Contextualizing Ethnomusicological Research and Its Implication on Music Scholarship in Nigeria

Charles Onomudo Aluede, Oghenemudiakevwe Igbi

Abstract


Ethnomusicology, as an academic discipline in musicological studies is at the crossroads of music, environment, culture, traditions, history, and society. This unique feature therefore makes it yearn for methods that are eclectic and receptive to sundry musical practices that cut across a variety of cultural contexts. This paper seeks to build on previous researches by contextualizing ethnomusicological research methods through an examination of some recent trends. It also highlights the implications of some budding research approaches in view of contemporary scholarship. This study relies on survey method of investigation which includes interviews, participant observation and telephoning to elicit data that was analyzed. The paper evaluates key methodological tools in qualitative research method and other approaches directed at maximal utilization for more practicable results. This study discovers that music scholarship in Nigeria has over the years blossomed, thus giving rise to other emerging strands some of which are tangential to music itself. It is recommended that ethnomusicologists should embrace more comprehensive and reflexive methodologies that identify the fluidity and diversity of musical traditions in a globalized world because through appropriate methods the genuineness of a research outcome is guaranteed.


Keywords


Ethnomusicology, musicology, music scholarship, ethnography of music

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.24821/ae.v1i2.17734

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