Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology faculty at Pitt study and teach courses on some of the most exciting and timely areas of music research today including: (1) global popular music; (2) music, labor, and value; (3) gender and sexuality; (4) media and technology; (5) sound studies; (6) cultural rights and advocacy; and (7) sound archives and repatriation.

Our aim is to prepare students to become educators in the field of ethnomusicology and active in the public sector. Evidence of success is our strong record of graduate placement at universities both within and outside the U.S. In addition, our alumni hold advocacy positions in educational, government, and nonprofit organizations.

Faculty areas of research include music of Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia.  Graduate students in ethnomusicology usually pursue at least one certificate in area studies, global studies, cultural studies, and/or women’s studies.

Students also take advantage of the offerings in the University's various centers, departments, and programs, including African Studies, Africana Studies, Asian Studies Center, Center for Latin American Studies, Cultural Studies, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, European Studies Center, Humanities Center, Russian and East European Studies, and Women's Studies.

Performance experience is available in the African Music and Dance Ensemble, the Carpathian Ensemble, and the University Gamelan.

Adriana Helbig specializes in the music of Eastern Europe, focusing on the relationship between music and politics, advocacy research, Romani music, global hip-hop, migration, and post-socialist music industries. She directs Pitt's Carpathian Music Ensemble. 

Gavin Steingo’s areas of research include African Music (particularly southern Africa), music of the African diaspora, postcolonialism; music and materiality, anthropology of the senses, and music, labor, and value. He teaches Introduction to World Music, African Music, and Music and Materiality.

Andrew N. Weintraub’s research has focused on Indonesian music and theater; music theory and practice; social relations of power; music and the formation of nation-states; gender and popular music; cultural rights and sound repatriation; and the relationship between music and Islam.