Ethnomusicology is not solely focused on music study and performance but with integrating anthropological research and the study of how different aspects of music function within cultures. An ethnomusicologist will study a culture's music technique at the same time as its language and other aspects of the culture.
Ethnomusicology involves understanding the role of the musician in different cultures. American anthropologist Liza Dalby conducted groundbreaking cultural research in 1970s Japan. As part of her research, she lived in an okiya, or Japanese geisha training house, and studied the shamisen, a traditional Japanese instrument played by geishas. This study qualifies as ethnomusicology because she studied the cultural environment and context in which the geishas study the shamisen, not simply the musical technique. To live and be immersed in the culture whose music one is studying is imperative to ethnomusicological research. For this reason, many universities offer study-abroad programs for their students, so that they can study ethnomusicology beyond theory.
Teachers who have studied different theories and aspects of music and musical styles from around the world have a greater wealth of knowledge to share with their students. Teaching methods and a deeper understanding of music fundamentals can help students because many student have different learning strengths and weaknesses and a teacher can borrow ideas from different cultures and use what works best to help the students.
World-renowned cellist Yo-yo Ma often integrates world music and instruments not conventionally combined with a cello. In his work with the Silk Road Project, he collaborated with musicians with different cultural backgrounds and training to create unique works. Studying and integrating world music can improve performance and enhance creativity for musicians of all styles.
The role of the ethnomusicologist is not only to study music and culture for how it can apply to the lives of others outside of that culture but also to preserve and document the music for posterity. Since the advent of the field, music genres and instruments previously unknown to those outside the country of origin have been the source of inspiration for musicians and scholars alike. As indigenous cultures and languages around the world die out, music proves to be a way to preserve the cultural and linguistic traditions of these cultures. The Saami people of Lapland continue their practice of joik, an a capella style of music sung in the native Saami language. The current experimentation and continuation of the tradition of joik preserves the Saami language as well. Saami is considered an endangered language.