Musics in Asia

Catalog description

This course explores the breadth of music in contemporary Asia, with a focus on traditional and popular musics from East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) and Indonesia. Hands-on instruction in gamelan (Indonesia's most prominent form of traditional music) complements a survey of East Asian instruments and forms provides a glimpse into traditional aesthetics as well as an introduction to fundamental musical concepts. Presentations on historical topics provide background to understanding the spectacular rise of popular genres, and a foundation for student explorations of specific cases. The course thus approaches music both music as sound and practice, and as a lens for examining the myriad social and cultural forces that shape it, and that are shaped by it. (MUSIC-HC)