MUS 3b: Intro to World Musics
Spring, 2014
Tues/Thurs 2 – 3:20 pm, Slosberg 212, other venues as announced
SUBJECT TO CHANGE (as of Jan 15)
Instructor: Prof Judith Eissenberg eissenbe@brandeis.edu
Office: Slosberg 125 Office hours: ALWAYS BY APPOINTMENT, on Mon/Wed 1:303:30 – if these don’t work and you need to see me, contact me.
The TA: Jared Redmond (jredmond@brandeis.edu). Office hours: ALWAYS BY
APPOINTMENT, on Thursdays 1-2. Additional times available, contact Jared
directly.
Required Textbook/Resources:
 Textbook: Excursions in World Music, Sixth Edition. Nettl, Rommen, Capwell,
etc. 2012. Pearson. (Our bookstore can help you with this)
The textbook has an associated web resource called MyMusicLab that you must
purchase. MyMusicLab includes the music that goes with the Listening Guides
in the book. MML includes other resources as well, including an etext and
audio text version of the book – I don’t know if they require you to buy a hard
copy of the text to get that…

All other required reading, listening, viewing (video) will be assigned
and posted on latte
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CLASS DESCRIPTION
“Every time I open a newspaper, I am reminded that we live in a world where we can
no longer afford not to know our neighbors.” - YO YO MA
Every culture we know of has music of some kind. Why? What is music? Why do
humans need music? How do we use it in our lives? What does the music tell us
about the people who play it, dance to it, and listen to it? How do the embedded
aesthetics in the music reflect social and cultural values of a culture or society? Are
there universals in music?
We’ll begin the semester with the question, what is world music? Throughout the
semester, in order to listen more deeply, we’ll develop a vocabulary to talk about
what we are hearing…practicing in whatever cultural tradition we find ourselves.
We’ll look at what ethnomusicologist Steven Feld calls the “celebrations and
anxieties” of world music…here he is bringing up, through music, the concerns that
come from globalization…we’ll address those early on, through a few interesting
case studies.
We’ll spend a few classes with Javanese gamelan and wayang kulit, the world of the
shadow puppets. Time flows differently in this tradition, as we’ll hear. Then it is to
Sub-Saharan Africa, to taste a few of the diverse musics found on that continent:
from mbira music, to rainforest yodels, to the Ewe drumming orchestra, we’ll
experience the interconnectedness and layers of community-based music making.
Ghana dance and drumming instructor Faith Conant will visit our class and YOU will
get a chance to try your hands at drumming. We are extremely fortunate to have
artists from the Mali jeli/griot tradition visit our class – Malian music is probably the
basis of the Blues tradition in this country. Then it is to Korea, to explore the
relationship of music to cultural identity. Korean folk music is highly emotive, as
you’ll hear in the epic narrative form of p’ansori…and if all goes to plan, we’ll have a
visit from some fabulous Korean musicians. I hope to have another great musician,
Sandeep Das – world renowned tabla player come to class for the North India
unit…where I invite you to take an inner journey with the classical raga tradition.
The last place we’ll go, virtually, is to the Andes of Peru – through a skype class with
ethnomusicologist and wilderness travel guide Holly Wissler and two musicians
from Q’eros region. We’ll wrap it all up with a college bowl style quiz show with
plenty of world music prizes.
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Goals of the course:
 To listen deeply
 To appreciate the values and knowledge that a culture/society holds
dear – through experiencing its music

We’ll do this by:
 Sampling some of the diversity of world musics
 Figuring out how the musics ‘work’ (listening from the inside)
 Finding connections between musical aesthetics and cultural/social values
 Developing language to talk and write about music
 Looking at ethical considerations in ‘world music’ production
FYI! I know that most of you are not music students – that is one of
the aspects of teaching the course that I most enjoy! Music is my
professional life; my goal in this course is to explore it with you.
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis
University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this
class, please see the professor immediately. Retroactive accommodations
cannot be provided.
Grading:
12 Online Responses: @ 4 points each (graded 0, 2, or 4) 48 points toward final grade
Quizzes (4 @ 8 points each): 32 points toward final grade
Final : 10 points toward final grade
Class participation: 10 points – in-class discussions, engagement in activities, lectures,
artists visits
See LATTE site for
 A more in-depth description of what I expect for responses, including that I
do not accept late ones!
 My policy re attendance. Please read it carefully.
 Complete, up to date class schedule, with supplementary
reading/listening/viewing
 Computer in the classroom policy
OVERVIEW OF THE SEMESTER – Needless to say, we will be listening to music in
every class, you’ll have reading, listening and/or viewing assignments in preparation
for each class. See LATTE for details. We’ll have group discussions; there will be
informal lecture/presentations, and visiting artists.
