The challenges posed by a fast-changing global environment to the vitality and viability of musical traditions continue to be a topical issue on the ethnomusicological agenda. Investigations into ways to help keep musical traditions strong are still incipient, however, relative to parallel strategies to protect and promote endangered languages. This article identifies key synergies and disconnects between language and music specifically in relation to factors that impact on their vitality and viability. In this way, it pinpoints areas where theory and practice from the field of language maintenance hold greatest potential to inform the development of ways to keep 'small' music genres strong.