Juan Eduardo Wolf, Ph.D.

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 prize-winning ethnography on Ewe ritual (Friedson) to appreciate what an in-depth fieldwork study can produce. Graduate students participating in the class will be assigned additional readings, class preps, and more intensive writing projects. This course fulfills the IC (International Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.

Selected Texts Include:

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Friedson, Steven M. 2009. Remains of Ritual: Northern Gods in a Southern Land. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Rice, Timothy. 2013. Ethnomusicology: A Very Brief Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Turino, Thomas. 2007. Music as Social Life: the Politics of Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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Time and time again, Latin American music and dance is described as the result of the “mixing” of three cultures: the African, European, and Native American. This perspective, however, oversimplifies the complex ways that ideas about race, music, and dance developed during Latin America’s colonial era and how they continue to interact today. In this class, we will explore the ways that racial ideologies developed in Latin America and how these ideologies influenced the attitudes towards the music-dance that now represent various Latin American nations. We will read about how scholars have used ideas about race to explain Latin American cultural processes and how music-dance plays a role in the contemporary cultural politics of ethnoracial recognition. Class is open to graduate students in all disciplines.

Selected Texts Include:

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Beyond humanly organized sound, music is a tool to think with. The different ways in which humans use and talk about music can teach us much about each other. In this class, we will examine music-related practices from cultures associated with three different regions of the world (Fall 2017: South India, Korea, Hispanic Caribbean). You will learn how people raised in these cultures produce and perceive these musics as well as what concepts scholars have developed to understand these expressions more generally. Beyond exposing you to musics that you may not be familiar with, my goal is for you to apply the concepts you learn here to think critically about the multiple cultural performances you experience in your own lives. This course fulfills the IC (International Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Kwan, Donna Lee. 2011. Music in Korea. Oxford University Press: New York.
Moore, Robin. 2010. Music in the Hispanic Caribbean. Oxford University Press: New York.
Viswanathan, T. and Matthew Harp Allen. 2004. Music in South India. Oxford University Press: New York.

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You will also need an i-clicker for this class.

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.

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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 hybridity. Using these ideas, we will look at a number of countries and cultures in the Americas to see these ideas help us analyze music in 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. This version of the class will focus primarily on countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the ideas are applicable throughout the Americas.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Moore, Robin with Walter Aaron Clark (eds). 2012. Musics of Latin America. W.W. Norton & Company: New York.

---

You will also need an i-clicker for this class.

MUS 410/610: Andean Music Ensemble (Variable Credit)
M 7:00-8:50 AM Room: Frohnmayer Music Building 140

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 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.

This term is dedicated to learning about the music-dance traditions of the South Central Andes, a region in which I have spent time doing field work. Several of these traditions use instruments that are relatively easily learned (lakitas and tarkas), and everyone will learn a tune in these ensembles. It may be possible to explore two other traditions, the Andean string orchestra (guitars/mandolin/flute/violin/charango) and the Andean brass band (trumpet/baritone/tuba/clarinet/ sax/trombone), depending upon what skills students bring with them to the class. All students will be expected to sing and perform basic dance steps. No prior musical experience necessary.

Here’s an example of what students will be learning. The Spring 2015 class performing “Mighty Oregon” as an Andean march on lakitas.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Turino, Thomas. 2008. Music in the Andes. Oxford University Press: New York.

---

Instruments will be loaned for class as needed.

This version of the course focuses primarily on the island of Puerto Rico. The classic trope about its music is that it resulted of the mixing of three cultures: African, European, and Native American. This orientation, however, asks us to think critically about the relationship between our ideas of music and race. We will explore the ways in which genres are described in terms of racial stereotypes as well as attempt to understand how history both supports and undermines these culturally engrained notions. Because of Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States, we will also examine how people in the United States, including those of Puerto Rican descent, see Puerto Rican music, which often reflects the politics of Puerto Rican sovereignty. In addition to reading, discussion, and listening, students will also work to attain basic skills for performing several of the featured genres. This course fulfills the IC (International Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Rivera-Rideau, Petra R. 2015. Remixing Reggaeton: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico. Duke University Press.