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Class Schedule (subject to change, always check latte as it is up to date, and
includes posted reading, listening, videos, assignments, online responses, etc.):
1.
Tuesday, January 14 - Intro to the Class, First Encounters
In class:
Intro
Mystery Music playlist
Class overview
Assignment for next class:
Read Nettle: Preface and Chapter 1 (see related posted youtubes)
Do Response #1 (online). See posted Music Terminology definitions
for listening response.
2.
Thursday, January 16 – Music in the Foreground
In class:
Go over your responses to listening/reading
We’ll practice using the terminology, Sound/Behavior/Ideas model,
instrument id with more from mystery music playlist
Preview Feld
Assignment for next class:
Read: Feld (posted): “A Sweet Lullaby for World Music” (read pp.
145-154) and “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts”
Do Response #2 (online).
3.
Tuesday, January 21 – Celebrations and Anxieties of World Music
In class:
Feld discussion, music and globalization, celebrations and anxieties of
world music.
Teminology ppt – Hearing the elements, listening more deeply,
moving toward music in the foreground, talking about music.
Assignment for next class:
Ask someone to pick out a song or piece of music that he/she loves –
and listen to it together. See latte for details.
4.
Thursday, January 23 – Ethical Considerations in World Music
(last day to drop class)
In class:
Favorite listening assignment
Preview case studies: Appropriation, Schizophonic Mimesis, Personal
and Cultural Rights
Assignment for next class:
Choose one of three case studies (folders are posted on latte)
Do Response #3
5.
Tuesday, January 28 – World Music Case Studies: Beg, Borrow, or Steal?
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In class:
Discussion of the three Case Studies: Afunakwa’s Lullaby, “Pygmy
Pop”, African Sanctus. What happened? What are the issues
(celebrations and anxieties)?
Preview: Javanese Gamelan
Assignment for next class:
Read in Chapter 6 Music of Indonesia: pp. 162 – 177
Follow the Listening Guide to Bubaran “Udan Mas” – see tips for this
on latte. Also see map of instruments, Bedhaya youtube, etc. on latte.
6.
Thursday, January 30 - Javanese Gamelan: Musical Clock
In class:
Go over what you learned about gamelan, review terms posted on
latte.
Instruments and their roles, gamelan elements
Sing the balangan and count the gongans to Bubaran “Udan Mas”, see
the Pittsburgh youtube performance of the piece.
Listening Guide Ketawant “Puspawana”
Assignment for next class:
Read the posted history of Java for background of ancient history,
cultural influences and the posted “A Wrinkle in Time”
See related youtubes
Do Response #4
7.
Tuesday, February 4 – More on Gamelan as Cultural Expression
In class:
Review shadow puppet play wayang kulit – Discuss reading, your own
concept of time and the music that best expresses it….
Another gendhing for your counting pleasure
Review counting the cycles of our LG
Assignment for next class:
STUDY GUIDE FOR QUIZ #1
8.
Thursday, February 6 Quiz #1 and Preview Sub-Saharan Africa
In class:
QUIZ #1
Preview Sub-Saharan Africa: Fela Kuti, a little political history
Assignment for next class:
Read: Nettle, pp. 196-211 (General characteristics, Shona Mbira
music, BaMbuti vocal music. (see latte for details).
Follow Listening Guides: Mbira Music: “Nhemamusasa” BaMbuti Vocal
Music: “Elima Girls Initiation Music” and Fela Kuti’s “No Buredi”
(posted)
Do Response #5
9.
Tuesday, February 11 Africa
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In class:
General characteristics of African traditional musics; instruments
Go over Shona mbira and BaMbuti music (your responses) including
listening guides
Touch on kora music
Preview the drum polyphony in Ewe music
Assignment for next class:
Read In Nettle: pp. 213-219
Follow LG: Ewe Dance Drumming: “Gadzo”
Watch/listen to a youtube of Brandeis’s own Dance and Drumming
from Ghana group “Fafali”
Read the Chernoff chapter about appreciating the “African” musical
sensibility
Do Response #5
10.
Thursday, February 13 Africa – GUEST: Drumming from Ghana with Faith
Conant
In class:
Brandeis instructor (Faith Conant) for MUS 87b (Music and Dance from
Ghana) will get us to perform polyrhythms in Ewe music, using Brandeis's
own drumming orchestra instruments. VENUE TO BE ANNOUNCED!
