Financial Resources

The Ethnomusicology Program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is accepting graduate students for the MA and PhD degrees from all regions. Prof. R. Anderson Sutton is Program Chair, with staff resources that include six professional colleagues, and six ensemble teachers, offering a wide range of academic and performance courses. Financial support is available on a competitive basis. Interested parties should contact Prof. Sutton at rasutton@hawaii.edu for information prior to applying.

Overview

The UH Ethnomusicology Program is one of the earliest in the United States and enjoys a reputation for excellence in the study of world music, especially of Asia and the Pacific. Its distinctiveness includes a location in a geo-cultural environment of cultural diversity with many active and vibrant music practices and strong relationships with musicians, scholars, and institutions throughout the Asia Pacific region. We are committed to a close mentoring of students and building their broad network of contacts.

Participation in musical performance complements and supports the academic study of theoretical issues, such as the relation of music to social change, globalization, identity, diaspora, politics, commerce, dance, and theater.

Another distinctive feature at UH is that ethnomusicology is an integral part—both in organization, and in spirit—of the Music Department, incorporating musical pluralism in all levels of the music experience, including music composition, theory, music education, and choral and instrumental performance.

Study Opportunities

UHM offers exceptional opportunities for students and scholars with a special interest in Asia and the Pacific. Curricular offerings in the Ethnomusicology Program include survey courses in world music; lecture and performance classes in Asian, Pacific, and American musics; and graduate seminars in ethnomusicological theory, research methodology, regional musics, world music pedagogy, and current issues in the discipline.

In addition to courses in Ethnomusicology, students will find strong support in the related fields of Anthropology, American Studies, Art History, Asian Studies, Cultural Studies, Dance, Geography, Hawaiian Studies, Linguistics, History, Pacific Island Studies, Political Science, Religion, and Theater & Dance. UHM also offers a wide range of Asian and Pacific language courses. The Ethnomusicology Program has been actively involved in collaborative productions in Theatre and Dance, offering students an opportunity to study with master teachers from Asia who come for performance preparation to supplement strong local resources.

Degree Requirements for MA-Ethnomusicology

Degree Requirements for PhD

Faculty

Full-Time Faculty

R. Anderson Sutton

R. Anderson Sutton is Professor of Music and head of the Ethnomusicology program at UHM, offering graduate and undergraduate courses, overseeing the performance ensembles, and supervising graduate students in Ethnomusicology. From 1982-2013 he served on the Music faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he taught courses in ethnomusicology, led the Javanese gamelan ensemble, and served as director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

His research has focused on musical traditions of Indonesia (Java and South Sulawesi) and Korea. Recent seminar and research topics have included cultural politics and performance, music and hybridity, and intercultural musical collaboration. He is author of 3 books, 2 edited volumes, and numerous journal articles and book chapters. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for Asian Music, the Association for Korean Music Research, and as founding editor of the University of Hawaiʻi Press Asia Pacific Flows series.

Affiliate & Adjunct Faculty

Anna Stirr (PhD, Columbia University) Associate Professor, Asian Studies. Affiliate faculty, Music Department. Nepal; ethnography of performance, cultural policy, popular music, sound studies, gender.

Christopher Blasdel (MFA, Tokyo University of the Arts) Japan; traditional and contemporary music, shakuhachi performance

Benjamin Fairfield (PhD, University of Hawaiʻi) Mainland Southeast Asia; identity, minorities, world music, transcription, Thai ensemble.

Eun-Young Jung (PhD, University of Pittsburgh) East Asia; popular musics of Korea and Japan.

Norman Kaneshiro (BA, University of Hawai‘i; Master [Shihan] Certificate, Nomura-Ryu Ongaku Kyo Kai) Okinawan ensemble.

Darin Miyashiro (MA, University of Hawaiʻi, Instructor [Oshikō] Sawai Koto Institute) Japanese koto ensemble and gagaku.

Byron Moon (BA, University of Hawai‘i) Javanese gamelan.

Nola A. Nahulu (MA, University of Hawai‘i) Hawaiian Chorus.

Kirk Sullivan (PhD, University of Hawaiʻi) Polynesia (Cook Islands), identity, diaspora, festivalization, world music pedagogy.

Noenoelani Zuttermeister (Kumu hula) Hawaiian hula & chant ensemble.

Emeritus Faculty

Frederick Lau (DMA, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) Professor, Music. China, Southeast Asia; identity, politics, diaspora. avant-garde music.

Byongwon Lee (PhD, University of Washington) Professor, Music. Korea; Buddhism, migration.

Jane Freeman Moulin (PhD, University of California–Santa Barbara) Professor, Music. French Polynesia; Tahitian dance, music of the Southern Marquesas Islands.

Ricardo D. Trimillos (PhD, UCLA) Professor, Music and Asian Studies. Southeast Asia, Japan, Hawai‘i; ethnicity, gender, education.

Major Financial Resources for Graduate Student Support

Graduate Assistantships: tuition waiver and stipend.
Scholarships for students from and/or studying Asia or the Pacific: tuition waiver and living stipend.
East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellowships: tuition waiver, stipend/allowance of $7,950/year (and up to $3,000 supplement), plus housing discount (worth $2,850 annually).
FLAS Fellowships for Language and Area Studies: $20,000 stipend and up to $18,000 for tuition.