WORLD MUSIC
INSTRUCTOR: JOHN ANDERSON
Fall 2008
Course: MUHL 3721Y
Telephone: 282 0511
Email: john.anderson@uleth.ca
Textbook: Excursions in World Music, 5th ed., Bruno Nettl
Time: Saturday 1300-1550
Room: MB024
Note: There is a $15 cost for the African drumming lesson
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Why study world music? There are many reasons, but perhaps the most important are pleasure
and understanding. The only pre-requisites are a curious ear and an inquisitive mind. As modern
people try to locate themselves in a world that is changing with bewildering speed, we find music
especially rewarding, for music is among the most tenacious of cultural elements. Music
symbolizes a people’s way of life; it represents a distillation of cultural style.
The study of music in culture is referred to as ethnomusicology. Some ethnomusicologists define
it as the study of music as culture, underlining the fact that music is a way of organizing human
activity. We use the term “culture” as anthropologists do: culture is a people’s way of life, learned
and transmitted through the centuries of adapting to the natural and human world.
Ethnomusicology is the study of music in the context of human life.
People make music in two ways: they make or construct the idea of music—what it is (and is not)
and what it does—and they make or produce the sounds that we hear. Although we all
experience music as something “out there” in the world, our response to music depends on the
ideas we associate with that music, and those ideas come from the people who carry our culture.
In other words, people make music into a cultural domain, with associated sets of ideas and
activities. This course seeks to introduce the student to some of these major world musical
cultures.
Assessment
ASSIGNMENT
Test I
Test II
Test III
Test IV
Writing Assignment
Final Examination
DUE
Sept. 27
Oct. 18
Nov. 8
Nov. 22
Dec. 6
Dec. 13
Late assignments may be accepted with a 10% penalty per day.
WEIGHT
15%
15%
15%
15%
20%
20%
GRADES
Numerical grades will be based on the following system.
A+
B+
C+
D+
95-100
82-85
70-73
58-61
A
B
C
D
90-94
78-81
66-69
50-57
ABCF
86-89
74-77
62-65
00-49
SCHEDULE
September 6
13
20
27
Introduction
Studying Music of the World’s Cultures
The Music of India
The Music of the Middle East—Test I
October
4
11
18
25
The Music of China
No class—Thanksgiving
The Music of Japan--Test II
The Music of Indonesia
November
1
8
15
22
29
The Music of Sub-Saharan Africa
The Music of Europe---Test III
The Music of Latin America
The Music of Native American Music—Test IV
The Music of Ethnic North America I
December
6
13
Review
Final Examination 2:00 pm
Plagiarism, cheating or other forms of misconduct will result in failure of part or all of the course
components and will be reported. See the University of Lethbridge Calendar (p. 70 – 71 of the
2008 – 2009 Calendar) for details of the University’s policies with respect to student conduct.
Students who fail to write final exams must provide satisfactory evidence of illness or extenuating
circumstances AND must have the approval of the Dean for a makeup exam. For missed exams,
a grade of F (0 marks) will be given.
Writing Assignments
The assignments are 1200-1500 words, double-spaced and can submitted up to, and including,
December 1. Please include a title page with the assignment title, your name, course, date and
page numbers. You may choose from one of the following assignments.
1. One of the tenets of this class is that we should consider music as a phenomenon with three
aspects: sound, conception, and behaviour. Write an essay in which you use this model as
the basis for a description of some type of world music you directly participate in either as a
performer, consumer, listener, or critic. This could, for example, be a concert review.
2. Interview a musician or group of musicians who perform music from a non-Western culture.
You should seek my approval on this topic before beginning.
Your goal is to understand a music-culture or some part of it from an insider’s point of view.
What does that point of view encompass? You might want to consider these four
components:




ideas
social organization
repertories, and
material culture
Most people will be happy to tell you about their involvement with music so long as you show
them you are sincerely interested.
3. The author of your textbook makes a distinction between musical traditions that are oral and
those in which musical sound is translated into a written form. Describe the difficulties in
studying music of an oral tradition in regard to the reliability of this information. Support your
position by examining the applications in at least two different music cultures.
4. You will spend an hour a week listening to music of your own choice related to each musical
region. You will keep a listening journal in which you record your reactions to the music,
describe and analyze it, and use terms and concepts learned in class. The journals are due
each week proceeding each region. For example, the journal on African music will be due
the week after we have discussed Africa in class.
Though you may be able to find others, an excellent resource to download music is
http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org. The Calgary public library also has a sizeable
collection from which you can borrow.
World Music - Listening Journal
Student’s Name:
Date:
Title:
Country:
Album:
Artist:
Kind of music:
Region/State:
Musical Genre:
Why was this piece chosen?
What instruments are used:
Vocal styles:
Technical terms that appropriately describe the music:
Similar to or different from other music of region? How?
What is most intriguing? Difficult to follow?
What would you like to understand better?