Assignment for next class:
Do Response #7 based on the below
Read
 Lucy Durán. 2006. “Mali: gold dust by the river” in Simon Broughton, Mark
Ellingham and Jon Lusk (eds): The Rough Guide to World Music: Africa & Middle
East, 219-238
 Duran, Lucy. 2011. “Music production as tool of research, and impact”,
Ethnomusicology Forum, vol. 20/2. pp. 245-253
 Feld, Steven. ‘My life in the bush of ghosts: “world music” and the
commodification of religious experiences’, in Bob W.White (ed), Music and
globalization: critical encounters, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University
Press. pp. 40-51
 White, Bob W. 2011. ‘The promise of world music’, in Bob W.White (ed), Music
and globalization: critical encounters, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University
Press. pp. 189-217
Listening and sleeve notes:
 Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoniba: Segu Blue. Out Here records, 2007. (produced by
Lucy Durán) mp3
 Ballake Sissoko, Toumani Diabate: New Ancient Strings. RYCO, 1999. (produced
by Lucy Durán) mp3
SEE the introduction to Durán’s film DOCUMENTARY: “Da Kali – the pledge to the
art of the griot” available for viewing at (www.growingintomusic.co.uk) (click on
Mali/Guinea: films)
BREAK
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11.
Tuesday, February 25 GUEST: Ethnomusicologist Lucy Durán
In class:
This is our introduction to music from Mali. Our guest, ethnomusicologist Dr.
Lucy Durán has spent many years studying, recording, and playing this
music. What are the ‘celebrations and anxieties’ (to quote from Steven Feld,
below) of this music on the world stage? Albums she has produced have won
Grammy nominations and made an impact on musical style at home. What has
been her role in the presentation and representation of Mande tradition to both
local and global audiences? We will reflect on the wider issue of how
ethnomusicology engages with and views the world music industry.
Assignment for next class:
Read Duran: “The Woman is a Slave” – Representations of Mande
Gender Ideology in Women’s Song
Listen to/see/read: Youtubes of super star/diva Sangare…then,
Oumou Sangare singing “Worotan” (referred to in reading); “Dugu
Kamalemba-The Womanizer”… and read some of her sleeve notes
regarding “Dubu Kamelemba”…also see youtube of Bassekou Kouyate
and Ami Sacko (noted on p. 20 of reading)
Do Response #8
12.
Thursday, February 27 GUEST ARTISTS: Trio Da Kali
In class:
From Mali, the griot musicians from Trio Da Kali share their music
and their stories.
Assignment for next class:
STUDY GUIDE FOR QUIZ #2
13.
Tuesday, March 4 QUIZ #2 and Preview Korean Gugak
In class:
QUIZ #2
Preview Korean Gugak – MYSTERY MUSIC: A Cultural Puzzle
Sound/Behavior/Ideas
Assignment for next class:
Read BOTH posted articles (and hear/see related
listening/youtubes). Each performance is an important Korean
cultural expression, one related to the court, one to rural folk
traditions. How are they similar, and how are they different? Who
are the audiences? How do the performances relate to social/cultural
values? Be ready to help lead a discussion in class.
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14.
Thursday, March 6 Korea: Hearing Cultural History
In class:
Discussion: two poles – ritual from China and rural folk
music…intersections?
Foundations of Korean Cultural History
Seeing/listening – Genres of Gugak: Ritual, Court/Entertainment, Folk
Preview/p’ansori
Assignment for next class:
Read the P'ansori article ("The Sound of Han) and see the short youtube
for explanation of p'ansori to prepare for seeing the film.
Stream (from latte) the feature film Chunhyang. Set aside enough time
(136 minutes) to see this beautiful period setting of the p'ansori epic
"Chunhyang" - one of the five remaining p'ansori stories. The music is
traditional p'ansori; in a nice touch, the director goes back and forth
between the staged modern concert setting and the story itself.
Do Response #9
15.
Tuesday, March 11 Korea: P’ansori and Shaman Kut Ritual
In class:
Discussion of P'ansori
The Roots of Korean Folk Music: Shaman Kut Ritual
The Ssikkim-Kut
If time, a preview to the article: Spirit-appointed (kangsinmu) vs
hereditary (tanggol) shamans with two video examples
Assignment for next class:
Read Park: Korean Shaman Rituals Revisited for a discussion of the
preservation (or not) of the tanggol's version of the Ssikkim-kut ritual.
Do Response #10 You have until class on the 18th to get this in.This case
study gives us the opportunity to look at one of the big issues of globalization:
the preservation of tradition as cultural identities are blurred, social
boundaries are recast, and ways of life, altered. Traditions are there to pass on
beliefs, values and customs - when should tradition shift to meet the changing
needs of the people, and when should tradition remain firm, to hold fast to
values that are dear? This case study is about a ritual, one that is suffused with
spiritual meaning and expressed through complex musical forms and texts.
