by nicholas cook for our musicology class last year called 'Music: a very short introduction' (oxford university press; 1998) and it's pretty interesting if anyway. but it might have some useful stuff on musicology, i can't remember i read it like over a year ago.

or other books, i've just looked up musicology in our uni library database, so click the link and you could have a look through the various books and see if you can find them in a library near you...

https://aleph.nun.unsw.edu.au/F/LHMCTN7TM2UA6HVKCI89CH815X4M6TGR7RL5ASXALX5QGB99V4-00089?func=find-b&request=musicology&adjacent=N&find_code=WRD&x=0&y=0&filter_code_5=WLB&filter_request_5=&local_base=NSWCAT