Most other reading or listening materials will be made available on the course Canvas site and include authors like Frances Aparicio, Peter Manuel and Wayne Marshall.

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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 fulfills the IC (International Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Reading or listening materials will be made available on the course Canvas site and may include authors like Max Peter Baumann, John Blacking, Cornelia Fales, and Mark Katz.

---

Beyond humanly organized sound, music is a tool to think with. The different ways in which humans use and talk about music can teach us much about each other. In this class, we will examine music-related practices from cultures associated with three different regions of the world (Summer 2016: South India, China, Hispanic Caribbean). You will learn how people raised in these cultures produce and perceive these musics as well as what concepts scholars have developed to understand these expressions more generally. Beyond exposing you to musics that you may not be familiar with, my goal is for you to apply the concepts you learn here to think critically about the multiple cultural performances you experience in your own lives. This course fulfills the IC (International Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Lau, Frederick. 2008. Music in China. Oxford University Press: New York.
Moore, Robin. 2010. Music in the Hispanic Caribbean. Oxford University Press: New York.
Viswanathan, T. and Matthew Harp Allen. 2004. Music in South India. Oxford University Press: New York.

---

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 hybridity. Using these ideas, we will look at a number of countries and cultures in the Americas to see these ideas help us analyze music in 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. This version of the class will focus primarily on countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the ideas are applicable throughout the Americas.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Moore, Robin with Walter Aaron Clark (eds). 2012. Musics of Latin America. W.W. Norton & Company: New York.

---

You will also need an i-clicker for this class.

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 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.

This term is dedicated to learning about the music-dance traditions of the South Central Andes, a region in which I have spent time doing field work. Several of these traditions use instruments that are relatively easily learned (lakitas and tarkas), and everyone will learn a tune in these ensembles. It may be possible to explore two other traditions, the Andean string orchestra (guitars/mandolin/flute/violin/charango) and the Andean brass band (trumpet/baritone/tuba/clarinet/ sax/trombone), depending upon what skills students bring with them to the class. All students will be expected to sing and perform basic dance steps. No prior musical experience necessary.

Here’s an example of what students will be learning. The Spring 2015 class performing “Mighty Oregon” as an Andean march on lakitas.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Turino, Thomas. 2008. Music in the Andes. Oxford University Press: New York.

---

Instruments will be loaned for class as needed.

This version of the course focuses primarily on the island of Puerto Rico. The classic trope about its music is that it resulted of the mixing of three cultures: African, European, and Native American. This orientation, however, asks us to think critically about the relationship between our ideas of music and race. We will explore the ways in which genres are described in terms of racial stereotypes as well as attempt to understand how history both supports and undermines these culturally engrained notions. Because of Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States, we will also examine how people in the United States, including those of Puerto Rican descent, see Puerto Rican music, which often reflects the politics of Puerto Rican sovereignty. In addition to reading, discussion, and listening, students will also work to attain basic skills for performing several of the featured genres. This course fulfills the IC (International Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.

Selected Texts Include:

---

The reading or listening materials will be made available on the course Canvas site and include authors like Frances Aparicio, Peter Manuel and Wayne Marshall.

---

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 prize-winning ethnography on Ewe ritual (Friedson) to appreciate what an in-depth fieldwork study can produce. Graduate students participating in the class will be assigned additional readings, class preps, and more intensive writing projects. This course fulfills the IC (International Cultures) Multicultural Requirement.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Friedson, Steven M. 2009. Remains of Ritual: Northern Gods in a Southern Land. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Rice, Timothy. 2013. Ethnomusicology: A Very Brief Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Turino, Thomas. 2007. Music as Social Life: the Politics of Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

---

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 a number of countries and cultures in the Americas to see these ideas help us analyze music in 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. This version of the class will focus primarily on countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the ideas are applicable throughout the Americas.

Selected Texts Include:

---

Moore, Robin with Walter Aaron Clark (eds). 2012. Musics of Latin America. W.W. Norton & Company: New York.

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