Meaning & use
musicology
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Meanings
noununcountable
The academic study of music, especially its history, theory, and role in culture.
Grammar: No plural and no article: 'a degree in musicology', never 'a musicology'.
Patterns
- study musicology
- a professor of musicology
- research in musicology
She studied musicology in Vienna and now writes about nineteenth-century opera.
His book on jazz is regarded as a major work of musicology.
Musicology often overlaps with history, anthropology, and cultural studies.
noununcountable
The body of scholarly writing and research about music produced by academics.
Grammar: Used like other names of fields, such as 'history' or 'linguistics'; it takes a singular verb.
Patterns
- the field of musicology
- contribute to musicology
Recent musicology has paid much more attention to women composers.
This journal publishes musicology from scholars around the world.
Common combinations
- historical musicology
- Historical musicology focuses on documents, scores, and archives from the past.
- a degree in musicology
- He earned a degree in musicology before becoming a conductor.
- the field of musicology
- The field of musicology has grown rapidly since the 1980s.
- comparative musicology
- Comparative musicology later developed into what we now call ethnomusicology.
- musicology department
- The musicology department hosted a lecture on medieval chant.
Synonyms and how they differ
- music history
- Narrower: it covers the study of music in past periods, while musicology also includes theory, analysis, and cultural approaches.
- ethnomusicology
- A branch of musicology that studies music in its social and cultural setting, often outside the Western classical tradition.
- music theory
- Focuses on how music is structured, such as harmony and form; it is one part of musicology rather than a synonym for the whole field.
Word family
- musicologist noun
- A person who studies or writes about music as an academic subject.
- musicological adjective
- Relating to the academic study of music, as in 'musicological research'.
- musicologically adverb
- In a way that relates to the academic study of music.
Commonly confused: musicology or music? musicology or musicography?
musicology vs music
Music is the art and the sounds themselves; musicology is the scholarly study of them. A musicologist may not play an instrument at all.
musicology vs musicography
A rare word for writing about music; musicology is the standard term for the academic field.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'musicology' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Musicology' is the academic study of music, so it fits a university course and research. The other options treat it as a piece of music or a recording, which it never means.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “musicology”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.