MUSC 522, Comparative Music Theory
Spring 2015
Roger Mathew Grant, PhD
Email: rgrant01@wesleyan.edu
Office hours:
Office: Music Studios 307
Telephone: 860-685-2588
M 3:15–5:15, Tu by appt.
Course Description and Objectives:
This course asks questions about what music and theory might have to do with each
other, and provocatively collects these inquiries under the rubric of "music theory."
Together we will explore methodological frameworks that have sometimes been
associated with the investigation of music and musical experience broadly conceived,
including (but not limited to): affect, phenomenology, cognition, mediation, form and
formalism, and temporality. Through meta-methedological inquiry, we will probe each
of these domains of thought to investigate what they may have to offer to the study of
music across times and places, and further, what they might reveal about musical
thought in our contemporary moment.
Coursework
Students should come to seminar prepared to discuss the readings in detail; defend,
critique, and qualify interpretations of them; and engage in meaningful and productive
dialogue concerning related issues.
Attendance
The success of this seminar is dependent, in large part, on your participation and input.
I expect that you will attend every meeting of the seminar. Contact me if this presents a
problem.
Classroom Presentations
During the course of the semester, students will discuss and critically engage assigned
readings and repertoire. These presentations will allow students to expand their
specialized knowledge and to guide their fellow students in the understanding of these
cultural objects.
Final paper
This paper is an opportunity for you to display the knowledge and critical skill you
have gained over the semester. Appropriate topics will be discussed in class. The
paper should be as long as it needs to be but should be no shorter than 2,500 words and
no longer than 10,000 words (not including footnotes). A final draft in Chicago style is
due, electronically, at 6pm on Friday 13 June.
Chicago Manual of Style Online:
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(authentication required)
Evaluation Rubric:
Paper – 50%
Factors considered include (but are not limited to) treatment of the topic, critical insight,
quality of writing, and style. In the preliminary stages of your paper, you will submit a
500 word proposal in the manner of a conference submission.
Classroom Performance – 50%
This grade is comprised of your performance in your classroom presentations and your
regular contributions to classroom discussions.
Disability Resources:
Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with
disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its
programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a
documented disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and
the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and provide documentation of the disability. Since
accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided
retroactively, please contact Disability Resources as soon as possible.
If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Dean Patey
in Disability Resources, located in North College, Room 021, or call 860-685-2332 for an
appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations.
Academic Honesty:
Students are expected to abide by Wesleyan University’s Honor Code in all assignments
and examinations. Discussion of class content among students is strongly encouraged,
but simply copying a classmate’s responses to homework or exams undermines our
community of trust, and keeps you from practicing the skill covered in the assignment.
Suspected Honor Code violations will be referred to the Honor Board. Don’t hesitate to
approach me if you have questions or concerns about academic honesty in this course.
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Schedule of Seminar Topics
I. Form and Formalism
Week 1 January 28
Music Theory—the Very Idea!
Week 2 February 4
Form and Formalism I
Kofi Agawu, “Structural Analysis or Cultural Analysis”
Marjorie Levinson, “What is New Formalism?”
W. J. T. Mitchell, “The Commitment to Form, Or, Still Crazy After All These
Years”
Week 3 February 11
Form and Formalism II
James Currie, “Music After All”
Michael Tenzer, Introduction to The Analysis of World Music
Week 4 February 18
Post-Contextualism and Post-Humanism
Carolyn Abbate, “Music–Drastic or Gnostic?”
Benjamin Piekut, “Actor-Networks in Music History: Clarifications and
Critiques”
Week 5 February 25
Affect I
Ben Highmore, “Bitter After Taste: Affect, Food, and Social Aesthetics” in The
Affect Theory Reader
Sianne Ngai, “Introduction” and “Tone” from Ugly Feelings
Raymond Williams, “Structures of Feeling” from Marxism and Literature
Week 6 March 4
Affect II
Kelley Tatro, “The Hard Work of Screaming: Physical Exertion and Affective
Labor Among Mexico City’s Punk Vocalists”
Roger Mathew Grant, “The Passions in Print”
Discussion of proposals
Spring Break
Week 7 March 25
Phenomenology I
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Amy Cimini, “Vibrating Colors and Silent Bodies: Music, Sound and Silence in
Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Critique of Dualism”
Izchak Miller, “Introduction” and “Husserl’s Account of Perceiving a Melody,”
from Husserl, Perception, and Temporal Awareness
Week 8 April 1
Phenomenology II
David Lewin, “Music Theory, Phenomenology, Modes of Perception”
Week 9 April 8
Time
Robert Gjerdingen, “Meter as a Mode of Attending”
Martin Clayton, “Theoretical Perspectives II: General Theories of Rhythm and
Metre,” from Time in Indian Music
Mark J. Butler, “Introduction” and “Looking for the Perfect Loop,” from Playing
with Something that Runs
Proposals due in class
Week 10 April 15
Sound Studies I
Steven Feld, “Waterfalls of Song: An Acoustemology of Place Resounding in
Bosavi, Papua New Gunea”
Jonathan Sterne, Introduction to The Sound Studies Reader
R. Murray Schafer, “The Soundscape,” reproduced in The Sound Studies Reader
Week 11 April 22
Sound Studies II
Frantz Fanon, “This is the Voice of Algeria” reproduced in The Sound Studies
Reader
Ana María Ochoa Gautier, “Social Transculturation, Epistemologies of
Purification and the Aural Public Sphere in Latin America” reproduced in
The Sound Studies Reader
Pauline Oliveros, Introduction to Deep Listening
Week 12 April 29
Sound Studies III
Brian Kane, “Introduction,” “Acousmatic Phantasmagoria and the Problem of
Technê,” “Interlude: Must Musique Contrète Be Phantasmagoric,” and
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“Acousmatic Fabrications: Les Paul and the “Les Paulverizer,” from Sound
Unseen
Week 13 May 6
Presentations
Papers due May 15 11:59pm electronically (preferred) or by mailbox.