In 2007, a study group devoted to applied ethnomusicology was established within the International Council for Traditional Music. The intention to establish such a study group had been present among some ICTM members for several years. The symposium Ethnomusicology and Ethnochoreology in Education: Issues in Applied Scholarship that took place in September 2006 in Ljubljana, Slovenia (see report by Mojca Kovačič and Urša Šivic in the ICTM’s October 2006 Bulletin) served as a major boost in this direction. ICTM’s 39th world conference in Vienna (July 4-11, 2007) featured both a global double panel The Politics of Applied Ethnomusicology: New Perspectives with six participants, each from a different continent - Samuel Araujo (Brazil), Maureen Loughran (USA), Jennifer Newsome (Australia), Patricia Opondo (South Africa), Svanibor Pettan (Slovenia), and Tan Sooi Beng (Malaysia) - and a “preliminary meeting” aimed at the establishment of the study group. At this meeting on 10 July 2007, which was attended by 44 members, agreement about working definitions of applied ethnomusicology and the mission statement of the proposed study group were reached: 

APPLIED ETHNOMUSICOLOGY is the approach guided by principles of social responsibility, which extends the usual academic goal of broadening and deepening knowledge and understanding toward solving concrete problems and toward working both inside and beyond typical academic contexts.

The ICTM STUDY GROUP ON APPLIED ETHNOMUSICOLOGY advocates the use of ethnomusicological knowledge in influencing social interaction and course of cultural change. It serves as a forum for continuous cooperation through scholarly meetings, projects, publications and correspondence.

According to the ICTM’s rules, elections for three officers took place. Svanibor Pettan (Slovenia) agreed to serve as a Chairperson, Klisala Harrison (Finland/Canada) accepted the position of a Vice Chairperson, and Eric Martin Usner (USA) that of a Secretary/Treasurer. The proposed study group on applied ethnomusicology was approved at the Executive Board’s meeting in Vienna on 12 July 2007. 

The study group’s first meeting, titled Historical and Emerging Approaches to Applied Ethnomusicology, took place July 9-13, 2008 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. You may download the conference program and abstracts at http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/oddelki/muzikologija/simpozij2008ICTM_report_eng.html. Programs for all other symposiums of the study group locate below. All of the study group meetings have included an innovative format of talking circles, reports on which also are found on this webpage. Talking circles, in contexts of the study group, are conceptualized as discursive meetings of minds around points of intellectual difference and current relevance in applied ethnomusicology studies.  

The second meeting of the ICTM Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology happened in Hanoi, Vietnam from 19-30 July 2010, in conjunction with a meeting of the ICTM study group Music and Minorities. This was the first time in the history of the ICTM that two study groups met at the same time. The overarching themes were ethnomusicological practices of community engagement, dialogue, advocacy and sustainability.  

Also in 2010, ICTM Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology members published the first book specifically on the discipline of applied ethnomusicology. Applied Ethnomusicology: Historical and Contemporary Approaches is an anthology that was edited by Klisala Harrison, Svanibor Pettan and Elizabeth Mackinlay and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. The book features peer-reviewed articles on four themes: historical and contemporary understandings of applied ethnomusicology in international perspective, teaching pedagogies and research practices of applied ethnomusicology, building sustainable music cultures, and music’s roles in conflict situations. Authors of the articles, in addition to the editors, are: Ana Hofman, Bernhard Bleibinger, Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg, Eric Martin Usner, Katarina Juvančič, Vojko Veršnik, Huib Schippers, Jelena Jovanović, Ursula Hemetek and Margaret Kartomi. More details can be found at http://www.c-s-p.org/flyers/Applied-Ethnomusicology--Historical-and-Contemporary-Approaches1-4438-2425-9.htm. The book's Introduction, by Klisala Harrison and Svanibor Pettan, gives some theoretical perspective on applied ethnomusicology and locates at http://www.c-s-p.org/flyers/978-1-4438-2425-5-sample.pdf.  

In 2011, the study group elected a new executive. Klisala Harrison agreed to serve as Chairperson while Samuel Araújo (Brazil) accepted the position of Vice Chairperson and Britta Sweers (Switzerland) became Secretary/Treasurer.  

2012 brought the study group's exciting third symposium in Larnaca, Cyprus. Membership continued to explore the study group's focus on music and conflict, in the context of this meeting. The symposium program additionally addressed the themes of disability and music, and social activism. Talking circles discussed applied ethnomusicology in relation to institutions.  

Each year since 2007, the study group had held general assemblies (business meetings) at its symposia and at ICTM world conferences, which occur in alternate years. These, together with the symposia, are detailed in annual reports published on this webpage and in the ICTM Bulletin. The next general assembly of the ICTM Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology is scheduled for the ICTM world conference in Shanghai, China in 2013. 

The next symposium of the study group is planned for 2014.

Contact

Chairperson
Klisala Harrison (Finland/Canada)
Email: klisala.harrison@helsinki.fi

Vice Chairperson
Samuel Araújo (Brazil)
Email: araujo.samuel@gmail.com

Secretary/Treasurer
Britta Sweers (Switzerland)
Email: britta.sweers@musik.unibe.ch