Music Sustainability

The sustainability of music is an emerging-or rather, reemerging-theme in ethnomusicological research. Early studies in that discipline centered on documenting musical traditions feared doomed to extinction, an approach scholars now refer to as "salvage ethnomusicology." Spurred by the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO 2003, cited under Policy Instruments) and other national and international calls-to-arms, researchers and activists are increasingly reengaging with the complex challenges of maintaining and revitalizing threatened music genres, particularly those of indigenous and minority peoples. Current approaches are more pragmatic than earlier ones. For example, they typically acknowledge the natural emergence, change, and decay of musical traditions, as well as the many local and global processes that act upon all music genres, from technological developments and environmental shifts to rural-to-urban migration and economic and political pressures. Defining music sustainability as the ability of a music genre to endure, without implications of either a static tradition or a preservationist bearing, this article maps out a selection of scholarly publications, policy instruments, projects and initiatives, reports, and online resources that relate to this topic.Arts, Education & Law Group, Queensland ConservatoriumFull Tex