Bruno Nettl was born in Prague in 1930, immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1939, grew up in Princeton, NJ, and received most of his highe education at Indiana University. An ethnomusicologist, he carried out reserach with Native Americna peoples, in Iran, and in India. He is the author of several books, the best known being The Study of Ethnomusicology: 31 Issues and Concepts (2005), and Nettl's Elephant: On The History of Ethnomusicology (2010). He has spent most of his career teaching at the University of Illinois, where he is now professor emeritus of music and anthropology.

Among the highlights of Becoming an Ethnomusicologist are its evocative accounts of pre-World War II Prague, postwar Bloomington, and the international network of comparative musicologists, anthropologists, and folklorists engaged in research on forms of traditional music during the first half of the twentieth century. This network provided a foundation for the institutionalization and growth of North American ethnomusicology after 1950 and was the milieu for the development of Nettl’s own distinguished career. ... In this wonderful book, we learn not only about the substantial impact of European scholars on ethnomusicology in the U.S. but also how musicians and researchers throughout the world have collectively constructed this field of knowledge. At the same time, we gain many insights on the life and work of Nettl himself, who has done so much to build this field over the past half-century through his many publications, teaching at the University of Illinois, and service to the Society for Ethnomusicology and other organizations. This book is highly recommended to practitioners of ethnomusicology, historical musicology, folkloristics, linguistics, and anthropology—all fields that have been embraced and synthesized by Nettl in his exceptional career.