MUS 671: Decolonizing Music
M 3:00-5:50 PM Room: 215 Frohnmayer Music Building
“Decolonizing music” begins with understanding how the major age of European colonialism (1492-mid 20th century) affected and continues to influence the way we think about music. During this period, certain ideas about what music is and how music works were repressed in the name of the modernity and progress. The result is financial and social inequity between different types of music practitioners and consumers. Particularly vulnerable are musicians and listeners from colonized peoples. What might happen if we were to recuperate some of these previously repressed ideas? What can we do to create a more just and equitable world for music cultures? This seminar is open to graduate students in all disciplines. MUS 451/551 recommended but not required.
All reading and listening materials will be made available through the Canvas course site.
One intellectual current within ethnomusicology is the idea of bi-musicality, or the ability to be fluent in more than one musical system. This course emphasizes the practice of music-dance from a specific region/culture and asks students to reflect on how this practice may compare with the musical systems they already have experience with. Students will be asked to take an embodied approach in learning. At the end of the term, students will share what they have learned with others through an end-of-term presentation. Students who are interested in taking the class for additional credit (beyond 2.0 credits) are required to do additional work such as write an end-of-term research paper or produce a creative project related to region in question.
Ethnomusicology is often defined as “the study of music in/as culture,” but what does that mean? This class begins with a brief overview of the history of the discipline (Rice) from its origins in U.S. cultural anthropology and German comparative musicology. We will then explore the key concepts one senior ethnomusicologist (Turino) has developed over the course of his career to understand musics as diverse as those found in fiestas patronales in the Andes, Bira ceremonies in Zimbabwe, and contra dances in the Midwest. Finally, we delve into a full-length ethnography to appreciate what an in-depth fieldwork study can produce. Graduate students participating in the class will be assigned additional readings (including a textbook with an overview of critical theory), class preps, and more intensive writing projects. This course fulfills the IC (International Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.
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: colonialism, processes of cultural exchange, and modernity. We will study these ideas through the music and cultures of at least three countries in the Americas (Brazil, Mexico, and Peru). 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, including the United States. This course is designed to fulfill a Cultural Literacy Requirement.
General class description: One intellectual current within ethnomusicology is the idea of bi-musicality, or the ability to be fluent in more than one musical system. This course emphasizes the practice of music-dance from a specific region/culture and asks students to reflect on how this practice may compare with the musical systems they already have experience with. Students will be asked to take an embodied approach in learning. At the end of the term, students will share what they have learned with others through an end-of-term presentation. Students who may be interested in taking the class for additional credit (beyond 2.0 credits) can arrange to do additional work such as write an end-of-term research paper or produce a creative project related to region in question.
Musical instruments are tools that humans have created to shape their sound environments. They reflect the cultural values that communities of humans share. In this class, we will examine these tools, seeking to understand how they work: mechanically, aesthetically, and socially. We will also explore how and why scholars have studied musical instruments, even taking the time to build some. Questions include: why have some musical instruments become icons of a nation? How should we classify the vast number of instruments in the world? What does it mean for instruments to circulate around the world? Students will have the opportunity to research an instrument of their choice more thoroughly. This course is designed to fulfill the Global Perspectives category of the Cultural Literacy Core Education requirement.