Writing at Denison: Musicology

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Description of the Discipline

Musicology is the study and analysis of music from various perspectives. Different courses and approaches include Music History, Music Theory, and Ethnomusicology. Musicology specifically focuses on the intersections between musical developments and social, historical, religious, and/or political developments. For example, a student might explore the ways in which Medieval European music was influenced by (or how such music reflects) changes in religious doctrine and practice (Grimshaw).

Citation Style Used

Chicago - sources are listed in footnotes or endnotes and in a bibliography.

  • First note format (book):
    Author first name last name, Title (Publisher location: Publisher name, year), page number.
  • Bibliography entry (book):
    Author last name, first name. Title. Publisher location: Publisher name, year.
  • Subsequent note from a previously cited source:
    Author's last name, Shortened Title, page number(s) cited.
  • Consecutive notes from the same source:
    1. Author first name last name, Title (Publisher location: Publisher name, year), page number.
    2. Ibid., page number(s). (If the page number is also the same, use only "Ibid." "Ibid" means "in the same place.")

For more information on Chicago Style, consult the Chicago Manual of Style, the Bedford Handbook, or http://www.dianahacker.com/.

Organization/Required Components

Every assignment, no matter the focus, must have some section of concrete analysis of the music (Grimshaw). This may appear in the form of an analysis of the piece's structure, the relationship between the structure and the text, or the difference between a piece and the accepted conventions of music-writing of the time.

Voice

Papers should be written in the active voice; "I" can be used as long as it's being used to make an argument and not to offer up an unsupported opinion, i.e. "I thought the piece was boring" (Grimshaw).

Types of Writing Assignments

Most assignments are research papers of varying lengths. For Music History, Dr. Grimshaw currently assigns 10 page papers and short responses that are often bibliographic searches. Students in World Music will have assignments that are more narrative in nature and will often involve a personal analysis of certain types of music (Grimshaw).

Research Process

As in most fields of study, the research process for papers in Musicology depends in large part on the assignment. If a student is given a specific piece or composer, the research process will probably begin with searches using those terms on RILM, J-Stor, and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Students researching the music of a certain time period or culture should look to Garland Encyclopedia of World Music and Oxford Press' Global Music Series. A research assignment on the reception history of a piece will involve finding and analyzing reviews and articles about specific performances and recordings. A basic analysis of the musical structure of a piece will involve listening to the piece and consulting a score. (Denison's library has many scores and recordings; others are available through Consort and OhioLink. Naxos, a database accessible through Denison's library, is a great resource for listening to all types of music.) Indiana University’s School of Music has in-depth online resources about the process of writing a Music History paper, which resembles the process for writing many research papers in the Humanities.

Key Resources:

  • New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
  • Oxford Press' Global Music Series (one overall volume and many of individual regions, all in the library)
  • J-Stor (Database with full-text access to most music journals)
  • Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (organized geographically)
  • RILM abstracts (online through EBSCO)—abstracts of all types of musicology resources
  • Naxos (amazing source for listening to all types of music - free through Denison's library)
  • How to Write About Music: The RILM Manual of Style by James Cowdery

Common Mistakes

Students often fall into the trap of writing in the style of music journalism—describing an artist's sound as "a combination of artists x, y & z" and merely describing what happens in the music instead of analyzing the piece.

Writing in musicology requires a specificity of language that many students who are new to the field do not have. Describing a piece of music as having "a good beat" is rather common in informal discussions of music; however, to a musician or a musicologist, "beat" could refer to anything from the tempo or rhythms in the music to the timbre of the sound created by a certain instrument or technique. How to Write About Music and Oxford Press' Global Music Series are key sources for finding the musical terms necessary for writing specific, clear analysis (Grimshaw).

Preferred Language (jargon, pronouns)

The tone can be flexible, but language must be specific. Personal analyses or narratives sections of research in ethnomusicology can have an informal voice, but students must still work to provide clear, concrete analysis and avoid using non-specific language and/or writing in the style of music journalism (Grimshaw).

References

All information was compiled from the following sources as well as my own experiences as a Music Minor (specific courses include Music History and Music Theory I) at Denison University.

Burkholder, J. Peter and Patrick Warfield. "M401: How to Write a Music History Paper." Music 401: History and Literature of Music I. Indiana University School of Music. http://www.music.indiana.edu/som/courses/m401/M401how2.html.

---. "M401 Research Project Style Sheet." Music 401: History and Literature of Music I. Indiana University School of Music. http://www.music.indiana.edu/som/courses/m401/M401styl.html

Grimshaw, Jeremy. Interview by the author. Granville, OH. 23 March 2007.

Hacker, Diana. "Chicago Style." Documenting Sources. Dianahacker.com http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c10_s1.html

Prepared by Joanna Hamilton.