UCLA Ethnomusicology Department 1961-

Biography

The UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology grew out of the former Institute of Ethnomusicology, established by Mantle Hood at UCLA in 1960. In its early years many distinguished scholars, including Charles Seeger and J. H. Kwabena Nketia, collaborated in advancing the vision of the Institute. From the 1960s to 1987 Ethnomusicology was a program within the Department of Music. Since 1987 it has been an independent department. The graduate program in ethnomusicology has granted more Ph.Ds and master's degrees than any other program in the world. Graduates in ethnomusicology from UCLA have founded many of the most important ethnomusicology graduate programs in the United States, including those at the University of Michigan, University of Washington, Brown University, Wesleyan University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Florida State University, and UC Berkeley. The program in systematic musicology is currently the only program of its kind in the United States. Since its inception under the leadership of Charles Seeger, the systematic musicology program has created a distinguished record of scholarship noted for its scholastic depth and innovation. In 1991 the department established a full undergraduate curriculum in ethnomusicology. In 1996 the Jazz Studies Program, directed by the renowned guitarist Kenny Burrell, was instituted as a concentration in the undergraduate major.