Summer 2017 (Session One: 6/26-7/23) Course Offering

MUS 359: Music of the Americas
MTWR 12:00-1:50 PM Room: Collier House 103

Music in Mexico Textbook

The Americas is a broad geographic expanse covering a range of cultures that is impossible to cover in-depth in a single academic term. There are ideas, however, that can help us bring important aspects of these cultures together: indigeneity, colonization, diaspora, and hyrbidity. Using these ideas, we will look at three countries and cultures in the Americas to see these ideas help us analyze music in these specific regions. No musical experience is necessary, but students will be asked to think through listening examples to understand why different musics sound the way they do. While we focus on three regions, the ideas are applicable throughout the Americas. This course fulfills the AC (American Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.

Selected Texts Include:


Madrid, Alejandro. 2013. Music in Mexico. Oxford University Press: New York.
Murphy, John. 2006. Music in Brazil. Oxford University Press: New York.
Turino, Thomas. 2008. Music in the Andes. Oxford University Press: New York.