What on Earth is Musicology?

As a student of Musicology at Ohio State University I am often asked: "What on Earth is Musicology?" Most people are familiar with terms such as Music Theory, Music Education, and Performance, but the term Musicology is a bit more elusive. Musicology is easily defined as an academic study of music, distinct from training in performance or composition. This scholarly pursuit is broad in scope, it ranges from ancient studies that specialize in the translation and interpretation of early music texts from around the globe to the increasingly popular Ludomusicology. (also known as: Video Game Music Research, I kid you not.) So who studies this subject and why? Basically, anyone with an interest in the discussion of musical events and their impact can be an amateur musicologist. Your favorite articles about Kanye West and O.K. Go on A.V. Club or Pitchfork can be, technically, musicology on some level. More obviously, the articles about Mozart, Beethoven, and your favorite classical composers that you may read on WOSU are musicology; even the on-air remarks made by the Classical101 hosts count. Jennifer Hambrick's Mozart Minute is a great example of musicology for public consumption. At the college level the discussion is usually a bit more theoretical, and the subject matter is often treated through the lens of aesthetics, language, theory, and history. I have seen academic lectures and symposiums on everything from Glenn Gould's idiosyncrasies to investigations of specific Medieval music manuscripts and their authors. Anything is fair game as long as it is treated seriously and studied with academic integrity. If you are not currently a student or professor at a university, but you are interested in this type of scholarly pursuit, Ohio State University's School of Music has you covered. Nearly every Monday during the academic year, professors and visiting lecturers present symposiums discussing a wide array of music research studies at OSU. The lectures are free and open to the public; no ticket required. Ohio State University Musicology Lecture Series Musicology lectures are held Mondays 4:30-6 p.m. in the 18th Avenue Library (second floor, Music/Dance Library, Room 205), 175 West 18th Ave., unless otherwise noted. These events are FREE and open to the public. November 24: Performance and Creativity in Religious Experience: A case study of Pentecostal-charismatic Romani worship music from Hungary. Kinga Povedák, visiting researcher at The Ohio State University Center for Folklore Studies. January 12: On the Current State of Research on the Missa graeca and the Melodic Tradition of the Doxa in ipsistis Theo in the West. Charles M. Atkinson, The Ohio State University. January 26: What Was 'Dialectical Music'? Notes on the Contradictions of American Musical Minimalism. Sumanth Gopinath, University of Minnesota. February 16: Did Johann Sebastian Bach suffer from burnout? New Discoveries Regarding Bach's Late Years. Michael Maul, Universities of Leipzig and Halle (Germany). March 2: Hip-Hop Ukraine: Music, Race, and African Migration. Adriana Helbig, University of Pittsburgh. April 20: 'This is my country': Class, Identity, and Nationhood in Swedish Hip Hop. Michael McEachrane, independent scholar/activist.