Elizabeth A. Clendinning, PhD
Ethnomusicologist · Scholar · Musician · Filmmaker
Elizabeth A. Clendinning is an ethnomusicologist and interdisciplinary scholar whose work integrates ethnographic, analytical, historical, and practice-based approaches to explore how sound, music, and performance shape cultural imagination. Her research draws on ethnomusicology, sound studies, music theory, museum studies, performance and media studies, and cultural heritage and preservation.
One recurring thread of Clendinning's scholarship concerns the circulation, transmission, and transformation of musical knowledge, particularly in relation to the Balinese performing arts. Her book, American Gamelan and the Ethnomusicological Imagination, examines the history of Balinese gamelan in the United States as a site of cultural encounter and the negotiation of cultural difference. She is also co-author, with Henry Spiller, of the textbook Focus: Gamelan Music of Indonesia, 3rd edition. A translation and commentary on portions of the Balinese musical-theoretical text Prakempa, co-authored with I Gde Made Indra Sadguna, is forthcoming in Thinking Music: Global Sources for the History of Music Theory.
Clendinning’s work examines how musical practices shape cultural identities and representations across a range of settings. Her article “A Street for All? Pluralism and the Performing Arts in Jalan Sesama (Indonesian Sesame Street),” published in Ethnomusicology, explores how music and performance negotiate cultural difference and represent national identity. Other work considers music and futurity in Tron, musical fan culture in Sherlock, the sonic creation of character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and identity and sound design in electric vehicles.
Her current research on the Balinese suling (bamboo flute) examines the relationships among instrument making, musical practice, communities, and environmental sustainability. This work has resulted in a book chapter and the documentary Guna Pering (The Use of Bamboo), co-directed and co-produced with I Gde Made Indra Sadguna. The film explores the ecological and cultural dimensions of bamboo instrument making in Bali and received support from a 2024 AIFIS-Luce Documentary Filmmaker Grant.
Her teaching emphasizes experiential, collaborative, and publicly engaged approaches to musical knowledge. Students in her courses have cultivated materials and constructed musical instruments at Wake Forest University's Campus Gardens, co-curated exhibitions at the Lam Museum of Anthropology, and developed public performances. Her article “Object Lessons: Teaching Musicology through Museum Collections,” co-authored with Andrew W. Gurstelle, examines the pedagogical possibilities of museum collections.
Clendinning has held numerous leadership roles within the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), including president of the Southeast-Caribbean Chapter, member of SEM Council and its Ethics Committee, co-chair of the Section for the Status of Women, and Student Paper Prize Chair. She has also contributed to the organization of international conferences, including those of the Performing Arts of Southeast Asia Study Group of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance.
Clendinning founded and directs Wake Forest University's Balinese gamelan ensemble, Gamelan Giri Murti. She is Associate Chair and Professor of Music and Program Director of Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies at Wake Forest University. Her research has been recognized with the University's 2022 Award for Excellence in Research. She holds a PhD in Musicology and an MM in Ethnomusicology from Florida State University and an AB in Music from the University of Chicago.
Contact
Elizabeth A. Clendinning
Department of Music
Wake Forest University
P.O. Box 7345
Winston-Salem, NC 27109