Page "Music history" Paragraph 16

In its most narrow definition, historical musicology is the music history of Western culture.

Such a definition arbitrarily excludes disciplines other than history, cultures other than Western, and forms of music other than " classical " (" art ", " serious ", " high culture ") or notated (" artificial ")-implying that the omitted disciplines, cultures, and musical styles / genres are somehow inferior.

A somewhat broader definition incorporating all musical humanities is still problematic, because it arbitrarily excludes the relevant ( natural ) sciences ( acoustics, psychology, physiology, neurosciences, information and computer sciences, empirical sociology and aesthetics ) as well as musical practice.

The musicological sub-disciplines of music theory and music analysis have likewise historically been rather uneasily separated from the most narrow definition of historical musicology.