Boundaries, Expectations and Empirical Research: A Commentary on Judith Becker's "Crossing Boundaries"
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Date
2009-04
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Empirical Musicology Review
Abstract
In her paper “Crossing Boundaries”, Judith Becker raises and discusses
important points about where various boundaries between different ways of studying music
might lie, how we negotiate those boundaries, and some of the frustrations that ensue in
trying to get boundary-crossing work published. This response considers the increasingly
heterogeneous nature of musicology itself; some possible overlaps, discontinuities and
confusions between the terms ‘psychological’, ‘empirical’ and ‘scientific’; and the different
institutional expectations and reviewing styles that often apply to work in the humanities
and the sciences. There is no doubt that these differences can cause problems, conflicts, and
misunderstandings; but my response ends by recognising the vigorous health of current
interdisciplinary research in music, and the opportunities for carrying out and disseminating
‘boundary-crossing’ research that now present themselves, of which this journal –
Empirical Musicology Review – is one.
Description
Keywords
empirical, scientific, musicology, psychology, humanities
Citation
Empirical Musicology Review, v4 n2 (April 2009), 71-74