Sean Williams (ethnomusicologist)
Encyclopedia
Sean Williams is an ethnomusicologist
who teaches at The Evergreen State College
in Olympia, Washington
.
Her primary areas of teaching include Irish studies and Asian studies; she leads the Sundanese
music ensembles Gamelan Degung Girijaya (Enduring Mountain Gamelan) and Angklung Buncis Sukahejo. She received a BA in classical guitar
performance from UC Berkeley in 1981, and an MA (1985) and Ph.D. (1990) in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington
(Seattle).
, Ireland
, and Japan
, and written or edited several books:
She is a current council member of the Society for Ethnomusicology
(and former board member), current president of the Special Interest Group on Irish Music http://webdb.iu.edu/sem/scripts/groups/specialinterestgroups/sp_int_irish_music.cfm, on the board of the Society for Asian Music, and belongs to several other music-and-culture-related societies.
Sean Williams is also a musician; she plays numerous Indonesian instruments along with the classical guitar, Irish fiddle, and banjo. She sings in Irish, English, Indonesian, and Sundanese. In the summers she teaches at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop in Port Orchard, Washington.
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
who teaches at The Evergreen State College
The Evergreen State College
The Evergreen State College is an accredited public liberal arts college and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. It is located in Olympia, Washington, USA. Founded in 1967, Evergreen was formed to be an experimental and non-traditional college...
in Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
.
Her primary areas of teaching include Irish studies and Asian studies; she leads the Sundanese
Sundanese people
The Sundanese are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Indonesian island of Java. They number approximately 31 million, and are the second most populous of all the nation's ethncities. The Sundanese are predominantly Muslim...
music ensembles Gamelan Degung Girijaya (Enduring Mountain Gamelan) and Angklung Buncis Sukahejo. She received a BA in classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
performance from UC Berkeley in 1981, and an MA (1985) and Ph.D. (1990) in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
(Seattle).
Publications
Sean has written numerous articles about music in IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and written or edited several books:
- 1998 The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (Southeast Asia) (Garland/Routledge - with Terry E. Miller)
- 2001 The Sound of the Ancestral Ship: Highland Music of West Java (Oxford University Press)
- 2005 The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook (Routledge)
- 2008 The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music (Routledge - with Terry E. Miller)
- 2010 Focus: Irish Traditional Music (Routledge)
- 2011 Bright Star of the West: Joe HeaneyJoe HeaneySeosamh Ó hÉanaí , Sean Nós singer, 15 October 1919 – 1 May 1984.-Biography:A native of Carna, County Galway, Ireland, Ó hÉanaí spent much of his life living in England, Scotland and in New York City....
, Irish Song-Man (Oxford - with Lillis Ó Laoire)
She is a current council member of the Society for Ethnomusicology
Society for Ethnomusicology
The Society for Ethnomusicology is, with the International Council for Traditional Music and the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, one of three major international associations ethnomusicology...
(and former board member), current president of the Special Interest Group on Irish Music http://webdb.iu.edu/sem/scripts/groups/specialinterestgroups/sp_int_irish_music.cfm, on the board of the Society for Asian Music, and belongs to several other music-and-culture-related societies.
Sean Williams is also a musician; she plays numerous Indonesian instruments along with the classical guitar, Irish fiddle, and banjo. She sings in Irish, English, Indonesian, and Sundanese. In the summers she teaches at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop in Port Orchard, Washington.