Remembered for his work in the fields of ethnomusicology and sociomusicology, Small is perhaps most famous for inventing the term "musicking" to express his idea that music is an active process rather than a static object. He outlined this idea in his 1998 work Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. After studying at both Otago University and the Victoria University of Wellington, he taught music in both New Zealand and England.
