Mission Statement

MISSION STATEMENT

The study group on audiovisual ethnomusicology investigates the potentials of audiovisual media in a wide range of ethnomusicological activities: research, preservation, and dissemination.

1.          Research

Audiovisual recording has already been considered an indispensable tool in fieldwork and many ethnomusicologists collect audiovisual footage as a tool for analysis and some produce films for sharing research results with colleagues, students and the general audience. The study group will investigate how ethnomusicologists have used this media in their research, and how the use of this media has affected and/or changed their perceptions of music, the method of data gathering, and the rapport with the people and community under study. It will explore the ethics and methodology of using audiovisual media including filmmaking and post-production applications.

2.          Preservation/invigoration

Many music and dance traditions are facing extinction due to various reasons. Audiovisual technologies have been used to record music and dance traditions all over the world, reflections on philosophical, ethical, methodological and technical aspects of such efforts have not been sufficient. The study group will discuss why we need to preserve traditions to begin with, what type of preservation has been done and how, what role audiovisual media can play to foster, preserve, reinvigorate, or even to revive disappearing or attenuated traditions. The group will also seek innovative projects to utilize historical audiovisual documents for the same purpose.

3.          Dissemination

The research findings in ethnomusicology have been shared primarily in the form of written text with the audiovisual as a supplement or illustration, while the audiovisual media are generally regarded as better equipped to record/document music and dance. The study group will identify the major problems of the textual representation of music and dance and explore the ways in which audiovisual can be effective as primary media to share research findings.

Executive Committee

Chair: Leonardo D'Amico

Vice-Chair: Marija Dumnic

Secretariat: Qiao Qiao Cheng