The subject (more precisely: SystematicMusicology, SMW) is the subject of ongoing debate regarding its definition, conceptual framework and historical development (Parncutt, 2007). SMW draws its central research questions from musical practice as well as from philosophical-aesthetic, culture-specific and intercultural reflections on this practice. The majority of authors agree that it is an interdisciplinary field.

SMW combines natural science and humanities approaches to music on an equal footing. Musical production and reception processes, as well as their effects on other areas of human life and actions, are at the very forefront. The methodological spectrum of SMW encompasses physical (e.g. room and instrumental acoustics), biological (e.g. the physiology of hearing), psychological (e.g. psychoacoustics, cognitive psychology) and sociological approaches, as well as approaches from information science and neuroscience. Methods of empirical social research and experimental psychology are therefore fundamental to the understanding and further development of the subject.

References

Parncutt, R. (2007). Systematic Musicology and the history and future of Western musical scholarship. Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies, 1, 1–32.