
Musicology is reasoned discourse concerning music (Greek: μουσικη = "music" and λογος = "word" or "reason"). In other words:
By this definition, the field includes every conceivable discussion of musical topics. The specializations of musicologists are quite diverse. Some, for instance, may specialize in English Tudor church music, others in the history of musical notation, some in contemporary music theory, and others in the development of the flute. Other musicologists stress the cultural context of music and the meanings music holds for different people.
Like the comparable field of art history, different schools of musicology tend to emphasize different types of musical works and different approaches to music. National differences in the definition of musicology also abound. Some American scholars, for instance, would not consider music theory under the rubric of musicology.
On-line Journals
Although most of the broadest musicology journals are not available on-line, a sampling of peer reviewed journals in various subfields gives some idea of musicological writings:
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.