Institute 13 - Ethnomusicology

Subject of ethnomusicological research are tradition and modernity of the world’s musical cultures. It combines regional studies on site (field research) and an intercultural comparative perspective. Research focuses not only on musical practices but also on the respective cultural context of music. Special interest is attributed to emic concepts, i.e. both to explicit and implicit musical knowledge in the respective cultures.

On the one hand, fundamental research is done at the institute. On the other hand it provides for education of a young academic generation. For that end, we hold classes which aim at familiarizing students with contemporary ethnomusicological methods and theories as well as with selected musical cultures of the world, and which are meant to encourage students to reflect about their “own” by sharpening the eye on the “foreign”.