Assessment of quality and impact at the interface between humanities and sciences The case of (systematic) musicology Richard Parncutt Department of Musicology, University of Graz Relevance and Impact of the Humanities, University of Vienna, 15-16 December 2008
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Assessment of quality and impact at the interface between humanities and sciences
The case of (systematic) musicology
Richard ParncuttDepartment of Musicology, University of Graz
Relevance and Impact of the Humanities, University of Vienna, 15-16 December 2008
How can quality and impact
be evaluated in an
epistemologically diverse
discipline?
The structure of musicologyin central Europe
• Specific manifestations of music– historical musicology: “own” culture, Western cultural elites– ethomusicology: “other” cultures, intercultural interpretation
• General musical issues (systematic musicology)– sciences: acoustics, physiology, empirical psychology and
sociology, computing– humanities: philosophy, theoretical sociology, cultural studies,
aesthetics
The structure of musicologyin North America
• (Historical) Musicology• Music Theory• Ethnomusicology
Exclusion of musical sciencesmusic psychology, music acoustics etc.
…by the way…
“Science” is not Wissenschaft!
In modern Anglo-American English, “science” means• natural sciences + disciplines with similar methods (e.g. social sciences)• “positivist” scholarship
consider e.g. any “Faculty of Science” or “School of Science”
“Humanities” and “sciences” are mutually exclusive
sets, (positivist) history of theory– interpretation/standardisation of German research– pervasive quality control
• Germany– intuitive, holistic, diverse, haphazard– analysis of works in social-historical context– ignorance of US approaches (Schenker, pc-sets)– weak quality control
4. Political fragmentation Power, identity and the feeling of belonging
Ambiguous use of word “musicology” broad definition = all study of all music
– entries in Grove, MGG…
narrow = music history of western cultural elites– names of conferences journals, societies
Academic status of humanities in universities: too little power
– culture is underrated
in musicology: too much power– sciences are underrated
Defragmentation strategiesfor an epistemelogically diverse discipline
Musically relevant disciplinesacoustics, aesthetics, anthropology, archeology, art history
and theory, biology, composition, computing, cultural studies, economics, education, ethnology, gender studies, history, linguistics, literary studies, mathematics, medicine,
music theory and analysis, neurosciences, perception, performance, philosophy, physiology, prehistory,
psychoacoustics, psychology, religious studies, semiotics, sociology, statistics, therapy
The Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology
CIM promotes interdisciplinary collaborationEach abstract has two authors representing two of humanities, sciences, practically oriented disciplines
CIM focuses on quality rather than quantity• anonymous peer review of abstracts• independent international experts• same disciplines as authors • procedure is transparent• reviews are impersonal and constructive
CIM promotes musicology's unity in diversity• all interdisciplinary music research• all musically relevant disciplines
Past and future CIMsYear Theme City Host Director
2004 - Graz University of Graz Parncutt
2005 timbre MontréalObservatoire
internationale de la création musicale
Traube
2007 singing TallinnEstonian Academy of
Music and TheatreRoss
2008 structureThessa-
lonikiAristotle University of
ThessalonikiCambou-ropoulos
2009instru-ments
FranceUniversité Pierre et Marie
CurieCastellengo
2010nature / culture
Sheffield University of Sheffield Dibben
Different themes bottom-up unification of musicology
The Jounal of Inter-
disciplinary Music
Studies(JIMS)
Aims of CIM and JIMSa conference series and a journal
• Epistemological synergy– realisation of academic potential
• Productivity– quality, quantity
• Relevance – social, cultural, academic
• Unity in diversity– completeness through inclusion of all
relevant musics, disciplines, researchers
Conference on Applied Interculturality ResearchcAIR09, Graz, Austria, 16-19 September 2009
Areas of researchdiscrimination, ethnicity, identity, comparative theology, in/tolerance, migration, minorities,