Music, Culture, and Society

Catalog description

This course begins with the premise that the study of music and the study of musicians are intertwined. Using methods from musicology and ethnomusicology, we will focus as much on the lives of musicians, and how their cultures and societies shape their practices, as we do on the analysis of musical sounds. Rather than separating out genre labels like traditional folk, commercial popular music, and erudite concert music, we will explore how these practices all inhabit the same cultural fields. During the semester, we will use particular case studies, such as K-pop, Claude Debussy, Brazilian bossa nova and Tuvan throat singing, as entry points to discussions regarding broader questions of culture and society. How is music intertwined with questions of economics, geography, cultural identity, religion, politics and history? This course seeks to attune your ears to novel sounds through listening assignments, and contextualize what they hear through weekly readings. It also serves to introduce you to methods and approaches within cultural study of music.