Key Figures

Individuals who are significant figures in the history of ethnomusicology at UCLA.

Peter Crossley-Holland 
Chair, Council on Ethnomusicology, Department of Music [1976-1979]
Faculty member, UCLA Department of Music [1969-1983]

Robert Garfias
Received first M.A. degree with a specialization in Ethnomusicology, Department of Music [1958]

Mantle Hood
Founder and Director, Institute of Ethnomusicology [1960-1974]
Faculty member, UCLA Department of Music from [1954-1974]

Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy
Founder and 1st Chair, Department of Ethnomusicology [1988-1990]
Chair, Council on Ethnomusicology, Department of Music [1982-1983; 1987-1988]
Faculty member, UCLA Departments of Music and Ethnomusicology [1975-1994)

Ralph Miles Jones III
Received, with David Markowitz, the first B.A. degree in Ethnomusicology, Department of Ethnomusicology [1993]

Boris Kremenliev
Co-wrote, with Mantle Hood, the proposal for the Institute of Ethnomusicology [1959]
Chair, Council on Ethnomusicology, Department of Music [1974-1976]
Faculty member, UCLA Department of Music [1947-1978]

William Malm
Received second Ph.D. degree with a specialization in Ethnomusicology, Department of Music [1959]

David Markowitz
Received, with Ralph Jones, the first B.A. degree in Ethnomusicology, Department of Ethnomusicology [1993]

Elizabeth May
Received first Ph.D. degree with a specialization in Ethnomusicology, Department of Music [1958]

J.H. Kwabena Nketia
Chair, Council on Ethnomusicology, Department of Music [1979-1982]
Faculty member, UCLA Department of Music [1963 and 1968-1983]

Yoshiko Okazaki
Received first Ph.D. degree in Ethnomusicology, Department of Ethnomusicology [1994]

Laurence Petran
Taught the earliest courses on Folk Music and the Psychology of Music in the Department of Music
Faculty member, UCLA Department of Music [1942-1969]
Chair, Department of Music [1944-1946]

Charles Seeger
Inventor of the Melograph
Faculty member, UCLA Department of Music [1958-1966]

Klaus Wachsmann
Taught the earliest courses on African music in the Department of Music [1963-1968]
Faculty member, UCLA Department of Music [1963-1968]

D.K. Wilgus
Taught the earliest courses on Anglo-American music [1963-1989] as well as American folk and popular music [1966-1976] in the Department of Music
Faculty member, UCLA  Departments of English and Music [1963-1989]