What is Exomusicology, anyway?
Though musicology is defined as “the historical and scientific study of music,” the term is typically applied only to the study of music from the European classical tradition. “Ethnomusicology” is used to describe the study of nonwestern musical traditions and to the comparative study of different musical cultures. The more general term exomusicology (from the greek prefix exo, meaning ‘external to’ or ‘outside of’) is more appropriate to the study of nonhuman musical traditions, much as exobiology refers to the study of non-Earth life forms, and exolinguistics to the study of alien languages. Unfortunately, since musical cultures from a variety of worlds are unavailable for study at the present time, the practice of exomusicology remains speculative. The main tool of speculative exomusicology is the “thought experiment” which involves the music and culture of fictitious creatures and nonexistent alien species. The primary goal is that by thinking about what music might sound like and how musical instruments might be used in the context of various alien cultures, we might see more clearly what music means to ourselves.
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EXOMUSICOLOGY – the quest for the music of alien cultures – first contact with nonharmonic musical worlds.
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