Music of the World's Peoples

Catalog description

This class, designed for majors and non-majors alike, examines the sounds of human culture by way of the following questions: Is music the same throughout the world? What has contributed to making music sound as it does? What do you hear in music? How do you describe what you hear? What connections can you make between music you know and that which you hear for the first time? Included in the semester is a brief introduction to the field of ethnomusicology and three global case studies. Answers to questions come by way of all senses, from hearing to tasting. Each case study involves a variety of hands-on, activity-based learning sessions. The course's capstone is a fieldwork project, exploring a particular segment of personal music culture.