ABSTRACT
This chapter describes ecomusicology in Western music, ethnomusicology, and popular music, and explores some possibilities for eco-literate music pedagogy. Ecomusicologists study nature's portrayal by composers, the musics of non-Western cultures, and music for ecological activism. For instance, Earl Robicheaux's soundscape compositions, in which he coordinates the musics of non-human animals, especially birds, are used as background for interviews of Atchafalaya residents and photographs and presented at museums. McCutchan's memoir seems to fulfill Allen's description of ecomusicology as "emphasizing the importance of place" and evoking "critical and self-critical elements". Popular music activities seem fundamentally unsustainable, and ecomusicologists studying popular musicking have contributed to the issue of sustainability. A fundamental lesson drawn from ecomusicology is that different musics encourage different relationships between humans and humans, and humans and nature. The soil is made up of diverse beings, and so music classrooms should incorporate as much musical diversity as possible.
