The Five College Ethnomusicology Certificate Program
Mission
The Five College Certificate Program in Ethnomusicology allows students interested in studying music from a multi-disciplinary perspective to build bridges across departmental boundaries in a rigorous and structured manner, and to receive credit for their accomplishments, even while completing a major in another field. In reflecting interdisciplinary trends in Ethnomusicology, students are encouraged to combine the certificate with degrees in various overlapping fields, such as African American and African Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, Cultural Studies, European Studies, Gender Studies, language studies, Latin American Studies, Religion, Sociology, as well as other courses of study in Music (Composition, Performance, Jazz Studies/Improvisation, and Musicology).
The Certificate Program in Ethnomusicology provides a framework for navigating course offerings and engaging with ethnomusicologists throughout the Five Colleges. While "music" is the centerpiece of the certificate program, the wide range of topics that appear under the rubric of "ethnomusicology" extend far beyond "music in a cultural context" to include history, political science, economics, evolution, science and technology, physiology, media studies, and popular culture studies, among others.Students working within the Certificate Program might focus on music as it relates to a number of areas of inquiry, such as:
- relationships between music and other artistic and expressive forms (i.e. dance, theater, film);
- relationships between singing and other forms of vocal practice;
- relationships between the study of language and music;
- human cognitive capacity for musical and other sonic expression;
- listening as a culturally specific practice;
- the social history of music and popular culture;
- understanding national, class, gender, ethnic, sexual, and other forms of identity;
- the relationship between music and social and political power;
- globalization and transnationalism in music;
- the uses of music and sound in contemporary media production;
- roles of sonic technology and surveillance in contemporary Western society;
- the use of music and sound in relation to social and state control, the law, and space;
- intellectual property and copyright as it pertains to musical composition, performance, and ownership.
Requirements
To earn a Five College Certificate in Ethnomusicology, students must successfully complete a total of seven (7) courses distributed as indicated in the following four (4) categories. No more than five courses can be from any one department/discipline, and introductory courses in basic musicianship do not count towards the requirements; introductory courses in related disciplines may only be counted in certain circumstances determined by the research goals of the individual student. Students must earn a grade of C or better for courses counted towards the Certificate.
- Area Studies or Topics courses: at least two courses
- Methodology: at least two courses
- Performance: at least one course
- Electives: negotiated in consultation with the student's ethnomusicology advisor, including courses from related disciplines including: anthropology, sociology, history, or media studies; area studies fields such as African Studies, American Studies, Asian Studies, or Middle East Studies; or others related to a particular student's ethnomusicological interests.
Click HERE for a list of recommended Area Studies and Methodology courses.
Since ethnomusicological research and related musical performance may require understanding of and competence in a foreign language, students are encouraged, but not required, to acquire proficiency in a language relevant to their focus. Students are also encouraged to include experiential learning, a study abroad or domestic exchange experience, in-depth study of a single musical tradition, or comparative studies of several musical traditions.
Step 1: Applying
Students interested in the Five College Certificate in Ethnomusicology should contact a member of the Five College Ethnomusicology Committee on their campus as soon as possible to begin planning course work. In consultation with this certificate advisor, students must complete an application form for the certificate. While this form should be submitted as early as possible so that a student can become part of the certificate community (and gain priority access to certain capped courses), it must be submitted before the end of the add/drop period in the first semester of their senior year of study. On the recommendation of the campus advisor, applications are reviewed and approved by the Five College Ethnomusicology Committee.
Applications forms may be downloaded HERE.
A copy of the completed application form should be emailed to your campus certificate advisor.
Step 2: Completion
Students are also required to submit a certificate approval form and an unofficial transcript before the end of the add/drop period of their final semester. A more formal document, the approval form lists courses taken and in progress that complete the requirements for the certificate. The campus advisor will present this form to the Five College Ethnomusicology Committee for approval. After approval, the campus advisor and Five Colleges request a transcript from the student’s Registrar indicating the successful completion of in progress courses.
Approval forms may be downloaded HERE.
A copy of the completed approval form and an unofficial transcript should be emailed to your campus certificate advisor in advance of the deadline.
Contact Information
The Certificate Program in Ethnomusicology is administered by The Five College Ethnomusicology Committee which consists of the ethnomusicology faculty at each campus. Students are urged to contact the appropriate faculty member at their home campus for further information and advising:
AC: Amy Coddington, Assistant Professor of Music
Jeffers Engelhardt, Associate Professor of Music
Jason Robinson, Associate Professor of Music
HC: Rebecca Miller, Professor of Music
Junko Oba, Associate Professor of Music
MHC: Bode Omojola, Five College Professor of Music
SC: Margaret Sarkissian, Professor of Music
Steve Waksman, Professor of Music
UM: Fumi Okiji, Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies
Marianna Ritchey, Assistant Professor of Music
Stephanie Shonekan, Professor and Chair, Afro-American Studies
Certificate Recipients
Spring 2019
Samuel Croff, Amherst College
"The 9th Dimension: A Composition and Performance Thesis"
Ben Fitts, Hampshire College
graduated but did not present a paper
Caia Lee, Mt. Holyoke College
"Soundscapes of the Human Uterus: Fetal Sensory Experience and Development"
Bingyao Liu, Mt. Holyoke College
""Yangqin, Tsimbl, Cimbalom, Salterio... : An Exploration of Hammered Dulcimer Music."
