Introduction
to Music Cultures of the World
世界音樂文化概論
Instructor：Jen-yen Chen
Semester：Spring 2007
Credit：3
Spring 2007, Tuesdays 2:20-5:20pm, R105
Office Hours: Mondays, 1-3pm or by appointment, R109
E-mail:
jenyenc@ntu.edu.tw
Course Assistant: Yi-ju, Wang
Course description
This course presents an introduction to selected
music cultures of the world, including the native American, Black American,
Arabic, Indian, Indonesian, and South American traditions. It does not aim to provide a comprehensive
coverage of these traditions (an impossible task in one semester, indeed in one
lifetime!), but rather to foster an awareness of broad differences in the
styles and practices of music around the globe.
In other words, the course is comparative in nature. It will raise questions that hopefully will
provoke a critical examination of what previously might have seemed
self-evident assumptions about music, such as “what is music?” and “what is
good music?” We shall find that
different cultures answer these questions in enormously different ways, and a
respect towards and appreciation for these diverse viewpoints can greatly
enrich our understanding of the central place of music in human society.
Prerequisites
Because one of our goals is to develop a grasp of
the structure of musical sound in the various world traditions, an ability to
read simple examples of Western music notation* as
well as a prior knowledge of some basic music-theoretical concepts is a
prerequisite for taking this course.
During the first class meeting, there will be a short quiz to determine
if your skills in these areas are at a sufficient level for the purposes of the
course. Also, you should feel fairly
comfortable listening to and speaking, reading, and writing in English.
Requirements
The
course requirements are as follows:
Class
participation 30%
First
essay 20%
Second
essay 20%
Final
essay 30%
In
addition, for each week’s class meeting you will need to do an assigned reading
and prepare a short written essay related to this reading. Please see the accompanying document, “Class
Policies,” for further important information.
Textbooks
Kay Kaufman Shelemay. Soundscapes: Exploring Music in a Changing World, 2nd
edition (New York: 2006).
Jeff Todd Titon, editor. Worlds
of Music: An Introduction to the Music of
the World’s Peoples, 4th edition (Belmont, California: 2002).
Please
purchase these books in a Taipei bookstore or through a website such as www.amazon.com, www.eslite.com, and www.books.com.tw. Both texts have accompanying CDs, however,
you do not need to buy these if you do not wish to. I will post sound files from the CDs on the
Ceiba course website.
Schedule of Class Meetings
27 Feb Introduction
6 Mar Music
as Culture
Reading: Worlds
of Music, 1-9; Soundscapes,
xxvi-li
Listening: Worlds
of Music 1/1-2; Soundscapes 1/1-3
13 Mar Materials
of Music I
Reading: Worlds
of Music, 9-32
Listening: Worlds
of Music 4/1, 3/1, 1/6, 2/7, 2/8, 3/3, 1/7, 4/10
20 Mar Materials
of Music II
Reading: Soundscapes,
2-47
Listening: Soundscapes
1/4-18
27 Mar Native
American Music I
Reading: Worlds
of Music, 35-82
Listening: Worlds
of Music 1/3-14
3 Apr Native
American Music II
Reading: Soundscapes,
380-419
Listening: 3/11-16
First
essay due
10 Apr Black
American Music I
Reading: Worlds
of Music, 151-207
Listening: Worlds
of Music 1/22-24, 2/1-8
17 Apr Black
American Music II: Jazz (taught by 王意如)
Reading: to be announced
Listening: to be announced
24 Apr Arabic
Music I
Reading: to be announced
Listening: to be announced
1 May Arabic
Music II
Reading: Soundscapes,
214-255
Listening: Soundscapes
2/14-19
8 May Indian
Music I
Reading: Worlds
of Music, 243-275
Listening: Worlds
of Music 2/20-21, 3/1
Second
essay due
15 May Indian
Music II
Reading: to be announced
Listening: to be announced
22 May Indonesian
Music I
Reading: Worlds
of Music, 279-326
Listening: Worlds
of Music 3/2-11
29 May Indonesian
Music II
Reading: to be announced
Listening: to be announced
5 Jun South
American Music I
Reading: Worlds
of Music, 385-441
Listening: Worlds
of Music 4/7-17
Final
essay due
12 Jun South
American Music II
Reading: Soundscapes,
300-343
Listening: Soundscapes
2/25, 3/1-5
* Used as an
international standard in contemporary scholarship, for reasons of convenience
rather than because of any explicit ideologies of cultural superiority.