On Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity is not a fad, nor is it properly a goal in itself. It is the natural result of two tendencies: the first of disciplines to form around a few core principles and methodologies; the other of innovative scholars to continually think up new ways to engage with knowledge and understanding. The interdisciplinary approach is a consequence of certain questions being asked which are unserved by the approach of traditional disciplines. By its very nature interdisciplinarity is inquiry-driven rather than discipline-based. It comes into play when a question arises that can only be fully addressed by crossing the boundaries and divisions of preexisting fields, on occasion defining new ones.
The study of music history traditionally divides the domain of music into style periods: (Medieval, Renaissance, Classical). Historical Musicology recognizes chronological and geographic boundaries, identifies overarching stylistic tendencies, and describes musicians in terms of their conforming or violating these trends. Many types of questions have long been well-served by these methods, and will continue to be.
But what if a scholar seeks to address issues more transcendent of these categories: issues of cognition and evolution; questions of cultural or personal identity; or the effect of music on spirituality and its role in ritual? To answer these questions by appealing to chronology or geography may render nothing useful or enlightening. The issue is not to change the subject, but rather to find a new means of engaging it. By appealing to the methods of other fields, uncovering the similarities between the matters under investigation, one might chance upon a new viewpoint otherwise hidden from view. By peering through such a vantage, we may discover hidden treasures or unknown faults in the landscape of our survey.
Music and language studies is properly a type of research (rather than a field on its own), one which is inherently multidisciplinary. Researchers in this domain seek not to supercede existing disciplines, but to supplement them. The questions that arise from considering music and language concurrently instigate forays across disciplinary boundaries, and beg either broad expertise in aspects of each discipline, or collaborations among those well-entrenched within one discipline, who nonetheless seek to expand the object of their investigations. Both of these are welcome, and both beneficial to our knowledge and understanding.
