5 MUSICOLOGICAL FIELDS

The study of music also known as musicology encompasses five distinct fields. These include the study of historical musicology, ethnomusicology, philosophy of music, psychology of music and acoustics (Nation-master, 2013). The first major field, historical musicology, is the study of musical origins including subjects such as composers, genres, and musical notation. Ethnomusicology is the second major field of musicology and is based around the field studies on music in diverse cultures. Thirdly, the philosophy of music is concerned with the central question of ‘what is music’. Another major field is Psychology of music which relates to the effect music has on human beings. The last musicological field of acoustics is the study of the science of sound (Nation-master, 2019). These five fields make up the fundamentals of musicology and will be explored within this report.

Historical musicology focuses on the progression of music over time. This field studies the progressive styles of compositions, performances, receptions and criticisms of music (Nation-master, 2019). The methods of studying historical musicology also include source studies, manuscript studies, textual criticism, style criticism, the choice of historical method, musical analysis, and the application of musical analysis (Nation-master, 2019). This field of study also examines the lives and work of composers and performers (Queensland Studies Authority 2018).

 Influences and impacts on historical events in society are also explored in this field of study. Historical musicology was first studied in the middle of the 1700s but was only recognized as field of study in the 1800s (Nation-master, 2019). In the 20th century historical musicology firstly focused on the roles of earlier composers and assisted in the restoration of interest for medieval music and music from the renaissance period. This delivered the opportunity for composers to recreate works from these eras in an authentic way (Nation-master, 2019). Some examples might be "Music during World War I," "Medieval and Renaissance instrumental music," "Music and Process," "Mozart's Don Giovanni." Historical musicology is studied to expose the progression of compositions, performances, and criticisms over time.

Ethnomusicology is the study of the relationship between music and culture in global and local communities (Queensland Studies Authority 2008). Ethnomusicology is interdisciplinary by nature and