Global Soundscapes: Music, History, and Society

Catalog description

This course examines musical practices and traditions from around the world and explores how music is interrelated with its historical, cultural and social contexts. It introduces students to academic disciplines that study music: music theory, music history, and ethnomusicology. We will gain a global perspective of music by learning about different musical styles and practices, and how cultures shape the creation, performance and consumption of music. The course will also investigate how certain groups of people and their music have been historically marginalized, and how structural inequalities have manifested in the education, performance, and dissemination of music. Students will particularly focus on groups who have been marginalized due to race, ethnicity, and/or immigrant status. By applying the theoretical framework of ethnomusicology, they will study the ways that music has functioned as a way to assert power and give voice to marginalized groups and suppressed issues.