Empirical Musicology: Aims, Methods, Prospects

ISBN-13: 9780195167504 / Angielski / Miękka / 2004 / 240 str.

Eric Clarke; Nicholas Cook

Opis

The study of music is always, to some extent, "empirical," in that it involves testing ideas and interpretations against some kind of external reality. But in musicology, the kinds of empirical approaches familiar in the social sciences have played a relatively marginal role, being generally restricted to inter-disciplinary areas such as psychology and sociology of music. Rather than advocating a new kind of musicology, Empirical Musicology provides a guide to empirical approaches that are ready for incorporation into the contemporary musicologist's toolkit. Its nine chapters cover perspectives from music theory, computational musicology, ethnomusicology, and the psychology and sociology of music, as well as an introduction to musical data analysis and statistics. This book shows that such approaches could play an important role in the further development of the discipline as a whole, not only through the application of statistical and modeling methods to musical scores but also--and perhaps more importantly--in terms of understanding music as a complex social practice.

Recenzje

Empirical Musicology manages to fulfill three important functions. It provides a comprehensive review of the historical development of empirical approaches within musicology. It functions as a how to primer for anyone wishing to get started in the field. Above all, it adopts a critical yet positive approach to empirical work, discussing both potentials and limitations, and showing how quantification and measurement may enhance and clarify the task of musical interpretation and understanding. It will be useful not only to musicologists, but to researchers in any discipline which engages in systematic study of music..