16.
Thursday, March 13 Guest Artists: Musicians from Korea
In class:
Visiting Korean musicians perform a selection of gugak
Assignment for next class:
Review posted reading on cultural history and website
STUDY GUIDE FOR QUIZ #3
17.
Tuesday, March 18 Quiz #3 and Preview North India
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In class:
QUIZ #3
Preview North India: cultural history, vedas, stories, instruments
Assignment for next class:
Read posted “Tip of the Iceberg Intro to Indian Philosophy”
Watch/listen to posted video Raga Unveiled: Intro and Philosophy &
History (stop at 36:50)
Do Response #11
18.
Thursday, March 20 North India: Visiting tabla player Sandeep Das
In class:
Sandeep Das leads us through tala
Assignment for next class:
Read posted Alves, pp. 244-254
Taste some of the different posted instrument samples
Listen to Ravi Shankar (posted) talk about raga
Listen to the first part (called the alap) of (posted) CD 2:1 Raga Khamaj (a
little under 3 minutes). See latte for details.
19.
Tuesday, March 25 North India – What are we listening to/for?
In class:
Discussion: What is music in this tradition?
Listening to the journey: your description of the alap
Raga Shenandoah: “Across the Wide Missouri” as bandish
Assignment for next class:
Read Alves pp. 253 (beginning with Raga-The Melodic Dimension of Indian
Music) - 259. Make a list of all the terms you want explained, and bring
it to class! Use posted tracks with reading; see latte for details.
Watch/listen to Raga Unveiled, stream from beginning of this section at
36:50 Note & Melody. STOP at 1:16
20.
Thursday, March 27 North India – How does it work?
In class:
From the basic compositional idea (a pre-composed song/bandish), how
does one compose a raga? What are the melodic elements? The rules? The
structure? How much is improvised? What is the purpose? Raga Khamaj,
with the great Ali Akbar Khan on sarod.
Assignment for next class:
Watch/listen to Raga Unveiled beginning at 1:16:40 Tempo & Rhythm - Laya
& Tala
Read Alves pp. 259 - 261. This section describes the rhythmic elements of
raga - tala. Make a list of terms you want explained in class. Try
counting tintal, edtal, jhaptal and rupak talas (p. 260, 261) with the hand
motions suggested, following along posted CD 2:5. We'll be using this
counting method with our raga.
SEE A LITTLE OF THE POSTED YOUTUBE WITH THE GREAT TABLA
PLAYER, ZAKIR HUSSAIN
TRY!!! the posted Alves listening guide (Raga Khamaj); see latte for details.
Tuesday, April 1 – More on Raga and Tala
21.
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In class:
Review tala: rhythmic elements, construction, counting
Follow Listening Guide Raga Khamaj: Gat (14 beat chachar tal), tintal tal),
Jhala
Follow entire Listening Guide
Assignment for next class:
Follow Raga Yaman in MyMusicLab– see Latte for tips
See youtube (posted) for short intro to the sound of Yaman
22.
Thursday, April 3 – Raga Yaman and Bollywood
In class:
Go over Nettle Listening Guide for Raga Yaman
Intro to filmi – popular film music (“Bollywood”)…playback artists Asha
Bhosle sings Dil Cheez Kya Hai (What is a heart?) from the 1981 film Umrao
Jaan.
Review for quiz?
Assignment for next class: STUDY GUIDE FOR QUIZ #4
23.
Tuesday, April 8 Quiz #4 and Preview Q’eros
In class:
QUIZ #4
Preview the Q’eros of Peru
Assignment for next class:
See posted video "Kusisqa Waqashayku" about the Q'eros of
Peru. Documentary is created by ethnomusicologist Holly Wissler, who we
will skype next class. I spent 2 summers in Peru with Holly as my
guide...she's wonderful. The assigned reading gives you background of these
very, very special people...and her reflections about documenting (in the
film) a very intimate situation. Please see the film and read her article...to
make the most of next class. Also, it will be helpful if you have questions
and/or comments, to write them down and bring them for the skype call.
24.
Thursday, April 10 Skype Session to Peru: Ethnomusicologist Holly Wissler and
Q’eros musicians
In class: Skype to Peru!
Assignment for next class:
Do Response #12
BREAK
25.
Thursday, April 24
In class:
Discussion
Preview of college bowl/quiz show
What will the final be?
26.
Tuesday, April 29 College Bowl/Quiz Show with prizes!
FINAL EXAM TBA
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