Learning to perform as a research technique in ethnomusicology*

This article starts with a brief discussion of Hood's notion of bi‐musicality and considers several reports in the literature of learning to perform as a research technique. The author's experiences of learning to play dutâr and rubâb in Afghanistan during the 1970s are described in some detail. The article concludes with a discussion of the many advantages of learning to perform as part of the fieldwork enterprise.