Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology

About the Ethnomusicology Area
The ethnomusicology area is dedicated to the proposition that all music cultures are worthy of academic study and research, which includes active participation in music making. Students are exposed to different musical systems and how they function in their cultural setting. Ethnomusicology faculty team with members of the Global Music Faculty Consortium to offer performance ensembles and classes on the undergraduate and graduate levels. Performance ensembles include the South Indian Cross-Cultural Ensemble, the Afro-Cuban/Brazilian Ensemble, and the gamelan.  The area offers the Master of Arts in Music with a Concentration in Ethnomusicology and PhD in Music with a Concentration in Ethnomusicology.

Graduate Admissions Note:
Incoming graduate students are advised to take Anthropology 5000 online the summer prior to their matriculation at UNT.

News

Ethnomusicology PhD student José R. Torres-Ramos has been awarded the Presser Graduate Music Award at UNT for 2016. José’s scholarly interests focus on the mariachi tradition including research, teaching, and performance. His Presser funded project consists of a two-month performance-research practicum in Mexico to include the development of an ethnomusicological praxis for mariachi teaching and performance. In addition to his ethnomusicological studies at UNT under the mentorship of Steven Friedson and Catherine Ragland, José serves as director of Mariachi Águilas de UNT, the ensemble founded in 2003 by Donna Emmanuel.

Sixteen graduate schools of music at accredited colleges, universities and independent institutions of higher education have been invited to present the Presser Graduate Music Award to an outstanding graduate music student whom they select. The program is designed to encourage and support in a special way the advanced education and career of truly exceptional graduate music students who have the potential to make a distinguished contribution to the field of music. The Presser Foundation operates under the will and Deeds of Trust created by its founder, Theodore Presser. It is one of the few foundations in the United States dedicated solely to the support of music and music education.

The Ethnomusicology area welcomes new faculty member Vivek Virani.

Vivek Virani is a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at UCLA, completing his dissertation with the guidance of Daniel Neuman, AJ Racy, Timothy Taylor and Aamir Mufti. His dissertation explores how songs of South Asian devotional poet-saints are used to negotiate issues of culture, religion, and society at the regional and national levels. His broader interests in ethnomusicology include music and spiritual expression; music and community-building; music, religion and nation; and Indian classical music. Vivek has trained in classical tabla performance under world masters Suresh Talwalkar and Swapan Chaudhuri. He regularly performs South Asian classical, folk, and devotional music on tabla, bamboo flute, and other instruments. Recently, Vivek has contributed a chapter on altered states of consciousness in classical tabla compositions to be published in the volume Music and Consciousness 2 by Oxford University Press, and a chapter on caste reform through devotional singing to be published in the volume Songs of Social Protest.

Lizeth Dominguez, graduate student in ethnomusicology, presented her paper entitled “Parrandera, Rebelde, y Atrevida: Jenni Rivera’s Creation of a Discursive Space in the Banda Genre.” It was presented as part of a panel titled Women on the Edge: Angry, Ironic and Fluid Voices Navigating Race, Culture, and Politics at the Society for Ethnomusicology conference at UT-Austin on December 5, 2015.

Ethnomusicoogy graduate student, Yuxin Mei, played pi'pa with the Four Seasons of China Orchestra of the Confucius Institute at UT Dallas on November 7. She presented her paper entitled "Negotiating Decades of Change: the Houston Chinese Traditional Music Group" for the Association of Chinese Music Research at the Society for Ethnomusicology conference at UT-Austin on December 3. 

Ethnomusicology graduate student Thanmayee Holalkere Krishnamurthy will be performing with her South Indian Carnatic ensemble at Tarleton State University (Stephenville, TX) on November 19th, 4pm as part of its International Week celebrations.

July, 2015

The new PhD in Music with Concentration in Ethnomusicology has received its final approval from NASM (National Association of Schools of Music)! We will be open to receiving applications for Spring and Fall 2016. More details will available on the Divison website soon.

May, 2015

Ethnomusicology graduate student Yuxin Mei gave lecture/demonstrations on Chinese traditional music and pipa performance at Dealey Montessori Vanguard and International Academy on May 13. The program was funded by the DFW World Affairs Council. 

Cathy Ragland spoke at the Conference on Education and Culture: Cross-Border Challenges and Opportunities on May 1. It was co-hosted by UNT, Secretariat of Education in Jalisco, Mexico and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas.

Thursday, April 30, 8pm, Voertman Concert Hall

Ethnomusicology Student Concert:  “Hear the World: Music from India, China, and Mexico”

Artists:
Vid. Thanmayee Krishnamurthy (Grand Karnatic Vocal Music)
Yuxin Mei (Traditional and Contemporary Pipa Music)
Lizeth Domínguez & José R. Torres (Music from the Mariachi Tradition)
Special Guests: Sean Peters & Lance Candler

April, 2015

The following papers were presented at SEM-SP on April 11-12 at Texas A&M, College Station: 

“An Antique Practice in a Dazzling Guise: The Ritualization Process of Chun Wan, China Central Television's Chinese New Year's Gala” by Yuxin Mei 

"Parrandera, Rebelde, y Atrevida: Jenni Rivera and the Performance of Masculinity” by Lizeth Dominguez

(also presented at SEM-SW on March 27 at the University of Colorado in Boulder)

“The Symbolic Dimensions of Mariachi Musicality” by José Torres   

November, 2014

Music Education and Ethnomusicology PhD student José Torres presented a paper entitled "Musical Hybridity of 'Mariachi': Campanas de America" at SEM in Pittsburgh, Nov. 13-16, on the panel chaired by Dr. Cathy Ragland.

