Curating the Virtual Museum

Abstract

Academic programs in ethnomusicology are almost exclusively oriented toward training students for tenure-track positions at research institutions and liberal arts colleges. However, the students that graduate from these institutions do not exclusively follow this singular, narrowly defined career path. Nor should they. If the field of ethnomusicology is to increase its relevance outside academe, it would do well to pay to greater attention to how it prepares its practitioners for nontraditional career paths. This chapter examines some of the themes and issues that the author has encountered as an ethnomusicologist working for a nonprofit organization focused on the preservation and dissemination of American Jewish music. In addition to outlining some of the key differences between working inside and outside academe, it argues for a view of applied (or public) ethnomusicology that bridges gaps between ethnomusicology and musicology, between the academic and the “real” world, and between the universal and the particular—with case studies illustrating specific examples from the author’s work. A discussion section considers the ubiquity of the term “curator” in the present cultural moment, and offers suggestions as to how to individuals can prepare themselves and their students for nontraditional career paths. Ultimately, it argues that the pursuit of traditional and nontraditional career paths should be complementary—rather than mutually exclusive—endeavors, and that working to bridge the perceived gap between the two will strengthen both.