Robert Styron is a New Orleans-area music instructor who serves as a resident artist with the Hymel School of Music and a talented music specialist with Jefferson Parish Public Schools. One of Robert Styron’s chief interests is ethnomusicology.

A well-established field of academic study, ethnomusicology examines the meaning behind music. Specifically, it looks at the ways that specific forms of music relate to the societies and cultures that create them. Ethnomusicologists also ask and answer relevant questions about how and why people make music. They study living musical traditions through ethnographic fieldwork and past musical traditions through historical research.

Because music tends to infiltrate nearly every aspect of society and culture, ethnomusicology is a highly interdisciplinary field that incorporates elements of sociology, anthropology, and folkloristics as well as race, ethnic, and gender studies. Ethnomusicologists tend to establish meaningful partnerships with the communities that they study, often promoting local musical traditions and advocating on behalf of local musicians.