Max Nemhauser, Mt. Holyoke College (projected graduation Dec. 2019)
"Ethnomusicological Methodology in Documentary Filmmaking"
Stella Silbert, Hampshire College
"Composing and Listening in a Layered Sound World"
Spring 2018
Lena Abraham, Hampshire College "Intersections of Gender in Electro-Acoustic Music and Noise"
April Crowley, Hampshire College "Irish Roses, Irish Rebels: Women in Irish Traditional Song"
Nashua Malko, Hampshire College "Awash in Sound: Sound Meditation and Healing Discourse in the Northeastern United States"
Olivia St. Pierre-Baxter, Hampshire College "All Join Hands: Social Dancing and Identity in French-Canadian Communities"
Maxwell Rea, Hampshire College "Call and Response: Unity through deep conversation; interpersonal cooperation harmonizing the individual and community, and other socio-musical implications"
Lenka Saldo, Hampshire College "Embodied Imaginations: Dancing Identities in Cuban Miami"
Emily Matz, Smith College
Maria Wood, Smith College “New Ideas in the Air: The Birth of Hamilton: An American Musical”
Nicholas Jordan, UMass Amherst
Spring 2017
Tatiana Hargreaves, Hampshire College
"Contemporary American Fiddle Culture and Cuban Violin History"
Tomal Hossain, Amherst College
"Gregorian Chant of St. Mary's Monastary and St. Scholastica Priory: A Radio Documentary”
Zoe Langsdale, Smith College
"Irish Music and Sean-nós Singing"
Alexis Ligon, Amherst College
"Music, Critical Blackness, and Ethnographic Documentary Film"
Aidan Owens, Hampshire College
"Different Drummers (Vovovo υuƒolawo) - Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs"
Emma Rothman, Hampshire College
"Sound, Noise, Music and Meaning: Performing Collaborative Listening"
Sean Seid, Hampshire College
"Interpretations of Colonial American Dance Music”
Spring 2016
Bianca Couture, Smith College
Rene Cruz, Hampshire College
Allyson Grammo, Mount Holyoke College
Nick Kane, Hampshire College
Parker McQueeney, Hampshire College
Spring 2015
Frances Caperchi, Hampshire College
"The Making of BUSNEST: The Nuances of Cultural Appropriation"
Abigail Hobart, Hampshire College
"The Red Barn Folk Festival: A Community Exploration of New England Folklife"
Jacob Hochberger, Hampshire College
"Soundin' like weself: The Trinidadian Rapso Tradition"
Traci Laichter, Hampshire College"Klezmer: Jewish Identity in the New Country"
Emily Moran, Hampshire College
"Gullah Geechee Life, History, and Culture and the Impact of Gentrification on St. Simons Island and Sapelo Island, Georgia: The Past and the Present"
Kathleen Toomey, Mount Holyoke College
"The Nagara Drum and the Struggles of Folk Musicians in Pushkar, India"
Spring 2014
James Hartman, Hampshire College
"The Viola Caipira in Brazilian Harvest Festival Music"
Thomas Heisler, Hampshire College
"Don't Take the Mask Off the Old Lone Ranger: Captain Luke and the Drink House Blues"
Rebecca Holtz, Smith College
"Gender-Role-Free Contra Dancing at the Montague Grange (A Radio Journalism piece)"
Lydia Warren, Smith College
Spring 2013
Anna Maria Amoroso, Mount Holyoke College
Methods of Pedagogy in Hindustani Classical Music
Rebekah Danielson, Mount Holyoke College
Musical Hybridity Building a Sense of Community
Katie Hoyer, Smith College
The Meaning of Medieval: Lopes-Graça, Portugalidade, and the Cantiga d'Amigo
Sasha Hsuczyk, Hampshire College
All Things That Rise Must Converge: Julia Clifford and the Spirituality of Music. Performance and Experimental Art As a Means of Ethnomusicological Research Expression
Sara Loh, Smith College
“Oppa Malaysia Style”: The Psy effect on Malaysian Music, Media and Politics
Phoebe Smolin, Hampshire College
La Canción de Boyle Heights: How An East Los Angeles Neighborhood Uses Music To Resist The Silencing of Its Histories
Spring 2012
Jacques Robert Boudreau, Hampshire College
Division III: American Mythology: Explorations in Music Composition and Ethnomusicology
Baron Collins-Hill, Hampshire College
Division III: Modern Traditional Music
Zoe Darrow, Mount Holyoke College
Certificate focus: Scottish Style Fiddling in Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island
Andrew Alexander Feinberg, Hampshire College
Division III: Speaking and Singing: The Musical Nation
Sarah Godel, Smith College
Josh Landes, Hampshire College
Division III: Behind This Tongue: DIY Radio On The Road
Alex Mcle, Mount Holyoke College
Certificate focus: The Importance of Music in Sustaining the Culture of the Maori People of New Zealand
Amber Smith, Mount Holyoke College
Certificate focus: The Harlem Renaissance: Cultural Memory and the Discourse of Africa in Jazz
Duncan Trudeau, Hampshire College
Division III: Composition and Performance on the Classical Guitar
Spring 2011
Katherine Beyer, Hampshire College
Division III: Music-Making and Acclimating, A Radio Documentary: Reinforcing and Reshaping Nigerian Immigrant Identities Through Music
Morgan Greenstreet, Hampshire College
Division III: What I Did and Didn't Learn about Tokoe in Ghana: Many Versions of Authenticity
Ashley Soto, Amherst College
Honors thesis: Soundscapes of Latin@ Identity: Music-Making in the Puerto Rican Community of Holyoke and Beyond