Dr. Steven Friedson gave the keynote address entitled “Being Musical, Becoming Ritual” for the Religion and Music Sound section at the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) national conference in Pittsburgh, November 13-16.

Dr. Cathy Ragland chaired a panel on "Transnational Spaces and Places of Mexican/Mexican American Music" at the SEM conference in Pittsburgh, Nov. 13-16, and presented a paper entitled: “Reclaiming ‘the Border’ in Texas-Mexican Conjunto Heritage and Cultural Memory." She also participated in a roundtable on "Applied Ethnomusicology: Research and Careers in the Field."

September, 2014

UNT Ethnomusicology graduate student Yuxin Mei will perform on pipa (Chinese four-string lute) along with accordionist Martina Li and Eddie Hsu on dizi (bamboo flute) – both doctoral students at UT-Austin – at the 13th annual International Accordion Festival in San Antonio, Saturday, September 13. Performing together for the first time as the Cross-Strait Trio (a reference to their Chinese and Taiwanese roots) the trio will present a medley of traditional Chinese music, Chinese folk and ethnic music, and Western favorites played classically.

Dr. Cathy Ragland, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology, is the artistic director for the annual International Accordion Festival, a day-long free event held Saturday, September 13, 2014. It features accordion-based groups representing traditional, folk and popular music from around the world. For information about artists, performance schedule, panel discussions and workshops visit: http://www.internationalaccordionfestival.org/ 

May - June, 2014

Dr. Cathy Ragland was part of an 11-member Faculty Seminar Abroad delegation to Mexico, May 16-25, organized and funded by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice Provost for Faculty Success, and UNT-International. The delegation visited several top Mexican universities, the US Embassy, the National Archive and COMEXUS (Commission for Educational Exchange between the US and Mexico) on the heels of the just-announced agreement between President Obama and President Peña-Nieto (United States-Mexico Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation, and Research) establishing new initiatives and funding opportunities for educational exchange.

March - April, 2014

Ethnomusicology student Yuxin Mei was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student in Ethnomusicology Award at the Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology Division Honors Day Convocation on April 30, 2014. Yuxin also presented her paper “The Houston Chinese Traditional Music Group: Negotiating Decades of Change in America” at the 2014 AMS/SMT South-central meeting in Austin, TX in March 2014. José R. Torres-Ramos, PhD student in music education & ethnomusicology, presented “The Mariachi Tradition in Nochistlán, Zacatecas” at the 2014 AMS/SMT South-central meeting held in Austin, TX in March 2014.

January 2014

UNT College of Music Co-Sponsors Czech/Tex-Mex Accordion Show in San Antonio
Press Release:

"Music fans can still ring in the New Year with the sound of Czech and Tex-Mex accordions on Wednesday, January 15, 2014, 7:00pm - 9:30pm at La Tuna Grill located at 100 Probandt Street in San Antonio. No cover, but donations will be graciously accepted to support the International Accordion Festival happening September 13&14, 2014. For one night only, Moravská Jedenáctka (the Moravian Eleven) an 11-member ensemble from the Czech Republic will go “mano a mano” with local Tex-Mex band Conjunto Puro Corazón. The Moravian Eleven are in Texas for a mini-tour of the state’s Czech strongholds (Houston, Dallas, Denton Ennis, West, Caldwell, La Grange) and they are making a special stop in San Antonio for a taste of Tex-Mex music, food and fun. The Moravian Eleven's blitz through Texas is sponsored by the Czech Educational Foundation of Texas and the University of North Texas, College of Music."

April 2013

UNT graduate students in Musicology and Ethnomusicology presented papers at the annual Society for Ethnomusicology-Southern Plains regional chapter meeting at SMU in Dallas on Saturday, April 6. Presenters included: Kate Jewett-Williams, “Deep Ellum: Music’s Role in Changing Urban Spaces”; Adam La Spata, “A Canon Shot Heard ‘Round the World: Representation of World Music in Music Appreciation Textbooks”; and Andrea Recek, “Music as Ritual: Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebya."

Left: Members of the UNT Global Music Faculty Consortium not only study together; we also enjoy a good party as this photo of Master Drummer Professor Gideon Alorwoyie and Dr. John Chernoff, author of African Rhythm and African Sensibility, demonstrates. The long-time colleagues were reunited on April 18, 2009 at the division's Goat Barbeque, hosted by Steven Friedson, on the occasion of the meeting of the Southern Plains Chapter for Ethnomusicology that weekend. John Chernoff 's keynote address was followed by a performance of the African Percussion and Dance Ensemble.