Music Cultures of Asia 

亞洲音樂文化

 

Instructor: Ying-fen Wang

Semester: Fall 2007, Fall 2006, Spring 2005, Spring 2004

Credits: 3 credits

Students: Upper level undergraduates and graduate students

 

Course Description:

 

This course will take Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and India as samples of Asian musical cultures. It will explore their past and present, analyze their major genres in relation to their society and culture, compare their differences and similarities as well as their interconnections, and observe their transformations of traditions. Moreover, this course hopes to enhance the student experiences of these musics through hands-on practices and lecture-demonstrations.

 

Course Requirements:

 

  1. The course will be conducted through lectures, listening/watching audio-visual materials, hands-on practices of musical instruments or their substitutes, and readings. It particularly emphasizes listening/watching and hands-on experiences.
  2. The audio-visual materials and reading materials will be placed our course website: https://ceiba.ntu.edu.tw/961asianmusic
  3. Students are required to finish each week’s reading assignments and submit written homework (if any) to the website the night before the class meets every Tuesday afternoon. In addition, the homework needs to be printed and handed to me in class.
  4. We will visit the Taipei University of the Arts to have a class on gamelan playing (both Javanese and Balinese).
  5. We will also have a lecture-demonstration of Indian sitar/tabla and one on Korean nongak/samulnori.
  6. Students are required to write a concert report by comparing two concerts of Indian music, one to be held at the College of Liberal Arts on Oct. 12 and the other at the Da-an Park on Oct. 19. Both concerts are free.
  7. The midterm and final exam will consist of listening test, short answers, and essay questions.
  8. The term paper will preferably be based on fieldwork on a particular genre or issue covered in the course, or on a particular Asian community in Taiwan, or a particular performer/performing group of Asian music in Taiwan, or the reception of Asian music through record sales, etc. The topic needs to be approved by the teacher by Dec. 5.

 

References:

 

Bakan, Michael. 2007. World Music: Traditions and Transformations. New York: McGrawhill. 

Killlick, Andrew. 2002. “Musical Instruments of Korea.” In The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 7: East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea, 821-32. New York: Routledge.

Lee Byong-won. 1997. Styles and Esthetics in Korean Traditional Music. Seoul: The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts.

Ruckert, George. 2004. Music in North India: Experiencing Music, Experiencing Culture.Global Music Series, no.11. New York: Oxford University Press.

Sutton, Anderson. 1992.“Asia/Indonesia.”In Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of Worlds Peoples. 2nd edition. New York: Schirmer Books.

Wade, Bonnie. 2004. Music in Japan: Experiencing Music, Experiencing Culture. Global Music Series, no.10. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Grading:

 

5% attendance and class participation

5% oral presentation

20% written assignments

20% midterm

20% final

30% term paper

 

Schedule:

 

Week 1    9/18 （Unexpected Typhoon）

 

Week 2           9/25         Moon Festival Holiday，concert info: http://www.treesmusic.com/festival/2007mmf/index.htm

 

Week 3            10/2         Course introduction; basic elements of music; Music of North India 1:

Bakan 2007, chapter 8, website: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072415665/student_view0/ chapter8/;

Ruckert 2004 chapter1-3

 

Week 4            10/9         North Indian music 2:

Lecture-demonstration by Waka and Yo, Assignment #1

 

Week 5            10/16       North Indian music 3:

Bakan 2007 chapter 8 (cont’d);

Ruckert 2004, chapters 4-6； Assignment #2

 

Week 6            10/23       Korean music 1:

Lecture by Yamauchi: Record Industry in Colonial Korea

 

Week 7            10/30       North Indian music 4; Korean music 2

Ruckert 2004 chapters 4-6 (cont’d); Assignment #3

 

Week 8    11/6 Korean music 3: tradition and modernization:

Lee 1997; Killick 2002; Assignment #4

（Watch Sopyonje and answer questions）

 

Week 9            11/13       Midterm; Korean nongak instrument demonstration

 

Week 10          11/20       Japanese music 1: Reception of Western music and other Asian musics;

Wade 2204, chapters 1-2; Assignment #5

 

Week 11          11/27       Japanese music 2: Focusing Inward and Across Boundaries：Instrumental music

Wade 2004, chapter 3， Assignment #6

 

Week 12          12/4         Japanese music 3: Intertextuality: Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku, Wade 2004, chapter 4，Assignment #7

 

Week 13          12/11       Indonesian music 1: Javanese gamelan practice at Taipei National University of the Arts (guest lecturer: Prof. Li Chian-hui)

 

 

Week 14          12/18       Indonesian music 2: Javanese gamelan，Sutton 1992，Assignment　#8

 

Week 15          12/25       Indonesian music 3: Balinese gamelan，Sutton 1992，Assignment　#9

 

Week 16          1/1   New Year Holiday 

 

Week 17          1/8   Oral presentation

 

Week 18         1/15 Final and Oral presentation