musicology

IPA/ˌmjuːzɪˈkɒlədʒi/
IPA/ˌmjuːzɪˈkɑːlədʒi/

musicology — noun

1. the academic field that examines how music has developed, how it is put together

1.nounC1
Definition

the academic field that examines how music has developed, how it is put together, and how people analyze it

Example

Brooke began studying musicology after years of singing in her school choir.

collocation: study musicology

Caleb's musicology paper compares temple songs from Java and Bali.

musicology paper compares musical traditions

Common collocations
  • study musicology
  • musicology department
  • musicology degree
  • musicology paper
  • musicology journal
  • historical musicology
  • comparative musicology
Synonyms
  • music studies

    a broader label that can include performance, culture, and media as well as formal scholarship

  • music scholarship

    a formal term for serious academic research about music

  • music theory

    a narrower field focused more on structure, harmony, and analysis

Grammar Patterns

study musicology

degree in musicology

in musicology

Usage Note

Musicology names the academic study of music rather than the practical act of performing it. It is normally uncountable, so learners usually say 'study musicology' or 'a degree in musicology', not 'a musicology'.

Common Mistakes

She wants to study a musicology in Vienna.
She wants to study musicology in Vienna.
Musicology is normally uncountable when it names the subject.

Word family

  • musicologist
    nounC1
  • musicological
    adjectiveC2
  • musicologically
    adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These fields all involve serious thinking about music, but they do not ask the same questions. Musicology is the broad academic study of music as a subject, so it can include history, analysis, sources, and performance practice. Music theory is narrower and usually focuses on structure, harmony, rhythm, and form inside the music itself. Music history looks mainly at change over time, composers, styles, and institutions. Ethnomusicology studies music in relation to culture, community, and everyday social life. For example, a musicologist may edit an old score, a theorist may explain its harmony, and an ethnomusicologist may study how a community performs similar songs today.

musicology ↗music theorymusic historyethnomusicology

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • study musicology
  • a degree in musicology
  • the field of musicology

Prepositions

  • in musicology
  • of musicology

Etymology

GreekLatinEnglish

The word 'musicology' was formed in modern English from 'music' and the suffix '-ology', meaning 'the study of'. The first part goes back through Latin 'musica' to Greek 'mousike', the art of music, while '-ology' comes from Greek '-logia'. Together they created a name for the systematic study of music as an academic subject.