Explorations in Music, Creativity and Holism.
There
are different socio-cultural understandings of music sounds, behaviours, and
functions worldwide. The discipline of
Ethnomusicology was originally concerned with studying non-Western or tribal
musics. Gradually, it developed both theoretically
and methodologically to engage any/all music practices from cultural, social,
political, material, cognitive, biological, and various other related contexts.
In more recent times it has developed certain applied dimensions, particularly
in relation to health and wellbeing. As
distinct from (but related to) Music Therapy, the burgeoning field of Medical
Ethnomusicology offers new ways for ethnomusicologists and those in allied
health to work together in a holistic and creative manner.